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The Art of Not Forcing

by Lin Jingyuan

Trinity Books · October 28, 2026

Ancient Chinese wisdom for people who are tired of pushing.

Reading time: About 4 h 20 min (at 230 words a minute)

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Details

AuthorChina Lin Jingyuan
CategoryIntroduction to Eastern thought / Calming the mind / Reading scriptures and classics
Language of the bookEnglish
PublishedOctober 28, 2026
Length266 pages
Product numberTB-K0004-EN
Reading timeAbout 4 h 20 min (at 230 words a minute)
Print-ready PDFA5 · interior PDF and cover PDF (with 3 mm bleed) · 266 pages

Categories of this book

CategoriesThought, philosophy and religionIntroduction to Eastern thought

CategoriesSelf-help and workCalming the mind

CategoriesThought, philosophy and religionReading scriptures and classics

About this book

This book is for people who try very hard: who answer messages before breakfast, carry more than their share and believe that the answer to every problem is to push harder. The Art of Not Forcing turns to two ancient Chinese books, the Daodejing of Laozi and the Zhuangzi, for a gentler way of working and living.

Ancient Chinese wisdom for people who are tired of pushing.

In fifteen chapters, it explores their central idea of wu wei, or not forcing: acting in harmony with how things are rather than straining against them. Through famous images and stories, such as a bowl filled to the brim, a cook whose knife stays sharp for nineteen years, the empty space that makes a wheel turn, the soft strength of water, a useless tree that lives out its years and a storm that cannot last all day, the book looks at overwork, rest, pressure, ambition, helping others, rigid habits, the inner taskmaster and hard seasons of recovery.

Each chapter follows people of different ages and lives, from teachers and mechanics to carers and farmers, and ends with practical steps, a short exercise and a summary. All passages are paraphrased and cited by chapter, and the book is honest that the old texts can be read in more than one way.

Contents

  • The Art of Not Forcing
  • Introduction
  • How to Use This Book
  • A Note on Care
  • Chapter 1: When Trying Hard Becomes Too Hard
    1. A Woman Who Never Sits Down
    2. Two Old Books About the Way
    3. The Bowl Filled to the Brim
    4. Standing on Tiptoe
    5. Tomiwa and the All-Night Studying
    6. Rasmus and the Farm That Never Rests
    7. Carmela and the Five Committees
    8. Practical Steps: Noticing the Brim
    9. Not Forcing Is Not Giving Up
    10. A Short Exercise: How Full Is Your Bowl?
    11. Chapter Summary
  • Chapter 2: Not Forcing: Working With the Grain
    1. The Bolt That Would Not Turn
    2. Doing Without Forcing
    3. Cook Ding and the Ox
    4. Imogen and the Words That Would Not Come
    5. Kwaku and the Silent Teenager
    6. Svetlana and the Hurried Garden
    7. Practical Steps: Finding the Joints
    8. Not Forcing Is Not Doing Nothing
    9. A Short Exercise: Where Are You Hacking?
    10. Chapter Summary
  • Chapter 3: Life Has a Limit
    1. The List That Never Ended
    2. The Limited and the Limitless
    3. Knowing When Enough Is Enough
    4. Goran and the Endless Inbox
    5. Nalini and the Perfect Childhood
    6. Ezra and the Thousand Courses
    7. Practical Steps: Living Within Your Limit
    8. Enough Is Not Settling for Too Little
    9. A Short Exercise: The Shape of a Finite Week
    10. Chapter Summary
More
  • Chapter 4: The Use of Empty Space: Rest as Part of the Work
    1. A Calendar Without Gaps
    2. Thirty Spokes and One Hub
    3. Muddy Water and Stillness
    4. Rehana and the Five Minutes at the Terminus
    5. Theo and the Week With No Free Afternoon
    6. Agathe and the Hours That Were Hers
    7. Practical Steps: Making Room for Emptiness
    8. Rest Is Not Laziness
    9. A Short Exercise: The Wheel of Your Day
    10. Chapter Summary
  • Chapter 5: Like Water: Soft Strength for Hard Days
    1. The Clenched Jaw at the Front Desk
    2. The Highest Good Is Like Water
    3. Nothing Is Softer, Nothing Is Stronger
    4. The Swimmer at the Waterfall
    5. Dalia Learns to Flow
    6. Matthias and the Rigid Plan
    7. Ruben in the Pool
    8. Practical Steps: Becoming More Like Water
    9. Soft Is Not the Same as Weak
    10. A Short Exercise: A Day of Water
    11. Chapter Summary
  • Chapter 6: The Useless Tree: Freedom From Being Endlessly Useful
    1. The Man Everyone Asks
    2. The Tree in the Wide Wilderness
    3. The Great Oak's Dream
    4. Benoît Steps Back From Some Usefulness
    5. Kirra and the Endless Favours
    6. Paavo and the Fear of Being Useless
    7. Between Useful and Useless
    8. Practical Steps: Protecting Your Inner Oak
    9. Not an Excuse to Stop Caring
    10. A Short Exercise: An Hour of Uselessness
    11. Chapter Summary
  • Chapter 7: Trembling Hands: Pressure, Prizes and the Bell Stand
    1. The Joint That Would Not Fit
    2. The Archer and the Gold
    3. The Woodworker Who Fasted
    4. The Fighting Cock Made of Wood
    5. Femke's Second Day
    6. Obinna and the Quarterly Target
    7. Maëlle at the Chess Tournament
    8. Practical Steps: Steady Hands Under Pressure
    9. Caring About Results Is Not Wrong
    10. A Short Exercise: The Woodworker's Pause
    11. Chapter Summary
  • Chapter 8: Three in the Morning: Seeing the Same Load Differently
    1. One Hundred and Twenty Essays
    2. The Monkeys and Their Chestnuts
    3. The Frog in the Well
    4. Imran Arranges His Chestnuts
    5. Solène and the Endless Day
    6. Kagiso Climbs Out of the Well
    7. Practical Steps: Seeing Your Load Again
    8. Reframing Is Not Pretending
    9. A Short Exercise: Rearranging the Chestnuts
    10. Chapter Summary
  • Chapter 9: Helping Without Drilling Holes
    1. The Mother Who Filled the Fridge
    2. The Seven Holes
    3. The Seabird and the Feast
    4. Hélène Learns to Visit
    5. Nikos and the Rewritten Reports
    6. Funmi and the Dry Riverbed
    7. Practical Steps: Helping Well
    8. Not Withholding Help
    9. A Short Exercise: Three Questions Before You Help
    10. Chapter Summary
  • Chapter 10: A Journey Begins Beneath Your Feet
    1. The Plan That Ended in a Pulled Muscle
    2. The Tree, the Tower and the Journey
    3. Great Things Done While Small
    4. The Cicada Catcher
    5. Yerlan's Twenty Minutes
    6. Nkechi and the Thesis
    7. Bogdan and His Mother's House
    8. Practical Steps: One Step at a Time
    9. Small Steps Are Not Small Ambitions
    10. A Short Exercise: The First Step Beneath Your Feet
    11. Chapter Summary
  • Chapter 11: The Turtle in the Mud: Ambition and What You Really Want
    1. Ten Years Toward a Door
    2. The Sacred Turtle
    3. The Phoenix and the Owl
    4. Benedetta Asks Her Question
    5. Dorothea and the Head Teacher's Office
    6. Zuzana and the Rotten Mouse
    7. Practical Steps: Asking the Turtle's Question
    8. Ambition Is Not Wrong, and Not Everyone Can Choose the Mud
    9. A Short Exercise: Box or Mud?
    10. Chapter Summary
  • Chapter 12: Bending Without Breaking
    1. The Way Things Are Done Here
    2. Bend and Be Whole
    3. The Mantis and the Chariot
    4. The Gardener and the Machine
    5. Rosamund Helps Build the Channel
    6. Chidinma and the Chariot
    7. Hilde and the Walking Stick
    8. Practical Steps: Bending Without Breaking
    9. Bending Is Not Giving Up Your Values
    10. A Short Exercise: Roots and Branches
    11. Chapter Summary
  • Chapter 13: The Fasting of the Mind: Quieting the Inner Taskmaster
    1. The Voice That Never Stops
    2. Not the Fasting of the Body
    3. The Empty Room Where Light Is Born
    4. Marit Practises Fasting
    5. Juma and the Noise of the Market
    6. Cecilia and the Applications
    7. Practical Steps: Fasting the Mind
    8. Emptying Is Not Forcing Thoughts Away
    9. A Short Exercise: Five Minutes of Listening
    10. Chapter Summary
  • Chapter 14: Storms Do Not Last All Day: Hard Seasons and Recovery
    1. Waiting to Feel Like Herself Again
    2. Whirlwinds and Downpours
    3. Zhuangzi Drumming on a Pot
    4. Fenna's Slow Spring
    5. Sabelo After the Business Closed
    6. Graciela's Winter
    7. Tamsin and the Sleepless Months
    8. Practical Steps: Living Through a Hard Season
    9. Some Storms Need Shelter
    10. A Short Exercise: A Map of Seasons
    11. Chapter Summary
  • Chapter 15: The Butterfly and the Fish Trap: Living More Lightly
    1. One Year Later in the School Car Park
    2. The Butterfly Dream
    3. The Fish Trap and the Words
    4. The Happiness of Fish
    5. Saanvi and the List of Calm
    6. Ludovic on the Bridge
    7. Practical Steps: Holding It All Lightly
    8. What These Old Books Can and Cannot Do
    9. A Short Exercise: A Letter From the Butterfly
    10. Chapter Summary
  • Closing Words
  • About the Daodejing and the Zhuangzi
  • The Images of This Book in One Place
  • Using This Book With Others
  • About the Author
  • A Note on Care
  • Colophon

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