Taosim | Hostels and Hot Rollers

There may be multiple reasons you are reading this post.

You have stumbled across my blog, and are checking it out.

You are a reader, friend, or family member who are keeping tabs on my adventures.

Or…you’ve found “The Tao of Pooh”

Let me explain.

During my first week in Tamarindo, Costa Rica, I met Karen, a lovely lady from just outside of Kelowna, B.C. We got to talking about books, as many travellers do, and proceeded to swap what we had already read.

She said that she would give me “The Tao of Pooh” as long as I promised to pass it along to someone else when I was done. We decided it would be fun to write a blog post about the book, and see how many peoples hands it would end up in through its travels. A chain letter book so to speak.

Seemed like an easy enough promise, and since the book was quite small, I told her I would have it read, and posted in a few days…that was over two weeks ago.

What I hadn’t expected was how much I would learn from this small, powerful little book.

“The Tao of Pooh”, by Benjamin Hoff, compares the philosophy of Taoism to the tales of Winnie The Pooh. An intriguing concept to say the least. I dabbled in philosophy in my first years of college, but haven’t thought much about it since.

Once I cracked the book open, I found myself taking notes during every page, and stopped to reflect after every chapter.

Although my travels themselves are an adventure, they are also an adventure in self-discovery, and growth. This book was a perfect addition to my personal learning.

Everyone who reads this book will take something unique and valuable away from it. Mine are as follows:

The wise ones are who they are. Recognize what you have and what you are, and work with it, not against it.
Don’t force it, don’t interfere, let things happen and they will work out on their own. It’s the simple mind that sees what is in front of them and follows the nature of things
Enjoy the process of things, instead of waiting for the moment at the end to occur.

Lastly, I’ll leave you with my favourite excerpt:

In order to take control of our lives and accomplish something of lasting value, sooner or later we need to learn to Believe. We don’t need to shift our responsibilities onto the shoulders of some deified Spiritual Superman or sit around and wait for Fate to come knocking at the door. We simply need to believe in the power that’s within us and use it. When we do that, and stop imitating others, and competing against them, things begin to work for us (p. 121)