We're at McCay here and welcome to another edition of the Art of Manliness Podcast.

If you ever noticed, whenever you try really hard at something, you end up not being able

to achieve the thing you're trying to do.

For example, you can't sleep at night, you try really hard to fall asleep and it just makes

it's falling asleep harder to do.

Or you're going into a party, you want to make small talk, feel comfortable, relax, doing

it.

So you try really hard and it just makes you uptight and nervous and it makes you feel

the conversation doesn't flow the way you want it.

Well, what's interesting is Chinese philosophers, thousands of years ago, understood this paradox.

Whenever you try to do something and make something you're trying to do harder to achieve.

So Confucianism, Taoism, they all understood this.

Well, my guest today has written a book exploring these different Chinese philosophies

that insights they have about trying not to try.

Combining it with insights we've gotten from neuroscience and cognitive psychology on

how we can have a more spontaneous life and how we can actually achieve this trying not

to try.

So we have a more spontaneous, relaxed life and things go the way we want.

His name is Edward Slingelin.

He's the author of the book, Try Not to Try, the Art and Science of Spontaneity.

Today on the podcast, we're going to discuss some Chinese philosophy and this is great

because I've never really been a student of Chinese philosophy.

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