Daily Tao Te Ching Challenge

Today was day 2 of my 81 day Tao Te Ching challenge on IGTV where I reflect and explore this ancient text each day and strive to relate it to our everyday lives and our chaotic global situation.

I was looking around at friends and collaborators and their well-intentioned urgency to be ‘productive’ during the lockdown. It seemed that many were signing up to as many webinars as possible and I imagined people all around the world asking themselves the question, what did I do during lockdown? There seemed to be pressure to achieve something. “I learnt 3 languages and passed my CFA,” an imaginary figure said in my head (!) as I pondered what was going on in the world.

Perhaps with a ‘winter’ in our social and economic systems upon us, we were being guided to slow down and shift into a more reflective, introspective and creative space. In addition to doing things, its still a good time to embrace ancient wisdom. I am convinced that timeless wisdom like the Tao Te Ching are excellent guides to the chaotic future and I recommend many of my clients who are leaders and CEOS to read it. I have been grappling with this text for the 20 years I’ve been based out of Asia, and 10 years ago when I first truly connected with it – having read it cover to cover in one sitting in my office in Hong Kong – I sat at my desk and cried. I had almost felt the presence of the ancient sage Lao Tsu and the truth of what he was conveying all these thousands of years later. I was later to find how other modern day teachers have found it incredibly powerful; I think Eckhart Tolle has said that its the only book he carries around with him all the time.

Please follow me on IGTV or FB to get daily updates as I won’t add them all to this website. Please do forward to any friends who you think might benefit. It might be useful if you get a copy of the Tao as well – I recommend the Stephen Mitchel translation.

Day 1

Day 2

Day 0 (when I decided to do the challenge)