Thought of the Day

Each day, for the past 4 years, I start my morning with a Taoist thought. It's almost always my first email in the in box. It's a free service of the TaoWoods Center from the faraway land of Wisconsin. If you'd like to sign up to receive the quote of the day, go here.

Below are some samples. As you can readily see, these aren't long dissertations. Usually, it's nothing more than a sentence or two. They are provided to help folks like me center ourselves before we go charging out into our madcap world.

Some days I spend a quite awhile mulling over the message; other days it just sits in the back of my mind. What I enjoy most though, is it often motivates me to look at the world anew with fresh eyes.

• When telling someone the truth, most people prefer to temper their words to make them more palatable. The sage like nature understands the truth has a greater effect if left intact.
• Meditation is difficult when you expect to sit, close your eyes and instantly reach a deep level of awareness. The sage knows that meditation like all things worthwhile takes time devoted to it on a regular basis.
• Some believe that it might be better not to ruin the universe with our own patterns. The sage knows that this is nonsense as there is no way we can exist without changing the universe.
• Methods that deal with the mind only as a brain are very limited in understanding. The sage sees the brain like a cavern with a subterranean river of thoughts running through it.
• This exists because that does. That doesn't exist because that doesn't. No one, not even the sage can see all the possible ramifications of one's existence. Hence, the adventure we call our life.
• People go great distances, spending great amounts of time and money looking for beauty in the world around them. The sage simply looks closer at the world most people overlook in their daily haste.