Hello, dear one!
Have you had the experience that the more you complained, the more things got worse? The single complaint in the morning was a small seed, but it grew into a bigger plant by the end of the day.
What was the worst part? Still, no solution was found to all these complaints!
Stories help reflect on our behaviors, and this one hit me.
Once upon a time, two Tibetan monks traveled on their feet in a county side.
They ran into a young woman who stood by a gushing stream.
She kept looking at the stream and was too afraid of crossing it.
Both monks vowed not to ever touch a woman.
But one monk felt compassionate and carried the woman on his shoulders to the other side of the stream.
As they kept walking, the other monk would not stop nagging at the first one for breaking the vow. He kept on and on and became annoying.
Finally, the monk who carried the woman broke the silence,
“My brother, I simply carried the woman to the other side of the stream. But you, on the other hand, have been carrying her for the last hour.”
This was a simple lesson of the law of attraction on problems and solutions.
The nagging monk focused on the problem. He negated the compassionate act of his colleague and focused on a problem. The more he complained about his colleague’s breaking the vow, the more he became the problem in this scene.
But the monk who helped the woman only focused on a solution at the moment. Yes, he broke the rule and touched her, but he was Divinely guided with compassion. There was no problem and no spiritual sin.
Seneca, the stoic life’s spokesman had a great saying, “Man is affected not by events but by the view he takes of them. We suffer more often in imagination than in reality.”
The more you talk about a problem, like the nagging monk, the bigger the problem, and eventually you become the problem.
There are two ends, like a pencil and a hand, to each challenge.
If you hold a pencil in your hand, notice one end is for the problem and the other end is for the solution.
It’s the same with your hand. You have the palm and the back, one side holds the problem, and the other holds the solution. You get to decide how you want to name it and view it.
If you focus on the right end, it will delight you.
Irish writer James Joy called problems, the portals to discoveries. Here is a story to illustrate his point of view.
Many decades ago in San Francisco, there was a canvas company that manufactured mainly camping products.
One day, a worker made a huge purchasing mistake and ordered hundreds of yards of canvas. The warehouse was flooded the excess materials which caused a big challenge for the company.
Some guy looked at the materials and suggested, “Hey, these materials are pretty sturdy. Why not make pants with them?”
This was the beginning of Levi’s Jeans.
The Bible says we all stumble in many ways (James 3:2). It’s okay that we make a mistake or get stuck in an undesirable situation.
It’s how we look at the situation and handle it that will make a difference.
It takes a courageous decision to focus on the solution end, rather than complaining about the problem.
It takes self-discipline to stay away from chronic complainers whose lives are meddled with venting out their stress, anxiety, and worries.
There are two ends to view each situation, the problem, and the solution.
The righteous man falls seven times, and rises again (Proverbs 24:16). Each time, he chooses the solution end, and eventually he’ll find a solution.
The next time when you face a challenge with health, finance, or a relationship, which end will you choose?