"Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished." - Lao Tzu

Thousands of years ago, wise people in China discovered something amazing about how life really works.

They created two simple words that hold one of the most powerful secrets in the universe:

Wu Wei.

Wu means "without" or "not doing."

Wei means "action" or "forcing."

But here's where it gets interesting - when you put wu and wei together…

The direct translation means

Wu Wei = Do nothing

However, it doesn't mean doing nothing.

It means taking action without forcing.

It means moving with life instead of fighting against it.

Think about it like this:

Have you ever tried to catch a butterfly?

The harder you chase it, the faster it flies away.

But sit still in a garden, and it might just land on your shoulder.

Here's another way to think about wu wei:

Imagine you're swimming in a river.

You can either fight the current and exhaust yourself, or you can swim with the flow and let the river help carry you where you want to go.

You're still swimming

You're still taking action

But you're working with the water instead of against it.

We live in a world that tells us to want harder.

Work harder.

Push harder.

But what if all that pushing is actually pushing our dreams away?

What if being desperate for something is the exact thing that keeps it from coming to us?

Here's the real question:

Are you taking action that feels like fighting the current, or are you taking action that feels like swimming with the flow?

Phil Knight, the guy who started Nike

You probably know Nike - the swoosh, the cool shoes, "Just Do It."

But Phil Knight, the man who started it all, almost lost everything.

In the early 1970s, his company was failing badly.

He owed money to banks.

He owed money to the people who made his shoes.

He was about to lose his business in just a few weeks.

Phil was doing everything he could think of.

He worked day and night.

He had meeting after meeting trying to save his company.

He would lie awake at night, imagining success, trying to will his business to survive.

But the harder he pushed, the worse things got.

He was fighting the current with everything he had.

Then one morning, while he was out for a run, something changed.

Instead of thinking about his next big move, he asked himself a simple question:

"What wants to happen here?"

He stopped trying to control everything and started listening.

He began swimming with the flow instead of against it.

Within just a few weeks, amazing things started happening.

New partners showed up.

A supplier in Japan offered him a better deal.

A store in California ordered way more shoes than expected.

Phil said it felt like the whole world suddenly started helping him instead of fighting him.

Why am I telling you this?

Because right now…

You might be fighting so hard against the current that you can't feel the flow that wants to carry your dreams to you.

Here's what I know about you:

You're not lazy.

You have big dreams and you work hard for them.

You probably spend time each morning thinking about what you want.

You take action every day trying to make your dreams come true.

But life doesn't work the way we think it does.

Right now, the things you want most aren't lost.

They're looking for the right moment to show up.

But they need you to make some space by letting go of exactly how you think they should happen.

This isn't just about getting what you want - it's about understanding how life really works.

Think about how a tree grows.

It doesn't force its branches to reach toward the sun - they naturally grow that way.

It doesn't struggle to make its roots go deep - they follow the path of least resistance to find water and nutrients.

Your dreams work the same way.

They come from the deepest part of who you are.

When you grab onto them with fear and desperation, you're basically saying

"I don't trust life to bring me good things."

You're acting like there's not enough good stuff to go around.

But smart people throughout history knew better.

They understood that you can want something and work toward it without being desperate about it.

You can care deeply while still trusting that things will work out.

This is what surrender really means:

Loving your dreams while letting go of controlling exactly how they show up.

The Unexpected Event That Turned My Life in Two Weeks

Five years ago, I was sitting in my empty office at 2 in the morning, surrounded by boxes and the wreckage of everything I'd built.

My business partnership had completely fallen apart.

Money I'd invested was gone.

But the worst part?

I had 18 investors - real people who had trusted me with their money - and I had to call each one of them to explain how I'd failed them.

For months, I had been pushing harder than I'd ever pushed in my life.

I made vision boards.

I repeated positive thoughts until my voice was hoarse.

I worked 16-hour days trying to force this dying business back to life.

But the harder I fought against what was happening, the worse everything got.

That night, surrounded by those boxes, I finally stopped fighting the current.

I wasn't giving up - I was surrendering to wu wei.

I said out loud:

"I don't know how to fix this. I don't know what comes next. But I trust that something good can come from this mess."

For the first time in months, I stopped trying to save something that clearly needed to die.

I stopped imagining ways to fix the unfixable.

I just... let go.

I focused on being present with my wife and kids. I tried to learn what this failure was teaching me.

I stayed open to possibilities I'd been too stressed to see.

Two weeks later - just two weeks - someone I respected reached out with an opportunity I never could have imagined.

It was completely different from anything I'd done before, but it felt natural and light instead of forced and heavy.

That experience taught me the difference between desperate action and effortless action. It changed how I approach everything in my life.

The real skill isn't learning better ways to get what you want - it's learning to trust that life is actually on your side.

This is what wise people have always known: there's a time to act and a time to wait, a time to push and a time to let go.

In our fast world where we want everything right now, letting go feels like giving up.

But real surrender is actually the bravest thing you can do.

It's saying "I trust this process" when everyone around you is trying to control everything.

This doesn't mean you sit around doing nothing - it means you take effortless action from a place of trust instead of fear.

You still work toward your dreams, but with an open hand instead of a tight fist.

Flow With Life Practice

When you catch yourself getting desperate about something you want, try this Flow With Life Practice (because when we honor our feelings, we can change them):

1. Get Grounded: Feel your feet on the floor. Say: "I notice I've been fighting against the current."

2. Name What You're Holding Too Tight: Finish this sentence: "I've been forcing _____ because I think it will make me feel _____."

3. Thank Your Dreams: "Thank you for this dream. It comes from the best part of me."

4. Release How It Has to Happen: Picture what you want, then imagine letting go of it having to happen in one specific way. Say: "I let go of controlling how this works out."

5. Ask the Flow Question: "What effortless action wants to happen today?" Then listen quietly without trying to force an answer.

6. Take One Natural Action: From this relaxed place, what feels natural and easy to do right now? Do that, without worrying about the results.

Start with just five minutes each day.

You're not trying to stop wanting things - you're learning to want them while swimming with the current instead of against it.

Remember:

• Your dreams aren't lost - they're finding the natural way to flow to you

• Fighting the current and flowing with it create totally different results

• Wu wei isn't doing nothing - it's taking effortless action that feels natural

• The path that opens up when you trust the flow is always better than the one you were forcing

Swimming with the current alongside you,

Gin

P.S. The thing you're trying to force might be exactly what's blocking the miracle that wants to flow to you naturally. Try the Flow With Life practice just once today and see what happens. Nature doesn't hurry, but it gets everything done - and so can you. 🌊 ✨