There is a Chinese notion called wu wei which states that the best way to act sometimes is not to act at all. The Chinese believed that emperors could best achieve great changes in difficult times by standing and facing East, and that all good things would come to pass upon the kingdom. Were the Chinese wrong in stating that certain great actions come from inaction? Perhaps another story will help.

Archimedes, an ancient Greek inventor and philosopher who lived in 287 B.C. to 212 B.C., was given the task to weigh a new laurel crown given to King Hiero II. The problem was that he had to tell the exact weight of this crown without damaging it. People say that he was obsessed over this dilemma, slaving day and night, trying desperately to find an answer. His wife one night recommended that he “take a bath” in order to relieve him from his obsession. As Archimedes was taking his bath, he magically discovered the famous water displacement theory. He ran throughout the streets naked yelling “Eureka!”.

Archimedes’ wife handed him a golden key when she suggested he take a bath. Like the Chinese notion of wu wei, intuitively she knew that solutions to the greatest problems often come in moments of great stillness and silence. In our every day lives, we are often faced with great decisions: do we break up with our love, or stay? Do we quit a job, or continue? Do we tell the truth, or tell a white lie to avoid hurting someone? We face a wall and usually don’t know which way is up and which way is down; we cry, we yell, we scream, we throw tantrums, but it seems we always return to square one.

My advice to those who are facing such walls is the same advice as Archimedes’ wife’s advice: take a bath. Clear your minds, let your thoughts wander away into oblivion, and suddenly one night, the answer will fall straight from the sky (into your bath). Ah, and always put your clothes back on before running through the streets shrieking “Eureka!”.