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The Daoist Outlook・072

Jan 09, 2026

Earth Rat Moon Wanes


    We're now a solid week into the Solar New Year, and hopefully you're still sleeping in and dragging your feet around the house. If you've already given up on your New Year resolutions - good for you! Far too many of us kick off January with a big blaze under our butts only to wonder why we burn out by Summer. You wouldn't jump out of bed at 4am for a boot camp conditioning class and still expect to have energy in the afternoon, right? We're basically working with the same logic here.

   As for the poetry of the moment, take it easy, dude. This system is simple: Dream big in Pig, then break it down into bits in Rat. You take aim in Ox, rear back in Tiger, then spring into Rabbit and bloom into Dragon. There's a final push in Horse and then the Goat guides you back down the mountain. You get to tame the Monkey and wrap it all up with Rooster before you go home to the Dog and get back to bed in Pig (mic drop). See, they aren't so much animals as they are insights around how to navigate the progression of time - and right now is the time for brainstorming from your bed.
   To make this make sense, just rest. It's as simple as that. Even if you have a bit of gas in the tank - save it, don't squander. Use this time to make plans and projections while snuggled in the comfort in your afternoon pajamas. If you have people telling you to hurry up - they're wrong! Just smile and go even slower still - let everyone else run around like crazy on their own time. 

✧ Wrapping Up the Winter ✧

Ease Up Some: Seriously, what's the big rush?
Sleep in More: 
Slap that snooze bar into next season.
Play with Possibility: It's called limitless, open-sky thinking.
No Committments: It's still way too early to choose.
Be Fashionably Late: And go home early too.

Winter is Winding Down

Contents


・Shifu Says: A brief word from our head teacher, Shifu David Wei.
・Student of the YEAR: Could it be you? What did you do to earn it?
・The Daoist Calendar:
Special holidays and how to observe them.
・Deep Steeps: Shifu gets to sit with master mover, Shinichi Iova-Koga.
・A Second Steep: With Shotokan Karate master, Antonio DiNunno.
・Final Fortune Cookie: Big wit and wisdom from a tiny little idiom.

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