Vol. 0307 / March 2007

In this edition: - Monthly Reflection - Suggested Reading - March Product Savings - Bucky Products & Anti-Aging Products

March Reflection

The Way of Life
A man is born gentle and weak.
At his death he is hard and stiff.
Green plants are tender and filled with sap.
At their death they are withered and dry.
Therefore, the stiff and unbending is the disciple of death.
The gentle and yielding is the disciple of life.
Thus an army without flexibility never wins a battle.
A tree that is unbending is easily broken.
The hard and strong will fall.
The soft and weak will overcome.
                  - Lao-Tzu

During the month of March, we leave behind the cold, dark, unfertile winter season and transition into spring when days become longer, trees and flowers begin to blossom, and hope fills the air. This week, as I looked out my window and saw daffodils beginning to rise from the ground, I was reminded of how the life awakening season of spring overcomes the darkness, and harshness of winter. In Lao-Tzu's "The Way of Life" we are told that when we are unbending and stuck in our ways, we will not flourish. Instead, we are encouraged to be flexible in body, mind, and spirit, if we truly want to experience all that life has to offer.

Sometimes we are so set in our ways or so opinionated that we will not even consider another option or change even if a better way is presented. We become rigid in heart and mind when we stop learning or when our egos become too large. We may have even mapped out a path, to which we will not deviate, for what we think a happy, successful life will be (to go to school, get a good job, get married, have 2.5 kids, fancy house and car, and to retire at a certain age) but unless we are able to adapt to what life presents to us, will sticking to this road map really make us happy? Sometimes the most beautiful parts of the journey are found in the detours, the side roads, that may not be on our original "map".