I Ching

Nourishment refers to much more than a healthy diet.  It is the care-giving function.  Eating properly implies care for oneself; providing healthy meals in the home is a sign of caring for the family.  The writer of a great book or composer of an inspiring piece of music also provides nourishment – to humanity in general, by caring deeply about his or her work and offering the fruits of it to the world.

You can know people by observing what they choose to nourish in their own lives.  Do they feed and develop their own bodies? Do they cultivate their spirits, their intellects, their moral values? Do they nourish and care for those around them? If so, to whom do they devote their energies? The most successful people are temperate in eating and drinking, thinking and dreaming.  They strengthen the world by nurturing the higher nature in man.

Pay heed to your inner thoughts and impulses, ignoring thoughts which undermine a healthy and persevering attitude.  A wise person is temperate in the consumption of food and drink, because to be otherwise only leads to discomfort; the fact that temporary pleasure may precede the discomfort does not influence the person of mature character.  In the same way, be discriminating in your words and actions, lest a desire for temporary advantage lead you to cause pain for yourself or others.  Enrich your own character and you will naturally nourish everyone around you.

1. Envy is the dark, mealy underside of the rock of healthy ambition.  Deep envy, the kind fed by self-pity, always brings misfortune.  To counter a tendency toward envy, practice self-reliance; take control.
2. He or she who earns his daily bread is much happier than those who subsist on the charity of others.  Continuing to be over-reliant on the generosity of others brings misfortune.  They who chop their own firewood are twice warmed.
3. When real nourishment is rejected in favor of “junk food” of the body or mind, natural strength wanes quickly and significant achievement becomes difficult.
4. When seeking help for a worthy enterprise, one must be as zealous as a hungry tiger.  To the degree your enterprise serves the common good, your zeal will be honored by others.  Only by generating a strong head of steam can the train’s engine scale the mountain pass.
5. Learning to listen brings success! Personal advice, especially from the wise and perceptive, must be heeded when you are facing difficult tasks.  But when someone’s advice helps you through a critical situation, you must not delude yourself into thinking that you succeeded on your own.  You must recognize this dependence upon the other, or face misfortune when undertaking your next assignment.
6. A great burden is borne by those in exalted positions, for the influence of such people is great, and they are responsible in some way or other for the nourishment of many below them.  Awareness of the serious responsibility one carries in such a position should not inhibit action; the general must feed his troops daily, regardless.  A continuing awareness of the responsibility that comes with power is often the best means of preventing its dissipation, for responsible attitudes lead to steadfast leadership and smart decisions.