Wisdom Dao -- 88 Levers of Life Wisdom

Author: Zhang Bin
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-01-01
Features: Recognizing the existence of your life is fundamentally accidental. None of us can decide the time, place, family environment, gender, or appearance of our birth, nor can we live forever. The beginning and end of life are in the hands of nature, and individuals are almost powerless. However, between the birth and death of nature lies a journey of life that each of us must walk. Where the journey takes us depends entirely on how we arrange it. A "god of business" named Matsushita Konosuke, who founded a world-class enterprise, once shared three key points about his success: (1) being born into poverty, (2) having a low education, and (3) being physically frail. Anyone would think these are three extremely unfavorable conditions, and it is certainly unexpected to consider them as secrets to success. Laozi, in the Tao Te Ching, proposed the idea: "Blessings and misfortunes are intertwined." This statement has immense power to transform adversity into advantage. Imagine if you were born into a very wealthy family, raised in luxury, and lived a life where everything was handed to you on a silver platter. Would you still think about striving for your own life? Would you still worry about not finding a job? No! Wealth would make you lazy and instill habits of laziness, because you wouldn’t need to struggle for a living like those born into poverty. But if you are poor, your first thought would be how to secure your livelihood. There is an old Chinese saying, "Poverty breeds heroes," because those born into hardship learn the struggles of life from a young age, which shapes their tenacious spirit of perseverance. Many millionaires in the world were born into poverty, and their wealth was earned through their own relentless efforts. Confucius said, "To know others is wisdom; to know yourself is enlightenment." Everything begins with self-awareness. Do you truly know yourself? This is the key to your life. First, don’t mistakenly believe that your worth as a valuable person is tied to your intelligence, your knowledge, your wealth, or your strength. In reality, no matter how smart or capable you are, if you lack self-awareness, your ultimate outcome is only failure! Second, don’t mistakenly believe that your existence in this world is a blessing. No one does you a favor, and you do no one a favor—everything exists naturally. In fact, no matter how much help you give others or how much help others give you, if you don’t face yourself squarely, the ultimate result of this "help" will only be like "carrying water in a bamboo basket—useless." To know yourself, don’t waste any extra effort trying to realize the so-called self-worth you imagine but find unrealistic. You must understand that the moment you were born into this world, you already possessed your own value. What you need to do next is to bring out and shine your value, and therefore you must understand and recognize it. You might as well often ask yourself...