The knowledge and skills you acquire without resilience have no value. If you only stay standing when the sun is shining, what use is all the knowledge and skills you have made your own along the way to adulthood and beyond? Just as you do not always walk around with a smile on your face, the sun does not always shine. Sometimes it drizzles, rains, hails, sleets, storms, there are storms in your life… How much courage do you have left to think clearly and take action? How resilient do you remain under all circumstances in your life? Developing as a child is not just about gaining knowledge and experience about the world around you, but above all about yourself. To ground yourself in yourself, so that you still dare to be and to speak, even during the fiercest storms of life. Following your path (Tao) in balance (Yin & Yang) and without force (Wu wei) is not only about getting to know the world around you, but above all yourself. Not only discovering the calm brook within yourself but also daring to look at and embrace the most violent storms raging inside you without judgment. When you are internally balanced (Yin & Yang), you also maintain your balance (Yin & Yang) in the world around you, and you dare to be and speak regardless of what is happening around you. In balance, you move along with the inner storms raging within you and the external forces of nature, without losing your equilibrium. In balance, you create for yourself as part of the whole, instead of a disconnected you.
As you gradually become more resilient as a child, you discover that challenges only exist in your mind. Nature does not think in terms of good or bad, it just ‘is’. Just like you are. It is the storms raging within yourself that tempt you to pass judgment. But what seems like an opportunity at one moment is experienced as a challenge at another moment. So, what was it in the first place: good – bad, or simply ‘being’? The more resilient you become as a child, the more meaningful the knowledge and skills you gradually acquire will be. Not because they suddenly become more valuable, but because in balance (Yin & Yang) you learn to appreciate the knowledge and skills you carry with you, without any urge to control (Wu wei). In this way, as a child, you gradually follow your path (Tao) and the inner and outer world become one.
Trias Vita is a centre for lifelong development that supports children and young people to develop in connection with themselves, others, and the natural environment from an ecosystemic Taoist life perspective: finding your path (Tao) in balance (Yin & Yang) and without force (Wu wei).
Any questions? Mail to info@triasvita.com.
More about Trias Vita on this website.
Vicki Van Lommel, founder Trias Vita