Tao Te Ching: Chapter #9

9
Fill your bowl to the brim
and it will spill.

A full bowl is unstable and could spill out. So what's the lesson? If we try to have too much of anything, it will inevitably lead to a loss. In one word, moderation.

Keep sharpening your knife
and it will blunt.

When you sharpen a knife, you essentially remove steel from the edge, which leads to the knife's end wearing out quickly. Making an effort beyond what is necessary, also known as perfectionism, it will lead to damage or loss. Knowing when it's enough.

Chase after money and security
and your heart will never unclench.

Material attachment (chasing after money) and anxiety (chasing security) keep you tense and restless; the burnout is just around the corner. Peace came from accepting a degree of uncertainty, and looking here and now on what is enough, freeing yourself from ego-driven desire for more.

Care about people's approval
and you will be their prisoner.

Seeking external validation, acting driven by the desire to please others, and you lose your freedom, becoming dependent on their opinions.

Do your work, then step back.

A rule for life: do your work, and detach from the result, let it go. Don't try to have any control over the outcome. 

The only path to serenity.


Conclusion

Just a few words after probably my favourite chapter until now. So simple but, again, so true even thousands of years after it was written.


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