From my book – March 27 excerpt:

March 27 – The Tao Te Ching

“The tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao. The name that can be named is not the eternal Name.” – First lines of the Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu

Do you find yourself harried or in a state of anxiety? Our minds tend to be anywhere but here. If you are in the past, you are regretting or stuck. If your mind races towards the future, you are worried and anxious. In contrast, staying in the present, in the right now and practicing awareness, makes us sensitive to the wonders of life and its ebbs and flows. In other words, in every moment, lies a gift, because consciousness is ever fresh, unique and original.

The Tao Te Ching (generally translated as the Way of Integrity, God, Universal Wisdom, or Virtue), dates back to the 4th century BC. It is an Eastern philosophical text divided into 81 chapters or verses. Composed by Lao Tzu, a master on the art of living, the Tao Te Ching is a manual for living. Taoism or Daoism influenced Confucianism, as well as Chinese Buddhism, and is still a grounding and applicable lifestyle.

The word Tao, translates as the Way. This Way is the space that welcomes everything into existence, in equal measure. Not only is quiet, calm serenity embraced, but also movement, change and impermanence. The Way is one with creation, and creation is the Way. The author answers age old questions on the meaning and handling of life, by extolling to “go with the flow”, in poetic prose. As we meditate and live by the axioms of the book, we learn eternal truths that take us inward into the wisdom of the ages. “Knowing others is wisdom; Knowing the self is enlightenment.” states the Tao Te Ching. After all, as we plunge into our silence during meditation, we exhume layer after infinite layer of understanding ourselves.