According to Lao Tzu, “When nothing is done, nothing is left undone.”

One of the most important aspects of Taoism is the idea of 'going with the flow.' This

teaching is best explained with the concept of wu wei, which can be translated to ‘inexertion’,

‘inaction’, or ‘effortless action.’ A more accurate translation, though,

might be ‘non-forcing’ - for wu wei urges you not to fight against our life-conditions and instead

allow things to happen as they naturally would. Imagine life as a river. When you do nothing,

the current of the river will effortlessly take you along, moving you forward without

you breaking a sweat. Doing nothing does not result in being stuck in one place - instead,

the river takes you along to new places and situations. This is an

effortless way of living life, and the way by which you can enjoy the ride the most.

If you give in to impatience and try to swim with the current to get there faster,

you will only waste more energy reaching what you would have reached anyway. Or,

worse, if you fight against the path of life and swim against the current,

it might well take all your energy only to lead to limited and disappointing results.

The concept of wu wei, then, urges you to simply go with the flow of the river.

In our current day and age, we want a lot of things and more often than not we want

them to happen right now. The most encouraged and thus most common mindset when it comes to

life stresses on working hard and taking action, no matter how difficult life is,

to get where you need to be. When following this advice it is no wonder that we wear ourselves out,

risk burnouts and exhaustion, and have a tendency to rush things to get them to the finish line.

When we rush through projects and force ourselves to work on them through setbacks and hardships,

they rarely turn out as good as we want them to. Plus we are so often focused on getting

through our tasks, we often deny ourselves the rest in those times we need to keep going

afterwards. When we try to meet every deadline imposed on us regardless of our circumstances,

it eats away at both our wellbeing and the quality of our work. Additionally, when we are encouraged

to push through unfavorable circumstances, we are at increased risk of making errors

and compromising quality. It is clear that pushing yourself to work irrespective of the circumstances

is one of the hardest and most exhausting ways to live and often brings limited results.

Taoism instead suggests that we give up this rush and surrender ourselves to the natural

flow of life, the Tao. Now, this does not mean that we refuse to work or sit back lazily and

never do anything. Indeed, understanding wu wei as ‘laziness’ would be a gross misinterpretation.

Wu Wei does encourage you to take action, but to do so only when it will be effortless rather than

forceful. Wu Wei encourages you to turn away unfavorable life circumstances, and encourages

you to embrace favorable ones, whenever they may come. If the opportunity for a project,

like a job offer in a new city, arises, and you feel calm, prepared and even excited - Go for it!

Imagine yourself in this position. If the prospect of a new job does not stress you out and the move

to a new city is a welcome change, then you would be acting without effort if you took it.

Opportunities such as the job offer, that makes you feel calm, prepared and even excited are the

kind of actions you want to embrace. Those are the kinds of actions that will breathe life into

you instead of sucking it out of you. By taking action at the point in your life where it will

be the most impactful and efficient, you truly ‘become’ an act instead of merely ‘doing’ it.

In other words, at the right time an action can take hold in the most meaningful and defining way.

On the other hand, when an opportunity or obligation feels too stressful for

you to keep up with, take a step back. For example, when a promotion at work comes up

at a time where you feel unable to handle the extra responsibilities, deny it. Take

a step back. When you do not know what to do, just keep doing what you already are doing.

New opportunities will come when life presents you with a chance that you believe will be good

and fulfilling for you to take on. When you are unsure of what you want when it comes to work,

just keep working where you are and your feelings will figure themselves out in time.

And when life presents an opportunity to you, like a promotion or job offer,

that makes you feel good and excited and feels right - take it! When we learn how to embrace

the concept of wu wei and learn how to go with the flow, we reach achievements in the

simplest way possible. To simplify your life, don’t force action, let action come to you.

By flowing along the river you will get where you eventually need to be, just without the struggle.