The Story

When East meets West… when Lao Tzu wrote down the 81 verses of the Tao Te Ching 2,500 years ago in ancient China, he may not have realised the impact its philosophy would have millenniums later in the West and the newly-emerging profession of life-coaching.

When Julia from Taiwan met Nick from England on a coaching course, they didn’t realise at first that they had a common interest in the work of Lao Tzu. This joint interest soon became a course project. As we explored a few verses of the Tao, we began to see how Lao Tzu’s teachings could be related to personal development and coaching principles.

On this blog we intend to continue this work by exploring one verse of the Tao Te Ching each week. We invite you to join us on our journey and add your own thoughts to deepen our learning. How do you interpret Lao Tzu’s message? And how does it speak to you as a coach?

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Verse 53

The great Way is easy,
yet people prefer the side paths.
Be aware when things are out of balance.
Stay centered within the Tao.

When rich speculators prosper;
While farmers lose their land;
when government officials spend money on weapons instead of cures;
when the upper class is extravagant and irresponsible;
while the poor have nowhere to turn-all this is robbery and chaos.
It is not in keeping with the Tao.

[For Personal Development]
  • Stay balanced. Excessiveness is as harmful as insufficiency.
  • Simplify your life. Return to the basics. Money does not buy happiness.
  • Strong values bring peace to individuals and societies.
[For Coaching]
  • Jumping into the “how” before coaching the “who” often leads us to the side paths. Providing solutions on the surface is not a sustainable way to solve a problem.
  • The shortest distance between two points is a straight line. Be direct and speak client’s truth.
  • Stay centered and connected to who you are to access the who of your client.
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