Life Wisdom - By Words of Taoism

Welcome back to Daily Wisdom. The present moment does not ask you to give up your dreams. It does not ask you to forget your responsibilities. It does not ask you to stop becoming. It only asks you not to abandon the life that is already touching you while you wait for another one. More resources: Free resources, books and more on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠https://wordsoftaoism.com/⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ My blog ⁠⁠...

Welcome back to daily wisdom. This final week, I would like us to look beneath the surface of some of our most familiar movements: the desire for more, the difficulty of being present, the way we react before we understand, the things we keep chasing, and the words we use when we are trying to protect ourselves. Today, let’s begin with a question many of us may carry quietly, even in seasons where...

How to recognize true intuition and let it become clear. More resources: Free resources, books and more on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠https://wordsoftaoism.com/⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ My blog ⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://taoismteachings.substack.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Music I use, as a playlist: ⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://tinyurl.com/spotifyzenplaylist⁠⁠⁠⁠

Welcome back to daily wisdom. Approval does not always look dramatic. Often, it happens in small movements: We hide an opinion because it might make the room less comfortable. We say yes quickly, before checking whether we mean it. We become slightly more cheerful than we feel, slightly less tired than we are, slightly more agreeable than our own truth allows. More resources: Free resources, books...

Welcome back to Daily Wisdom. You are at the gathering, and everyone seems lit from within by the occasion, and you are smiling in the right places while a distance sits in your chest. You hear people describe what they want from their lives, the things they are chasing, the future they are building toward, and you realize you do not want those things, or not in the same way, or not with the same...

Welcome back to daily wisdom. This week, we are staying close to the way we relate to ourselves from the inside. In the last reflection, we spoke about comparison, and how easily another person’s path can make our own life feel smaller than it really is. Today, we continue with a question that often lives beneath comparison, beneath self-criticism, beneath the quiet pressure to become more. More r...

Welcome back to daily wisdom. There is a story I imagine often. A small bird lives in a garden, and every morning, before singing, it looks toward the other trees. It hears the nightingale and thinks its own song is too simple. It sees the swan crossing the pond and thinks its own body is too ordinary. It watches the eagle above the hills and thinks its own wings have failed because they do not ca...

Welcome back to Daily Wisdom. This week, we begin a new movement in the series. After looking at control, pressure, acceptance, responsibility, and the unknown, we now turn toward something more intimate: the way we relate to ourselves from the inside. More resources: Free resources, books and more on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠https://wordsoftaoism.com/⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ My blog ⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://taoismteac...

There is a force in us without which nothing would ever be done. It moves us to begin, to build, to love, to hope. It carries us out ahead of ourselves, toward what does not yet exist and what we long to see come into being. We call this force desire. Without it, we would stay still, watching the world go by, never once taking part in it. Welcome back to Life Wisdom, hosted by Substack bestseller...

Welcome back to daily wisdom. A person who admits they do not know yet is not necessarily lost. They may simply be refusing to lie to themselves for the comfort of an immediate answer. More resources: Free resources, books and more on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠https://wordsoftaoism.com/⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ My blog ⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://taoismteachings.substack.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Music I use, as a playlist: ⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ht...

Welcome back to daily wisdom. A tree can offer shade, fruit, and shelter. Birds can rest in its branches. People can sit beneath it. The tree gives generously, yet it remains rooted in the earth. It is held while it holds. Its strength comes from receiving as much as giving. Many of us try to be trees without roots. More resources: Free resources, books and more on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠https://wordsoft...

Welcome back to daily wisdom. Acceptance can sound like a cold word when the heart is still hurting. It can sound as if we are being asked to approve of what happened, to pretend it does not matter, to become peaceful before we are ready. Many of us resist acceptance because we think it means saying that what hurt us was okay. More resources: Free resources, books and more on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠https...

Welcome back to daily wisdom. This week, I would like us to follow a simple thread: the places in our lives where care slowly becomes tension. Because many of us are not exhausted only because we do too much. We are exhausted because of the way we do it. We try to work well, but we carry the work like a test of our worth. We try to love well, but we become afraid of disappointing. We try to grow,...

Welcome back to Daily Wisdom. In the last few episodes, we have been circling around the same quiet difficulty from different angles: the way we try to keep life safe by thinking more, doing more, rushing more, proving more, holding more. And today, I want to sit with a question that is at the center of many of our struggles, even when we do not always name it directly. More resources: Free resour...

I’ve been thinking about a strange pattern many of us know: the closer we get to rest, the harder we push ourselves. More resources: Free resources, books and more on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠https://wordsoftaoism.com/⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ My blog ⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://taoismteachings.substack.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Music I use, as a playlist: ⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://tinyurl.com/spotifyzenplaylist⁠⁠⁠⁠

Welcome back to daily wisdom. Think about what happens when you finally have a free afternoon. The kind that arrives unplanned, when a meeting cancels or a task finishes early. For most of us, the first reaction is not relief. It is unease. The Taoist sages would have recognized this anxiety immediately. They wrote often about the danger of excessive doing, of constant striving, of treating one&#3...

Welcome back to Daily Wisdom. This is a series of short reflections for the questions we often carry quietly, without always knowing how to answer them. Today, let's sit with this question together: how do we find peace in a busy day? More resources: Free resources, books and more on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://wordsoftaoism.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ My blog ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://taoismteachings...

Welcome back to Daily Wisdom. Most of us assume that courage is the opposite of fear. That to begin something new, we need to feel ready, certain, confident. We tell ourselves that when the conditions are right, when the noise quiets, when the season feels less heavy, then we will begin. But anyone who has actually started something will tell you the truth is stranger than that. More resources: Fr...

Welcome to Daily Wisdom. There is something in nature that understands what many of us forget: not everything becomes ready at the same speed. Some things need another season before their sweetness can appear. And yet, when it comes to our own lives, we often speak to ourselves as if ripening were failure. More resources: Free resources, books and more on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://wordsoftaoism.com...

Welcome to Daily Wisdom. This is a series of twenty short reflections built around questions I often receive in comments, hear in conversations, or recognize in the struggles of everyday life. For the next four weeks, I want this series to be a small daily companion. Something you can listen to in the morning, during a walk, before sleep, or in one of those in-between moments when you feel a littl...

How much of what you carry truly belongs to you? Free resources, books and more on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠https://wordsoftaoism.com/⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ My blog ⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://taoismteachings.substack.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Music I use, as a playlist: ⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://tinyurl.com/spotifyzenplaylist⁠⁠⁠⁠

The inner voice beneath the noise. Free resources, books and more on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠https://wordsoftaoism.com/⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ My blog ⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://taoismteachings.substack.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Music I use, as a playlist: ⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://tinyurl.com/spotifyzenplaylist⁠⁠⁠⁠

Returning to the body that knows means listening to what remembers within us. Free resources, books and more on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠https://wordsoftaoism.com/⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ My blog ⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://taoismteachings.substack.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Music I use, as a playlist: ⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://tinyurl.com/spotifyzenplaylist⁠⁠⁠⁠

What is sown at night bears fruit in the morning. Free resources, books and more on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠https://wordsoftaoism.com/⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ My blog ⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://taoismteachings.substack.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Music I use, as a playlist: ⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://tinyurl.com/spotifyzenplaylist⁠⁠⁠⁠

What ripens should not be rushed. Free resources, books and more on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠https://wordsoftaoism.com/⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ My blog ⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://taoismteachings.substack.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Music I use, as a playlist: ⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://tinyurl.com/spotifyzenplaylist⁠⁠⁠⁠