Henry David Thoreau wrote that ‘most men live lives of quiet desperation,’ and I’m sure we all know what this feels like. Life can sometimes seem like a treadmill – running to get nowhere. I have no idea what the purpose of all life is, but I do believe that each of us has an individual purpose, something which we are called to do and which, when we are doing
A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves. ~Lao Tzu When you think of ‘leadership,’ what comes to mind is probably managers working in companies, politicians or other people with a high public profile. There are many roles where leadership is overtly part of the job, but the qualities of leadership are needed
By letting it go it all gets done. The world is won by those who let it go. But when you try and try, the world is beyond the winning. – Lao Tzu Are you trying to achieve something? Most people want to move on – they want more money, a better job, a better deal for their kids. There is nothing wrong with these aspirations – they are healthy
Cycles The world is naturally cyclical. We seem to have forgotten this as we rush to make ‘progress’ and to ‘achieve.’ The tides ebb and flow. Day follows night follows day. The seasons cycle endlessly around as the earth orbits the sun in a circle, tilted on its axis. Plants follow the natural cycle of life, death and rebirth as they die back in the winter and reemerge from their
We are usually told that, to achieve anything of value – to become successful or wealthy – we need to work hard. If you want to build muscle, you’ve got to work out, right? If you want to pass an exam, don’t you need to study hard? If you spend all term watching TV you’re going to fail your exams! We are so used to being told this kind of
I remember the very first time I traveled long haul by plane. The experience of looking down and seeing so many different countries below me, and from such an unfamiliar perspective, made a big impact on me. The details were not discernible, but the structure of the landscape, the rivers and coastlines, were very obvious. Many of our problems exist simply because we have a certain perspective, a certain way
Nothing is good or bad, but thinking makes it so. – Shakespeare The master told his disciples that we never see the world as it is, but only see what we want to see. A passer by heard the master and said ‘how absurd! Of course we see the word as it is.’ The master broke some sticks and placed them on the ground, and asked the passer-by to describe
Over the last hundred years, we have made astonishing progress. In the fields of technology, communication, medicine, engineering, and a host of others, our achievements are remarkable. Our ancestors would be amazed if they could see the world today. And yet, despite all this, we have failed to make progress in some other very basic ways. Although we have incredibly powerful communications technology at our disposal, we fail to communicate
We all live in the same world. And yet the world each of us experiences is very different – not because things are different on the outside, but because the inner landscape each of us inhabits varies so much from person to person. It has been said that we do not see the world as it is, but as we are – we filter the world through our experiences and
People love to make plans. It is human nature to want to know where we are going. The psychologist Fitzurgh Dodson echoed many other writers when he said, ‘Without goals and plans to reach them, you are like a ship that has set sail with no destination.’ But look back over the course of your life. Did you plan to be where you are now? For most of us, life