At the very base of this health crisis is the cancerous spiritual malaise
in the West, a fundamental disharmony that keeps people from positively
engaging with life and relaxing in virtually any circumstance that life can
throw.
(Bruce Frantzis)
Responsibility
There is a tendency in society to put things off and not do them.
People are reluctant to act.
They find excuses to remain stationary and pretend that action is not
required.
Behind this mentality is the hope that somebody else will take
responsibility for your life and alleviate the burden.
Yet, the task is yours, the
responsibility
is yours.
This is what living means.
Hardship
Living involves the good and the bad; we cannot remove the bad and just have
the good.
Without hardship there could be no balance in your life - it would be like
day without night - the darkness is what makes the light significant.
What matters is not the events themselves but how you
cope with them.
We cannot prevent harm and sickness but can control our attitude to hardship.
Seeing
Taoists
regard life as an adventure.
To start the adventure, you need to see.
When you walk down the street do you
see
the ants crawling on the pavement?
Do you really listen to the birdsong or just try to
name
the bird?
How often do you
sit and watch
the clouds or the ocean?
Can you feel the breeze on your skin, taste the food in your mouth, savour a
turn of phrase?
Living is an immense gift and most people are squandering it watching
television, surfing the net, playing videogames or with their mobile phone.
Living
Tai chi is a
means of being human again.
You unplug the
technology, put the car away, forget
your
job, family,
cares and
worries - and just
be.
Some people find this so very difficult; their minds chatter and leap like
monkeys.
The nature of tai chi is such that it brings you down to earth.
It roots you in reality.
You become more
relaxed, more
capable, less clumsy or awkward and less
afraid.
At some point, life becomes richer and you live consciously and
deliberately.
Page created 2 May 2001