‘Taoism or Daoism is a philosophical or religious tradition of Chinese origin which emphasizes living in harmony with the Dao, or ‘the way’.  … Taosim … is a teaching about the various disciplines for achieving “perfection” by becoming one with the unplanned rhythms of the universe. … in general tend to emphasize wu wei (action without intention)’.

Souce: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taoism

‘The idea behind non-action goes against the Western ideal of forcing and working harder and harder to get results. We are encouraged to be ambitious, to take control and to strife. Meanwhile many people suffer from depression, anxiety disorders and sleep disorders. Are we burning ourselves out? We look down on passivity and often mistake it for laziness, but these are different things. When we look at nature, doing nothing makes way more sense than we tend to think. Results do not equal the amount of energy we spend; results are the consequences of a series of actions. Funny thing about this is that many of these actions come naturally and a task doesn’t need more human intervention than necessary to steer it in the right direction. Isn’t it so that many problems solve themselves? Taoism compares life to a river, the river already has a course or several courses and once we find ourselves in that river we can swim against the current, we can hold on to a branch, or we can let go and go along with the stream. Most of our lives we swim against the current, we don’t even realize it. Our mind believes that it can and should control the environment in order to survive, which is kind of egocentric, because the vast majority of processes within as well as outside ourselves are not in our control. I mean, let’s face it, we don’t control our bodily processes, like digestion, blood flow or the healing of wounds. We don’t control other people, we don’t control the future, we don’t even control who we fall in love with and what people we find attractive. Everything outside our own faculty just goes into some direction, sometimes by intelligence, but mostly in a natural course. When we go along with the current we align ourselves with this natural course. Which is the path of least resistance. It gives nature a chance to unfold without us resisting it. So the Taosist way is rather navigating through the river, instead of trying to control it.’

Source: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JtGtqmC5wU4

 

In gardening, it’s called “pruning.”  A plant gets cut back, trimmed, made smaller, and in the process it is made stronger.   It may have seemed that we were pressing ahead, and that our power was rising, but this is precisely when things seem to go awry.

During this period, crisis hits.   Usually that crisis occurs when we are in our early 40s, as opposed to the mid-30s.  In any event, many of us experience being cut down by events that seem beyond our control.  And in the process, we experience disappointment and a sense of failure.  The most common of these disappointments are divorce, or the collapse of a business, or financial strife.  Others suffer a health crisis of one kind or another.

Whatever occurs, many of us experience life-altering setback and lose confidence in ourselves and in life.  At this point, we can either embrace our limitations and live smaller lives, or begin again.  We are challenged to start anew, to refine and rethink our ways, but to remain committed to our dreams.

We are also asked to expand our vision of life and to embrace a more spiritual approach to living.  We did not come into this life to be wholly consumed by materialistic goals and ambitions.  We came here to learn and to grow our souls.  The soul shakes the cage of life during these years and wakes us up to its presence and its needs.

We are being urged by Spirit to ask a few simple questions:  What is the true source of my happiness and all that I want for my life?  Is it the material world, or does all I need and want flow from the Great Spirit?   If the latter is true, than I must turn to Spirit for all that I need and want.  And in the process, I must begin to form a new relationship with my Source.

The spirit is emerging and is starting to take charge of our lives.   It is a time of transition.  We once lived exclusively from our own will and power.  Now we turn increasingly to God for all that we need.

Source: https://tommonte.com/the-7-year-cycles-of-life/

Genesis 41:1–14

In the first reading (עליה, aliyah), Pharaoh dreamed that he stood by the river, and out came seven fat cattle, who fed in the reed-grass.^[4] And then seven lean cattle came up out of the river and ate the seven fat cattle, and Pharaoh awoke.^[5] He went back to sleep and dreamed that seven good ears of corn came up on one stalk, and then seven thin ears sprung up after them and swallowed the good ears, and Pharaoh again awoke.^[6] In the morning, Pharaoh was troubled and sent for all the magicians and wise men of Egypt and told them his dream, but none could interpret it.^[7]Then the chief butler spoke up, confessing his faults and relating how Pharaoh had put him in prison with the baker, and a Hebrew there had interpreted their dreams, correctly predicting the future.^[8] Pharaoh sent for Joseph, who shaved, changed clothes, and came to Pharaoh.^[9]

Genesis 41:15–38

In the second reading (עליה, aliyah), Pharaoh told Joseph that he had had a dream that none could interpret and had heard that Joseph could interpret dreams, but Joseph said that God would give Pharaoh an answer.^[11] Pharaoh told Joseph his dreams, and Joseph told him that the two dreams were one, a prediction of what God was about to do.^[12] The seven good cattle and the seven good ears symbolized seven years of plenty, and the seven lean cattle and the seven empty ears symbolized seven years of famine that would consume thereafter.^[13] The dream was doubled because God had established the thing and would shortly bring it to pass.^[14] Joseph recommended that Pharaoh set over Egypt a man discreet and wise, that he appoint overseers to take up a fifth of the harvests during the years of plenty, and that he store that food for the years of famine.^[15] Pharaoh agreed, asking whether anyone could find a man such as Joseph in whom the spirit of God was.^[16] 

Source: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miketz

“Yet failure is essential to success in any endeavor. Failure tests us and allows us to grow. It offers us lessons and guides us along the path of enlightenment. The teachers of the East say that every arrow that hits the bull’s eye is the result of one hundred misses. It is a fundamental Rule of Nature to profit through loss.” p. 139

Robin S. Sharma, The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari

The people who stand before kings may look like they did it all by themselves. But in fact they are invariably the beneficiaries of hidden advantages and extraordinary opportunities and cultural legacies that allow them to learn and work hard and make sense of the world in ways others cannot. It makes a difference where and when we grew up. … It’s not enough to ask what successful people are like, in other words. It is only by asking where they are from that we can unravel the logic behind who succeeds and who doesn’t. p.19

We pretend that success is exclusively a matter of individual merit. But there’s nothing in any of the histories we’ve looked at so far to suggest things are that simple. These are stories, instead, about people who were given a special opportunity to work really hard and seized it, and who happened to come of age at a time when that extraordinary effort was rewarded by the rest of society. Their success was not just of their own making. It was a product of the world in which they grew up. p.67

Outliers are those who have been given opportunities – and who have had the strength and presence of mind to seize them. p.267

Malcolm Gladwell, Outliers – 2008

Charlie Rose: “There is a book out by Malcolm Gladwell, which is called ‘Outliers’, it really is the story of looking at success and performance and talent, people who have achieved something special. … You are sitting here, because you had parents who lived in LA, who were willing to make some sacrifice, who cared about you have a chance to pursue your dreams, but if you had grown up somewhere else, with different kind of parents, you might not be sitting here, as Leo DiCaprio, one of America’s and one of the world’s well-known actors.”

Leonardo DiCaprio: “That and a combination with the fact that you have that one lucky moment. And that you can’t discount. I don’t care what somebody else says, whether somebody has talent or not, or whether they were destined for a certain career, if you don’t get that one opportunity and you where not there at the right time to seize it and you didn’t go for it, none of it would have happened. I would not have the career I have right now whatsoever.”

“You are simply not gonna win all the time, you’re gonna loose some. If somebody says: what do you have to be to be a successful coach. I say: you gotta get over the bad times. If you never had adversity, you ain’t gonna be nothing. You got to have adversity to built your character. And find out how tough you are, and find out how well your judgement is.”
Bobby Bowden, Florida State University – Head Football Coach