These past couple of days have brought unexpected matters that needed handling — unavoidably disrupting my usual writing schedule. I hope you’ll bear with me.
But just now, in a spontaneous moment, I sat down and wrote this short piece — a warm bowl of winter soup, sent to you with care.
It isn’t long, but it comes from the heart. I hope you enjoy it and find something of value in it.
When you truly want to accomplish something significant, the most important thing is to move forward steadily, step by step.
Be calm. Be grounded. Be real with yourself. Don’t chase after things with too fierce an ambition. Simply plan each day ahead of you carefully, execute progressively, and over time — naturally — something gratifying will emerge in your hands.
On the contrary, the more impatient you are, the harder you force it, the more desperately you’ll reach for so-called shortcuts. And once you step onto those shortcuts, you’ll find nothing but chaos.
But when you genuinely choose to lay a solid foundation — step by step, foot by foot on solid ground — the good outcomes will arrive as promised.
So follow your own rhythm. Strive in whatever state feels right for you. Don’t let the opinions and criticism of others throw you off course.
Here’s the truth: no matter what kind of life you build, someone will always find fault with it.
Live simply? People will call you small-minded and weak.
Live with wealth? People will call you cunning and heartless.
So just be yourself. Be answerable to heaven and earth, to your family, your friends, and yourself.
To be truly “answerable” — that is enough.
From there, keep learning from others’ strengths, keep improving your own shortcomings — day by day, step by step.
Whether you ultimately achieve great things late in life, or never achieve anything remarkable at all, this state of mind — this inner steadiness — will guarantee you a lifetime of happiness and ease.
Remember this: strive, yes. Work hard, yes. Fight for what you want, yes. Refuse to give up, yes. But also allow yourself the grace to ultimately be just an ordinary person.
Don’t envy too deeply those so-called “lucky ones.” Behind every stroke of luck usually lies generations of blood, sweat, and sacrifice — and often, that luck is consumed entirely within a single generation.
Over the years, we’ve seen plenty of examples of people falling from the heights straight into the depths.
The defining theme of this world has always been ordinary lives, lived by ordinary people.
Keep yourself content and still reaching forward — and without question, there is a great measure of ordinary happiness waiting quietly ahead of you.
Now, the Spring Festival is almost upon us — and that is truly our Chinese New Year, the real one.
For some who don’t pay it much mind, the New Year is nothing more than flipping a page on the calendar. But for those who take it seriously, it truly marks the beginning of an entirely new fortune cycle (luck cycle).
I’ve mentioned this before: due to reasons we all understand, mainland China has somewhat drifted away from certain traditional customs. Yet in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and across Southeast Asia, the Spring Festival is taken with the utmost seriousness — along with the pursuit of “new year, new energy.”
Typically, during the Spring Festival period, people update their profile pictures according to their own circumstances and what they wish to invite into the coming year.
If you’re in business, you seek the blessing of the God of Wealth. If you’re pursuing a promotion, you seek the guidance of Wenchang, the God of Literary and Career Fortune. If you have young children, you seek the protection of Wenqu Xing, the Star of Literary Virtue.
In short, adjustments are made according to need — and preparation begins early.
I remember at the start of this year, I guided quite a few of you on choosing your profile pictures, and the response was, frankly, better than expected. I wouldn’t call the results “instant” — that would be an overstatement — but based on the feedback I’ve received, the effect has been quite good overall.
Take one young woman, for instance — so committed to expressing her personal aesthetic that she deliberately chose a rather inauspicious image as her profile picture. The result? Two consecutive years of bad luck.
And yet once she simply changed her avatar, the knot loosened almost immediately. Both her wealth fortune and her romance fortune (peach blossom luck) gradually opened up and flowed smoothly.