Shout "Wu Wei" and Enjoy Your Day!


As a little boy, I remember watching people wipe their brow and exclaim “Wu Wei!” I quickly learned that Wu Wei was an expression of relief. It was a way of saying “I just got out of a jam. I don’t have to struggle or worry anymore. Everything’s going to be OK.”

It’s too bad we don’t hear the phrase “Wu Wei” much anymore because it has significant meaning. The term is actually Taoist, and it literally means to stop struggling and to go with the flow of life. And yet some people don’t know how to do that. For whatever reason, they believe life has to be a struggle. And I think they believe this because they don’t see themselves in a very favorable light.

People who think life has to be a struggle don’t believe they’re really worthy of God’s love, and they don’t think it’s possible for them to be reasonably happy in this life. So they continuously struggle to somehow redeem themselves for not being good enough to simply enjoy all life has to offer them. Their stinking thinking is steeped in the idea that they have to be perfect in order to be acceptable before God and others. They know they can’t be perfect, and they know the same is true of everyone. Yet they still tend to see other people as being perfect and instantly worthy of the happiness that they must struggle to achieve. Life thus becomes an everyday struggle for them as they try to redeem themselves into being worthy of love and happiness. Well, I’m here to tell you no one can redeem themselves.

Life is not meant to be a struggle. It’s meant to be a joy and God has assured us of that. We don’t have to struggle, but we do have to put some effort into life. In other words, practicing Wu Wei—giving up the struggle and going with the flow of life—doesn’t mean that we put absolutely no effort into life. We need to put in the effort of trying to be better people every day. But life doesn’t need to be a constant life-zapping struggle. We shouldn’t find ourselves worn-out, depressed, bitter and complaining about how hard and bad life is. If we’re doing this, then we are rejecting the our own personal beauty as children created in the image and likeness of God. And we’re rejecting the beauty that life offers us daily.

True faith in ourselves and our Higher Power makes it easy to practice Wu Wei. It makes it easy to trust God, give up the struggle and go with the flow of our lives as God has planned. As we go with that flow, we place effort into being better people and into lending a helping hand so that this world can also be a better place. We accept that we are beautiful people, that we are worthy of love and happiness, and, as a result, we experience inner-peace. All is well.

So if you’re struggling with life, let go, trust God and shout “Wu Wei!” Then wipe your brow free of worry and allow God’s redemptive joy to flow over you.

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