Following These Five Daoist Principles Will Transform Your Writing

For the past two weeks, I’ve been exploring various aspects of Daoism and how they can be used in your writing. Today, I’m offering five basic principles of Daoism that can easily be applied to the writing life. Returning to these principles again and again is like restarting your inner computer.

If you feel disappointed or stuck, anxious or frustrated, reminding yourself of these five basic principles can get things moving again.

1. The goal of life is not perfection. Neither is the goal of writing.

Perfection doesn’t exist. You will never be perfect, and you will never write a perfect work. You should not desire perfection because that desire to reach an unattainable goal will only lead to unhappiness.

In Daoism, imperfection isn’t just acceptable, it’s desirable. Your personal imperfections are what make you you. The imperfections in your writing are what make it yours.

2. Live without expectations.

I have often written that writers should become less goal-oriented. In fact, I have said they would be better off abandoning goals all together. Nothing I have ever written has spurred as much negative response! People love goals, and in our society, we’re all rather addicted to them. But as Zen writer Leo Babauta puts it: “The best goal is no goal…It doesn’t mean you stop achieving things, it means you stop letting yourself be limited by goals.”

Goals are a form of expectation. They are what happens when we think: If I do a, b, and c, then x, y, and z will happen.

Daoism teaches us to abandon expectations. Stop thinking that, if you only do the right things in the right way, you’re bound to end up where you want to be. Instead, just do what you do. Follow your passion. Write. See where it takes you.

3. Be fully present. Be in this moment. Now.

How many times do you say to yourself, “I’m not happy where I am as a writer” or “My writing career is going nowhere”? How often do you fantasize about a wonderful future you hope will come true? Every time we think this way, we are spending the present on a future that may or may not happen.

The key to living in the present is simple. Just remember: Where you are now is the right place for you to be now. It doesn’t mean you will always be there. It doesn’t mean things won’t get better (or worse). It means, this is where you are.
As the poem “Desiderata” puts it: “…whether or not it is clear to you, the Universe is no doubt unfolding exactly as it should.” Allow the Universe to unfold (you really have no choice anyway!), and that means allowing your writing to unfold as well. You can do that by simply writing, in the here-and-now, and letting the future come as it will.

4. Accept chaos and confusion.

How we yearn for life to be well ordered! We make lists, organize drawers, and plan out schedules. We create outlines and flow charts and story boards.

Most writers know all about confusion. The times we are muddled and uncertain greatly outnumber the times we are clear and sure. Confusion feels uncomfortable. We try to fight it, which often just makes it worse. It’s hard to remember that it is the source of creativity. In this way, writing is like life.

Daoism teaches that Chaos is part of existence. It isn’t an evil we must put up with, but a blessing we can learn to appreciate.

5. Embrace your uniqueness.

“There are 6.5 billon people in the world,” writes Casey Kochmer on PersonalTao.com, “and so 6.5 billion paths to Taoism.” The same thing can be said of writing. No matter how many classes you take, books you read, and lessons you learn about writing, your own process, your own story, and your own means of expression will be yours alone.

Acknowledge the strangeness of your own path through the world. Accept the oddities of your own process. Embrace the fact that you are different from every other person in the world, and your writing is different from every other writer’s.