Wu Wei: The Art of Letting Things Happen...
Wu Wei is a Chinese principle that means “non-doing” or “nonaction”, rather than trying to force action, we should get comfortable doing less in order to act in alignment with the flow of life...
Happy new week,
Last week I spoke about focusing on the 20% of things that will bring 80% of the results. There are a lot of things that we can do to influence and improve our chances of success but that's all we can do. There are still some outside factors that we cannot control such as timing.
Human effort has its limitations and is always in conjunction with nature. We cannot grow a plant, for example, completely isolated from natural growth, even though we can influence and manipulate it. Sometimes the harder we try, the more we ruin our chances of success.
Wu Wei is a Chinese principle that means “non-doing” or “nonaction”. Although this translation can be quite misleading, rather than meaning “doing nothing”, it means aligning our actions with the flow of life. You respond effortlessly to the needs of any situation that arises without resorting to struggle or force. Letting things happen naturally doesn't necessarily mean you’re being passive or lazy.
Today's society places a lot of importance on effort, we celebrate effort regardless of its actual effectiveness. So we aim to always be busy even when we don’t need to. Making an effort is one thing but making intelligent efforts is another. Hard work is necessary and needed but sometimes you may be pushing a rock up a hill for no reason. When we act from this state of Wu Wei, things tend to flow perfectly.
A great analogy is that of a farmer, if a farmer wants a successful farm, and wants to make his crops grow faster. If he starts pulling them or watering them twice as much, he’s actually destroying his crop rather than improving his chances of success. In life, all we can do is plant seeds, and let time do the rest. We have to be patient to see the results. For example, the farmer simply needs to leave his crops alone and be patient, and nature will do the rest. When the harvest comes that's when the farmer needs to get to work and put in all his effort.
Here’s how to cultivate Wu Wei
Relax - a state of relaxation enables us to deal with situations simply and with ease.
Know when and how to respond appropriately - when your mind is relatively clear, you can respond to situations in a much better way. In this state of effortless effort, all you need to do is look and listen and the answers are usually there or will present themselves. Sometimes not responding and letting things be is the best response.
Practice work and rest - don’t work on something until you’re exhausted, try to rest in between. When you come back to what you’re doing, your mind will be fresher leading to greater insights, productivity, ease, and enjoyment.
Let go of the results - most of the time we do not control the end results, there are a lot of things that influence it. When we do the work with no end result attached, it takes off the pressure and anxiety which allows us to perform better.
I know it sounds easier than it actually is but by being more intentional you can stop standing in your own way. You have to enjoy the journey and you can’t enjoy it if you’re constantly overthinking, overplanning, and overanalyzing. Don’t fall into the trap of spending your life worrying, trying to control and change the natural course of things. Life has always shown us that things do work out in the end. Take comfort in that, even when things get hard, do your best and let life take care of the rest.