'Tao of Pooh' - Benjamin Hoff

I was first introduced to this book years ago when I was traveling to a race on the other side of the country. My friend who hosted us had it on his bookshelf and my travel/racing partner at the time snagged and read it throughout the weekend. He loved it and couldn't stop raving about it. I dismissed it, focused on the race, and never came back to it until these last two weeks.

I would hands down recommend this book to anyone. I knew little to nothing on Taoism besides a brief uninformative overview in one of my college courses. The book is intended as an introduction to the eastern belief system of Taoism for westerners in relation with the writings and characters of A.A. Milne's Winnie-the-Pooh stories.

Everything I took from this book I related it to my training and racing. I took a couple quotes from the book that I am going to hang on to and put in a place that I will consistently see.

"When you know and respect your Inner Nature, you know where you belong.
You also know where you don't belong."

I take from this that everything has it own place and function. Do not try to be something you are not and know your limitations.

“The main problem with this great obsession for saving time is very simple: you can’t save time. You can only spend it. But you can spend it wisely or foolishly.”

I feel like I am pretty wise in the way I spend my time, but I need to practice the idea of that you can only spend it. I run around trying to save time and stress out when things are tight.

"If we add up all the rewards in our lives, we won't have very much. But if we add up the spaces between the rewards, we'll come up with quite a bit. And if we add up the rewards and the spaces, then we'll have everything - every minute of the time that we spent."

Most importantly this quote reminds me to cherish the spaces and the rewards will follow. So when I need to get up in a blizzard at 5:30 in the morning to go swim. To cherish the experience.

Read this book and I am sure you will walk away with your own quotes and takeaway. Up next, 'The Te of Piglet', also by Hoff.