Owen K Waters – Wouldn’t it be just great if life suddenly became a lot easier? What if, instead of working hard to complete a project, it all just flowed together in one easy-moving path towards perfect completion?

Such is the promise of the Eastern philosophy of Wu Wei (“Woo-Way”), which promotes the idea of “doing by not doing.” When nothing is done, it says, nothing is left undone.

When nothing is done… excuse me? When I first encountered this stark contradiction I became seriously worried about my brain cells short-circuiting and melting. The more I thought about it, the more convinced I became that I was starting to smell smoke coming out of my ears!

Later, at an older and riper age, I began to see the idea behind the apparent contradiction. The alternative translation of “action without effort” instead of “doing by not doing” helped to clarify the original idea. I came to realize that if, instead of trying to make something happen by the usual efforts of planning, willpower and determination, you go within and see the action accomplished, then something very different happens. The action doesn’t mysteriously become accomplished by non-effort, but you experience a state of flow which enables you to move through the task with ease, grace and incredible efficiency.

A leading light in positive psychology today is Hungarian-American professor Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. (In case you’re wondering, his last name is pronounced, “Cheek-sent-me-high-ee.”) His focus on happiness and creativity led to the concept of flow, which is a state of concentration or complete absorption in an activity. He points out that developing a state of flow leads to higher skill development and the ability to meet higher challenges within a chosen field.

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