Could this story be about you? It’s a story about how you make judgements regarding new situations that crop up unexpectedly in your life, both in business and personally. They happen to us all and sometimes at the most inconvenient times. Invariably they bring with them untold stress and we all know that stress can be, literally, a killer.
Way back in time, there was a farmer who was reliant on his only horse to till the fields for his crops. One day the horse ran away. The neighbours gathered to sympathise.
‘Such bad luck’ they said.
‘Maybe,’ the farmer answered.
The next day the horse came back and brought with him three wild horses. The neighbours gathered again to make their judgement.
‘What a lucky man you are,’ they said.
‘Maybe,’ replied the farmer.
The day after his son tried to ride one of the wild horses and was thrown off. His leg was broken. The neighbours returned again.
’What bad luck,’ they said.
‘Maybe,’ replied the farmer.
The next day military officials came to the village to draft all the young men of the area into the army. When they saw that the young man’s leg was broken, they passed him over.
Basically this farmer understood that you can’t judge any event as a one-sided affair. A singular view may result in untold stress that will addle you for ages. It also illustrates that you can choose how you interpret situations. I learned this lesson in India. I was told that ‘Every coin has two sides.’ And if you look closely you’ll find this to be true.
We live our lives in a continuum. No event is separate from anything that has gone before or will come after. So we cannot expect a perfect end that everything builds towards. But we tend to make a beeline for the one side that we feel suits our purpose at that moment in time. In other words, when things seem perfect they aren’t. Not completely so. And when things seem unbelievably dark, they also aren’t completely so.
Find the two sides of the coin in every situation. You’re on safer ground there for the unexpected.
Bibi Baskin lived in India for fifteen years where the holistic Wellness system, Ayurveda, was a prominent part of her life. She now lives in Cork and gives talks/workshops to corporates and individuals on Mindfulness, Meditation and Public Speaking. www.bibibaskin.ie
