100 Days of Wisdom…Day 15

An old tale of two Zen monks:

Two Zen monks were once traveling together when they came to a stream widened by recent rainfall. By the bank stood a beautiful young woman dressed in fine clothes. She obviously wanted to cross the water but was distressed at the prospect of ruining her finery. Without hesitation one of the monks offered to carry the young woman across the stream on his back. She gratefully accepted his kind offer. The monk helped to hoist her up on his back and without more ado carried her across and put her down on the dry ground.

The two monks then continued on their way, but the other monk started complaining. “It is not right to touch a woman, especially one so young and lovely. It is against our commandments to experience close contact. How could you go against the rules for monks?” The monk who had carried the woman walked along silently for a few minutes before replying. Finally he said, “I set her down by the river, but you are still carrying her.”

Just yesterday I was in a incredibly sticky situation at work. At the time I was naturally worried about how I was going to resolve the situation and how I was going to go about it. It took me some time to get the situation resolved thanks to one very helpful site manager. Once I had finished doing what I needed to do I left the site and headed towards the train station. I noticed however that even after I got on the train I was still thinking about the sticky situation! WHY??? It was resolved! I was still carrying it with me even though I didn’t need to and it was that “carrying” that made it incredibly tired later that day.

What are you still carrying? Or should I say, what are you still choosing to hold on to that you could’ve let go a long time ago?

7 Responses

  1. Kavikim says:

    I’m currently carrying a cold!!! he he he!
    However even though i kid, this cold is representing my need to ‘slow down’ and relax. Therefore what i could be holding is anxiousness i guess! Love the story about the Monks….lovely! xxx

  2. Amit Sodha says:

    Awwww you make you get well and heal fast kavikim! (P.S. We’re looking forward to more of your poetry!)

  3. Karen Lynch says:

    I’ve always loved that story about the monks. I always found it to be so profound!
    I see what you mean about the wordpress theme! Your blog is beautiful! Absolutely beautiful!

  4. Amit Sodha says:

    Hey Karen…yeah me too, I think Kavikim first sent that story to me a while ago and I loved it!

    I think I will be changing my theme soon though, I’m still on the slightly older version and need to upgrade!

    Love,

  1. May 30, 2007

    […] My friend Amit who blogs at The Power of Choice, recently wrote a post about his “holding onto” a negative situation from work even though it had been resolved. I’m confident that like Amit, all of us sometimes rehash or stay stuck with unpleasant memories even though we don’t have to. […]

  2. April 22, 2011

    […] friend Amit who blogs at Unlimited Choice, wrote a post about his “holding onto” a negative situation from his work even though it had […]

  3. May 30, 2012

    #Archives: 100 Days of Wisdom…Day 15 http://t.co/ZwKFWQHL
    #empowering

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