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?

Saturday, September 11, 2010

Verse 23

To talk little is natural.
Fierce winds do not blow all morning;
a downpour of rain does not last the day.
Who does this? Heaven and earth.
If heaven and earth cannot sustain a forced action,
how much less is man able to do?

If you open yourself to the Tao,
you are at one with the Tao
and you can embody it completely.
If you open yourself to insight,
you are at one with insight
and you can use it completely.
If you open yourself to loss,
you are at one with loss
and you can accept it completely.

Open yourself to the Tao,
then trust your natural responses;
and everything will fall into place.

[For Personal Development]
  • Live, embrace and be fully present with every moment of your life, whether it is desired or not.
  • Suffering is our psychological resistance to what happens.
  • The results you get are always the result of your focus.
  • Trust your ability to respond naturally to the circumstances in your life.
[For Coaching]
  • Changes coming from "should's" and "have to's cannot be sustained.
  • Focus on the weaknesses that you think have the greatest chance of really holding you back while also remembering to focus on the strengths that you can really use to move forward.
  • With a strong personal foundation ourselves, we coaches can then accept and celebrate wherever the clients at unconditionally.
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