Slightly Off-Center | Vivian W.
Slightly Off-Center by Vivian
🎧 How do we learn to dissolve?
0:00
-6:29

🎧 How do we learn to dissolve?

When destruction becomes creation

What started as frustration with my parents' daily noodle slurping at 2:03 PM became a journey into ancient wisdom and the art of transformation. In this episode, I explore how learning to dissolve—to let parts of our old selves go—might be the secret to skillful living.

Drawing from Zhuangzi's "The Tao of Cow" and Buddhist teachings on impermanence, I share how a simple kitchen renovation taught me something profound: that destruction and creation are often the same process.

Listen in if you’re curious about:

  • The paradox of dissolution as cultivation

  • Working with life's natural structure rather than against it

  • How ordinary irritations can become doorways to wisdom

  • The volcanic nature of personal transformation

  • Finding skillful responses to unchangeable conditions


Quotes from This Episode

Like a volcano—not like I exploded, but when we obtain new wisdom to deal with situations, we also let part of our old self dissolve.

Our status, relationships, or health are like guests in our life. They might not come to stay but perhaps are just stopping briefly to rest.

Learning to dissolve isn't about giving up or letting go passively. It's about becoming so skillful with change that we can work with life's natural rhythms.


Reflection Question

What does dissolution look like in your own experience of change and growth?


If this story stays with you, consider subscribing or sharing it with someone who also listens slowly.

🎧 Available on Substack and all major podcast platforms.

Discussion about this episode

User's avatar