My Qigong trainer has been so influential in so many of my attitudes. He isn’t really someone who fits into the world we live in today. A lot of new students leave straight away because they don’t get what he is actually doing. People might misinterpret his old world attitudes as biased or intolerant. His political attitudes are challenging, his attitude to a lot of western cultural values are seen as non inclusive or even conservative.

Yet I have learned more from him about the human condition and how to live my life than I have ever learned from books, movies, memes, TV or any other media. In one of my books I mention the bombardment of useless ideas from so much media. The way it leaves you helpless and unable to manage your life. The constant empty promises and distractions, the solutions which are really problems.

I would rather learn ancient art forms and ancient values than lead a life that leads to a million problems. I am not saying that everything is bad, I am saying that nothing gives you the ability to rule yourself. You learn to rule yourself kindly and then you can share your love with the world. You can be happy even in the middle of a great disaster, the crisis is not your crisis. You can live a life that is worth living. 

Rather than hope the noise will turn to sense, the answers are within and the connections to nature and the great Tao is the way to lead a beautiful life. 

What else is giving you what you really need? Are challenges the way ahead? Is entertainment going to heal you and help you grow? Is fame, money, influence and power going to make you happy? Maybe temporarily but it is ongoing and what you need, what you really need does not exist in the artificial system we are in. It has to come from within you and rather than rely on the future you need to connect to something timeless. Nature and the great Tao are timeless.