 El Isano Nuevo de Costa Rica. I have no idea why Stanowar is the first suit here. It's hot outside. New Year's is a time for reflection and determination. We looked back on the past year, hopefully with some amount of satisfaction. I look forward to how we want to live the New Year differently. Using the changeover of an arbitrary clock to bookmark a new leaf isn't really a new idea. The ancient Babylonians almost four millennia ago would sometimes throw hangover inducing 11-day parties to celebrate a new year. During these celebrations, possibly because they wanted a fresh start and possibly because they ran into people at the parties, the ancient Babylonians would vow to return borrowed property and to repay their debts. Nowadays, New Year's resolutions are more about self-improvement, about changing yourself so that you can lead a healthier, fuller, richer life. However, there is a philosophy from ancient China that might be thought to oppose the sort of radical change of one's life. It was founded by this guy here, Lao Tzu, which is Chinese for ancient teacher. Which probably isn't his real name. Lao Tzu is most closely associated with the Chinese philosophy of Taoism. You're probably familiar with his primary symbol, the yin-yang. Now, just as a disclaimer, Lao Tzu says right off the bat in the Dao De Qing, the primary work of Taoism, that anybody who claims to understand the Tao doesn't. However, I'm a little bit of a skeptic and there are a lot of philosophies and religions that claim that you can only really get at the wisdom of them if you accept them in their entirety. That you have to be a paid member to get at the good stuff. So I'm going to talk about Taoism like I know something about it, and hopefully I won't get crushed by an uncarved block or something. Taoism is a philosophy about the natural order of the universe, a sort of capital W-way, the eponymous Tao. One of sort of the central ideas of the Dao De Qing is how, when human beings create labels for things, they inadvertently create a dichotomy which brings the opposite into existence. Like if I held up a stick and said, this is a long stick, that makes this a short stick and this an absurdly short stick, and so on. The very same thing could be said about beauty or goodness. If I say that something is beautiful, then things that are unlike it become not beautiful or ugly. Calling something beautiful creates ugliness. Calling something good creates badness. This is especially relevant to a lot of people who like to label things and events with relationship to themselves. Something is either beneficial to them or not beneficial to them. Something is either good or not good. A lot of what Taoism is about is releasing hold on these labels. Just letting the universe does what it does, the way, and aligning your own will with that way. Alright, so what does any of this have to do with quitting smoking or eating healthier? Hold on, I'm getting there. Taoism is a philosophy of acceptance. It basically states that we can call things good or bad as we like, but ultimately we're just partitioning off sections of this thing that happens that's called the universe. According to Taoism, you have a natural way of being as well. You have a thing that you do that's just so you. The upshot of this is that you can harness the way that you are to make things happen. Maybe you want to exercise more. Instead of trying to bash yourself into submission, maybe you can find a thing about yourself that will make you exercise more. Maybe you can reward yourself with ice cream every time you exercise. Maybe you can find a sport that you enjoy playing. The idea is, instead of wishing that you were different, accept that you are as you are and find a means within your way, your Tao, to make things happen. Of course, this is all based on a book of poetry that was written before Alexander the Great was born. If you want modern advice for how to achieve your resolutions, make your goals achievable and set a schedule for achieving them. Which is more useful for you? Leave a comment, let me know what you think. Home at last. I missed you, shelves. Thank you for watching. Don't forget to subscribe, share, put a vida, and I'll see you next week.