Thank you for your insight on blending the Chi cycle and success. I discovered you two years ago when I was at the airport in Melbourne, on my way back to Singapore where I used to live after a business trip down under. The book was called “The Perfect Day Plan” and this is exactly what I was looking for. I still do not know why I bought this book rather than any other self-help book. One thing I know is that I misunderstood its purpose: I was looking for a plan for my perfect day….of work, leading to financial and career success. I did not really care about my wellbeing or inner, spiritual health. And had not much time for Chinese medecine. Actually I had always seen the interest of westerners for buddhism, yoga and meditation as a new age hype for upper-middle class former liberals who felt guilty about playing the capitalist game and needed to add some exotic subversion to their comformist life

However I did read the book and from the first page it was clear to me that it all made sense. I re-made my whole time management system and day plan according the book, took notes all the way and synthesized the whole lot.

That is when trouble started.

I work in a very busy company where everyone works around 12 hours per day at the very least.

I am a Talent Acquisition specialist in a company where the normal attrition rate is 31 % every year, headcounts grow 25 % per month (yes, per month) and I have to source, headhunt and recruit a totally crazy amount of people every year.

I tried to follow the Chi Cycle – and the PDP – for one week, and my work load was all of a sudden in a catastrophic situation. Some of our units – in China, ironically – were simply not staffed, no-one to do the job; and stakeholders started to ask questions to my boss and spoke behind my back about what on earth was happening to the young man who looked so promising not so long ago….

It was a matter of professional survival that I give up everything and switch back to my former life of working from 9am to 4am, stuffing a chicken rice in front of my laptop whenever I feel hungry, no sport and, of course, no meditation. It worked really well.

Things went back to normal after a few weeks and I was even offered a lucrative transfer to Dubai where I now live.

However, I always kept in mind that I had missed an opportunity here and that what I was doing, I was not supposed to do it, at least not this way. I was somehow convinced that the PDP was the right way.

You might think: OK, maybe you are sacrificing your own life for a degree of material success you may not need, and maybe you should look for a job with less stress and a more reasonable workload, even if that means a lower pay.

If it was just about me, I would definitely do it. No hesitation. The truth is: I do not give a damn about financial and professional success.

The problem is: I have an ageing mother with limited funds and no financial support other than mine back in my home country, living in a dangerous suburb that I want to get her out from. I want to buy her a house and have assembled some sort of financial net which help providing her with a peaceful, quiet last decade (hopefully two decades) of her life.

Therefore, and as long as I do not find a way to combine both Chi and professional success, I will have priorities other than my wellbeing and I need to park that for now.

Then something really strange happened (one year ago): I was interviewing on the phone a fifty something executive, very successful in his line of business. I had noticed he was a also a Martial Art Master, and that he took one month off every year to go to China and medidate with his own Master, in a very remote temple of Tibet.

I asked him if he was living according to the Chi cycle. He said he of course did, and we had a chit-chat upon the matter, and he said he would send me the link to a book about the whole thing by email.

Guess which book that was.

I then met him face to face in Singapore for another interview. This man was, just like yourself, at an almost ridiculous level of fitness, not just for his age but for any age. I told him I had actually already read your book, and told him about my problem.

He was really upfront and clear on the fact that there was no way I could apply the book at this stage of my life, nobody would. He said he understood where I was coming from and that he could afford to apply the Chi cycle because he had already made his money, success and reputation. In my case and at my age, he advised me to park it for now, do my career and then get back to it once I have sorted my other priorities in my life and that I am financially secure. in my mid fourties or fifties.

Do you think he is right ?

Many thanks for reading, Take care

P.

Wow I can really relate to this post of yours. I got to it from Facebook! I am a yogi at heart and meditation on emptiness is the highest joy for me. The pursuit of material aims is irritating for me at this stage because whatever I amass or achive constantly changes and there truly is no lasting joy in it. Through having a girlfriend I am getting more turned on it though I have to admit. Just because I want to offer something to her out of love. I would like to live a rewarding and inner rich lifestyle for sure but to be generous with my girl just makes me really happy so this is my motivating force why I am getting more materialistic now.

As well I get challenged when exposed to high energy yang types who are overachievers. My girl is achieving a lot and she really tends to attract these types. It makes me feel less worth because I don’t have the status to show off as they do. But I am getting more ok with that. In my spiritual community in which the values are the same it is easy to say meditation is more important than a fat bank account. But out in the “normal” world this is just perceived as being weak and not “hungry” enough. And this is a challenge for me.

And today I had such a rewarding experience after giving relief to someone with terrible backpain with some acupuncture and massage. After he came of the table and could feel the pain was gone the gratitude he felt just made me so happy. This is why I am doing this work. It adds inner richness to my life. I knoe the financial rewards will be coming as well. To build up a hugely successful business with integrity happens at a much slower pace then if you are a reckless and agressive yang type! It is easy to make a buck but is difficult to make a difference! With this I am closing and until soon my friend and thanks for sharing this.

Be well,

Matt

In particular, it REALLY helps to hear the perspective of a QiGong / TCM practitioner with first hand experience of Western desire structures, “material success”, drug use, drug addiction, who can then talk about those experiences from the point of view of TCM and a deeper understanding of life and the energies at work in us.

You have helped me understand myself! Thank You, very, very much!

Dean