In our chaotic world there is a lot of noise. Things that tend to make us take our eyes off the things that matter. Things that can cripple our minds and paralyze us from moving forward. Things we think are important at the time, only to find out they can cause us to ignore the real important things. Things that we think are good or bad at the time that we find out can even have the opposite effect in the long run.
The last episode of the Tom Brady documentary called 'Man in the Arena' is titled 'Maybe'. In this episode, Tom shares a parable I would like to share with you.
There was a Chinese farmer who had one of his horses run away. The people of the village think it's a terrible loss and the farmer won't be able to continue working his land and earning a living. The farmer's reply, 'well, maybe'. But the next day, the horse returned along with 10 other horses. The villagers rejoiced over this good fortune, thanks to his runaway horse, he now had many others. While the farmer said, 'maybe'
Later, the farmer’s son is taming one of the wild horses and gets bucked off and breaks his leg. His neighbors tell them how sorry they are that he broke his leg and the farmer thinks, 'well maybe'. Soon after, the government starts drafting young boys to go off to war. The boy was unable to serve, because his leg was broken. The villagers begin to view the boy’s injury as a blessing. But the level headed farmer just said, “maybe.”
The point of the story is when we are in the moment of the situation it is hard to have perspective. There are a lot of things at work in our world. What we think is good may not be good and what's bad may end up a blessing. Only in the future will we know whether our experiences of the past are good or bad.
That's life and I would imagine you've had moments in your life that can relate to this story. Sometimes those tough experiences of our past help us appreciate current moments. Hopefully those moments have given perspective to enjoy the moment you're in and the people you share it with.
'Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift. That's why they call it the present.' - Eleanor Roosevelt
Control the things you can control and focus on the things that matter.