New Year, new resolutions and "wu wei".
Posted by Fiona Anderson. on Saturday, December 19, 2015
Many people translate "wu wei" as meaning things will just happen, but there's more to it than that:
For ages, I have been planning out my back garden... Since I'm not the world's keenest gardener, but still want a nice tranquil place to have green growing stuff, sit out in, as well as practice my tai chi, it's taken me a while to work out what would fit all those different requirements.
So, in preparation for next year, I have now created a middle paved space for room enough to twirl around in. I've also built two hills on either side of the garden, by the opposite fences. One hill is a stepped half-pyramid, where I'll be planting perennials, which will not only look good, but also be edible - fresh veg from the garden, very nice! The other hill is turfed over, so I'll have somewhere nice to sit or lie on, in good weather.
This means my New Year will start with my resolutions for a greener lifestyle already in motion and all the hard work already done! This is the meaning of "wu wei", where you do all the necessary work and then allow things to happen naturally. I've spent ages on the research, then time on the planning, then done the heavy lifting work, so now all I need to do is to get in the right plants and let them grow according to their natures. It's the same with tai chi: take time working on the basics, keep on practising, absorb any corrections with joy that you're improved enough to make sense of them, then you will find that your tai chi improves organically as you keep on doing it!
Enjoy your holidays!
For ages, I have been planning out my back garden... Since I'm not the world's keenest gardener, but still want a nice tranquil place to have green growing stuff, sit out in, as well as practice my tai chi, it's taken me a while to work out what would fit all those different requirements.
So, in preparation for next year, I have now created a middle paved space for room enough to twirl around in. I've also built two hills on either side of the garden, by the opposite fences. One hill is a stepped half-pyramid, where I'll be planting perennials, which will not only look good, but also be edible - fresh veg from the garden, very nice! The other hill is turfed over, so I'll have somewhere nice to sit or lie on, in good weather.
This means my New Year will start with my resolutions for a greener lifestyle already in motion and all the hard work already done! This is the meaning of "wu wei", where you do all the necessary work and then allow things to happen naturally. I've spent ages on the research, then time on the planning, then done the heavy lifting work, so now all I need to do is to get in the right plants and let them grow according to their natures. It's the same with tai chi: take time working on the basics, keep on practising, absorb any corrections with joy that you're improved enough to make sense of them, then you will find that your tai chi improves organically as you keep on doing it!
Enjoy your holidays!
