Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don't resist them — that only creates sorrow.
— Lao Tzu
The true wisdom here isn't simply "go with the flow," but rather that our *suffering* is the tax we pay for resisting—not the change itself. When a parent grieves a child's departure for college, the sorrow multiplies not from the departure but from the fierce clinging to yesterday. Lao Tzu distinguishes between the clean pain of loss and the ragged, endless ache we create through our insistence that things remain as they were. Understanding this difference might transform how we meet life's necessary transitions, turning them from battles into something closer to acceptance.
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