What is the Greatest Treasure in Life?
What is the greatest treasure in your life and what does Ren Xue offer to help achieve it? Here are some reflections on the Ren Xue High Five.
The Real Treasures of Life
The greatest treasures in life are free, like the Ren Xue High Five. The Ren Xue culture is profound and deep – and although there is shared joy in achievement, it is certainly not a culture in which practitioners go around 'slapping high fives’ for accomplishments and accolades! The existence of the 'High Five’ graphic that so many have come across front and center in some Ren Xue materials is, to say the least, unexpected!
The association of the congratulatory and joyful practice of conventional ‘high fives’ is warranted, however.
The Ren Xue High Five are defined as the True Treasures of Life and comprise:
- Health
- Happiness
- A sense of wellbeing
- Growth
- Contribution back to the world
Living the great treasures of life
Oh, okay, so what… What is the value in reiterating platitudes of health, happiness, a sense of well-being, growth, and contribution back to the world? Even if packaged as a jovial High Five? Why do they hold an important, anchoring focus within Ren Xue’s teachings?
We don’t need to look very far to see that many people are slipping into helpless, hopeless states, berating themselves for their lack of ‘success’ in a world that sets an ever-higher, increasingly externally focused bar. Whether the measure of success is the proverbial 'white picket fence, two children, and a dog', or other versions of the same theme of 'having arrived', negative internal judgments are unhelpful in supporting and building a life of true value.
Shifting the focus to the Ren Xue High Five and giving attention to them each day brings about a truly miraculous transformation. By noticing the presence of these High Five qualities already present in one's life, irrespective of the external 'evidence', a space is created for the Heart to awaken.
Then, even without the fast car and flashy watch, we notice, astonishingly, that we are nonetheless already happy. And nothing is ‘needed’ to be really happy. Even without the picture-perfect nuclear family or a loving partner, in the present moment, we are able to experience countless levels of wellness in body and mind, and Heart.
And even with a feeling of a material, psychological, or emotional lack, there are countless ways we can give back to the world each day that cost nothing - a smile or encouraging word, stroking a passing cat, watering a wilting plant, feeling gratitude for a beautiful sunrise and the dawn birdsong, or sending supportive thoughts to those who have it tougher than us.
These subtle adjustments of perspective and behavior transform us and, with repetition, bring a soft rain to the evergreen, always present, internal states of our Heart: unconditional Trust, Openness, Love, Gratitude, Reverence, and Awe. They are simply there, always, never leaving us, never diminishing, a constant part of our True Nature.
As we increasingly notice their presence, they further nourish our Heart and awaken a sense of true sufficiency and creative capability. Not a case of ‘fake it ’til you make it’. No pretense. Rather a most natural, upwardly thrusting, vital green shoot of Life, that pushes up through the hardest ground, irrepressible and full of potential.
We may need supportive strategies and tools to sustain awareness of these shifts of perspective, but through Yuan Qigong’s many different Qi practices, our birthright of true human ‘thriving’ arises. Everything becomes possible again.
The Treasures of Wisdom
The Ren Xue Five Treasures, or High Five, are not simply a checklist for the second part of life, those reflective years when the picket fence has peeled and the children and dogs have left home but rather, they provide a vital daily roadmap for everyone, irrespective of age and stage, to adjust their calibrations and reset their aspirations for a better, brighter life.
Heart meditations - learn how to treasure your life
Want to learn more about the practice of cultivating these great treasures of life? These powerful heart-opening meditations help you explore the depth of your heart’s innate qualities, to change and heal and finally be ready to share your greatest gifts and treasures with your loved ones and the world.
