Wisdom in Living

Wisdom in Living

This is a completely updated website on how to live your life as if everything is a miracle.

The journey of life is long and unpredictable. We all need wisdom to guide us along the way so that we will not get lost; even if we do, we may still find out way back to where it will eventually lead us to our final destination.

This new website may provide you with wisdom as your compass and roadmap on your life journey.

Wisdom in living comprises seeking God's wisdom through understanding human wisdom in order to live a meaningful and purposeful life, even in the golden years. The ancient wisdom of Tao holds the key to applying these principles of life and living in this modern world.

Stephen Lau

Another FREE Book to Improve Vision

EYE EXERCISES FOR BETTER VISION

By Stephen Lau

This is a book on using eye exercises to overcome bad vision habits that lead to poor vision. The author explains that the eye is an organ of the body, which is controlled by the mind, vision health is holistic health of the body and the mind. 

Good vision is determined by the flexibility of eye muscles. If you exercise your body, there is no rhyme or reason why you should not exercise your eyes for better vision.

The author himself has poor vision due to his myasthenia gravis, which is an autoimmune disease affecting his eye muscles. He is sharing his own experience to use eye exercises for better vision.

Get this book for FREE. Click here to go to the page for your FREE download.

Stephen Lau

FREE Book for Holistic Weight Loss!

TAO wisdom is all about balance and harmony, which is also a holistic approach to weight loss and management. Download this book  FREE to lose a few extra pounds without any diet or medication!

All-Round Weight Loss

by Stephen Lau

Everybody wants to lose some weight; some even want to lose a lot more. But almost everybody gains back all the pounds that have been lost, and then some.

Why is that? Because weight loss is not just about eating less—after all, everybody wants to eat more, not less. Weight loss is about everything, just as Oprah Winfrey once said: “My greatest failure was in believing that the weight issue was just about weight.” Oprah was right. Weight loss is all-round; that is, it involves the body, the mind, and the spirit. To illustrate, weight loss is also about the thinking mind; it is the thoughts that make you fat, more than anything else. According to Esther and Jerry Hicks' bestseller "Money and the Law of Attraction," people not only want the food but also believe that the food will make them fat, and thus have created that which they do not want; unfortunately, their thoughts attract what they do not want, so their bodies respond to the thinking mind, and gain instead of losing weight.

Therefore, going on a fad diet, abstaining from certain types of food, reducing calorie consumption-all these only contribute to the weight-loss hype that sustains the billion-dollar weight-loss industry. The consumers forever lose in the battle of the bulge.

ALL-ROUND WEIGHT LOSS is holistic weight management in that it covers every aspect of weight loss, beginning with the mind, the body, and then the spirit, to make weight loss natural and permanent. Only holistic weight management guarantees lasting weight loss. Do not waste money on diets, and weight-loss products and programs that do not work. Follow the author's simple but comprehensive holistic approach to wellness and weight management. Remember, if you are healthy in body, mind, and soul, you will not have any weight problem.

Click here to go to the page to get your book ABSOLUTELY FREE!

Stephen Lau

Wisdom in Spiritual Healing

Spiritual healing often begins as a sacred journey of living that involves change, growth, and self-discovery. Spiritual healing is spiritual living such that you live your life to the fullest to attain all-round wellness in the body, the mind, and the spirit. Spiritual healing brings about spiritual health that provides an optimum environment for that sacred life journey towards attaining a healthy spirit for natural self-healing of the body and the mind. 

A human being consists of body, mind, and soul or spirit. Self-healing begins with the mind first, and then the body. But the soul is the essence of being. 

Your mind consists of the subconscious mind (the deep mind) and the conscious mind (the superficial mind. Your body is made up of all the systems, organs, and cells. Your spirit or soul controls both your body and mind, for it is the essence of your being.

To illustrate, if your soul tells you one thing, but your subconscious mind tells you another, and your conscious mind generally follows the direction of the subconscious mind, then there will be disharmony between mind and soul. Remember, your conscious mind connects with your subconscious mind and your soul. Only when there is complete agreement among the conscious mind, the subconscious mind, and the soul, then there will be balance and harmony--the essence of self-healing. Yes, you have free will: your conscious mind can freely choose whatever it prefers. But the soul is your whole being: it controls everything.

Healthy Spirit for Self-Healing

A healthy spirit is food for the soul. According to Cicero, the celebrated Roman orator, "Diseases of the soul are more dangerous and more numerous than those of the body." Therefore, food for the soul is as important as food for the body, and it includes the following:

•  positive morals of mindfulness for compassion, hope, and love of self and others

•  positive values of faith, forgiveness, and integrity

Spiritual living contributes to a healthy spirit for spiritual healing, and hence self-healing of the mind and the body. But the first obstacle to spiritual living is too much focus on self and attachment.

Self and Attachment

According to the Bible, "Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth." (Luke 12:15)

According to Buddha, too much focus on self often leads to attachment, which comes in the form of craving--wanting things one does not have-- and ignorance--craving without knowing the futility of the wanting. Attachment to material things is the source of human miseries. Non-attachment, on the other hand, is not about self-denial: it is the wisdom of knowing the impermanence of things, and therefore the non-attachment. Ignorance, on the other hand, is the absence of clarity of mind, or lack of self-awakening to the truth of non-attachment. 

According to Socrates, the great Greek philosopher, human happiness could be attained only by limiting the needs of man. In other words, the art of living well requires you to find out what you need, and not what you want. For more information, visit the author's website: Wisdom in Living.

According to the above, one of the criteria for spiritual living is non-attachment to material things. Non-attachment enables the focus on others, instead of on self. Without non-attachment, there is no spiritual growth, and incomplete spiritual living. Secrets to Eliminate Clutter: 

Learn the secrets to reclaim your living space and find peace of mind through de-cluttering the material things in your life. Simplify your life. Free yourself from material and mundane clutters, which are obstacles to spiritual living.

POWER QUADRANT

Discover what you have been longing to hear about your tru e personality all along. 

Find the true right life path based on your personality.

Pursue your life goals and dreams and find your true life calling.

Stephen Lau

Copyright© by Stephen Lau

Stephen Lau

Copyright© by Stephen Lau

Why Biblical Wisdom?

Why Biblical wisdom?

The Bible is made up of the Old Testament and the New Testament.

The Old Testament comprises thirty-nine books: the Pentateuch, written by Moses, about how the Israelites came to be the chosen people of God; the historical books, written by numerous authors, about the history of Israel, from its rise in Canaan to its downfall in Babylon; the poetical books about wisdom and worship for the Israelites; and the books of ancient prophets, admonishing and warning the Israelites of destruction through their sinful nature and disobedience to God.

These religious writings of ancient Israel focused on the chronicle history of Israel, the questions of good and evil in the world, the subtle relationships between God and man through worship and regulations, and the Covenant of God with man. In short, the Old Testament is the revelation of God’s wisdom to man.

The New Testament is a collection of writings by eight different writers (the Apostles: Matthew, John, Paul, James, Peter, Jude; the Disciples: Mark, Luke), addressing different early Christian churches. This collection of twenty-seven books, comprising the Gospels, Acts of the Apostles, the Epistles, and the Revelation of John, appeared one after another in the second half of the first century.

The New Testament is explicit about the revelation of God’s wisdom to man through the birth of Jesus, the Son of God, and the Messiah of Israel. God’s wisdom is expressed through Jesus’ teachings, culminating in the Crucifixion, which symbolizes the conquest of human death due to sin, as well as the fulfillment of the Covenant of God with man.

Biblical Wisdom

Biblical wisdom is not just for the Israelites; it is for all believers and non-believers alike because it is the only way to salvation, which is the ultimate conquest of human mortality.

Human existence is all about life and death. Living for life is making the most out of life and avoiding any disorder in life that may bring about premature death. To meet this tall order, human wisdom is inadequate. Biblical wisdom shows humans how to live life to the best and the fullest, as well as how to conquer death, which comes as the end.

Stephen Lau

Copyright© by Stephen Lau

The Many Translations of "Tao Te Ching"

Lao Tzu’s Tao Te Ching is one of the most translated books; there are thousands of translations of the book (other than the Bible, Tao Te Ching is probably one of the most translated works in world literature).

Many of the translations available are imperfect. The reason is that the text of Tao Te Ching is in itself one of the most difficult ones in the world for intellectual understanding, let alone translating it into a different language. Without a sound knowledge of the Chinese language (which is extremely difficult to learn, not to mention to master) and a thorough understanding of the cultural background, any attempt to express its profound content in a language other than the original Chinese without any punctuation mark is an insurmountable literary challenge.

The main reason for the imperfections in nearly all the translations of Tao Te Ching is best explained by the famous Indian fable of the blind men describing an elephant. Like the blind men in the fable, each translator or interpreter of Tao Te Ching is always looking at the text from his or her own perspective. That explains why there is no “perfect” translation of Tao Te Ching: none of us is Lao Tzu, and each of us is striving to probe into the mind of the great sage according to our own perspectives and interpretations. But, by the same token, that is also the beauty of the book: it is open to any interpretation. For that reason, it is timeless; its value changes with the change of perspective of its readers. Tao Te Ching is not meant to be read in a single sitting, and then forget about it; it is a book to be read, re-read, and then re-read as often as needed. Michael Crichton, the best-selling author and acclaimed film-producer, once said in interview with Amazon.com that if he were stranded on an island the only book he would take with him would be Tao Te Ching. His comment speaks volumes of the substantial intrinsic value of this ancient Chinese classic.

Yes, Tao Te Ching is one of the world’s most difficult and yet most intriguing masterpieces. By design, the book is riddled with unexplained perplexities and contradictory possibilities through the deliberate use of simple, but vague and ambiguous words. The real essence of the book is its absolute and pure wisdom of living a life of balance and harmony, and thus enabling us to reassess our own lives through the many life lessons that we undergo in varying stages of life. Therefore, its unique content is eternal and timeless. That is why I would like to introduce Tao Te Ching to you, if you have not already read it, or have become fascinated by it.

Stephen Lau      

Copyright© by Stephen Lau

Weight Management Wisdom

If you wish to lose weight, you must have weight management wisdom. Everything in life begins with the mind—your thinking mind--because it affects your decisions and life choices, precipitating in your actions and their respective consequences, which then become your life experiences. So, how well you live is contingent on how well you think. In other words, your thoughts create your personality and henceforth the raw materials, the building blocks with which you build your own life.

But the mind is not independent of the body and the spirit; as a matter of fact, they are interrelated, and hence the importance of holistic living in the art of living well. Accordingly, the mind is significantly affected by the body. A healthy body constitutes a healthy mind; what is good for the body is also good for the brain, the hardware of your thoughts. A healthy mind breeds a joyful spirit.

Your body weight is often a good indicator of your physical health. As a matter of fact, your body shape may be a reflection of your current health conditions. To illustrate, if your body shape is like that of an apple, with extra weight in your midsection, you may have a higher risk for developing diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart disease, among other health problems. The explanation is that the abdominal fat stored in a beer belly is more likely to be converted into cholesterol, causing heart problems further down the road. On the other hand, if your body shape is like that of of a pear, with extra weight around your hips instead of in your midsection, you may be less at risk for diabetes and stroke. Therefore, you cannot be healthy if you are obese. If you have heart problems with constricted blood vessels, your brain may also be affected due to restricted blood flow that carries oxygen and nutrients to your brain cells. To conclude, a healthy brain requires a healthy body with optimum body weight.

First and foremost, there must be the intent to lose weight. Some people simply have a couldn't-care-less attitude towards their health, not to mention their weight problems. The intent empowers the mind to find out everything about weight loss: the body's metabolism, the calories, the digestive system; the buildup of fat, among others. The road to weight loss is paved with hurdles and obstacles that have to be overcome with discipline from the mind. Weight control is mind over matter. But your thinking mind can be your asset or liability. To illustrate, you want a piece of cheesecake, but you strongly believe that it will make you fat. So you may have second thoughts about eating it. But, unfortunately, your mind has created what you do not want—that is, getting fat—and you will attract what you do not want, which is gaining weight through the Law of Attraction. Remember, your thoughts create your own reality—sort of self-fulfilling prophecy. The human thoughts generate energy, and negative energy attracts negative energies. Likewise, obsessing with what you do not want will, ironically enough, get you what you do not want.

Once you have control over your mind, you can also have power over your body with reference to diet, exercise, and lifestyle that will facilitate weight loss. A healthy mind and body cherishes a joyful spirit that focuses on who you are, rather than who you want to become, and thus taking away the stress that comes with self-image in the process of weight loss.


Lose your extra pounds with the right ingredients Don't go for any weight-loss cookbook. You need Metabolic Cooking to enhance your body's metabolism to lose your body fat.

Also visit my websites: Wisdom in Living and Health and Wisdom Tips.

Stephen Lau

Copyright© by Stephen Lau

IS TAO A Religion?

Is TAO a religion?

TAO is the wisdom of the ancient Chinese sage, Lao Tzu, who lived a few hundred years before the birth of Jesus Christ. His beliefs—more at a personal than a social or political level—could not be expressed in words, and therefore never intended to be a religion.

However, it must also be pointed out that over time different religions began to evolve from the philosophy of Lao Tzu. For that reason, nowadays, many people have erroneously come to believe that Buddhism, Zen, and other Taoist religious practices in worshipping many gods and ancestors were all related to TAO, or that TAO was a originally a religion in itself. But nothing could be further from the truth. Lao Tzu believes that the entire universe with everything in it flows with a mysterious force that not only controls but also maintains the natural order of things. That ultimate reality is nondescript; all we can know is that it is not only within and outside us, but also everywhere and nowhere.

“The Way to the Creator existed

before the universe was created.

Its essence is formless and unchanging.

It is present wherever we turn,

providing compassion to all beings.

It comes from the Creator of the universe,

who has no name.

To identify him, call him the Creator.

He can also be called the Great Mystery,

from whom we come, in whom we live, and to whom we return.”
(Chapter 25, Tao Te Ching, Lao Tzu

Accordingly, Lao Tzu’s emphasis is on to be, rather than to do—which is the opposite of Confucius’ (another famous ancient Chinese philosopher, who was a contemporary of Lao Tzu) focus on the way of doing, instead of being.

TAO is not a religion. It is self-enlightenment of the mind so that one may acquire the human wisdom to appreciate and understand spiritual wisdom.

Stephen Lau
Copyright© by Stephen Lau >

TAO Wisdom Quotes

Human Wisdom to Question Oneself

“The wise person questions himself, the fool others.” -- Henri Arnold

“Am I happy?” is just one of the many questions you need to ask yourself in the course of your life and living. Nobody but you have the answer to that question because it is your life and nobody can live it for you, let alone giving you the answer to that simple but difficult question.

Ask and answer many more questions as you go along your life journey, thereby instrumental in awakening your self-enlightenment.

Some of these probing questions you may want to ask include the following:

Who am I? How would I describe myself?

What are my life passions? Why am I passionate about them?

What are my achievements in life to date?  Am I proud of them, and why?

Do I have a role model in my life?  Do I ever wish I were that role model?

Do I love myself? If not, why not?

At this point in my life, am I worried about my future?

Life is a journey of self-discovery, a continuous process of asking thinking questions and seeking self-enlightening answers from them. Please note that the answer to every thinking question you ask may change over time, because life is forever changing, and changes are transformative. The more you ask, the clearer your mind will become, and the more ready you will be to receive the answers.

Although asking questions is a self-learning process, do not seek absolute answers from the questions asked; more importantly, do not seek answers that cannot be given to you. The most important thing in questions-and-answers is to experience everything, not just to pursue knowledge. As a matter of fact, knowledge can help, but it can also hinder. When you only follow what you know, and forget what you feel, you can easily be led down the wrong path. Extensive knowledge and logical reasoning may not necessarily compound wisdom.

Live every question you are going to ask yourself, and live in its presence. Be patient towards all those questions that you cannot answers. True enlightenment may dawn on you one day when you find yourself asking no more thinking questions because you already have all the answers; that is the ultimate self-enlightenment.

Stephen Lau

Copyright© by Stephen Lau

Enjoy the process of self-reflecting all the thinking questions you are going to ask yourself as you go through The Book of Life and Living. Without self-reflection, you may exist for other people, and not for yourself. Now is the time to start asking questions, and putting yourself on the right path to intuiting wisdom in the art of living well.

This 200-page book is full of wisdom based on the author’s extensive research and personal experience. In this book, you will learn the following:

(1) Eliminating unproductive thoughts, and overcoming chaotic struggles in your inner world and outer life to enhance health and performance, master stress, and deepen appreciation of life.

(2) Understanding the essentials of contemporary wisdom and ancient wisdom to help you contemplate and internalize their respective meanings and values in your daily life

(3) Harnessing mind power to operate your mind to integrate the acquired knowledge into your daily activities.

Biblical Wisdom and Financial Freedom

Nowadays, to survive on faith is never easy: it requires not only Biblical wisdom but also human wisdom in order to create the financial freedom necessary to make both ends meet.

To get financial freedom, you need human wisdom to do the following:

(1) Always spend less than you earn. Do not fall into the trap of buy-now-and-pay-later, which may be forever.

(2) Do not spend money on the things you don't need with the money you don't have. Turn your debt-servicing dollars into you-servicing dollars, that is, use your money to serve yourself first, not the credit card companies.

(3) Start saving early. Do not procrastinate. The perils of procrastination contribute to the vicious cycle of debt and expenditure. Remember, expenditures always rise to meet income: the less you have, the less you will spend.

(4) Save regularly. The simple solution to saving regularly is always paying yourself first, instead of others. To put it into application, set aside automatically a sum of money every month before you pay others, or spend it on yourself.

Living in faith and surviving on faith to create financial freedom require you to trust in the Word of God to prepare not just for the difficult times but also for the future, as well as to execute what you must do with human wisdom

"Go to the ant, O sluggard,

Observe her ways and be wise,

Which, having no chief,

Officer or ruler,

Prepares her food in the summer

And gathers her provision in the harvest." (Proverbs 6:6-8) 

It is easy to see that the spiritual application teaches about preparing for eternal life, but the practical interpretation is a clear message about the importance of handling material things today in anticipation of the needs of tomorrow. Survival on faith is certainly a tool to survive in any economic downturn.

Jesus' parable about the unjust steward handling the investment that was entrusted to him is another testament to the importance of handling money diligently and wisely. (Matthew 25:14-30)

Again, Paul taught this: Be "Not slothful in business." (Romans 12:11)

Maintaining balance between practical handling of material things and living in faith for financial freedom requires both Biblical and human wisdom.

Stephen Lau

Copyright© by Stephen Lau

TAO Wisdom to Get Out of Depression

Depression is not a new mind disorder, but it has become increasingly prevalent. We all have a depressive mind because we are all living in a world of depression. The only difference is that our depression may all differ in intensity: slight, serious, or severe. The truth of the matter is that each and every one of us is depressed, without any exception, because we all experience our depressive episodes at some points during our lifespan, and it is very normal. However, many of us prefer to deny or ignore our emotional dysfunction due to the stigma that is often associated with depression.

Depression is not a new human disease or disorder; it is as ancient as man:

“so I have been allotted months of futility,

    and nights of misery have been assigned to me.

When I lie down I think, ‘How long before I get up?’

    The night drags on, and I toss and turn until dawn.

My body is clothed with worms and scabs,

    my skin is broken and festering.

 My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle,

    and they come to an end without hope.

Remember, O God, that my life is but a breath;

    my eyes will never see happiness again.

The eye that now sees me will see me no longer;

    you will look for me, but I will be no more.

As a cloud vanishes and is gone,

    so one who goes down to the grave does not return.

 He will never come to his house again;

    his place will know him no more.

 Therefore I will not keep silent;

    I will speak out in the anguish of my spirit,

    I will complain in the bitterness of my soul. (Job 7: 3-11)

Answer me quickly, Lord; my spirit fails. Do not hide your face from me or I will be like those who go down to the pit.

Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go, for to you I entrust my life. (Psalm 143: 7-8)

In modern age, Sir Winston Churchill, the Prime Minister of Great Britain, underwent serious bouts of depression during his country’s national crisis in World War II. The fact is that depression is no respecter of persons—even for those with very high I.Q., such as the Nobel Prize winning author Ernest Hemingway who committed suicide just as his father did with the comment “I’ll probably go the same way.” Indeed, many of us are vulnerable to this genetic mental disorder.

Sadly, depression is currently increasing at an alarming rate because the world we are now living in is getting more challenging, more complex, and more complicated each day passing—it has now become a world of depression.

The bottom line: How do we get out of depression?

My Way! No Way! TAO Is The Way!

TAO Wisdom To Live And Survive In A World Of Depression

This book is perhaps one the few books with an unconventional approach to depression, a universal mind disorder affecting many people worldwide. Instead of the conventional ways of avoiding depression with distractions, such as exercise, suppressing its symptoms with affirmations and visualizations, and elevating its depressive moods with medications, this 180-page book uses the ancient wisdom from China, what is known as TAO wisdom, to experience anything and everything in depression, that is, going through every aspect of depression.  

TAO wisdom may enlighten you so that you can ultimately free yourself from depression, or at least look at your own depression very differently.

Here is the INTRODUCTION to the book:

“TAO is neither a religion nor a philosophy.

TAO is simply a way of life about the Way of life, that is, a general way of thinking about everything in life. It is a pathless path of humanity to live as if everything is a miracle.

TAO is the Way through anything and everything in life in order to fully experience them and live in balance and harmony. TAO is not about avoiding or getting out of anything unhappy and undesirable in everyday life, such as depression; rather, it is about going through depression by experiencing every aspect of it in order to become enlightened, if possible, with the profound human wisdom to continue living in peace and harmony in a world of depression.

TAO is looking at life not as a series of both happy and unhappy episodes, but simply as a journey of self-discovery and self-awakening to the real meaning of life existence. You are defined not by your words and thoughts, but by the ways you act and react, as well as the impact you may have on others around you. You exist not because you are simply here; you are here in this world to love and to learn how to live, as well as to help one another do the same."

To get your Amazon digital copy, click here; to get your paperback copy, click here.

Stephen Lau

Copyright© by Stephen Lau