Today I want to immediately follow up with a comparison to Contentment=Thankfullness.
Verse 23 in the Tao Te Ching it says:
When you have nothing to say
You may as well keep your mouth shut
The wind and the rain don't go on forever
If nature knows enough to give it a rest
So should we.
If you're ready for Tao, you can live with Tao
If you're ready for success, you can live with success
If you're ready for failure, you can live with failure
Trust your instincts, and others will trust you
When I read the first paragraph it dawned on me how many conflicts could be avoided if we would all practice this. But, nobody wants to be wrong, nobody wants to concede and show weakness, and everybody wants to have the last word.
The second paragraph is the one I felt was similar. This is a Chinese teaching, and in many of the verses you could substitute the word God for the word Tao and it would read right. So, let's just look at it that way for a minute. Are you ready for God, then you can live with God. Isn't that so true. Noone really ever comes to God until they're ready. It's at that time when they are ready to live their life for God. Now to look at the strength similarities. Are you ready for success or failure. If we accept failure we just give up. If we decide to succeed then we fight, we find that strength. When we accept the fact that we are not going to give up, no matter how over whelming our circumstances may be, the reason to succeed is more important. I feel this verse is telling you to ask yourself what is more important to you . It's all a learning experience, and while we're learning we're searching. Thanks for searching with me, Paul
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2 comments:
That directly brings to mind something I had to tell my youngest stepson this afternoon about self-restraint and accountability for his actions. "YOU decide what you're going to do and you follow through with it. Don't blame someone else for something you did. You are the only one who controls your body and actions. This includes attitude and outlook."
He has ADHD so this is easier to talk about than do, of course. But we hope that these gentle lessons soak into his soul and he eventually works it out within himself.
Impulsive behavior is the enemy of growing to truly Know Yourself.
Now it's mt turn to appologize for the delay. Even though I'm not that familiar with ADHD, what immediately popped into my head was I wonder if he gets it mentally he just can't make that part override the ADHD part. I know as adults we can still struggle with impulsive speaking. I know I was halfway through statement the other night at work before I caught myself and said Uhh nevermind.
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