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My philosophy of life

While reading Tina Seelig's new book, What I Wish I Knew When I Was 20, I came across a Lao-Tzu quote that describes my new philosophy of life:

“The master of the art of living makes little distinction between his work and his play, his labor and his leisure, his mind and his body, his education and his recreation, his love and his religion. He simply pursues his vision of excellence in whatever he does, leaving others to decide whether he is working or playing. To him, he is always doing both.”

Comments (40)

May 13, 2009
truesprit said...
:)
Wow.
Speechless.
Great one.

Stay well,
Renee

May 13, 2009
Mayka said...
Amen.
May 13, 2009
Debra Soles said...
GREAT Quote! Thanks!
May 13, 2009
Anthony Myers said...
That is a great way of putting how I live. Pursuing excellence every second, and enjoying every breath I take.
May 13, 2009
Zoltán Dévai said...
Must be lucky who can do it. I meen not all the "play" can be sold as "work". I'm a fanatic of customer-evangelism, but nobody wants to pay for it. So I have to "work" somthing else to live from.
May 13, 2009
Steve Curtin said...
Guy, that passage reminds me of a quote by the late J.W. Marriott, Sr.: "There weren't these two opposites, work and play, one bad and the other good. It was having a vision of the way things ought to be and then making them that way."
May 13, 2009
Tom Chaffer said...
This makes me happy! True, true, true! Thanks for sharing, Guy.
May 13, 2009
DiegoRemus said...
That's it! I believe this as true from you, and from me, too!

Just today I blogged about much the same on my Bold Mind Web blog, just adding more social media pepper into it. There are some spiritually rich sentences inside. See at http://migre.me/69b

Cheers!
Delighted to share!

May 13, 2009
Nathalie Molina said...
Que chevere!!!!
May 13, 2009
Gloria Moore said...
I love it. In re-designing my life this is a great
goal to aspire to.
May 13, 2009
Gardenwiseguy said...
Guy: you continue to amaze me. From your "meschiness" in Art of the Start, to you general daily musings at Twitter, you prove yourself to be a man of deep thought and humor. I will be pondering this philosophy as I enter an early retirement (June 30) and begin to re-sort my life and priorities. Good timing. Thanks.
May 13, 2009
fredcannon said...
What a life we could lead if only we could live this philosophy with every breath we take.
May 13, 2009
Ty Sookochoff said...
Lao-tzu? Or James Michener. (I'll admit, the former has a better ring to it).
May 13, 2009
Linda said...
Kind of fits in the the saying that there's no such thing as business ethics, there's just ethics. Who we are isn't divided by labor and leisure. Who we are encompasses both. Great philosophy - thanks for posting it. :)
May 14, 2009
Victor Panlilio said...
Words of wisdom indeed.
May 14, 2009
Gihan Perera said...
Ah, yes, I like this. It's similar to one of my favourite pieces of poetry, an extract from Robert Frost's poem, "Two Tramps in Mud Time", which ends like this:

But yield who will to their separation,
My object in living is to unite
My avocation and my vocation
As my two eyes make one in sight.
Only where love and need are one,
And the work is play for mortal stakes,
Is the deed ever really done
For Heaven and the future's sakes.

Gihan

May 14, 2009
Admirim said...
Absolutely brilliant!
May 14, 2009
sunita said...
thanks for sharing this, very wise - and true
May 14, 2009
jignesh said...
Wow, i can say its wonderful words..thanks a lot for sharing
May 14, 2009
Diane said...
Awesome. What a great thing to aspire to.
May 14, 2009
Eric Snyder said...
Thanks for sharing this profound, yet simple bit of wisdom. I've RTd your tweet!
May 14, 2009
Drtaxsacto said...
Spot on. Work should seem like play.
May 14, 2009
Jackie Hale said...
Not easily done, but possible and worthwhile.
May 14, 2009
asheshr said...
Great Quote of Wisdom on Mastering the art of living!
May 14, 2009
Denise Wakeman said...
I love this quote and feel it describes how I've lived my live and work for over a decade. Thanks for bringing to my attention.
May 14, 2009
conescu said...
thanks, that's a keeper
May 14, 2009
Tina Cook said...
Yes! Absolutely beautifully described. Thank you for sharing.
May 17, 2009
Play is simply work in the form of practice.
May 17, 2009
Kim Freedman said...
When I left corporate America and started my own company, I struggled with knowing when I was working and when I was playing. I could have saved myself some anguish if I had embraced this philosophy back then.
May 17, 2009
Ronald Barnett said...
One of all time favorite quotes as well though I wonder who first said it. Author Yvon Chouinard cites Francois Auguste Rene Chateaubriand in "Let My People Go Surfing" (the history and philosophy of the Patagonia clothing company - great read by the way).
May 17, 2009
amin darminto said...
fantastic quote...
Thanks
May 18, 2009
Rena said...
That's the secret, isn't it. It's similar to what my grandmother use to tell me: "Love what you do and you'll never work a day in your life."
May 18, 2009
DrMollieMarti said...
A friend sent me here after reading my latest post: "Parenting and Work...Not Oil and Water" http://tinyurl.com/ome9cv.

I'm so thankful. I've seen a lot of Lao-Tzu quotes yet never this powerful GEM! Off to print it & post it by my computer.

Thanks for sharing, Guy. Best on your continued pursuit of excellence - you help so many!

May 20, 2009
9swords said...
One of my favorite books. The Way of Life :)
May 28, 2009
Social Splash said...
great post
May 29, 2009
Abriel said...
I really appreciate the quote. Actually, I was just browsing topics about the philosophy pertaining life,then I came to read yours. How Great!! thanks!! you inspire me
Jun 13, 2009
Fantastic. That is perfect. (And it is SO you!)
Jun 26, 2009
Anton Shepherd said...
This is a great quote. If I'm working on something I don't like, how can I expect others to enjoy it?
Jul 29, 2009
inquisitive said...
Nice images of a rather idealized way to live. Lao Tzu is good stuff to ponder for sure but hard to pratice in the real world.

If you have been successful enough (usually involving hard work plus a large dose of luck) to find a profession or job that you find fun and even playful then of course this is a fine philosophy of life.

I remain a bit skeptical of how rather less successful people apply this idea in a rat race society when they are struggling to make ends meet in a low paid dead end slave labor job and no longer have the luxury of persuing their visions of excellence if they even have a notion of what that might mean. Relatively few are able to find a path where they can enjoy the feeling that their work mimics play. I`ve personally had that feeling and lost it several times. A sage can be manage to be happy being poor and doing relatively meaningless and repetitive work just to stay alive but this is not what western culture teaches. Many people work stressful positions just to have a degree of status and purchasing power but few would describe their work as play. Most folks I see are not able to pull off that illusion. I don`t think the system makes it particularly easy. Just sayin.

Still a nice paradigm to aim for me thinks.

Jul 23, 2010
Din Freebies said...
That is a great way of putting how I live.

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