“You can’t go far when you’re full.”
A prescription from the Tao Te Ching to empty your worries and fill you with wisdom

Like unfurling a sail on a windy day,
How to develop the power to cope with life's changes simply and naturally

Living wisely is never easy.
As the days go by, opportunities and luck seem to be decreasing, and unhappiness feels closer than happiness.
Some days, I wonder if the world is being too harsh on me.
If you are often shaken by this vague anxiety and emptiness, now is the time to adopt a simpler attitude toward life.
Lao Tzu speaks of a simple attitude toward life through the Tao Te Ching.
Park Young-gyu, a humanist who has studied Lao-tzu for a long time, is looking for the answer through the eight words that Lao-tzu spoke of (dam 淡, dan 單, si 捨, li 離, gyeom 謙, geom 儉, seo 徐, dan 斷).
Furthermore, it suggests that we can reorient our lives by directly applying Lao Tzu's teachings in our daily lives.
"Just Let It Go," which melts Lao Tzu's wisdom of simplifying the complex world into the simple realities of everyday life, will lead us to a more comfortable and abundant life.

The secret to a happy life is also very simple.
If you think about this and that, your worries will grow like a snowball.
But if you think simply, the world becomes infinitely simpler and your worries decrease.
The skill of deciding what not to do is more essential to happiness than the skill of deciding what to do.
Life becomes happier when you let go of the idea of ​​doing too many things and focus on one important thing.
As organizing expert Marie Kondo says, to do that, you need the wisdom to know how to throw away things you've been hoarding with the thought that you'll use them someday, things that don't bring you joy, and things that have outlived their usefulness.
Psychologist William James also said, "The art of being wise is knowing what to ignore."
--- p.65, from “The Great Road and the Barbarians”

Only humans fear death.
Nature accepts death willingly.
Even the leaves that were green in summer all turn red in the fall.
Then, as the days get colder, they inevitably fall down and return to the embrace of the earth.
That's how nature meets death.
The reason people fear death is because they have not lived each moment of the life given to them faithfully.
--- p.105, from “Abandoning the Way and Losing Days”

‘Simple life’ is a life principle to live true to myself.
The only thing I actually own is this existence.
Things are like fleeting clouds that stay for a while and then pass away.
--- p.130, from “Leaving the Skin and Taking It Again”

As a simple principle of life, Lao Tzu's non-action and naturalism is more useful than Confucian values.
Parents should do their best as parents, children as children, husband as husband, and wife as wife, and that is enough.
This makes it easier to separate tasks, as Alfred Adler said.
There is no need to interfere with other people's business, so each person can focus on their own simple and simple life.
--- p.191, from “Seeing the Frugality and Embracing the Elements”

The most important thing in life is to focus on what needs to be done 'right now'.
If you keep nitpicking, the tide will pass.
Meanwhile, life goes on.
On a windy day, just spread your sails wide. This simple rule is the most powerful secret to a fulfilling life.
'If that wind gets stronger and turns into a typhoon soon, it would be better not to set sail.
If you put off doing something thinking, 'I might regret it later,' you could miss the opportunity right in front of you forever.
--- p.223, from “Seeing the Thrifty and Embracing the Elements”

Life flows slowly like a river on a summer day.
There is no need to row in a hurry, and there is no need to worry in advance about the rough waves that will one day be encountered.
If you happen to encounter rapids while rowing, you can deal with them wisely then.
When you're twenty, live your life as a twenty-year-old, and when you're fifty, live your life as a fifty-year-old.
Worrying about skin aging that hasn't happened yet is foolish and only adds to the wrinkles on your face.
An unwise person spends today worrying about tomorrow and regretting yesterday.
On the other hand, a wise person only looks at the present and enjoys it.

--- p.256~257, from “Seo Takjeong Seocheong (濁靜徐淸)”

Nature does not rush.
Spring does not push winter to hurry, nor does the following stream honk its horn to overtake the one in front.
It is the human heart that urges the season to pass by saying, 'I wish the cold winter would pass quickly.'
It's also people who honk their car horns at the driver ahead of them, saying, "Why can't you go like that?"
Nature comes when its time comes and goes when its time comes again.
Don't rush, just keep going at your own pace.
Human minds are busy, but nature is never busy.
When the time comes, life will do its part without anyone urging it.
--- p.271, from “Seo Takjeong Seocheong”

Being true to the present is the foundation of the Tao.
Holding on to the present way is called the Book of the Way ＿『Tao Te Ching』 Chapter 14
The past is water that has flowed away, and the future is water that has not yet arrived.
The mill of life can only be turned by the water of the present.

--- p.313, from “The Sacred Wisdom of the Sacred”