Daodejing - Other Voices
RESILIENCYThis post is part of a series. For an introduction, go here.
I get knocked down but I get up again. You're never going to keep me down.
- Chumbawamba (Tubthumping)
It's a cold, hard fact of life that things are going to happen in your life that knock you flat on your back. So it goes without saying that one of the keys to life is to learn to bounce back from these setbacks.
Remember the children's toy, Weebles? Rounded at the bottom, you would tip them or roll them but they'd always playfully bounce back. "Weebles wobble but they don't fall down."
When life pokes at you, be a Weeble.
That doesn't mean resisting the forces blowing at you. A Weeble doesn't stand solid when you poke it. It yields, moving with the force and using that energy to bounce back. To do this, it has to be smooth and rounded, not jagged and flat. That gives it the flexibility it needs. They're also weighted in their base. By staying centered, they have the resiliency to bounce back.
Go with the flow. Yield to forces that poke at you. Stay centered in the Tao. Trust that things will work out (they always do). Remind yourself of the constant circle of life: Day follows night, calm follows a storm, good times follow bad. There is a constant dance between the two. Without this movement, there is no life.
When life gets you down, close your eyes, take a relaxing deep breath and whisper to yourself: "Weebles wobble but they don't fall down."
Whoever is planted in the Tao will not be rooted up.
Whoever embraces the Tao will not slip away. (v. 54)
~ from Tao for Today, author unknown, original post date: 5/5/09 ~
This is nice. Speaks not only to the philosophical, but to the very physical as well, like the value of taijichuan or qigong or even meditation. Physical balance is as important as mental balance.
ReplyDelete"Trust that things will work out (they always do)."
ReplyDeleteWhich reminds me of one of my favorite adages: "Things will work out, whether you want them to or not."