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?

Sunday, March 7, 2010

Verse 12

Colors blind the eye.
Sounds deafen the ear.
Flavors numb the taste.
Racing and hunting madden the mind.
Precious things lead one astray.

The Master observes the world
but trusts his inner vision.
He allows things to come and go.
His heart is open as the sky.

[For Personal Development]
  • Over stimuli creates stress instead of pleasure.
  • Living off adrenaline may be fine for a moment but it exhausts you over time.
  • Happiness is not out there in the material world. True peace and satisfaction comes from inside.
  • Trusting your inner knowing. The deepest level of truth is observed from the heart.

[For Coaching]

  • Simplify your life; less is more.
  • As coaches we trust our intuition when observe the client’s world. Instead of getting caught up by the client’s story, we see things from the deeper place of “who”.
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