Today I want to share a story with you that I discovered in a TEDx Talk by Master Shi Hen Yi (Shaolin Monk) (link below this article if you are interested in the whole talk).
Because I love stories!
Because Christmas is around the corner – and Christmas is the time of stories.
And because I think it fits perfectly into this time when we often think about which path we should take in the following year.
Enjoy.
A man was living close to a mountain. And every day he was thinking: “How would it be to climb that moutain and what would I see on the peak?” So finally the day came, and the man went on the journey. Arriving at the foot of the mountain, he met the first traveller. So he asked: “How did you get up the mountain and what did you see from the top?” And so the traveller shared his path and also the view that he had. But then the man was thinking: “The way that this traveller decribed to me sounds very exhausting. I need to find another way to climb.” So he continued to walk on the foot of the mountain until he met the next traveller. So once again he asked: “How did you climb up that mountain and what did you see from the top?” And so again the traveller shared his story.
Still not being determined on which direction and way to go, the man asked 30 more people. When he finished talking to all of them, he finally made up his mind. “Now that so many people already shared with me their path and also what they saw from the top, I don’t need to climb there anymore.”
“You can be shown the way, but you have to walk it yourself.”
Bruce Lee
It is very unfortunate, this man never went on the journey.
Because:
- Each individual needs to find the most suitable way to climb that mountain
- There is information possible to be shared with words – but it is impossible to share the experience of clarity when you are standing on that peak by yourself
- We can only find out for ourselves what efforts are necessary for us to reach the summit. Only in this way can we gain more knowledge about ourselves.
- More clarity about ourselves means also seeing other things more clearly, becoming aware of which decisions are the right ones for us in order to get closer to our goals. We can decide from within ourselves, gain faith in ourselves – and thus lose the doubt and insecurity that grows the with the number of people telling us, what to do.
- This clarity increases our focus and determination = less distraction = more sense of achievement = more self-efficacy = more happiness!
Is there a mountain that you have “given up” on climbing – but which still gives you no peace?
Where do you rely on the paths of others because you have not yet explored yours?
What’s your summit for the next year?
Set out on the path!
Yours, Birgit