Maybe

Story about a Chinese farmer

One day, his horse ran away, and all the neighbors gathered in the evening and said ‘that’s too bad.’
He said ‘maybe.’

Next day, the horse came back and brought with it seven wild horses. ‘Wow!’ they said, ‘Aren’t you lucky!’
He said ‘maybe.’

The next day, his son grappled with one of these wild horses and tried to break it in, and he got thrown and broke his leg. And all the neighbors said ‘oh, that’s too bad that your son broke his leg.’
He said, ‘maybe.’

The next day, the conscription officers came around, gathering young men for the army, and they rejected his son because he had a broken leg. And the visitors all came around and said ‘Isn’t that great! Your son got out.’
He said, ‘maybe.’

Buoyancy

The tide's steady ebb and flow - the echo of the undertow.
The water with patient potency claims more.
Takes in then lets go.
-Substance

Inhalation and exhalation.

You are inflating a balloon with the rhythm of a powerful breath. If you do not pinch, some air will be returned from the balloon after the exhale. By not pinching, yet breathing repetitively, the balloon will get fuller with air at each exhale and deflate a little bit at each nose inhale until it is acceptably inflated.

Two steps forward, one step back, just like the waves on the beach front.

Moving forward by oscillation. The mechanism forces you to lose a little bit to gain more.

Can you see this clearly?

This is how I would define equanimity. Evenness of mind is the capacity to have the intuition that the impulse to react quickly - from tension - does not result in sound decisions. Equanimity is slowing down to synchronization with the beat given by the drummer we can call Nature.

Our taste buds may have evolved to love sweet and salty tastes, but greedily giving into the impulse is not a good long-term strategy.

If you stop eating before feeling full, you will have more energy.

Bodybuilders have much to gain by alternating between workout sessions and rest. Bodies need sleep to become stronger, to learn, to memorize, to repair, to digest. All the things we wish we could be doing awake and with our conscious minds operating.

To keep pace with the drummer we must first learn to listen. Mindfulness.

Nature's tool: surrender and gentleness.

Surrender your conscious mind "into the arms of Morpheus"or meditation and feel refreshed. The farmer must learn to work with the seasons, he cannot step outside the drummer's pace.

To achieve harmony with ourselves, others and the world, we must listen and adjust our pace to the music of nature.

Wanting More

When is material desire innocuous and healthy? When is it harmful?

Trying to look at the big picture of consumerism is sobering.

When the world's on the Way,
they use horses to haul manure.
When the world gets off the Way,
they breed warhorses on the common.

The greatest evil: wanting more.
The worst luck: discontent
Greed's the curse of life.

To know enough's enough
is enough to know.

-Lao Tzu (as translated by Ursula K. Le Guin)

The above text is one of my favorite parts of the Tao Te Ching, especially Le Guin's beautiful translation of the last paragraph.