Four monks’ story…

There is an often-told Zen story of four monks who decided to do a silent meditation for two weeks.

By nightfall on the first day, the candle that lit their prayer hall began to flicker and soon went out.

The first monk said “Oh, no! The candle is out.”

The second monk said, “Aren’t we not supposed to talk?”

To which the third monk said, “Why must you two break the silence?”

The fourth monk laughed and said, “Ha! I’m the only one who didn’t speak.”

 

We all have our apparent valid reasons for breaking our intentions when it happens. (And it doesn’t seem to take much!)

Life does have a way of presenting tempting distractions to our vision:

That decadent dessert was just too tempting.

It was easier to just hit the snooze button than get up and exercise.

The sale on that gorgeous outfit was just too great to resist.

 

Thank goodness we do have an opportunity to reclaim our power after we’ve messed up. (Or maybe that’s eight opportunities?)

 

It’s all a matter of where we put our focus, on the fall or on the rising up.

Deepak Chopra shared a story with Oprah about when he went to a monastery in Thailand:

“I shaved my head and walked barefoot. My head monk asked how it was walking. I said it hurt without shoes. And he said, “It hurts on the foot that’s down, but the one that’s up feels really good-so focus on that one.”

So…what do you intend to focus on?

The foot that’s down or the foot that’s up?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What can you do?