One day, a professor came to his class with a glass full of water.
He asked his students, "What do you think is the weight of this glass I'm holding in my hand here?"
Some said a 100 grams, some said 300, while some 250.
The professor said," There is no exact correct answer for this question I asked you. For it will change with time."
While the students dwelt in the thought of his words, he spoke up.
"You see, if I hold this glass in my hand for one minute, I may not even feel it's weight. But if I hold it for ten minutes straight, it will surely cause me disturbance. If I hold it for an hour long, I might feel ten times it's original weight, or maybe more.
And what if I hold it for a whole day? The pain in my hand would not recover until a week I believe!
So the more we hold on to stuff, the more it hurts us, isn't it?"
The students were overwhelmed realising how a few words of their professor had taught them a hundred lessons.
In similar context goes another story.
A teacher asked all her students to bring 3 potatoes each to school one day. And so they did.
She said to them, "Students, there is a reason why I've asked you to bring potatoes today. I'm going to give you all a task that you've to do with full honesty. I want you to carry these potatoes with you everywhere you go. The school, library, playground, your home, everywhere. Until I ask you to stop. And remember, you cannot replace them with new ones."
Initially the students felt puzzled about what their teacher wanted to convey to them by this activity. However, they replied in the affirmative
.
A few days passed. The students were following their teacher's instructions obediently. And all was well.
When a few weeks passed, they were slowly getting irritated and perturbed by carrying those potatoes. They started to feel it as a burden. But they stayed put and continued, aligned to what they had been asked to do.
Months had gone by and the potatoes had started to rot. Carrying them was now becoming even more difficult and the foul smell that grew day by day added to the discomfort. Finally they decided to give in and talk to the teacher about it.
"Teacher, it has been more than three months we have been carrying these potatoes to all our whereabouts, the way you had instructed us to. But now they have gone bad, and honestly we can't bare them anymore." All others nodded in agreement.
The teacher smiled and said, "Fine. You can all go and throw those potatoes in the trash."
And one by one as they threw their burdens into the trash, they came smiling and relaxed with a great sense of relief.
"Students, I wanted to teach you all something by this activity.
Everyday we all do new things, meet new people, gain new experiences. Sometimes the day goes amazing while some days are through the darker shades of grey. But one should not expect all days to go happy and smooth. For ups and downs are something we all have to face sometime.
When the day goes good, we think about it just before we go to sleep. Later on, we kind of forget about it in the midst of the imminent challenges. But when something bad happens to us, be it getting low grades, or an insult or a rejection. What do we do? We hold on to it. Recall it, get reminded of it each second when we feel like something's going to go wrong even when there's no guarantee to.
And I do not say one is at fault. This is just human behaviour, an instinctive reaction.
Initially, you all were ready to follow my instructions. Just like you were obedient to me, we become obedient to our minds. Unconsciously we forget that it is our minds we have to control, not let the mind control us.
But that happens. And we hold on to those bad sad times. They stay within us everywhere we go. Just like the potatoes were rotting, those thoughts too rot and start polluting us from within, but we fail to throw them out.
This is what I want to teach you! To let go..."
You must have understood what there was common in the above two stories. Their underlying message about one's tendency to hold on to those toxic memories and the consequences.
And I'd like to mention here that there is a difference between forgetting and letting go. To forget is to clear the memory itself. Letting go is to clear the sadness that comes from it.
Let go of the past, but keep the lessons it taught you.
Nowadays life is so fast that we have for some reason, lost control even upon ourselves.
Introspect yourself. You'll surely find some area where you can maybe do something that could give back a lot to you.
You should always live in the present moment. Doesn't mean you shouldn't plan for the future or learn from the past. Just do not let those breakdowns or falls engrave self-doubt or any insecurities in your mind.
Yesterday is history, tomorrow is mystery and today is a gift, that is why it is called present.
We hear about such things quite often nowadays. In fact, who is not talking about this? But then why is everything still the same? We are talking about the same thing we talked about ten years ago. Isn't it?
The only solution to all these lifestyle and self help problems is self-introspection.
The day we start checking ourselves more than we check our phones, that will be the time when silence will come with joy in its paws and peace in its light....one day.
So will your one day come?
That's what I have for you today. Hope you find it helpful.
Please comment on what you felt about it, so that I can keep bringing more like these.
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