The answer to every trap is found in stories that deliver some golden nuggets in the end. So, Thoughts & Productivity set out on a journey to find, curate, filter, adapt and present these stories in a way that is actionable for you today. Wednesday Story is a short 2 min story that simply aims to improve at least one aspect of your personal or professional life and spark some interesting ideas in your brain.
👋 Hello subscribers! This week, we've got a shiny piece of ancient wisdom for you wrapped within a story that's just as relevant to your life today as it was to those who first shared it thousands of years ago.
Story
This story is about 2 devout Buddhist monks; one older and one younger on a journey through an ancient land. On this journey, they come to a river and there they find a woman who is struggling to cross it.
The monks look at each other.
Both have taken vows to never touch a woman and both have lived fruitful and fulfilled lives so far by holding on to the strength of their beliefs.
But suddenly, without a word to his younger friend, the older monk lifts the woman onto his shoulders and carries her over to the other side of the river.
Once he sets the woman down on the ground and she thanks him profusely, the monks continue on their journey. The younger monk is so shocked at this act that he can barely look at, let alone speak to his counterpart for an hour.
After another two hours of walking under the warm spring sunshine, the younger monk can no longer tolerate the overwhelming pressure to say something, anything to his elder.
“Brother!”
—he exclaimed suddenly.
“Why on earth did you carry that woman across the river? You have flouted your vows to never touch a woman. What will you do now?”
The older monk replies in a calm and measured voice—
“My brother, I sat her down on the other side of the river. It is you who still carries her with you in your mind.”
Moral
I must ask you, dear subscribers, what are you still carrying on your shoulders? What are you still holding on to that's causing you pain like the younger monk?
The difference between the older and the younger monk is not the standards that they set for themselves, and not even necessarily how strong their beliefs are, but their different attitudes toward accepting what has happened in their past.
However successful and fulfilled your life is, we're all human and we will perform actions that don't align with our existing principles due to circumstances beyond our control, because in those moments, we think it's the right thing to do.
But, of course, this can lead to doubt. Doubt is human. Doubt that you've reached your full potential is the one that keeps you striving for more. But how much doubt do you have that doesn't serve you?
The reason the older monk carries on walking without the weight on his mind is simply a matter of trust. He trusted his own judgment enough to know that the decision he came to, despite being unorthodox, was the right call at that time.
The younger monk didn't have the same trust in himself to perform the same action. He depended on the structures around him to guide him through life.
So, subscribers, are you willing to carve your own path through life? To trust yourself? To make the right decisions at the right times? To allow the doubts that you have that don't serve you to subside?
Because here's the secret that nobody tells you—it's all within your reach!
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See you this weekend with Saturday Insight #8.