Wu wei is usually translated “effortless action” or “non-forcing”. It is the state where what you do fits the moment so well that it costs almost nothing.
You have felt it: the conversation that flowed, the work that wrote itself, the correct word arriving unbidden.
The ancient teaching
“The way of heaven is to accomplish without striving.”
ParaphraseTao Te Ching, ch. 73, paraphrased from several English translations
What does this mean today?
Practising wu wei is mostly subtraction: remove the extra effort, the second guess, the performance layered on top of the task.
It requires skill. Water is effortless because it has no agenda about which way is downhill.
