Thanks for joining me around this fire where we can talk and share ideas.
Make yourself comfortable and get nice and warm.
Have you ever noticed that the harder you try to force something,
The further away it gets?
The job interview where you really needed it and you could feel yourself over explaining everything.
The conversation where you wanted so badly to say the right thing that you froze.
This is one of those universal human experiences and there's a story about it from the philosopher Zhuang Zhu that I think gets right to the heart of it.
So if you'd like to hear it and you're ready,
Let's begin.
There was once a master archer,
One of the finest in all of China.
He could split an arrow at a hundred paces.
His skill was extraordinary.
One day,
Zhuang Zhu watched him shoot.
Arrow after arrow hit the mark perfectly.
Zhuang Zhu then placed a cup of water on the archer's outstretched arm and said,
Now shoot.
The archer's next arrow missed and the next.
His hand trembled slightly.
His eye lost its ease.
The water,
The stakes,
The awareness of what he stood to lose,
It had all crept in and with it,
The mastery left.
Zhuang Zhu said nothing.
He simply smiled.
Now the archer didn't suddenly forget how to shoot.
His skill was still there.
What changed was his relationship to the outcome.
The moment the stakes felt real,
The self-consciousness crept in and self-consciousness is the enemy of flow.
Zhuang Zhu wrote about this in the 4th century BC and it's just as true now.
When we're attached to results,
When we need things to go a certain way,
We tighten.
And tightening is the opposite of skill.
This doesn't mean you shouldn't care.
It means there's a difference between caring about your work and gripping the outcome.
One opens you,
The other closes you.
Think about when you've been at your best,
In a conversation,
In your work,
In anything creative.
I'd bet you weren't thinking about how it was going.
You were just in it.
That's the state Zhuang Zhu is pointing at.
Not carelessness,
But presence.
The invitation is simple,
Even if it's not easy.
Do the work,
Release the result.
Aim,
And then let the arrow go.
If you want to explore this more,
My course,
The Tao of Effortless Action,
Is all about exactly this.
The Taoist art of doing without forcing.
And if you just want to begin with some stillness,
My morning meditation before the world wakes up is a lovely place to start your day from.
I'd love to share that space with you.
In any case,
I'll keep this fire burning until next time.
So take care of yourself,
And I'll see you soon.
