ZenView
By Mary Layton
The Tao of Success
Everyone wants success. To find a good job, the right partner, a nice place to live, and to enjoy health and happiness. The faster this can be accomplished the better. In the pursuit of success, we may feel either like winners or losers.
The question is what does success mean to you?
Some thirty years ago, fate brought me to a T’ai Chi class. At the time it felt like something “off the beaten path”, which this ancient art truly is. The underlining
philosophy of T’ai Chi is Taoism. The meaning of Tao is the Way.
What counts is not the end product but the process. It is a journey of self-discovery. None of the rules and values that I had been accustomed to apply in the world of T’ai Chi. I was supposed to move slowly instead of fast. To cooperate with others rather than compete with them, to become calm instead of being busy, silent instead of talkative. I had to learn to surrender my ego instead of being self-righteous and opinionated. Little by little my hardness and tension lessened. This took a long time! But the Path, the process of learning so much on so many different levels, is well worth it.
When I practice T’ai Chi I regain in a relatively short time what I may have lost in the course of a busy day: My inner balance, a sense of peace, patience, confidence and energy. My legs feel stronger, my muscles have been stretched and loosened, and I feel once again connected with the earth under me and my surroundings. The tingling in my fingertips and the warm fullness throughout my body tell me that circulation of blood and oxygen is really happening. It’s a subtle and wonderful sensation. I feel young and alive. There is a sense that time does slow down if I follow, at least from time to time, the Great Tao.
What could following the Tao do for you?
For more info go to taichi4modesto@aol.com<mailto:taichi4modesto@aol.com> or call (209)572-4518
