Sleepless nights.
Diet, mind, conditions.
Hold the possibility of correction.
Whenever you feel out of sorts, or cannot sleep, or find it hard to work and think, you are separated from Tao. If you want to get back i touch with it, ask yourself three questions: Am I eating right? Is my mind tamed? Is my world safe?
It is not facetious to look at the way you eat whenever you feel out of step with life. Many problems can be alleviated by feeling better physically, and even if this doesn’t remedy things, it will give you a good basis for coping. Eat a balanced diet rich in nutrients. Take the time to understand proper nutrition and eat a large variety of foods according to the seasons. The skillful use of foods is far superior to medicine.
Next is the difficult mind that seems to have its own interests, habits, and excesses. The only way to counter this is to guard against worry, stress, intellectualism, scheming, and desires. This can only happen through a strong philosophical grounding and by methodical meditation.
Finally, environmental factors such as weather, natural and man-made disasters, and socioeconomic problems can break our unity with Tao. To cope with this, gain as much control over your environment as possible. Keep your home a haven, have control over your work place, and be independent enough to face emergencies. It is inevitable that one will fall in and out of Tao. The wise arrange their lives so that they can always return to balance.
The Tao is the One.
From the One come yin and yang;
From these two, creative energy (chi);
From energy, ten thousand things,
The forms of all creation.
All life embodies yin
And embraces yang,
Through their union
Achieving harmony.
– Tao Te Ching, Chapter 42
The Tao of heaven
Is like drawing a bow
Lower that which is high
Raise that which is low
Reduce that which is excessive
Add to that which is insufficient
– Tao Te Ching, Chapter 77
I’ve been very out of balance in the last few days. The kids have been off school, my husband off on a vacation day. It throws me off to not have time to be by myself, meditating or just being alone. The weather has been rainy and gray, which hasn’t helped. In good weather I can always escape into the garden. In the rain I’m stuck inside with everyone.
I like the feeling of being alone lately, more so than being around other people. Most people in our society are so out of balance that it can really throw me off to be around them. We had a friend over for dinner Sunday night who is leaving her job, and she seems so much happier and freer. When I’ve seen her before she was often stressed out, and now she smiles and laughs and seems so happy.
I don’t have the work stress right now, which is great. But dealing with two teenagers and a husband are stressful as well. The kids are learning independence, but are not able to be on their own yet, so it is a difficult time for them.
So, back to getting into balance again. Eating my omelets and salmon, getting my exercise, etc. And working on my mind, the perpetual challenge….
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[…] for the world. If you are a model for the world, the Tao inside you will strengthen and you will return whole to your eternal beginning. Know the honorable, but do not shun the disgraced: embracing the world […]