Learning How To Slow Down To See The Bigger Picture…
In our world, we have been conditioned to label and judge any and all events that we experience in our lives. Most of the time we are labeling things as good or bad without considering that there could be more to the situation at hand. Below, I’ve shared an old story that has been passed down through the ages. A story that I hope will help to slow us down to take in consideration that there is always more to every behavior, event, and/or undertaking that we experience in our everyday lives.
Maybe…
Far, far away lived a farmer and his family in a tiny village. Life was simple and easy, and among the family’s livestock, they also owned a beautiful horse whom the family loved dearly.
One day, this beautiful horse got loose and ran away. The villagers said to the farmer, “Your lovely horse ran away! Such bad luck you are having!”
“Maybe…”, the farmer responded
.
Later that evening the horse found its way back to the farm, bringing with it several other wild mares.
“Oh my, what a glorious day!” the villagers called out. “Not only has your horse returned to you, but it has brought more horses with it! What great luck you are having!”
“Maybe…”, the farmer responded.
Several days later, the farmer’s eldest son wanted to break in one of the wild, new horses. While attempting to tame it, the horse tossed him up into the air and onto the ground, causing him to break his leg.
The people in the village cried out to the farmer, “Oh no, your son fell off one of the horses and broke his leg! Such bad luck you are having!”
“Maybe…”, responded the farmer.
A couple of weeks later, a war broke out in the nation and soldiers marched through the countryside to enlist all the strong and healthy boys for service. The farmer’s eldest son was not recruited due to his injury. The neighbors cried with joy, “Oh, what joy! Your son has been spared! Such great luck you are having!”
The farmer then responded once again, “Maybe…”.
Not one of us can truly label the experiences we have as actually good or bad. Experiences are just that… experiences. And since we aren’t able to see the bigger picture or know the outcome of a stream of events, we should try our best to refrain from judging anything as good, bad, lucky, unlucky, fortunate, unfortunate, even positive or negative.
What may appear to be a minor or even a major inconvenience is only a set up for the stream of future events to come along. The secret to a happy life is to just simply flow with life.
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