Top 12 of the Tao Te Ching
The Path of Well Being

This verse is probably one of the hardest for the Western mind to grasp. We are taught to never be lazy. To always be in control. To work harder and harder.  That if we don’t make things happen, they won’t happen at all. Yet the Tao says to do less and less and to not interfere with the world. How can we reconcile these two opposites? Do we believe one and let the other go?  We learned to hate. It’s time now to drop the hatred. We learned to distrust. It’s now time to drop the fear.

In truth, less is really more and timing is everything! As we let our lives “take their course”, our lives become on course. As we stop interfering with life, life brings us what we need, exactly when we need it. A state of non-action doesn’t mean not doing anything, it means doing within the natural flow of our life, without struggle.

To “play” with these ideas further, reflect on the following questions:

1.      What have you learned that it is time to “drop” from your life? Make a list!

2.      What can you do less and actually have it turn out better? Make a list!

Sometime during this month, do the following:

Sing to yourself the following until you really “get it”!

 “Row, Row, Row your Boat, Gently Down the Stream, Merrily, Merrily, Merrily, Merrily. Live is but a dream”

The Tao Te Ching  (pronounced Dow de ching) was written around 6th century BC  by the Taoist sage Lao Tzu, "Old Master", a record-keeper at the Zhou Dynasty court, by whose name the text is known in China. The text's true authorship and date of composition or compilation has not ever been verified. According to legend, Lao Tzu wrote the Tao as an old man, and then walked off into the hills, never to be seen again.

Tao means "way", "road", "path", or "route," but was extended to mean "path ahead", "way forward", "method", "principle", "doctrine", or simply "the Way".  Te means "virtue" in the sense of "personal character", "inner strength", or "integrity".  Ching originally meant "norm", "rule", "plan".

©September 2004 by Jill N. Henry, Mountain Valley Center, Otto NC. All rights reserved.

Dr. Jill Henry is the author of Energy SourceBook – The Fundamentals of Personal Energy (Llewellyn, 2004) and webmaster for www.mountainvalleycenter.com. She is founder, with her husband Charlie, of Mountain Valley Center metastore  and the Otto Labyrinth Park in Otto, NC. Jill is an Associate Polarity Practitioner, an Independent Distributor of the RichWay Amethyst Biomat, and developer and presenter of CEU workshops for nurses, physical therapists and massage therapists  http://www.mountainvalleycenter.com/flow.htm