Doing Less and Getting More Done - Taoist Secrets

     Those of you who have been reading my blog for a while know that I like to read and that my reading tends to lean toward the psychological, ecological and the spiritual.  When I find reading materials that address all three, I'm truly happy.

     For those of you who share my interests, you might want to check out my latest read "Ecotherapy" by Howard Clinebell.  It's an interesting book on the theory of ecopsychology and suggestions for the practical application of that theory in the therapeutic or educational setting.  You can find a link to that book and many others in the same vein in my Amazon Bookstore.

     Now getting back to the topic at-hand, like so many people these days, I struggle to stay calm, focus on the positive and find (and maintain) some sense of happiness and contentment.  In our stress-filled world, this is no easy feat but find that reading and thinking about things like ecopsychology and various forms of spirituality helps to sustain me and keep me on track.  As much as my approach to spirituality may be non-theistic and non-traditional, it is perhaps a more important part of my life than I sometimes realize and I believe this is true for most of us.

     Whether or not we consider ourselves religious or non-religious, I think that we are all in some respects spiritual.  As I discussed in a prior post, The Meaning of Spirituality, spirituality is about feeling that we are each one part of a larger whole.  The whole may be defined differently for each of us - Christianity, Islam, the human race, all living things, the universe etc.  Or, for many of us, the whole may be indefinable.  As human beings, it seems to be in our nature to wonder about our place in the universe and our role or purpose.  We need to have meaning in our lives and this is what I am talking about when I talk about spirituality.

     As I read, I seem to find that Eastern Philosophies have the most to offer when it comes to practical spitituality.  In Taoism in particular, I have found a great deal of practical wisdom, some of which I have already shared with you in my post  Come On Get Happy.

     I've also written a guest post for the PositivityBlog about Taoist Secrets to Doing Less and Getting More Done.  Those of you who like my prior post on Taoism or who simply like practical spirituality might find my guest post helpful as well.  Check it out and let me know what you think.  And, if you have any spiritual reading suggestions, please share them.

    

Comments

[Shilpan]

Lori -

Great post. I've commented and Stumbled the post.

[Lori]

Thanks Shilpan...you're the best!

[Evelyn Lim]

It's amazing that you seem to have this connection with Taoism. I've come across far more people who find Buddhist as compared to Taoist principles more appealing. But most definitely, eastern philosophies are very practical and much insights can be gained through walking the path.

[Lori]

Evelyn,

I've read up a bit about Buddhism as well and I believe that it also has great wisdom to offer. I think that it's probably more popular because of the celebrity of the Dalai Lama (whom I adore). Taoism seems to be a hidden gem that few people in the West know anything about.

I guess that I find Taoism a little appealing because, although it recognizes that there is suffering in the world, it still maintains that life is sweet overall, rather than defining life as suffering as Buddhism tends to do. Taoism also has a very powerful connection with nature which also appeals to me. I sometimes think that I have some "nature mystic" in me and I love the idea that we can look to the properties of trees, water, animals and other aspects of nature for lessons on how to live in harmony.