Skills learned and found useful from the study and practice of the T’ai Chi form to facilitate efficient movement, healing and health support, and self defense benefits, may be applied also in realms beyond the physical.
These same benefits accrued to improve physical movement and health might help and aid us in accomplishing our goals more effectively.
As we move through life’s many sometimes challenging situations, the Content might be different, but the skills, tools, and attention developed through our T’ai Chi practice can add much to enrich and promote wisdom in many of our varied activities.
The Two Styles
Sometimes we attempt to make decisions by using logic and reason, our emotional assumptions and biases, what we consider to be “The Facts”, and many other sometimes complicated variables unique to each of us as individuals.
At other times we might shorten this process by condensing what we have learned into Rules that we use.
Each of us has our own style. Some of us rely more on rules, and some rely more on our reasoning skills.
Each style has plusses and minuses. Rules might be quicker and more decisive. They might be better for situations that are more black and white.
Reasoning is often slower, sometimes more passive, and might be better for dealing with grey areas.
The differences in our individual styles may often lead us to different conclusions as to the right course of action.
They may lead us each to different opinions in ethics, in politics, even in aesthetics, our likes and dislikes.
It’s called being Human, and we get to choose for ourselves, but not always for others.
Hopefully, with a little tolerance, we can all live together in what we call a civilized world.
With a little luck, we might even find some happiness and a good life for all, even with all our differences.
It’s my hope that by perhaps understanding how all our differences might have come about, we might be better able to work together and find that we have more in common than our different opinions, politics, etc. might suggest.
The Dalai Lama once told me (and many others) about a wonderful starting place.
He said that “All people want to be happy.”
If we remember that we all want the same thing, maybe we Do have something that we can all agree on!
It might not be a quick fix, but it’s a start!
I’m working on a list of some rules that have helped me, from various teachings, for my next article.
Namaste, (May the Light Within Me Honor the Light Within You),
Daniel
