#54 Gentleness

Gentleness was key to Bruce Lee’s philosophy of life and practice as an artist. Bruce equated gentleness with his idea of emptiness, non-resistance internally, the place in which the moment can happen and where spontaneous action springs from. Gentleness equals life. Gentleness is strength. “The essential unity of the universe, the leveling of all differences, the relativity of all standards, and the return of all to divine intelligence and the source of all things – from all this naturally arises the absence of desire for strife and contention and fighting for advantage. A peaceable temper is bred in man that emphasizes nonresistance and the importance of gentleness.” Gentleness is the coming together, not the coming a part of things. “The assimilation of the tao has its foundation in tenderness and quietness.” Bruce Lee personally struggled with having a temper, but he researched his own experience. He was able to be neutral about examining himself and recognized that he needed to cultivate his gentleness. “Because a man can yield, he can survive.” Yielding is an action. “Act spontaneously without prearrangement, ensure the spirit of harmony with nature, see no violence done and have the result of peace and freedom from disturbance. Nourish the spirit so it can find stability.” “True stillness, is stillness in movement.” There’s always action, always things happening, but if we can remember our gentleness then we can be more content. “You cannot hurt that which is formless. Nothingness cannot be confined; the softest thing cannot be snapped.” “Patience is concentrated strength.” To have discipline is to have patience, is to have endurance, and is to keep moving one step at a time. “I must give up my desire to force, direct, strangle the world outside of me and within me in order to be completely open, responsible, aware, alive.” Take Action: How can you re-envision gentleness as strength? Where can you “allow" instead of force? Practice hitting the pause button this week instead of reacting with anger, impatience or negativity. #AAHA This week our #AAHA is from a listener nomination: The awesome Asian/Hapa that I'd like to share with you and the world is my cousin Arus Ubeque Manning. Arus is Blasian (half black half Asian) and was raised in Oakland California but now lives in Dallas TX with is beautiful wife and 3 children. He works for NBC as a video/graphics art designer for our local channel 5. When my cousin Arus was about 6 I remember hanging out with him as a young adolescent myself and Arus being so inquisitive about EVERYTHING! "Why this and why that?" A torrent of questions and discovery was always in flow with him. Two years ago his dad passed away after a bout with lung cancer and I looked at the man he has become and could see so many quiet, satisfactory inaudible answers emanating from that same curious kid! He is the embodiment of peace, happiness and 'cool.' I wish the world knew the man that I admire and love... My Hapa, Arus Ubeque Manning.” #BruceLeeMoment This week’s moment comes from Richard B.: “In 2000 I was an officer in an Air Force cybersecurity unit. A top-tier book publisher saw me speak at a conference and asked if I would write a book on detecting and stopping hackers. I considered this a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, but I declined. I did not feel that I was prepared to authentically express myself in written form. I spent several years refining my thoughts, and in 2003 I sent a detailed outline to the publisher. They accepted it, and in 2004 "The Tao of Network Security Monitoring" arrived in bookstores. I named it after Bruce Lee's most famous book because I felt that I was expressing myself through my philosophy and practice of network defense.” Share your #AAHAs, #BruceLeeMoments, and #TakeAction progress with us at hello@brucelee.com Find the full version of our show notes at BruceLee.com/podcast