I’m reading The Path: What Chinese Philosophers Can Teach Us About the Good Life (2016) by historian Michael Puett (Harvard) and journalist Christine Gross-Loh. The book is an outgrowth of Dr. Puett’s wildly popular undergraduate course on Chinese philosophy, which Gross-Loh wrote about for The Atlantic in 2013 (link here). In touting his course, Puett promises that “This course will change your life,” and apparently the students are buying into the claim.
The book starts us with Confucius. In contrast to philosophers who “jump right in with big questions” such as “Do we have free will? and “What is the meaning of life?,” Confucius “asked this fundamental and deceptively profound question”:
How are you living your life on a daily basis?
It’s a question that can take you very, very deep. I’ve been pondering it since reading the passage over the weekend, and I’m far from done.
Puett and Gross-Loh go on to suggest that this inquiry can lead us to change how we live and act, built on the assumption that we are not destined to be stuck in place.
The Path is one of those short (200 pp.), profound-sounding, easy-to-read books that makes for a popular graduation gift. However, I think it resonates even more strongly with those of us who have been around the block a few times.
Of course, positive individual change is not always so simple as wishing or allowing for it to occur. If, for example, someone has been subjected to severe abuse, the trauma from that experience can have serious impacts on mental and physical health and personal behavior. Nevertheless, I submit that this simple inquiry can be a pathway towards positive change in our lives. In fact, it may be especially enlightening for those who are dealing with significant challenges and who want to make positive transitions in their lives.
So, once again, ask yourself:
How are you living your life on a daily basis?
Minding the Workplace 
It is good to know about this. I have explored several books about western philosophers—especially the Stoics—on “how to live the good life.” And there are innumerable books on Buddhism and how to thrive at living. But I have been looking for something like this, that provides a non-Western introduction to Confucius and others in the Chinese traditions. Thanks!
Bob, thanks for the note. FYI, to go with the book, there’s a free e-reader supplement that includes passages of the works discussed in the book!