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What answer would you like to hear?
People ask questions and expect to hear
answers that please them.
They gauge the value of the answer relative to their own
expectations.
There is a danger in this.
Your expectations reflect how you see the world,
society, your life.
They do not reflect how things are. It reflects how you are.
Shaping
We shape our reality relative to our perception of
it. In essence, we see the world that our mind
generates for us.
People forget that our eyes are not windows or cameras.
Our eyes receive data and the brain shapes the
information into a format that we can comprehend and interact with.
This inevitably distorts what we see.
Seeing what we want to see
We smile at a stranger and they respond according to
how they interpret the smile.
A person with a generous, kind spirit will most likely smile back.
A mean, greedy person may well be suspicious and uncertain.
A shy person may feel self-conscious.
An angry person may see a
challenge or a
threat.
Yet the smile is constant.
What changes is how it is perceived.
Tai chi
Your art is shaped to represent how you are -
friendly, aggressive, impatient,
bored, superficial, show off, practical,
studious...
It is a mirror of our inner self.
If you are impatient, your tai chi looks
hurried and flighty. If you are
aggressive and macho, the tai chi reflects this too.
There is no hiding who we are.
It shows through.
Change
Studying Taoism and Zen is very
useful. It has the potential to promote change.
Our fixed, narrow ideas soften and relax.
We become more expansive and receptive, open to the
unknown and eager to explore.
Our outer behaviour mirrors our inner self.
If you go through life struggling with other
people, constantly encountering conflict and
resistance, then something may be wrong.
It may be possible to let-go, to flow, to move more
smoothly through life.
Drifting...
In meditation our attention drifts and we bring it back.
This happens countless times.
We call this 'the meditation process'...
Over time, the mind drifts less and the it returns more naturally.
But it still drifts.
Security
One size does not fit all.
You cannot 'get it right'.
There are no fixed solutions.
Everything is in flux, everything changes.
The end?
If you begin tai chi lessons hoping for a medal, trophy, certificate,
honorific or badge... you are wasting your time.
Tai chi reflects life.
You try.
You make mistakes.
You receive corrections.
You progress relative to who
you are and what you
bring to class with you...
Ebb and flow
You drift and we help
to bring you back.
Over time it gets easier to remain
present and you gain
more from the art.
But there is no end to this.
Tai chi is a work in progress.
Life is a work in progress.
Page created
18 March 1997
Last updated
04 May 2023