“Whether you are waiting to return a serve on the tennis court or listening for your name to be called for a job interview, your instinct is to stay loose. Be ready, be flexible, be poised to respond when the time is right. Staying loose is part of living in the present moment. Your readiness to move is part of your wisdom and gives you the power you need to live your best life. In the 76th verse of the Tao Te Ching, Lao-tzu describes the flexibility that living things possess: “All things, including the grass and trees, are soft and pliable in life.” He contrasts that living pliability with the dry and brittle quality of death and that for us, to remain flexible is choosing life.
This is often in conflict with our society’s sensibilities. You may have been taught that strength is measured by how “hard” you are in your thinking or how inflexible you are in your opinions. You may have been told that weakness is associated with those who bend. But when confronted with any stressful situation, keep in mind that being stiff won’t get you very far, whereas being flexible will carry you through. Lao-tzu wrote, “A tree that cannot bend will crack in the wind.”
Change the way you think about strength. Aren’t the physically and mentally strong those who can bend and adapt to life—especially as we age? The more you think in rigid ways and refraining from considering other points of view, the more you’re liable to break. Our minds and our bodies need flexibility to thrive. When we see ourselves as flexible and supple, we are able to bend in harmony with our Divine source. By listening, yielding, and being gentle, we all become disciples of life.
Although just 81 short verses, the Tao encourages you to change your life by literally changing the way you think. The Tao Te Ching offers you Divine guidance on virtually every area of human existence. It is a new way of thinking in a world that needs to recapture its ancient teachings. I suggest working with the verses and affirmations regularly and you will come to know the truth behind the ancient Tao observation: When you change the way you look at things; the things you look at change.” dyerwisdom@email-hayhouse.com
