6 Things You Need To Know From The Tao

Wisdom from Lao Tzu’s Tao Te Ching (The Book of the Way)

Those who fight do not win;
those who win do not fight.
This is the way of the Tao.
— Lao Tzu

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If there is one book you can count on to guide your way to a peaceful life, it’s Lao Tzu’s Tao Te Ching (The Book of the Way). These are six points to ponder. Deeply.

1. The man who is content with what he has is not in danger of loss.

If you are content, you are in a state of peaceful happiness. When you are in a state of peaceful happiness, you accept the bumps in the road as life. If you can find contentedness, you can remain content — no matter what life hurls at you.

2. True goodness is like water; it nurtures everything and harms nothing.

Can you imagine if someone described you as true goodness? Can you imagine knowing that you did no harm?

“I love being nurturing and caring because I love to see other people happy.”
— Jennifer Hudson

Water is never selfish. Its sole goal in the universe is to nurture. You can be successful in life and also harm nothing.

3. The wise man recognizes the limits of his knowledge; the foolish man thinks he knows everything.

I have been foolish so many times in my life. If you are a reader, you understand that you know nothing. If you seek out mastermind opportunities, you will never be the smartest person in the room. To be foolish in this context is to be oblivious. There is so much to learn every day.

Photo by Nigel Tadyanehondo on Unsplash

4. He who knows others is intelligent; he who understands himself is enlightened.

It’s our biggest failure in life. Not working hard enough to understand ourselves.

“This above all; to thine own self be true.”
— William Shakespeare

It’s beautiful to accept others. But it’s magnanimous to accept yourself.

5. There are some things which it is a gain to lose, and a loss to gain.

Relationships. When someone brings constant negativity to our life, they are a loss to gain. When we release them to figure life out, without us, they are a gain to lose. We don’t need more stuff. We need the right things in our life to prosper.

“Don’t gain the world and lose your soul; wisdom is better than silver or gold.”
— Bob Marley

6. All the world’s problems arise from slight causes, and all great achievements have small beginnings.

What if we acted at the first sign of a problem? When something was slightly amiss. Instead of waiting and letting it fester. We have trouble starting because we focus on the goal that is farthest away.

“Start by doing what’s necessary; then do what’s possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible.” — Francis of Assisi

We can trace our biggest successes and our biggest failures back to one decision. What are you going to do today?