Today’s article is a Q&A — short, but important.
Because it answers the greatest anxiety that may have been occupying your mind lately: “If the days ahead don’t go well for me, what should I do?”
Read this article through to the end, and you’ll find your answer.
Student Question:
Master, I am a middle-aged reader, and these days the pressure I feel is truly immense. I’ve come to seek your guidance and find some relief for this heavy, suppressed heart of mine.
In the eyes of others, I appear to be a somewhat accomplished business owner — running a modest operation, employing dozens of staff, driving a car, living in a spacious apartment. Life was smooth and satisfying for a long time. But the past two years, as you’ve seen, have been brutal. Not only could my company no longer sustain itself — it closed its doors at the beginning of this year — but now I’m slowly starting to draw down my savings. Though I have no immediate worries about food or clothing, my heart refuses to settle.
How did I come to lose so much? What step did I take wrong?
After reading a comment left by a fellow reader on your public account, I found myself deeply resonating with his pain. I too sometimes feel a dull, pressing ache in my chest late at night, along with occasional difficulty breathing. So I’m writing to you for two reasons: first, to ask if Master has any method for soothing oneself; and second, to request an appointment for Master to analyze my destiny chart (命盘) and help me chart a course forward.
Master Chi’s Response:
Brother, allow me first to offer you a word that is perhaps less comfort than it is truth.
If you’ve managed to stop your losses in time without going into debt — and without the long shadow of ongoing financial pressure — then quietly, you should be counting your blessings. At this stage, everyone is carrying their own weight. They just don’t share it openly, for fear of becoming someone else’s punchline.
Looking back from last year alone, I’ve lost count of how many people — undone by misfortune — who came to me in urgent need of guidance about what lies ahead. By comparison, your situation is genuinely optimistic.
One could even say that heaven, in its quiet way, arranged for you to rest — to prevent you from walking into further trouble and deeper loss. Think about it: if your company were still operating today, is it not entirely possible that what once laid golden eggs has now become a steadily hemorrhaging liability? Being forced to step back and preserve yourself before the storm fully arrived — that may not be misfortune at all.
I also believe that starting from 2022, we need to recalibrate our measure of happiness.
- Do you have any serious health problems?
- Do you face massive, unmanageable financial pressure?
- Is there anyone or anything in your life causing you profound misery?
If the answer to all three is no — then quietly, celebrate. Because by the standard of these past two years, you are among the fortunate.
And if you happen to have some reliable assets or a steady source of income on top of that, those are real and meaningful blessings — gifts that compound quietly over time. You’ll come to understand this more deeply as the years pass.
True happiness in life does not come from having — having a car, a house, money, status. These things may bring momentary satisfaction, but they cannot deliver lasting happiness. They often become the very source of complexity and trouble.
True happiness in life comes from not having — no illness, no disaster, no worry, no burden. These are the priceless treasures that even the most powerful people quietly envy.
This is the message I want to share with every one of you — especially in the current climate.
Unless things shift unexpectedly, the next two years will not be easy for anyone. Each of us will encounter our own pressures and difficulties, in one form or another. But we will cross through them, slowly and surely, and they will become the stories we laugh about a decade from now.
As long as you put in steady, honest effort — keep your mind clear and your spirit settled, stay focused on your own work, and resist the temptation of those glittering, dangerous “opportunities” —
When the next economic cycle turns, you will find yourself ready, with room to move and room to grow.
Truly, in adversity, it is never about who charges the hardest. It is about who endures the longest.
In fierce wind, you know the strong grass. In bitter cold, you recognize the frost-touched pine.
What it takes is the resilience of grass, and the clarity of pine.
So for the next three years: steady and grounded. Holding your ground is the greatest success of all.