[vc_row padding_top=”0px” padding_bottom=”0px”][vc_column fade_animation_offset=”45px” width=”1/1″ id=”” class=”post-content” style=””][text_output]Life is a puzzle. When all the pieces aren’t in place it’s hard to figure out what the picture is really showing. We stare at the disjointed pieces and feel miserable because we don’t get the “big picture.” What we do know is based on other images we hold, most times we expect the worst. Often times the picture starts to look like some catastrophe we’ve seen or imagined before and we accept it that way. The thing is, we only have pieces, not the whole picture.
A long time ago in rural China, a poor farmer had one horse that was everything to their family. It was their tractor and a car; but then one fateful day that precious horse escaped and ran away. His neighbours despaired for him and asked how he would manage but he said… “Who knows, who says this is bad?” They thought he was crazy but several days later, the horse came back with a mate and the couple produced many foals. He eventually had many horses.
Sometime later, his son was riding when it got startled by a snake and threw him off its back. He broke his leg badly and became lame. Once again, his neighbours came to him expressing their sympathy but once again he said…. “Who knows, who says this is bad?” Sometime later, war broke with Japan and every able young man had to go, however, his lame son was rejected. Most of his neighbours lost their sons in that bitter war but his son was safe at home.
We can’t see the future but many times with the few scraps of information we have, we start to judge the situation. OMG! This is horrible and we live like it is horrible. We see a situation that doesn’t go the way we expect and we label it – disaster. Then we start to build a picture of a disaster and fall into despair. We become miserable when things LOOK BAD and overjoyed when it LOOKS GOOD. The result is a roller coaster of emotions; very happy one moment and depressed the next!
KFC’s Harland David Sanders started his restaurant at age 65 with only US$105! He was rejected 1,008 times and it wasn’t until the 1,009th time that a restaurant bought his recipe. He had many reasons to fall into despair and give up; his situation certainly warranted it. The world keeps turning and we don’t have the big picture of the blueprints; we really don’t know if the things we see are good or bad.
It’s easy to forget that there is a bigger picture, one we can’t see. A pair of cat eyes can belong to a kitten or a charging lion but why do we assume the worst? Why do we continue to trust our eyes and our uniformed guesses? It is better to ask and trust someone who can see a little clearer than we do. Or just ask, “Who knows, why does this have to end badly?”
The next time we are faced with a challenging situation, rather than falling into despair and hopelessness as is our habit, we can ask for another point of view. We need to learn to ask, “Who said this is bad, WHO KNOWS?”[/text_output][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row padding_top=”0px” padding_bottom=”0px”][vc_column fade_animation_offset=”45px” width=”1/1″][vc_raw_html]JTNDc3R5bGUlM0UlMEEuZW50cnktdGh1bWIlMjBpbWclMjAlN0IlMEElMjAlMjAlMjAlMjBtYXgtaGVpZ2h0JTNBJTIwNDAwcHglM0IlMEElN0QlMEElMEEucG9zdC1jb250ZW50JTIwJTdCJTBBJTIwJTIwJTIwJTIwdGV4dC1hbGlnbiUzQSUyMGp1c3RpZnklM0IlMEElMjAlMjAlMjAlMjB0ZXh0LWp1c3RpZnklM0ElMjBpbnRlci13b3JkJTNCJTBBJTdEJTBBJTNDJTJGc3R5bGUlM0U=[/vc_raw_html][/vc_column][/vc_row]