I love short stories that share a lesson. Here is a recent one I especially appreciate:
The Wise Man
A frequent visitor of the wise man complained about the same problem time and time again. One day the wise man told his visitor a joke, and the visitor roared in laughter. A couple of minutes later, he told the same joke. This time the visitor only smiled. When he told the same joke a third time the visitor just looked perplexed.
The wise man smiled at the visitor and asked: “You can’t laugh at the same joke over and over, so why are you complaining about the same problem?”
Wow!
This made me sit up and pay more attention to what I talk about with others.
Do I repeat the same stories over and over? Am I attached to the situation? Am I part of the problem or part of the solution?
Sometimes I’m mindful and aware of any attachment but at other times not so much. What could I do about this I wondered? Well, if I could be mindful and catch myself in the moment, I could stop repeating myself I thought. This sounded easy enough. I put this into practice to find out.
In one situation, I didn’t catch myself repeating my story in the moment but remembered that I had several hours later. Darn it! In another situation, I had someone tell me that I had already told them the story. I did not have any memory of this. Darn again! This was proving tough.
I needed to change my strategy. I got an idea! I decided to set the intention to speak about the challenge and resolution in the same sentence.
This seems to work much better. I now find myself not just telling the story but taking the situation in a more positive direction. The ‘action’ is letting the energy out of any desire to repeat the story. I have my fingers crossed that this will keep working. Will keep you posted!
Big Hugs and Much Love,
Cindy
