Podcasts about Tao Te Ching

"11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for the knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out." — Alcoholics Anonymous, Page 59 " We mold clay into a pot, but it is the emptiness inside that makes the vessel useful." — J.H. McDonald, Tao Te Ching, Verse 11   GUS – 12StepRecovery.ai 30 Tools to Stay Sober All Year Round! Here is a link to an online version of the Tao Te Ching that we use in every meeting: https://ttc.tasuki.org/display:Year:1972,1988,1996,2004/section:80 You can download a free PDF of the latest version of Powerless But Not Helpless, a Recovery Interpretation of the Tao Te Ching, at www.BuddyC.org. Feel free to share, post, and distribute this book wherever you believe it will be helpful. You can also sign up for a free daily Tao Recovery Email, access a list of podcasts, and find many other recovery resources.   Join our private Facebook group and continue the conversation! Here is the link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/TaoPodcast/ or search Tao of Our understanding Podcast.   A Course in Miracles - Daily lessons from the 365-Day Course in Miracles Calendar. See the notes in each entry for a more detailed description.  Click Here to add the Course in Miracles Calendar to your Google Calendar   Daily Thought is a daily Google Calendar you can add to your  Google Calendar. It provides a daily thought that combines elements of Christian, ACIM, Tao, and AA. Click here to add the Daily Thought Calendar to your Google Calendar    Nightly 9 pm eastern Zoom A.A. Meeting www.ZoomAAMeetings.com   Would you like to receive a free daily topic email with the most popular A.A. resources, accompanied by a secret Facebook group for discussion? Go to www.DailyAAEmails.com for more information!

En el presente episodio tendremos ocasión de compartir una de las obras filosóficas más importantes de todos los tiempos, atribuida a Lao Tzu o Lao Tsé, según sea pronunciado, aunque muchos historiadores consideran que pudo ser una obra colectiva compilada a lo largo del tiempo y basada en enseñanzas orales taoístas. Hablamos de Tao Te Ching o el libro del sendero, un libro breve y poético que describe el Tao como el principio eterno e indefinible del universo, la fuente de todas las cosas y un orden natural que fluye espontáneamente. El Tao surge en la antigua China, alrededor de los siglos VI al IV a. C. en un contexto de crisis social y política conocido como el período de primaveras y otoños y los reinos combatientes. En dicho tiempo muchos pensadores buscaban comprender el orden natural y la mejor forma de vivir en armonía. Aunque el Tao no puede explicarse completamente con palabras, solo puede experimentarse viviendo en armonía con él. Conformado por 81 breves capítulos, he deseado elaborar este personal audiolibro para el propio disfrute de todos los oyentes y poder adentrarse en esta maravillosa obra e imperecedera filosofía. CONTACTO: eliniciado@yahoo.com Este programa no tiene ánimo de lucro ni será monetizado, por el contrario el único afán es la máxima difusión de cuestiones que nos atañen a todos.

A calming meditation to help you move beyond emotional struggle and soften into trust, ease, and natural self-leadership - with Taoist monk and teacher, David James Lees. In this guided meditation, David gently leads you through the transition from Inner Child healing into emotional integration and authentic inner peace. Inspired by Taoist wisdom, this meditation helps you release constant self-monitoring, emotional over-analysis, and nervous system vigilance, allowing your grounded adult awareness — your Shen — to lead with steadiness and ease. Experience a restorative meditation for emotional healing, self-trust, nervous system regulation, trauma recovery, relaxation, mindfulness, and effortless living. The meditation is ideal for anxiety relief, emotional overwhelm, self-soothing, spiritual growth, and reconnecting with calm presence and flow.⚠️ PLEASE DO NOT LISTEN TO THIS MEDITATION WHILE DRIVING OR OPERATING MACHINERYThis meditation can be practised daily or whenever you need it. Learn more about David's online consultations, events, books and audio teachings: https://www.wuweiwisdom.comSubscribe to David's FREE Journal: https://davidjameslees.substack.com/Other teachings and guided meditations you may enjoy: Reparenting Yourself Without Force: How to Heal the Inner Child Gently https://youtu.be/YC2kzpZs3pI?si=ROup6Y9f_SIvIyErGUIDED MEDITATION PLAYLIST https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9NQ_PWX4zIA12P7BftG6a18lIWFDjL35&si=bWWub6YyoZpXhFubLOVE & RELATIONSHIPS PLAYLIST https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9NQ_PWX4zID3yxrdCbbZFuKHCwgV6qhX&si=-zdah_z6MiSZIl0tIs there a question you'd like answered on the show? Submit it at: https://bit.ly/askusyourquestion Join our free Wu Wei Wisdom Community Facebook support group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/wuweiwisdomcommunity  If you love our work, you can now make a small donation to help fund the continued production of our weekly teachings by buying us a 'virtual coffee'! https://www.buymeacoffee.com/wuweiwisdom Book an online Golden Thread Process & Inner Child Consultation with David: https://www.wuweiwisdom.com/therapies-for-body-mind/ Follow us on Instagram: @wuweiwisdomSign up to receive a relaxing guided meditation gift, plus our weekly newsletter + offers via email: https://www.wuweiwisdom.com/signup -Disclaimer: This podcast and any associated teaching and comments shared are not a substitute for professional therapy, mental health care, crisis support, medical advice, doctor diagnosis, or professional healthcare treatment. Our show episodes provide general information for educational purposes only and are offered as suggestions for you and your professional therapist or healthcare advisor to consider and research.Music by Earth Tree Healing

Right now, as you read this, your heart is beating roughly 70 times a minute.You're not doing it.Your lungs are pulling in air, your cells are dividing, and a planet weighing six septillion kilograms is hurtling through space at 67,000 miles per hour.And you?You're likely worried about the future and…. The Big PictureHere's the truth in its simplest form. You do not know what you actually need to do, and you do not know what will happen entirely by itself.The ancient wisdom traditions, drawing from texts like the Bhagavad Gita and the Tao Te Ching, point to something so obvious we've spent our entire lives missing it.We've confused ourselves into believing we're the doer of things that have been doing themselves since before we were born. That single misunderstanding is the source of nearly all the exhaustion and anxiety you carry every day.Why This MattersRecent studies report stress levels at record highs, with over 75% of adults reporting physical symptoms from chronic worry.Yet the universe has been running flawlessly for 13.8 billion years without your supervision. Your body performs trillions of operations every second without consulting you.So why are we so tired? Because we got recruited into a story that said everything depends on us.The Three States of BeingMost of us bounce between two states: doing and not doing. Gripping or pushing away. Chasing or avoiding.But there's a third option, and the masters called it surrender.It's the state where breath flows on its own. Where the heart beats. Where life unfolds. And your consciousness, instead of being consumed by maintenance, gets liberated to be actually alive. The Proof Is in Your BodyRun this thought experiment. Imagine you were born into a society where, generations ago, people were taught they had to consciously breathe to survive.From birth, your parents would drill it in. “Don't forget to breathe. Pay attention.”Half your daily consciousness would be tied up just staying alive. Conversations would be impossible. Creativity would vanish.Now imagine someone says, “You don't have to do that. It happens by itself.” You wouldn't believe them. Every experience confirms breathing requires effort.Yet the moment you stopped trying, the breath would keep flowing.You already live this reality with your heartbeat, your digestion, your cell division. You've simply forgotten the same principle might apply to everything else. How to Actually Live ThisStart with what you grip the tightest. Your relationship. Your career. Your reputation.Ask honestly, “Am I being Atlas right now? Am I crouched under the weight of something the universe is already carrying?”Then gently, just for a moment, duck your shoulders.Surrender isn't quitting. Surrender is doing without being the doer. It's showing up fully to what's in front of you while releasing your grip on the outcome.When anxiety rises, pause and notice your breath. Notice it's been flowing all day without your help. That single observation can break the spell. Addressing the Skeptics“If I don't take action, nothing will happen.”Surrender isn't passivity. Water flows downhill, but water still flows. The point isn't to stop acting. The point is to stop forcing.“What about people who hustled to the top?”Ask any accomplished person about pivotal moments, and they'll describe something that happened to them. Right place, right time, the right person walking through the door. They participated. They didn't author the outcome.“This sounds like magical thinking.”It's the opposite. Magical thinking says, “If I want it badly enough, the universe will deliver.” Surrender says, “The universe is already delivering exactly what's meant to unfold.” Real-World ApplicationIn your career, do excellent work without attaching to every recognition.In relationships, love people without needing them to be a certain way. When your partner is in a mood, let it pass like weather through a sky.In your finances, make wise decisions without white-knuckling every dollar.In the bigger questions, trust that the same intelligence running your heart can probably handle the next chapter. The Hidden LayerHere's what fewer people realize. True surrender is functionally invisible.You cannot prove to anyone that you're not the doer. When your life unfolds beautifully, observers will insist you did it. They'll credit your strategy and hustle. And you'll smile, because you'll know the truth.It was never you. The Lingering ThoughtRight now, as you finish reading these words, your breath is still flowing. Your heart is still beating. The Earth is still turning.And somewhere, quietly, beneath all your striving and worrying and planning, something far wiser than your mind has been running the show this entire time.It always has been.The only question is whether you'll finally let it.---Get to the level of resolve in minutes, not months. The path is a next level Trauma-Informed Oracle journey -a personalized digital guide blending nervous system science with intuitive insight to help high achievers, therapists, and healers release emotional blocks efficiently—without years of divination training or one-off oracle readings.Shift to Your Focus to your DESIRES!Start with our daily transit astrologist or dream decoder.Next level? Upgrade to unlock the app and the 5 guides for spiritual problem solving to embrace change, deepen intuition, and align with your NOW and evolutionary - future self.Because…….you don't grow to the height of your vision—you rise or fall to the level of your beliefs.The Light Between Oracle Journey offers a sacred journey and deeper path for inner personal and professional growth in a world full of noise.It helps you slow down, reconnect, and experience meaningful transformation.Each Guide and 5-layer reading guides you to slow down, access what matters most, and receive precise guidance. * Access personalized guidance for clarity and empowerment* Rewire limiting beliefs and reclaim your power* Use hypnotic visualizations and poetic insights to support healing* Tune into your inner wisdom and make soul-aligned decisionsIncluded with Subscription:The app and the 5 guides for spiritual problem solvingSubscription Breakdown:MONTHLY:For just $7/month, gain access to the app and the 5 guides.YEARLY:For a one-time fee of $84/yr (everything in monthly and bonuses)Love, Kassandra This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thelightbetween.substack.com/subscribe

"10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it." — Alcoholics Anonymous, Page 59 "Take on difficulties while they are still easy." — Jonathan Star, Tao Te Ching, The Definitive Edition, Verse 63   GUS - 12StepRecovery.AI 30 Tools to Stay Sober All Year Round! Here is a link to an online version of the Tao Te Ching that we use in every meeting: https://ttc.tasuki.org/display:Year:1972,1988,1996,2004/section:80 You can download a free PDF of the latest version of Powerless But Not Helpless, a Recovery Interpretation of the Tao Te Ching, at www.BuddyC.org. Feel free to share, post, and distribute this book wherever you believe it will be helpful. You can also sign up for a free daily Tao Recovery Email, access a list of podcasts, and find many other recovery resources.   Join our private Facebook group and continue the conversation! Here is the link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/TaoPodcast/ or search Tao of Our understanding Podcast.   A Course in Miracles - Daily lessons from the 365-Day Course in Miracles Calendar. See the notes in each entry for a more detailed description.  Click Here to add the Course in Miracles Calendar to your Google Calendar   Daily Thought is a daily Google Calendar you can add to your  Google Calendar. It provides a daily thought that combines elements of Christian, ACIM, Tao, and AA. Click here to add the Daily Thought Calendar to your Google Calendar    Nightly 9 pm eastern Zoom A.A. Meeting www.ZoomAAMeetings.com   Would you like to receive a free daily topic email with the most popular A.A. resources, accompanied by a secret Facebook group for discussion? Go to www.DailyAAEmails.com for more information!

What does ancient wisdom actually look like in everyday life? In this episode, we sit with Verse 15 of the Tao Te Ching to explore why the modern obsession with constant action and "mountain-top" achievements might be keeping us stuck. Through Lao Tzu's imagery of crossing thin ice, becoming like a valley, and letting muddy water settle, we learn that sometimes the most powerful action we can take is to step back, put the glass down, and let clarity happen on its own.Grab a warm drink, take a deep breath, and let's slow down for a few minutes.**** Intro: The mistake of "stirring the pot" when we need answers.**** The Verse: A slow reading of Verse 15.**** The Ice: Why walking on thin ice demands an absolute honesty that can't be faked.**** The Valley: Shifting away from a culture that worships the mountain, and finding the quiet power of receptivity.**** Mud & Water: Why a glass of muddy water doesn't need to be fixed—it just needs to be set down.**** Releasing the Grip: Living in the present instead of waiting for life to "finally arrive."The ancient Masters were profound and subtle.Their wisdom was unfathomable.There is no way to describe it; all we can describe is their appearance. They were careful as someone crossing an iced-over stream.Alert as a warrior in enemy territory.Courteous as a guest.Fluid as melting ice.Shapable as a block of wood.Receptive as a valley.Clear as a glass of water.Do you have the patience to wait till your mud settles and the water is clear?Can you remain unmoving till the right action arises by itself?The Master doesn't seek fulfillment.Not seeking, not expecting, she is present, and can welcome all things.Where in your life right now are you desperately stirring the water? What would happen if you just set the glass down and let gravity do its work?If you enjoyed this episode, please consider subscribing, leaving a review, or sharing it with someone who needs a few quiet minutes today.In This Episode, We Discuss:The Verse: Verse Fifteen (The Ancient Masters)A Question to Carry With You This Week:

Discover why healing is not endless self-work — it's the moment you finally feel safe enough to live freely, lightly, and fully as yourself.This is part 4 of our powerful 4-part Inner Child series for 2026.In this episode, we explore the profound shift from healing to integration — the stage where emotional regulation becomes natural, self-monitoring falls away, and your calm adult self leads with ease.You'll learn why some people get trapped in endless self-improvement, and the real signs that healing has matured into wholeness. Learn how playfulness, spontaneity, emotional resilience, inner peace, and effortless living return when safety becomes embodied.This is a powerful guide to Inner Child integration, emotional healing, Taoist wisdom, nervous system regulation, self-awareness, and living with calm, presence, and freedom.Watch part 1 here: https://youtu.be/FY0EMmLfiDw?si=vTqAAqPGWAcsgHFxWatch part 2 here: https://youtu.be/HhxyED-VSik?si=JkAIyg2kcWdRklh1 Watch part 3 here: https://youtu.be/YC2kzpZs3pI?si=lnGkxDDGgq27za3I With your hosts, David James Lees (ordained Taoist monk, emotional and spiritual health teacher) and Alexandra Lees (mindset and business coach).Learn more about David's online consultations, events, books and audio teachings: https://www.wuweiwisdom.comSubscribe to David's FREE Journal: https://davidjameslees.substack.com/Other related teachings on our YouTube channel that will help you:Our INNER CHILD PLAYLIST  https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9NQ_PWX4zICGLRS1b7q1HSJhZRash5qqOur GOLDEN THREAD PROCESS PLAYLIST https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9NQ_PWX4zIAsS_wgdRN7QGBKIk54sbyDIs there a question you'd like answered on the show? Submit it at: https://bit.ly/askusyourquestion Join our free Wu Wei Wisdom Community Facebook support group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/wuweiwisdomcommunity  If you love our work, you can now make a small donation to help fund the continued production of our weekly teachings by buying us a 'virtual coffee'! https://www.buymeacoffee.com/wuweiwisdom Follow us on Instagram: @wuweiwisdomSign up to receive a relaxing guided meditation gift, plus our weekly newsletter + offers via email:  https://www.wuweiwisdom.com/signup Music by Earth Tree HealingDisclaimer: This podcast and any associated teaching and comments shared are not a substitute for professional therapy, mental health care, crisis support, medical advice, doctor diagnosis, or professional healthcare treatment. Our show episodes provide general information for educational purposes only and are offered as suggestions for you and your professional therapist or healthcare advisor to consider and research.

"9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others." — Alcoholics Anonymous, Page 59 "Though the Tao of Heaven has no favorites, it always sides with one who has a pure heart." — Jonathan Star, Tao Te Ching, The Definitive Edition, Verse 79   GUS - https://chatgpt.com/g/g-69f9f86d3e9481919d2d732149f68d66-gus 30 Tools to Stay Sober All Year Round! Here is a link to an online version of the Tao Te Ching that we use in every meeting: https://ttc.tasuki.org/display:Year:1972,1988,1996,2004/section:80 You can download a free PDF of the latest version of Powerless But Not Helpless, a Recovery Interpretation of the Tao Te Ching, at www.BuddyC.org. Feel free to share, post, and distribute this book wherever you believe it will be helpful. You can also sign up for a free daily Tao Recovery Email, access a list of podcasts, and find many other recovery resources.   Join our private Facebook group and continue the conversation! Here is the link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/TaoPodcast/ or search Tao of Our understanding Podcast.   A Course in Miracles - Daily lessons from the 365-Day Course in Miracles Calendar. See the notes in each entry for a more detailed description.  Click Here to add the Course in Miracles Calendar to your Google Calendar   Daily Thought is a daily Google Calendar you can add to your  Google Calendar. It provides a daily thought that combines elements of Christian, ACIM, Tao, and AA. Click here to add the Daily Thought Calendar to your Google Calendar    Nightly 9 pm eastern Zoom A.A. Meeting www.ZoomAAMeetings.com   Would you like to receive a free daily topic email with the most popular A.A. resources, accompanied by a secret Facebook group for discussion? Go to www.DailyAAEmails.com for more information!

In this episode, we step away from the cultural demand for constant optimization and sit with Verse 14 of the Tao Te Ching (Stephen Mitchell translation). Lao Tzu takes us to the very edge of language, dismantling our reliance on seeing, hearing, and grasping to verify reality. We explore the concept of "negative space" in life, why you can't think your way into the Tao, and what it truly means to be "at ease in your own life"—not by arriving somewhere new, but by remembering where you came from.Look, and it can't be seen.Listen, and it can't be heard.Reach, and it can't be grasped.Above, it isn't bright.Below, it isn't dark.Seamless, unnameable, it returns to the realm of nothing.Form that includes all forms, image without an image, subtle, beyond all conception.Approach it and there is no beginning; follow it and there is no end.You can't know it, but you can be it, at ease in your own life.Just realize where you come from: this is the essence of wisdom.The Verse— Tao Te Ching, Verse 14 (Trans. Stephen Mitchell)

Discover why anger never truly protects you — and how Taoist wisdom helps you finally release resentment, emotional pain, and inner conflict.In this Tao Dialogues episode, discover how resentment, emotional triggers, and replaying past pain can quietly shape your identity and block inner peace. Through Taoist wisdom, Inner Child healing, authentic self-awareness, and wu wei teachings, you'll learn how to release anger without suppressing emotions or losing your boundaries. The teaching is perfect for anyone struggling with anger, stress, emotional overwhelm, or their spiritual growth. Read the blog post that inspired this episode: https://davidjameslees.substack.com/p/burning-bridges  [first blog post on this page]Our Tao Dialogues are powerful yet gentle teachings about authenticity, spirituality and finding emotional balance and flow in everyday life. These spoken-word episodes draw from David James Lees' practice as a Taoist monk and teacher, and expand upon popular posts on ‘David's Journal', his Substack blog.You can subscribe to David's Journal here: https://davidjameslees.substack.com/Learn more about David's online consultations, events, books and audio teachings: https://www.wuweiwisdom.comOther related teachings on our YouTube channel that will help you:TAO DIALOGUES PLAYLIST  https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9NQ_PWX4zICamFP2zMyey3KGTnfm2aUq&si=AW_ZOUeldKv3nHhFSHEN (THE SPIRITUAL SELF) PLAYLIST https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9NQ_PWX4zIBmp50wYcmU7jCBLp1Qvl-jINNER CHILD PLAYLIST  https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9NQ_PWX4zICGLRS1b7q1HSJhZRash5qqIs there a question you'd like answered on the show? Submit it at: https://bit.ly/askusyourquestion Join our free Wu Wei Wisdom Community Facebook support group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/wuweiwisdomcommunity  If you love our work, you can now make a small donation to help fund the continued production of our weekly teachings by buying us a 'virtual coffee'! https://www.buymeacoffee.com/wuweiwisdom Book an online Golden Thread Process & Inner Child Consultation with David: https://www.wuweiwisdom.com/therapies-for-body-mind/ Follow us on Instagram: @wuweiwisdomSign up to receive a relaxing guided meditation gift, plus our weekly newsletter + offers via email: https://www.wuweiwisdom.com/signup -Disclaimer: This podcast and any associated teaching and comments shared are not a substitute for professional therapy, mental health care, crisis support, medical advice, doctor diagnosis, or professional healthcare treatment. Our show episodes provide general information for educational purposes only and are offered as suggestions for you and your professional therapist or healthcare advisor to consider and research.Mus

"8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all." — Alcoholics Anonymous, Page 59   "If you want to take something, you must first allow it to be given." — Stephen Mitchell, Tao Te Ching, Verse 36   30 Tools to Stay Sober All Year Round! Here is a link to an online version of the Tao Te Ching that we use in every meeting: https://ttc.tasuki.org/display:Year:1972,1988,1996,2004/section:80 You can download a free PDF of the latest version of Powerless But Not Helpless, a Recovery Interpretation of the Tao Te Ching, at www.BuddyC.org. Feel free to share, post, and distribute this book wherever you believe it will be helpful. You can also sign up for a free daily Tao Recovery Email, access a list of podcasts, and find many other recovery resources.   Join our private Facebook group and continue the conversation! Here is the link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/TaoPodcast/ or search Tao of Our understanding Podcast.   A Course in Miracles - Daily lessons from the 365-Day Course in Miracles Calendar. See the notes in each entry for a more detailed description.  Click Here to add the Course in Miracles Calendar to your Google Calendar   Daily Thought is a daily Google Calendar you can add to your  Google Calendar. It provides a daily thought that combines elements of Christian, ACIM, Tao, and AA. Click here to add the Daily Thought Calendar to your Google Calendar    Nightly 9 pm eastern Zoom A.A. Meeting www.ZoomAAMeetings.com   Would you like to receive a free daily topic email with the most popular A.A. resources, accompanied by a secret Facebook group for discussion? Go to www.DailyAAEmails.com for more information!

In this episode of The Coffee Buzz Podcast, we pause to sit with one of the most counter-intuitive passages in the Tao Te Ching: Verse Thirteen.Most of us spend our lives trying to climb. We are taught that hitting the next rung brings security, and that falling backward is the ultimate failure. But Lao Tzu pushes back on this entire architecture, suggesting that success and failure are equally dangerous—and that hope might just be fear in a better outfit.Grab a comfortable chair, pour yourself something warm, and let's take a few quiet minutes to step off the ladder and find the ground beneath our feet.The Trap of the Ladder: Why reaching the top of a professional or social ladder often yields exposure and fragility rather than the stability we were promised.Hope vs. Fear: Exploring the shared architecture of these two "phantoms." How both emotions anchor us to a fragile ego and pull us out of the present moment.The Ground's Indifference: Why the earth requiring nothing of us is actually the ultimate form of freedom and support.A Story of Shaky Ground: A real-world example of a design firm owner who found her ultimate clarity and vitality only after her position was kicked out from under her.The Medicine: How expanding our definition of "self" transforms fear into a practical, deeply felt capacity to care for the world."The ladder requires you to perform; the ground just lets you exist.""Hope is just fear in a better outfit. Both keep us from being right here, right now.""When the ladder is kicked out from under you, you find out that the ground was always there."Tao Te Ching — Translated by Stephen Mitchell (Verse 13: Favor and Disgrace)Notice the ladders you are currently climbing, and the ones you are terrified of falling from. Just for today, see if you can take your two feet off the rungs.Put them on the ground. And love the world as your self.

A calming meditation with gentle Inner Child healing for emotional safety and self-trust - with Taoist monk and teacher, David James Lees.In this guided meditation on gentle reparenting and Inner Child healing, we explore how to create emotional safety, self-trust and calm authority within yourself — without pressure, force or self-criticism.Drawing on Taoist wisdom, mindfulness and emotional healing principles, this meditation helps you reconnect with your Shen (your calm spiritual essence), regulate emotional triggers, release urgency, and build inner peace through steady self-guidance and self-awareness.The meditation is ideal for soothing emotional overwhelm, and supporting self-love, reparenting work and personal growth.⚠️ PLEASE DO NOT LISTEN TO THIS MEDITATION WHILE DRIVING OR OPERATING MACHINERYThis meditation can be practised daily or whenever you need it. Learn more about our online consultations, events, books and audio teachings: https://www.wuweiwisdom.comSubscribe to David's FREE Journal: https://davidjameslees.substack.com/Other teachings and guided meditations you may enjoy: Reparenting Yourself Without Force: How to Heal the Inner Child Gently https://youtu.be/YC2kzpZs3pI?si=ROup6Y9f_SIvIyErGUIDED MEDITATION PLAYLIST https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9NQ_PWX4zIA12P7BftG6a18lIWFDjL35&si=bWWub6YyoZpXhFubLOVE & RELATIONSHIPS PLAYLIST https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9NQ_PWX4zID3yxrdCbbZFuKHCwgV6qhX&si=-zdah_z6MiSZIl0tIs there a question you'd like answered on the show? Submit it at: https://bit.ly/askusyourquestion Join our free Wu Wei Wisdom Community Facebook support group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/wuweiwisdomcommunity  If you love our work, you can now make a small donation to help fund the continued production of our weekly teachings by buying us a 'virtual coffee'! https://www.buymeacoffee.com/wuweiwisdom Book an online Golden Thread Process & Inner Child Consultation with David: https://www.wuweiwisdom.com/therapies-for-body-mind/ Follow us on Instagram: @wuweiwisdomSign up to receive a relaxing guided meditation gift, plus our weekly newsletter + offers via email: https://www.wuweiwisdom.com/signup -Disclaimer: This podcast and any associated teaching and comments shared are not a substitute for professional therapy, mental health care, crisis support, medical advice, doctor diagnosis, or professional healthcare treatment. Our show episodes provide general information for educational purposes only and are offered as suggestions for you and your professional therapist or healthcare advisor to consider and research.Music by Earth Tree Healing

Prashanthi Amarnath is an information technology engineer and author of Embracing Paradox:  A Mystical Adventure with the Tao Te Ching Through 81 Enchanting Micro Lessons (2026).  The Tao Te Ching is often treated as an ancient hurdle to clear or a complex riddle to solve.  In Embracing Paradox, Prashanthi invites you to see it differently; not as a daunting divide of language and ideas, but as a guide steering you through the winding paths of your own existence.  Through 81 enchanting micro-lessons, the book transforms ancient wisdom into a modern roadmap for handling life's uncertainties.  it is a journey than began not in a library, but in the grit of everyday life--across the landscapes of India, Australia, and the United States.   For more information about Prashanthi, and to connect with her life and work, please see:  https://www.embracingparadox.com/ This podcast is available on your favorite podcast feed, or here:  https://endoftheroad.libsyn.com/episode-343-prashanthi-amarnath-embracing-paradoxtao-te-ching Have a blessed weekend!

"7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings." — Alcoholics Anonymous, Page 59   "Only in being lived by the Tao can you be truly yourself." — Stephen Mitchell, Tao Te Ching, Verse 22   30 Tools to Stay Sober All Year Round! Here is a link to an online version of the Tao Te Ching that we use in every meeting: https://ttc.tasuki.org/display:Year:1972,1988,1996,2004/section:80 You can download a free PDF of the latest version of Powerless But Not Helpless, a Recovery Interpretation of the Tao Te Ching, at www.BuddyC.org. Feel free to share, post, and distribute this book wherever you believe it will be helpful. You can also sign up for a free daily Tao Recovery Email, access a list of podcasts, and find many other recovery resources.   Join our private Facebook group and continue the conversation! Here is the link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/TaoPodcast/ or search Tao of Our understanding Podcast.   A Course in Miracles - Daily lessons from the 365-Day Course in Miracles Calendar. See the notes in each entry for a more detailed description.  Click Here to add the Course in Miracles Calendar to your Google Calendar   Daily Thought is a daily Google Calendar you can add to your  Google Calendar. It provides a daily thought that combines elements of Christian, ACIM, Tao, and AA. Click here to add the Daily Thought Calendar to your Google Calendar    Nightly 9 pm eastern Zoom A.A. Meeting www.ZoomAAMeetings.com   Would you like to receive a free daily topic email with the most popular A.A. resources, accompanied by a secret Facebook group for discussion? Go to www.DailyAAEmails.com for more information!

In this episode, we sit with Verse Twelve of the Tao Te Ching (Stephen Mitchell translation). We explore the paradox of modern excess: how a world designed to stimulate our senses often leaves us numb, and how the "Master" navigates this noise without withdrawing from it.Colors blind the eye.Sounds deafen the ear.Flavors numb the taste.Thoughts weaken the mind.Desires wither the heart.The Master observes the worldbut trusts his inner vision.He allows things to come and go.His heart is open as the sky.The Irony of Excess: Lao Tzu isn't arguing against beauty or sensory experience; he is diagnosing overexposure. When we drown our senses in constant "signal," we lose the ability to actually perceive the world.Mental Static vs. Thinking: We often mistake a "chronic mental overcrowding" for productive thought. True thinking is a precision instrument, but it becomes dull when forced to process an endless churn of reactions and anxieties.The Wanting Machine: Constant appetite and the accumulation of desires don't expand the heart—they wither it, making our internal world smaller and more reactive.The Master's Orientation: Living "in the world but not of it." The goal isn't to hide in a cave, but to keep one ear tuned to something quieter while allowing the stream of life to move through us without grasping at it."We've taken the most ancient of human senses and drowned it in signal.""Silence stopped feeling like quiet and started feeling like deprivation.""The mind... starts mistaking noise for signal.""His heart is open—not like a wound, but like space."What would it feel like to be genuinely nourished by less?Consider being more selective this week. Instead of a dozen half-attended conversations or a hundred scrolled images, try to find one thing—a meal, a walk, a single page of a book—and give it your full, un-fragmented presence.Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse (for further reflection on the journey toward inner vision)The Way of Zen by Alan WattsBill Evans - Alone (for a musical companion to quiet reflection)Thank you for listening to The Coffee Buzz. Find a chair, pour another cup, and we'll see you next time.

Ever seen or doodled a yin-yang symbol? Does the proverb "The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step" ring a bell? You've brushed up against the Tao Te Ching, one of the most influential works of Ancient Chinese literature that's also the foundational text of Taoism (pronounced "daoism"), China's major native religion. Traditionally ascribed to a scholar called Lao-Tzu, the Tao Te Ching was likely a collection of related poems and proverbs by many authors, collected into an anthology around 350 BCE. In this episode, we walk through some of the main concepts, including the Tao as a cosmic force, the principle of wu wei, or non-action, and how you can see the tensions of China's Warring States Period (c. 475–221 BCE) shining through in the text.Want a transcript or access to the list of references we used for this episode? Click here. Don't forget to subscribe, rate, and review us! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Peter Merel: When a Hub-and-Spoke Executive Hijacks Your Agile Transformation — And What to Do About It Read the full Show Notes and search through the world's largest audio library on Agile and Scrum directly on the Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast website: http://bit.ly/SMTP_ShowNotes.   "Either you're going to do what you know works, or you're going to step away. Either way, you're not going to do damage to your client." - Peter Merel   After a successful transformation at Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Peter Merel moved to Westpac, another major Australian bank, expecting to replicate the same approach. He found an executive who appeared eager to support an agile transformation — but this executive saw agile as the ideal form of micromanagement. Everything and everyone revolved around this one individual, and as Peter began facilitating conversations that didn't hub on the executive, the executive felt disempowered. Peter was blind to this dynamic — he had never encountered it before. The situation deteriorated because Peter had been hired to run a push-based transformation, when he knew from experience that only pull-based transformation works. At Commonwealth Bank, he had built a thin steel thread from business through to DevOps with a small group, proved it worked, and then grown it organically. At Westpac, he let himself be persuaded to push change into the organization, and it compromised everything. The lesson Peter shares is stark: if you can't do what you know works, and you can't step away, then you are the problem. He also warns that when coaches fail this way, they make life harder for whoever comes next — a responsibility that's easy to overlook in the moment.   In this segment, we talk about pull-based transformation and why push-based change programs consistently fail in large organizations.   Self-reflection Question: Are you currently in a situation where you've compromised on your approach to change — and if so, are you doing more damage by staying than you would by stepping away? Featured Book of the Week: The Agile Way by Peter Merel Peter's own book, The Agile Way, is his modern translation of the Tao Te Ching — a 3,000-year-old text he argues was originally about how to achieve agile development in organizations large and small. Peter first started translating this text in 1989, and after decades of iteration, the book draws connections between ancient wisdom and modern agile practices — XP, Lean, Theory of Constraints, throughput accounting, and permaculture. As Peter explains, "The sage in Lao Tzu is Shang Ren — agile people. This is a book about agile people, agility, and it always was." The book is available at agile.way.pm, and Kent Beck, who wrote the foreword, calls it "a dangerous little book" — dangerous in the same sense as the word extreme.   [The Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast Recommends]

"6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character." — Alcoholics Anonymous, Page 59  "Can you deal with the most vital matters by letting events take their course? Can you step back from you own mind and thus understand all things?" — Stephen Mitchell, Tao Te Ching, Verse 10   30 Tools to Stay Sober All Year Round! Here is a link to an online version of the Tao Te Ching that we use in every meeting: https://ttc.tasuki.org/display:Year:1972,1988,1996,2004/section:80 You can download a free PDF of the latest version of Powerless But Not Helpless, a Recovery Interpretation of the Tao Te Ching, at www.BuddyC.org. Feel free to share, post, and distribute this book wherever you believe it will be helpful. You can also sign up for a free daily Tao Recovery Email, access a list of podcasts, and find many other recovery resources.   Join our private Facebook group and continue the conversation! Here is the link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/TaoPodcast/ or search Tao of Our understanding Podcast.   A Course in Miracles - Daily lessons from the 365-Day Course in Miracles Calendar. See the notes in each entry for a more detailed description.  Click Here to add the Course in Miracles Calendar to your Google Calendar   Daily Thought is a daily Google Calendar you can add to your  Google Calendar. It provides a daily thought that combines elements of Christian, ACIM, Tao, and AA. Click here to add the Daily Thought Calendar to your Google Calendar    Nightly 9 pm eastern Zoom A.A. Meeting www.ZoomAAMeetings.com   Would you like to receive a free daily topic email with the most popular A.A. resources, accompanied by a secret Facebook group for discussion? Go to www.DailyAAEmails.com for more information!

We want to hear from you! Please, send us a text comment or suggestion. In this episode of Home Sweet Home, we explore a timeless and thought-provoking perspective on love through the wisdom of Lao Tzu and the Tao Te Ching. Together, we unpack five distinct expressions of love, from the unhealthy patterns of possessiveness, codependency, and romantic illusion to the freer, more mature forms of love rooted in openness, compassion, and harmony. This conversation challenges the common cultural idea that love is about ownership, control, or finding the “perfect” person, and instead invites us to consider love as something deeper: a way of relating to others and to life itself. As we move through these five levels, we reflect on how fear, ego, and insecurity can distort love, and how awareness can help us move toward relationships that are healthier, more authentic, and less conditional. Ultimately, this episode is a reminder that love is not just something we seek—it is something we learn to embody. To find out more about Rod McCall and Eryk's Place of Hope check out https://fortheloveoferyk.com/ & https://eryksplaceofhope.com/Find us on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to your podcasts.

The harder you chase joy, the further it slips away - here's why...In this episode of Tao Dialogues, we explore a powerful Taoist truth: joy isn't something you achieve — it's something you allow.Most of us are conditioned to believe “I'll be happy when…” — but that chase is exactly what keeps joy out of reach. This teaching reveals how the Inner Child creates urgency, comparison, and pressure, while Shen — your deeper authentic nature — guides you back to calm, presence, and enoughness.Discover how practising wu wei (effortless effort) shifts you from striving to flowing — and why true joy appears the moment you stop chasing and start aligning with what already is. Because nothing is missing — and joy has been here all along.Read the blog post that inspired this episode:https://davidjameslees.substack.com/p/middle-light  [second blog on this page] Our Tao Dialogues are powerful yet gentle teachings about authenticity, spirituality and finding emotional balance and flow in everyday life. These spoken-word episodes draw from David James Lees' practice as a Taoist monk and teacher, and expand upon popular posts on ‘David's Journal', his Substack blog.You can subscribe to David's Journal here: https://davidjameslees.substack.com/Discover David's online consultations, events and shop: https://www.wuweiwisdom.comOther related teachings on our YouTube channel that will help you:TAO DIALOGUES PLAYLIST  https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9NQ_PWX4zICamFP2zMyey3KGTnfm2aUq&si=AW_ZOUeldKv3nHhFSHEN (THE SPIRITUAL SELF) PLAYLIST https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9NQ_PWX4zIBmp50wYcmU7jCBLp1Qvl-jINNER CHILD PLAYLIST  https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9NQ_PWX4zICGLRS1b7q1HSJhZRash5qqJoin our free Wu Wei Wisdom Community Facebook support group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/wuweiwisdomcommunity  Book an online Golden Thread Process & Inner Child Consultation with David: https://www.wuweiwisdom.com/therapies-for-body-mind/ Follow us on Instagram: @wuweiwisdomSign up to receive a relaxing guided meditation gift, plus our weekly newsletter + offers via email: https://www.wuweiwisdom.com/signup -Disclaimer: This podcast and any associated teaching and comments shared are not a substitute for professional therapy, mental health care, crisis support, medical advice, doctor diagnosis, or professional healthcare treatment. Our show episodes provide general information for educational purposes only and are offered as suggestions for you and your professional therapist or healthcare advisor to consider and research.Music by Earth Tree Healing

In this episode, we dive into one of the most practical and paradoxically profound chapters of the Tao Te Ching: Verse Eleven. We explore Lao Tzu's fascination with the "nothing" at the center of things—the hole in the wheel, the hollow of a pot, and the space within a room.Society teaches us to value what is tangible and "full," but this episode challenges that notion, reminding us that while we work with being, it is non-being that we actually use.The Load-Bearing Nothing: Why the most functional part of a wheel is the part that isn't there.Playing the Rests: Understanding "negative space" through the lens of music and silence.The Architecture of Life: A reminder that a house is only livable because of the space inside, not the walls themselves.Inventory vs. Utility: Moving away from a "full cup" mentality to create capacity for new experiences."A life that is all structure and no space — all doing and no room to receive — is like a house with no interior. It looks solid from the outside... but you can't even live in it yourself."We join spokes together in a wheel,but it is the center holethat makes the wagon move.We shape clay into a pot,but it is the emptiness insidethat holds whatever we want.We hammer wood for a house,but it is the inner spacethat makes it livable.We work with being,but non-being is what we use.The "Hollow" Check:Look at your schedule for the day. Is there an intentional gap where you aren't producing or consuming? If your day is 100% "spokes" and 0% "center hole," how is your wagon supposed to move? Find five minutes today to simply be the vessel.Key Themes & ReflectionsFeatured QuoteThe Verse (Stephen Mitchell)Practical Takeaway

"I spent five years hurting a good woman by staying with her but never fully choosing her." That one sentence, written by Bryan Reeves, has been read by tens of millions of people. On this episode of Men Talking Mindfulness, hosts Jon Macaskill and Will Schneider sit down with Bryan... former U.S. Air Force captain, relationship coach, and author of the book Choose Her Every Day or Leave Her... to talk about what men actually get wrong in their relationships and what it takes to fix it.Bryan gets into the paradox at the center of every committed relationship... the need to care deeply about your partner while also holding onto yourself. He talks about why so many men bounce between total sacrifice and total detachment, why "what would serve we?" is the most powerful question a couple can ask, and why connection time is not productive time, even though every mission-oriented bone in your body says otherwise.Jon and Bryan go deep on the two fears that show up in men over and over again... "I'm not worthy of love" and "I'm going to mess this up." They get into how those fears drive the shame cycle in relationships and how mindfulness is the practice that interrupts it. Bryan shares a story about studying the Tao Te Ching while being completely unable to apply any of it in his own relationship. Twenty-five years later, he can. The difference is reps.They also talk about when leaving is the most loving choice, why men need men's work that isn't just beer and football, and why learning to play again matters more than most men realize.What you'll hear in this episode:Why "checking the box" on your relationship is slowly killing itThe paradox of caring and not caring at the same timeThe two core fears men bring to relationships and how they feed the shame cycleHow mindfulness gives you access to repair after a fightWhy the Gottman Institute says arguing past ten minutes is pointlessWhen leaving in love is the right choiceWhy men's work and play are connected to being a better partner and parentBryan's book: Choose Her Every Day or Leave Her Bryan's website: bryanreeves.com (Bryan with a Y) Bryan's programs: Elevate Your Relationship, Elevate 2026 (annual men's group)Jon and Will's new course is coming out soon... sign up here to stay in the loop https://focusnowtraining.com/a2a-course-interestSign up for our newsletter... text MTM to 33777.Jon's new book, DIAL in Your Leadership: 4 Non-negotiables for Leading with Clarity, Trust, and Purpose, is available now on Amazon. https://a.co/d/0hYwI2SzFollow Men Talking Mindfulness, Jon Macaskill, and Will Schneider for more.Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

In this fifth-day talk, offered during the Spring Practice Period Sesshin, Senko and Sensei Monshin explore the ninth ox-herding picture, Returning to the Source — the stage where effort ceases and life simply flows. Drawing on Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching, the Xin Xin Ming, and the Song of the Grass Hut, Monshin traces the difference between striving and ease, and how returning to the source is not… Source

"5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs." — Alcoholics Anonymous, Page 59 "A great nation is like a great man: When he makes a mistake, he realizes it. Having realized it, he admits it. Having admitted it, he corrects it. He considers those who point out his faults as his most benevolent teachers. He thinks of his enemy as the shadow that he himself casts." — Stephen Mitchell, Tao Te Ching, Verse 38   30 Tools to Stay Sober All Year Round! Here is a link to an online version of the Tao Te Ching that we use in every meeting: https://ttc.tasuki.org/display:Year:1972,1988,1996,2004/section:80 You can download a free PDF of the latest version of Powerless But Not Helpless, a Recovery Interpretation of the Tao Te Ching, at www.BuddyC.org. Feel free to share, post, and distribute this book wherever you believe it will be helpful. You can also sign up for a free daily Tao Recovery Email, access a list of podcasts, and find many other recovery resources.   Join our private Facebook group and continue the conversation! Here is the link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/TaoPodcast/ or search Tao of Our understanding Podcast.   A Course in Miracles - Daily lessons from the 365-Day Course in Miracles Calendar. See the notes in each entry for a more detailed description.  Click Here to add the Course in Miracles Calendar to your Google Calendar   Daily Thought is a daily Google Calendar you can add to your  Google Calendar. It provides a daily thought that combines elements of Christian, ACIM, Tao, and AA. Click here to add the Daily Thought Calendar to your Google Calendar    Nightly 9 pm eastern Zoom A.A. Meeting www.ZoomAAMeetings.com   Would you like to receive a free daily topic email with the most popular A.A. resources, accompanied by a secret Facebook group for discussion? Go to www.DailyAAEmails.com for more information!

Audiobook.  Mature listeners only (18+).  Inspired by the Tao Te Ching.  Song: Rok Nardin - Her Gaze.

In this episode of The Coffee Buzz, we take a pause from the usual productivity hacks and fast-paced schedules to sit with Verse 10 of the Tao Te Ching. Unlike many of Lao Tzu's other passages that make deep, authoritative declarations, Verse 10 is simply a list of six profound questions.We explore what it means to gently coax our wandering minds back to stillness, why there is strength in remaining soft, and how to strip away our assumptions to see the world as it actually is. Finally, we discuss the "supreme virtue" (Te)—how to act, lead, and love with your whole heart while keeping your hands entirely open to the outcome.Pour yourself a cup of coffee, find your chair, and join us for a few quiet minutes of reflection.Key Reflections in This Episode:The Wandering Mind: The vital difference between forcing your mind to be quiet and gently coaxing it home.The Strength of Softness: Why hardening our opinions and our bodies limits our ability to truly connect with others.Cleansing the Vision: Overcoming our "perceptual sets" to see what is actually in front of us without the veil of our own commentary.The Supreme Virtue (Te): How to give birth and nourish, have without possessing, and lead without trying to control.Read Along: Verse 10 (Stephen Mitchell Translation)Can you coax your mind from its wandering and keep to the original oneness?Can you let your body become supple as a newborn child's?Can you cleanse your inner vision until you see nothing but the light?Can you love people and lead them without imposing your will?Can you deal with the most vital matters by letting events take their course?Can you step back from your own mind and thus understand all things?Giving birth and nourishing,having without possessing,acting with no expectations,leading and not trying to control:this is the supreme virtue.Thanks for listening!If you enjoyed this episode, please consider taking a moment to rate and review the podcast. It helps others find this small space for stillness in their day.

It seems to many that we in the USA are on the precipice of something like a civil war. But then, when asked, the vast majority reject the idea of political violence. What conditions might exist where that changes, according to Tao Te Ching chapter 75?

Tao Te Ching Verse 4 – Taoist wisdom and music for inspiration and inner peace, with Taoist Master and teacher David James Lees This is Verse 4 of the Tao Te Ching, brought to life through spoken word and original ambient music from Echoes of the Tao: Tao Te Ching in Music — a unique audio journey covering the 81 verses of the Tao Te Ching designed to help you release overthinking, reconnect with inner calm and wisdom, and return to natural flow (wu wei).This modern translation and narration of the Tao Te Ching by Taoist monk and teacher David James Lees, captures the essence of Taoist wisdom in a clear, accessible way for everyday life — blending ancient insight with contemporary emotional and spiritual understanding.Each track in this series is crafted to reflect the deeper meaning and energy of the verse, offering a powerful immersive experience.  

Tao Te Ching Verse 1 – Taoist wisdom and music for inspiration and inner peace, with Taoist Master and teacher David James Lees This is Verse 1 of the Tao Te Ching, brought to life through spoken word and original ambient music from Echoes of the Tao: Tao Te Ching in Music — a unique audio journey covering the 81 verses of the Tao Te Ching designed to help you release overthinking, reconnect with inner calm and wisdom, and return to natural flow (wu wei).This modern translation and narration of the Tao Te Ching by Taoist monk and teacher David James Lees, captures the essence of Taoist wisdom in a clear, accessible way for everyday life — blending ancient insight with contemporary emotional and spiritual understanding.Each track in this series is crafted to reflect the deeper meaning and energy of the verse, offering a powerful immersive experience.  

Unlock the Tao Te Ching's ancient wisdom for calm and clarity in a fast-paced and turbulent modern world, with Taoist Master and teacher David James Lees This timeless Taoist text reveals how to live with balance, purpose and inner peace. David explains what the Tao Te Ching is, how its teachings can be applied today, and why its message is more relevant than ever. Whether you're facing anxiety, overwhelm, or searching for meaning, the Tao Te Ching's teachings offer practical tools for modern living. This episode also introduces David's unique modern translation of the Tao Te Ching, along with his in-depth commentary and Tao Te Ching audio experience.

4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves. — Alcoholics Anonymous, Page 59   Open yourself to the Tao, then trust your natural responses; and everything will fall into place. — Stephen Mitchell, Tao Te Ching, Verse 38   30 Tools to Stay Sober All Year Round! Here is a link to an online version of the Tao Te Ching that we use in every meeting: https://ttc.tasuki.org/display:Year:1972,1988,1996,2004/section:80 You can download a free PDF of the latest version of Powerless But Not Helpless, a Recovery Interpretation of the Tao Te Ching, at www.BuddyC.org. Feel free to share, post, and distribute this book wherever you believe it will be helpful. You can also sign up for a free daily Tao Recovery Email, access a list of podcasts, and find many other recovery resources.   Join our private Facebook group and continue the conversation! Here is the link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/TaoPodcast/ or search Tao of Our understanding Podcast.   A Course in Miracles - Daily lessons from the 365-Day Course in Miracles Calendar. See the notes in each entry for a more detailed description.  Click Here to add the Course in Miracles Calendar to your Google Calendar   Daily Thought is a daily Google Calendar you can add to your  Google Calendar. It provides a daily thought that combines elements of Christian, ACIM, Tao, and AA. Click here to add the Daily Thought Calendar to your Google Calendar    Nightly 9 pm eastern Zoom A.A. Meeting www.ZoomAAMeetings.com   Would you like to receive a free daily topic email with the most popular A.A. resources, accompanied by a secret Facebook group for discussion? Go to www.DailyAAEmails.com for more information!

Movie of the Year: 1971Straw Dogs (feat. Erik from the Cradle to the Grave pod!)The Straw Dogs Podcast: Peckinpah's Most Dangerous FilmThe Straw Dogs podcast episode of Movie of the Year confronts one of 1971's most debated, disturbing, and relentlessly provocative films — Sam Peckinpah's psychological siege thriller starring Dustin Hoffman and Susan George. Ryan, Mike, and Greg are joined by Erik Hanson of the Cradle to the Grave podcast. Together, they examine the film's violence, its contested rape scene, and the gender dynamics at the heart of Peckinpah's vision. Consequently, no other episode this season demands more from its hosts — or from its audience.Moreover, the 1971 film Straw Dogs arrived in remarkable company. A Clockwork Orange, Dirty Harry, and The French Connection all hit theaters the same year — forming a cluster of films that fundamentally altered what Hollywood was willing to show. Furthermore, Straw Dogs distinguished itself from all of them. Filmed entirely in a Cornish village, it replaced the city's noise with something quieter and more suffocating. Ultimately, it is a film that has never stopped demanding conversation — and that is exactly what the Taste Buds deliver.About the FilmSam Peckinpah directed Straw Dogs (1971), starring Dustin Hoffman as David Sumner, a mild-mannered American mathematician who relocates with his English wife Amy (Susan George) to her rural hometown in Cornwall. David hires local men to repair their farmhouse. Almost immediately, however, the couple faces escalating harassment, intimidation, and violence from the villagers — including Amy's former boyfriend Charlie (Del Henney).Peckinpah and screenwriter David Zelag Goodman adapted the film from Gordon M. Williams's 1969 novel The Siege of Trencher's Farm. Peckinpah famously dismissed the source material. The film builds to a harrowing siege in which David, pushed past every limit, defends his home with escalating brutality. Additionally, the title derives from the Tao Te Ching, which describes straw dogs as ceremonial objects — used briefly, then discarded without feeling. The Criterion Collection edition includes a discussion of this symbolism in its supplemental materials.Released theatrically in the UK in November 1971, the film earned a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Original Score. It was later issued as a Criterion Collection release featuring new critical scholarship. The British Film Institute also maintains an entry on the film. The British Board of Film Classification banned it for home video release for years after its UK theatrical run.Guest Panelist: Erik HansonJoining the Taste Buds for this Sam Peckinpah film discussion is Erik Hanson, the creator and host of Cradle to the Grave — a horror movie podcast built around a distinctive structural premise. Starting with 1971, his own birth year, Erik ranks and discusses his Top 10 horror films from every year of his life, covering each in depth with rotating guests. The show has developed a devoted following for Erik's knowledgeable, laid-back, and genuinely funny approach to the genre.In addition to podcasting, Erik is the author of Death Machine, a debut horror novel set in 1987 Northern California that reimagines the Zodiac Killer returning to terrorize a group of kids. Based in Sacramento, California, Erik is also a musician. His work across fiction and podcasting reflects a lifelong relationship with horror that goes well beyond fandom and into genuine craft. Notably, the fact that Cradle to the Grave begins precisely with 1971 makes Erik an especially fitting guest for a deep dive into one of that year's most unsettling films. You can pick up Death Machine on Amazon.Peckinpah and Violence: A Director Pushed to the EdgeBy 1971, Sam Peckinpah had already established himself as Hollywood's most uncompromising chronicler of violence. The Wild Bunch (1969) had rewritten the grammar of the Western, deploying slow-motion carnage in a way that made violence impossible to process cleanly. Straw Dogs, however, moved in a very different direction. Furthermore, Warner Bros. had effectively exiled Peckinpah from Hollywood following a chaotic falling out, which is why he filmed this Straw Dogs 1971 production entirely in England, far from his natural terrain.The violence in Straw Dogs is not operatic like The Wild Bunch. Instead, it is domestic, intimate, and deeply uncomfortable. Peckinpah builds menace through accumulation — small humiliations, loaded glances, minor intrusions — before releasing it all in the siege. Additionally, the film implicates the audience in David's rampage by making it feel, at least in the moment, cathartic. That troubling catharsis is entirely the point. As a result, the Straw Dogs podcast discussion centers on Peckinpah's central question: whether violence is ever truly civilized, or whether it simply waits beneath the surface of every man who believes he is better than it. Roger Ebert, writing for the Chicago Sun-Times in 1971, gave the film two stars and called it a film committed to the pornography of violence while laying on moral outrage with a shovel — a dissent worth hearing even for those who disagree.The Rape Scene: Context, Controversy, and CriticismNo discussion of Straw Dogs is complete without addressing its most contested sequence. Charlie, her former boyfriend, first assaults Amy — then a second attacker follows. What makes the scene so difficult to analyze is the way Peckinpah films the first assault. Many critics interpreted Amy's shifting emotional response during the rape as suggesting consent or complicity. That reading fueled decades of fierce feminist criticism of the Sam Peckinpah film.Moreover, the British Board of Film Classification rejected the film for home video release for years, specifically over this content. The studio cut the scene for the US release to secure an R rating. Susan George has spoken in interviews about her complex relationship to the role and the sequence. Notably, film scholar Linda Williams frames the film within the longer history of misogynistic representation in cinema. Her analysis appears in the Criterion Collection release. She argues that Straw Dogs belongs in conversation with works that are technically significant but ethically compromised. Consequently, the scene is not a matter of simple condemnation or simple defense. It is the central wound around which the entire film's meaning turns, and the Taste Buds treat it accordingly.David, Amy, and Gender in Straw Dogs 1971At its core, Straw Dogs is a film about masculinity in crisis. David Sumner is an intellectual — passive, avoidant, and seemingly incapable of the physical authority the Cornish village treats as natural male behavior. The film, however, refuses to position his bookishness as a virtue. Dustin Hoffman understood his character as a man who unconsciously provokes the violence around him — a pacifist whose repressed aggression the siege finally unlocks.Amy occupies an equally impossible position. The film's gaze codes her as provocative — bare feet, no bra, conspicuous in the village — while simultaneously punishing her for that very visibility. Nevertheless, Susan George's performance introduces ambiguity and depth that the script does not always earn on its own. The dynamic between David and Amy is as much a source of tension as the men gathering outside. They seem genuinely ill-suited and miscommunicate constantly. Above all, Straw Dogs asks what gender roles cost everyone involved. Specifically, the film suggests that masculinity, however dormant, will ultimately assert itself through violence. That is Peckinpah's most unsettling argument — and one that the A Clockwork Orange episode of Movie of the Year covers from a very different angle.Career Retrospective: Dustin HoffmanBy the time the Straw Dogs podcast era film was released in 1971, Dustin Hoffman had already fundamentally changed what a movie star could look like. His breakthrough in The Graduate (1967) — neurotic, unhandsome, deeply searching — made him a voice for a generation that distrusted certainty. Midnight Cowboy (1969) proved he could disappear entirely into character, earning his first Academy Award nomination. Little Big Man (1970) demonstrated his ability to age through an entire life on screen. Straw Dogs, therefore, marks something different in his catalog: not charm or pathos, but something colder and harder to forgive.Hoffman's Career After...

Chapter 20-40.To Follow Us On Patreon—> https://www.patreon.com/c/MetaMysticsEmail Us!—> MetaMystics@yahoo.comSubscribe to our Youtube—> http://www.youtube.com/@MetaMysticsTo Follow Us On TikTok—> https://www.tiktok.com/@metamysticsGive us a follow on Instagram—> @MetaMystics111Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/meta-mystics--5795466/support.You Don't Know What You Don't Know!

Rev. Wendy Craig-Purcell's message draws on the Tao Te Ching to highlight “finding your flow” by aligning with life rather than forcing it—trusting natural timing, practicing self-mastery, and moving with patience. It teaches that real growth and power come not from pushing harder, but from living with simplicity and steady ease, like water—soft, yet powerful.Website: http://www.theunitycenter.net Download Our New App: https://theunitycenter.churchcenter.com/setupAsk Yourself This: https://www.amazon.com/Ask-Yourself-This-Questions-Expand/dp/087159336XSubscribe to our YouTube channel: http://bit.ly/2hBqp7F Purchase Lesson Series Packages: https://theunitycenter.net/sunday-series-packagesListen to our Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/6YJWcAhQUnkEHFqBXQmz1G

In this episode, we sit down with Verse Nine of the Tao Te Ching. Lao Tzu brings us into the kitchen and the workshop to show us how our obsession with "more"—more coffee in the bowl, more edge on the knife, more security in the bank—actually leads to the very things we're trying to avoid: a mess, a blunt tool, and a heart that forgot how to unclench. We explore the "gear shift" between doing good work and becoming a prisoner to approval, ending with the seven words that provide a path to true serenity.The Trap of the "Brim": Why filling the bowl to the very top ensures a spill. We discuss the human hunger to maximize every margin and why "more" isn't always "better."The Brittle Edge: A look at the "sharpened knife" metaphor. There is a point where over-preparation and constant refining actually dull the life out of our work and our presence.The Posture of Chasing: Understanding the "clenched heart" that comes from chasing security. Lao Tzu suggests that the search for safety often creates a permanent state of bracing for a future that hasn't happened yet.The Invisible Cell: How caring too deeply about the "committee" of public approval hands over the keys to your interior life.The Six-Word Solution: "Do your work, then step back." Analyzing why completion requires the grace to let go of the outcome."The bowl doesn't know that it's being maximized. The bowl just spills.""The person who cannot make a decision without first consulting the imagined reactions of people who may not even be paying attention...that person is in a cell.""The stepping back is not absence. It's completion."Where in your life are you pouring "to the brim," leaving no room for the walk across the kitchen?Is there a conversation or a project you are "over-sharpening" out of a fear of being unfinished?What would it feel like to treat your work like a garden—to plant the seeds fully, and then step back and trust the soil?"Do your work. Then step back."Thank you for listening to The Coffee Buzz. If you enjoyed this meditation on Verse Nine, consider sharing it with someone who needs to hear the reminder to "unclench." Don't forget to subscribe for our weekly reflections on the Tao.

A powerful guided meditation to help you understand emotional triggers and return to inner calm - with Taoist monk and teacher, David James Lees.Instead of fighting or suppressing your reactions, this guided meditation practice shows you how to gently observe what's happening within — recognising the role of the Inner Child and the deeper emotional patterns behind each trigger.Through calm awareness, visualisation, and affirmations, you'll learn how to pause, soften, and respond with clarity rather than react unconsciously.This is not about controlling your emotions — it's about understanding them. Calm is not the absence of reaction. It is the presence of awareness.⚠️ PLEASE DO NOT LISTEN TO THIS MEDITATION WHILE DRIVING OR OPERATING MACHINERYThis meditation can be practised daily or whenever you need it. Learn more about our online consultations, events and shop: https://www.wuweiwisdom.comSubscribe to David's FREE Journal: https://davidjameslees.substack.com/Other teachings and guided meditations you may enjoy: Why You Get Triggered So Easily (It's Not Overreaction – It's Your Inner Child) https://youtu.be/HhxyED-VSik?si=dSvpePPjjpV1kcGZGUIDED MEDITATION PLAYLIST https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9NQ_PWX4zIA12P7BftG6a18lIWFDjL35&si=bWWub6YyoZpXhFubLOVE & RELATIONSHIPS PLAYLIST https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9NQ_PWX4zID3yxrdCbbZFuKHCwgV6qhX&si=-zdah_z6MiSZIl0tJoin our free Wu Wei Wisdom Community Facebook support group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/wuweiwisdomcommunity  If you love our work, you can now make a small donation to help fund the continued production of our weekly teachings by buying us a 'virtual coffee'! https://www.buymeacoffee.com/wuweiwisdom Book an online Golden Thread Process & Inner Child Consultation with David: https://www.wuweiwisdom.com/therapies-for-body-mind/ Follow us on Instagram: @wuweiwisdomSign up to receive a relaxing guided meditation gift, plus our weekly newsletter + offers via email: https://www.wuweiwisdom.com/signup -Disclaimer: This podcast and any associated teaching and comments shared are not a substitute for professional therapy, mental health care, crisis support, medical advice, doctor diagnosis, or professional healthcare treatment. Our show episodes provide general information for educational purposes only and are offered as suggestions for you and your professional therapist or healthcare advisor to consider and research.Music by Earth Tree Healing

Sheng Huang is a Mind Mapper and YouTuber, coaching professionals to discover their purpose and build meaningful momentum. Through his unique integration of Mind Mapping, first principles thinking, and project management techniques, Sheng has helped thousands around the world navigate complexity, sharpen their systems thinking, and move through both professional and personal chaos with clarity. His videos have reached over half a million views, resonating with those seeking structure without losing soul. Speaking of soul, his is one of my favorites. As a dear friend of mine, I feel so grateful to be able to share his beautiful being with our Ojas Oasis community.In today's episode, we explore what it truly means to create from a place of alignment and devotion: two forces that, when combined, unlock a deeper, more sustainable form of success and fulfillment. Drawing inspiration from the timeless wisdom of the Tao Te Ching, this conversation invites you to reconsider how you approach creativity, purpose, and prosperity in both your personal and professional life.In this episode, we dive into:-The difference between forcing and allowing in the creative process-How devotion reshapes your relationship to work and outcomes-Lessons from the Tao Te Ching on flow, effortlessness, and inner alignment-Practical ways to apply systems thinking without losing intuition-How to create from a place of grounded purpose rather than pressureWith a rich background spanning corporate strategy, product management, user operations, and venture capital, Sheng brings a multidimensional perspective to what it means to live and create intentionally in today's modern world.If you've been feeling the pull to slow down, realign, and create from a deeper place within, this conversation is for you. Send us Fan MailFor 20% off Kerala Ayurveda products, use code OjasOasis at checkoutFor 20% off GarryNSun products, use code OJASOASIS20 at checkoutFor 20% off Ora Cacao products, use OJASOASIS20 at checkout Receive $500 off your Panchakarma retreat at SoHum Healing Resort with code OjasOasisPK2025 Register for the 2026 NAMA Conference at https://www.ayurvedanama.org/ Support the showTo learn more about working with us, please visit www.OjasOasis.com Connect with us @ojasoasis on Instagram, X, TikTok, and YouTube

3. Made a decision to turn our will and lives over to the care of God as we understand Him. — Alcoholics Anonymous, Page 59   "In the end, the treasure of life is missed by those who hold on and gained by those who let go." — Lao Tzu 30 Tools to Stay Sober All Year Round! Here is a link to an online version of the Tao Te Ching that we use in every meeting: https://ttc.tasuki.org/display:Year:1972,1988,1996,2004/section:80 You can download a free PDF of the latest version of Powerless But Not Helpless, a Recovery Interpretation of the Tao Te Ching, at www.BuddyC.org. Feel free to share, post, and distribute this book wherever you believe it will be helpful. You can also sign up for a free daily Tao Recovery Email, access a list of podcasts, and find many other recovery resources.   Join our private Facebook group and continue the conversation! Here is the link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/TaoPodcast/ or search Tao of Our understanding Podcast.   A Course in Miracles - Daily lessons from the 365-Day Course in Miracles Calendar. See the notes in each entry for a more detailed description.  Click Here to add the Course in Miracles Calendar to your Google Calendar   Daily Thought is a daily Google Calendar you can add to your  Google Calendar. It provides a daily thought that combines elements of Christian, ACIM, Tao, and AA. Click here to add the Daily Thought Calendar to your Google Calendar    Nightly 9 pm eastern Zoom A.A. Meeting www.ZoomAAMeetings.com   Would you like to receive a free daily topic email with the most popular A.A. resources, accompanied by a secret Facebook group for discussion? Go to www.DailyAAEmails.com for more information!

Tao Te Ching 74 starts by suggesting that people don't naturally fear death. Then it suggests that nefarious leaders try to instill a fear of death in those they dominate in order to control them. We discuss how this applies to contemporary times. Then Jeff shares some of the emerging research he's doing into the extent to which early Taoism applied, evolved, rejected, or ignored archaic Chinese mythological frameworks. He'll come back to that theme after this summer's reading agenda and report back. The question in practical terms is this: when the "Mysterious Mother" or the "Great Carpenter" are mentioned, are these to be taken as deities? Are they symbolic?

In this episode, we explore one of the most enduring metaphors in the Tao Te Ching: the nature of water. Lao Tzu describes water as the "supreme good," not because it is powerful or imposing, but because it nourishes everything without effort and contentedly flows to the low places that others avoid. We dive into why our modern obsession with "moving up" often leaves us exhausted, and how embracing the "downward" nature of water can lead to a more centered and meaningful life.The reflection centers on the six domains Lao Tzu highlights—from how we think and work to how we lead and show up for our families. We discuss the importance of living close to the ground, keeping our thoughts simple, and finding the natural "current" in our work where effort ceases to feel like a struggle. We also take a hard look at the high bar of being completely present in our family lives and why being "water" in a conflict—flowing around obstacles rather than crashing against them—is often more effective than trying to win.We wrap up by examining the exhaustion of constant comparison. Just as a stream doesn't wish it were a river, we find peace when we stop "pumping water uphill" to meet external expectations. When you are content to be simply yourself, the need for competition disappears, and a genuine, quiet respect from others naturally takes its place. This week, I invite you to consider where you might be fighting your own nature and what it would look feel like to finally stop competing with gravity.Featured Translation: Tao Te Ching by Stephen Mitchell.

You're not “too sensitive” — your nervous system is reacting to the past, not the present. Learn why you get emotionally triggered so easily, even in small, everyday situations.This is part 2 of a powerful 4-part Inner Child series for 2026.In this episode, you'll discover what's really happening in the moment you feel overwhelmed, reactive, or out of control… and why it's not a flaw or weakness.We explore the psychology of emotional triggers through the lens of Inner Child work, nervous system activation, and Taoist wisdom. You'll learn how your mind stores past experiences as emotional memory, why your Inner Child reacts before logic kicks in, and how common situations like feeling ignored, criticised, or misunderstood can activate old patterns.Most importantly, you'll understand why trying to “calm down”, suppress your feelings, or think logically often makes triggers worse — and what to do instead. This is not about fixing yourself. It's about seeing clearly. This awareness is the first step to healing your Inner Child and creating emotional balance and ease in your daily life.Watch part 1 here: https://youtu.be/FY0EMmLfiDw?si=vTqAAqPGWAcsgHFxIn part 3: How to heal your Inner Child through reparenting.With your hosts, David James Lees (ordained Taoist monk, emotional and spiritual health teacher) and Alexandra Lees (mindset and business coach).Discover our online consultations, events and shop: https://www.wuweiwisdom.comSubscribe to David's FREE Journal: https://davidjameslees.substack.com/Other related teachings on our YouTube channel that will help you:Our INNER CHILD PLAYLIST  https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9NQ_PWX4zICGLRS1b7q1HSJhZRash5qqOur GOLDEN THREAD PROCESS PLAYLIST https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9NQ_PWX4zIAsS_wgdRN7QGBKIk54sbyDJoin our free Wu Wei Wisdom Community Facebook support group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/wuweiwisdomcommunity  If you love our work, you can now make a small donation to help fund the continued production of our weekly teachings by buying us a 'virtual coffee'! https://www.buymeacoffee.com/wuweiwisdom Book an online Golden Thread Process & Inner Child Consultation with David: https://www.wuweiwisdom.com/therapies-for-body-mind/ Follow us on Instagram: @wuweiwisdomSign up to receive a relaxing guided meditation gift, plus our weekly newsletter + offers via email:  https://www.wuweiwisdom.com/signup Music by Earth Tree HealingDisclaimer: This podcast and any associated teaching and comments shared are not a substitute for professional therapy, mental health care, crisis support, medical advice, doctor diagnosis, or professional healthcare treatment. Our show episodes provide general information for educational purposes only and are offered as suggestions for you and your professional therapist or healthcare advisor to consider and research.

In this episode of The Poet (delayed), I am joined by returning guest Josh Baron for a wide-ranging conversation on uncertainty, growth, and what it means to truly live inside the unknown. Drawing from the Tao Te Ching's line—“darkness within darkness, the gateway to all understanding”—we explore a central idea: uncertainty isn't something to escape, but something to enter. Together, we examine why we instinctively avoid uncertainty—fear, discomfort, and the pressure to “have it figured out”—and what happens when we resist that impulse and instead choose to stay. Through personal stories, philosophy, and lived experience, they uncover several key insights: • That uncertainty is not the exception, but the condition of being alive • That clarity is not forced, but revealed over time • That many of our reactions are not to reality itself, but to our interpretation of it under pressure • And that growth often requires moving through discomfort rather than around it The conversation moves fluidly through topics like faith, science, parenting, identity, integrity, and even music theory—illustrating how tension, dissonance, and uncertainty are not obstacles to understanding, but necessary parts of it. At its core, this episode is an invitation: to sit a little longer, to resist the urge to resolve too quickly, and to discover what becomes visible when we don't leave the doorway. I'd love to hear what you have to say about the episode including thoughts on the poetry and the topics that were discussed. You can email me at poetdelayed@gmail.com. My books of poetry are availabe for purchase at Amazon.com ["The Ghost of a Beating Heart", "My Mother Sleeps" and "Haiku Village"]()Special Guest: Josh Baron.

Exploring the Tao Te Ching with Grok for the first time.Breaking down the underlying message in GED style terms.Enlightenment by Bic Lighter.To Follow Us On Patreon—> https://www.patreon.com/c/MetaMysticsEmail Us!—> MetaMystics@yahoo.comSubscribe to our Youtube—> http://www.youtube.com/@MetaMysticsTo Follow Us On TikTok—> https://www.tiktok.com/@metamysticsGive us a follow on Instagram—> @MetaMystics111Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/meta-mystics--5795466/support.You Don't Know What You Don't Know!

"When there is silence, one finds peace. When there is silence, one finds the anchor of the universe within himself." — Jonathan Star, Tao Te Ching, The Definitive Edition, Verse 37   30 Tools to Stay Sober All Year Round! Here is a link to an online version of the Tao Te Ching that we use in every meeting: https://ttc.tasuki.org/display:Year:1972,1988,1996,2004/section:80 You can download a free PDF of the latest version of Powerless But Not Helpless, a Recovery Interpretation of the Tao Te Ching, at www.BuddyC.org. Feel free to share, post, and distribute this book wherever you believe it will be helpful. You can also sign up for a free daily Tao Recovery Email, access a list of podcasts, and find many other recovery resources.   Join our private Facebook group and continue the conversation! Here is the link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/TaoPodcast/ or search Tao of Our understanding Podcast.   A Course in Miracles - Daily lessons from the 365-Day Course in Miracles Calendar. See the notes in each entry for a more detailed description.  Click Here to add the Course in Miracles Calendar to your Google Calendar   Daily Thought is a daily Google Calendar you can add to your  Google Calendar. It provides a daily thought that combines elements of Christian, ACIM, Tao, and AA. Click here to add the Daily Thought Calendar to your Google Calendar    Nightly 9 pm eastern Zoom A.A. Meeting www.ZoomAAMeetings.com   Would you like to receive a free daily topic email with the most popular A.A. resources, accompanied by a secret Facebook group for discussion? Go to www.DailyAAEmails.com for more information!

In this episode, we sit with Verse Seven of the Tao Te Ching (Stephen Mitchell translation). We explore why the Tao is eternal, the difference between "clean" giving and giving with an agenda, and the counter-intuitive power of "staying behind" to truly get ahead.If you've ever felt exhausted by the constant pressure to "build your brand" or "stay competitive," this verse offers a different direction—a leaning toward fulfillment through letting go.00:00 – Intro: A small pause in your day.01:15 – Reading of Verse Seven (Stephen Mitchell).02:30 – Part 1: Outside the drama of arrival and loss.04:45 – Part 2: "Clean" help vs. help with an agenda.07:10 – Part 3: The Master stays behind.09:30 – Part 4: Letting go of the "self" that is exhausting to maintain.11:15 – Closing Reflection: A practice for your next five minutes."The Master stays behind; that is why she is ahead. She is detached from all things; that is why she is one with them. Because she has let go of herself, she is perfectly fulfilled."The Eternity of the Tao: By being "never born," the Tao exists outside our human anxiety regarding beginnings and endings.Giving from Fullness: True presence doesn't leave a debt. It doesn't ask anything of the receiver because it has no self-desire to satisfy.The Paradox of Leadership: We are naturally drawn to those who don't push forward, but who are simply there—present and unhurried.The "Exhausting Self": Much of our suffering comes from the effort required to maintain the self that needs to win. Letting go isn't loss; it's ease.Where in your life are you trying to get ahead—and what might open up if you stayed behind instead? Not as a strategy, but as a quiet release of the need to be first.Connect with The Coffee Buzz:Subscribe for morning reflections on the Tao Te Ching.Leave a review on your favorite pod-catcher to help others find their small pause in the day.#TaoTeChing #Stoicism #Mindfulness #TheCoffeeBuzz #LaoTzu #PersonalGrowth #Presence

We start with a parable about being at peace with reality and not overreacting. Then there's chapter 73 of the Tao Te Ching that says that the Tao will ultimately bring everything along in its cosmic net. In other words, nature ensures that things are brought to balance in the end. The question is, will we be around to see the righting of injustice? As Bob Marley said, it is our duty to fight the Armaggedeon THIS TRIP. That is, don't wait for a reincarnated existence or heaven to bring about a just world. Chapter 73 calls for a quiet, patient courage that does not give up hope. And we are holding on to the idea that the world isn't hopeless, even as the super wealthy and powerful have so far succeeded in serving up children to the Moloch, so far without much of a reckoning. Part of the solution, it seems, is to call upon all our friends who believe in goodness truth and beauty to NOT give up hope, even during our precarious times. Content warning: we discuss SA and violence and other wretchedness.

Discover why you keep repeating the same mistakes, and how to break the cycle without pain.In this Tao Dialogues episode, we explore the deeper Taoist wisdom behind repeated patterns, emotional conditioning, and the Inner Child's influence on our decisions.Discover how emotional logic, unconscious beliefs, and the need to be right keep us stuck in cycles of frustration, self-sabotage, and repeated outcomes. Learn the difference between the reactive Inner Child and the calm, clear guidance of Shen (your inner knowing), and how this shift allows you to grow without suffering.This teaching reveals why wisdom is not proven through pain, but recognised through truth, and how aligning with wu wei (effortless effort) helps you break free from old patterns with clarity, calm, and authenticity.If you've ever felt stuck in repeating relationship patterns, work struggles, or self-sabotaging behaviours, this teaching will show you a new way forward. Read the blog post that inspired this episode: https://davidjameslees.substack.com/p/empty-courtroom [second blog on this page] Our Tao Dialogues are powerful yet gentle teachings about authenticity, spirituality and finding emotional balance and flow in everyday life. These spoken-word episodes draw from David James Lees' practice as a Taoist monk and teacher, and expand upon popular posts on ‘David's Journal', his Substack blog.Subscribe to David's Journal here: https://davidjameslees.substack.com/Discover David's online consultations, events and shop: https://www.wuweiwisdom.comOther related teachings that will help you:TAO DIALOGUES PLAYLIST  https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9NQ_PWX4zICamFP2zMyey3KGTnfm2aUq&si=AW_ZOUeldKv3nHhFSHEN (THE SPIRITUAL SELF) PLAYLIST https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9NQ_PWX4zIBmp50wYcmU7jCBLp1Qvl-jINNER CHILD PLAYLIST  https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9NQ_PWX4zICGLRS1b7q1HSJhZRash5qqJoin our free Wu Wei Wisdom Community Facebook support group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/wuweiwisdomcommunity  Book an online Golden Thread Process & Inner Child Consultation with David: https://www.wuweiwisdom.com/therapies-for-body-mind/ Follow us on Instagram: @wuweiwisdomSign up to receive a relaxing guided meditation gift, plus our weekly newsletter + offers via email: https://www.wuweiwisdom.com/signup -Disclaimer: This podcast and any associated teaching and comments shared are not a substitute for professional therapy, mental health care, crisis support, medical advice, doctor diagnosis, or professional healthcare treatment. Our show episodes provide general information for educational purposes only and are offered as suggestions for you and your professional therapist or healthcare advisor to consider and research.Music by Earth Tree Healing

A calming meditation to help you reconnect with your Inner Child and discover clarity and self-compassion through gentle awareness - with Taoist monk and teacher, David James Lees.In this guided meditation, you will learn how to gently reconnect with your Inner Child through awareness, self-compassion, and the principles of wu wei (effortless effort).This calming meditation helps you recognise how childhood patterns still influence your thoughts, emotions, and behaviours today, without judgement or force. Rather than trying to “fix” yourself, this meditation invites you to observe your inner world with clarity, creating space between you and old emotional patterns.Through breath, reflection, and visualisation, you'll begin to understand how your Inner Child adapted for safety, and how awareness can naturally bring healing. The meditation is perfect for daily practice, stress relief, and anyone exploring Inner Child healing, self-awareness, mindfulness, and emotional well-being.⚠️ PLEASE DO NOT LISTEN TO THIS MEDITATION WHILE DRIVING OR OPERATING MACHINERYLearn more about our online consultations, events and shop: https://www.wuweiwisdom.comSubscribe to David's FREE Journal: https://davidjameslees.substack.com/Other teachings and guided meditations you may enjoy: Your Inner Child is Shaping Your Life (Here's How to Recognise It) https://youtu.be/FY0EMmLfiDw?si=NEM4FTqqoFhebGM5 GUIDED MEDITATION PLAYLIST https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9NQ_PWX4zIA12P7BftG6a18lIWFDjL35&si=bWWub6YyoZpXhFubLOVE & RELATIONSHIPS PLAYLIST https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9NQ_PWX4zID3yxrdCbbZFuKHCwgV6qhX&si=-zdah_z6MiSZIl0tIs there a question you'd like answered on the show? Submit it at: https://bit.ly/askusyourquestion Join our free Wu Wei Wisdom Community Facebook support group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/wuweiwisdomcommunity  If you love our work, you can now make a small donation to help fund the continued production of our weekly teachings by buying us a 'virtual coffee'! https://www.buymeacoffee.com/wuweiwisdom Book an online Golden Thread Process & Inner Child Consultation with David: https://www.wuweiwisdom.com/therapies-for-body-mind/ Follow us on Instagram: @wuweiwisdomSign up to receive a relaxing guided meditation gift, plus our weekly newsletter + offers via email: https://www.wuweiwisdom.com/signup -Disclaimer: This podcast and any associated teaching and comments shared are not a substitute for professional therapy, mental health care, crisis support, medical advice, doctor diagnosis, or professional healthcare treatment. Our show episodes provide general information for educational purposes only and are offered as suggestions for you and your professional therapist or healthcare advisor to consider and research.Music by Earth Tree Healing