The Tale of the Sands » Change Begins From Within

I don’t usually believe or read horoscopes but while I’m browsing today’s broadsheet, I came across mine that says:

You could work yourself up into an anxious state as you compare your ideal fantasies with the actual day ahead. You really don't want to repeat the same old routines in the exact way you did them before. You’re dying for a change – not just on your physical realm but you feel it within. You're intrigued by doing things differently today, and anything that's unconventional is attractive to you now. However, just because you can dream it, doesn't mean that you should make it real.

This is exactly what I’m feeling today – and I find it surreal. I’m Libra by the way.

This prompt me to look for some related 5-minute-story to share on this gloomy and cold Wednesday and I got this one entitled The Tale of the Sands:
 

A stream, from its source in far-off mountains, passing through every kind of description of countryside, at last reached the sands of the desert. Just as it had crossed every other barrier, the stream expected to cross this one, but it found that as fast as it flowed into the desert, just as fast its waters disappeared into the sands.

It was convinced, however, that its destiny was to cross this desert, and yet there was no way.

Before long, the stream heard a voice whispering from the desert itself, "The wind crosses the desert, so can the stream."

"Yes, but the wind can fly!" cried out the stream, as it kept dashing itself into the desert sands.

"You'll never get across that way," the desert whispered once again. "You'll have to let the wind carry you."

"But how?" cried out the stream.

"You have to let the wind absorb you."

This idea was not acceptable to the stream. After all, it had never been absorbed before. It didn't want to lose its identity. So, it asked the desert,

“Once I give myself to the winds, how can I be sure of ever becoming a stream again?

'The wind,' said the desert, 'performs this function. It takes up water, carries it over the desert, and then lets it fall again. Falling as rain, the water again becomes a river.'

The desert told the stream that, if it wished, it could continue to flow into the sand, and that one day, after many, many years, it might even become a swamp on the desert's edge. But, it would never cross the desert as long as it remained a stream.

"Why can't I remain the same stream that I am?" asked the stream.

"You cannot remain as you are. Either you give yourself to the wind or you become a swamp." the desert said. "By giving yourself to the wind, your essential part is carried away and forms a stream again. You are called what you are even today because you do not know which part of you is the essential one."

The stream could not believe it, but realised that the best that could be attained without attempting the suggestion would be to become a swamp. Either way the stream could not stay as it was.

The stream was silent for a long time, listening to certain echoes deep within itself, remembering parts of itself having been held in the arms of the wind before. And then slowly, the stream raised its vapors into the welcoming arms of the wind and was borne upward and over the desert in great white clouds.

As it passed beyond the mountains on the desert's far side, there it began to fall as a gentle rain.

At first it was hushed and quiet, trickling down the rocky slopes. But gradually it increased in strength, as rivulets ran over the rocks and around the bent and twisted trees that grew there. And soon it was flowing as swift currents of water into the beginning of a stream.

P.S.

I choose this story to share with you guys because, like the mountain stream, each of us is called upon to change continuously, in every arena of our existence, whether it is in our relationship with our family and friends, in our work or profession or in the world at large.

Change is the dominant force in these times. Like what is happening to me now – it is happening whether I like it or not, whether I am prepared for it or not.

The sad fact is – It seems until now, I'm not yet prepared.

How about you, is there any major changes happening to you now?

______________

Source:

» Shah Idries "The Tale of the Sands"

» Image Source: Bizarre and Dark Arts Pictures

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How Do We Catch Sand Crabs in Mindoro - Learning from Nature

Aside from building sandcastles, we used to catch sand crabs for fun during my childhood days in our town in Occidental Mindoro. Sand crabs usually stayed in their deep holes along the sandy coastlines. One way to catch them is to dig their holes, but that takes a lot of time 

The crabs are foolish too!

It is well known, especially among the Filipinos, that crabs are selfish. The term “crab mentality” is used to describe a kind of selfish, short-sighted thinking which runs along the lines of “if I can't have it, neither can you.”

Only a few know that crabs are foolish too! That foolishness, of holding on to something dangerous, makes them easy to catch. 

Foolishness is deadly

To catch them inside their deep burrow, we use clotheslines or a small rope. We tie a piece of fishing net on one end of the rope and insert it in the crab’s hole. When we feel the crab’s claw pull in the line, we will keep on twisting the small rope and slowly pull it out of its burrow until we catch it.

All it needs to do is to let go of the other end of the rope to escape being caught, but it clawed that “something” that invades its territory, believing that it is an important fight. The crab doesn’t know that holding on to something unimportant and lifeless will cause him his life.

Nature is a great teacher on how to live our life

For the past years, I am like a sand crab. I keep on holding on to “something.” But I don’t even want to name that “something,” it has no name.    

It is hunger perhaps.

I hunger for growth and change from my old ways, from my old habits and thinking, but I keep on holding the other end of that “something,” defiantly resisting change, believing that it is an important fight.

I am a fool. Even if I already feeling the tension and the pain it is giving me on my daily affairs – crazily nurturing my frustrations, I still keep on holding on.

Maybe that “something” is “expectations.”

Yes, I guess it is “expectations.” the damn process of what may happen scares me - expectations from family, work, friends, life, career and myself all build paralysis in my mind.  Conversely, I feel frustrated when I have thoughts of expectations from these, draining my spirit and circumvents my growth, it is frustrating expecting anything. I hate it to be honest. 

Or maybe it is silence.

This silence – this silence that keeps feeding on my strength. This silence that breeds more silence, nourishes my indolence, nurtures my weakness, keeping me stagnant, forever staring at that lonely star before dawn. I am becoming weak, growing weaker still – this silence has bereft me of sense.

My soul itself gone stark, mad perhaps because I know longer acknowledge REASON. Like that foolish crab, I keep on holding to something lifeless and unimportant.  

I need to abandon all, to break silence, to kill expectations, to feel life, to end my hunger, and start living my life.

Starting Today, Be Afraid that Your Life Will Never Begin

As I go on with this crazy life, I learned that even the one person that wasn't supposed to ever let me down probably will.

I had my heart broken more than once and it's harder every time. I learn to break hearts too – only to regret it because it always reminds me how it felt when mine was broken.

I fight with my friends. I blame a new relationship for things an old one did.

I can’t understand why time is passing too fast: I'll eventually lose someone I love.

So, starting today, I will take too many pictures, I will blog too much, I will laugh too much, and love like I’ve never been hurt because every sixty seconds I spend upset is a minute of happiness I'll never get back.

To those who are taking time reading my posts, don’t commit the mistakes I did.

Don't be afraid that your life will end, be afraid that it will never begin.

Illuminated By Blindness

There was a blind girl who hated herself because she was blind. She hated everyone, except her loving boyfriend. He was always there for her. She told her boyfriend, “If I could only see the world, I will marry you.”

One day, someone donated a pair of eyes to her. When the bandages came off, she was able to see everything, including her boyfriend.

He asked her, “Now that you can see the world, will you marry me?” The girl looked at her boyfriend and saw that he was blind. The sight of his closed eyelids shocked her. She hadn’t expected that. The thought of looking at them the rest of her life led her to refuse to marry him.

Her boyfriend left in tears and days later had a note sent to her saying, “Take good care of your eyes, my dear, for before they were yours, they were mine.”

This is often how our human nature works when our status changes. Only a very few remember what life was like before, and who was always by their side in the most painful situations.

Life is a gift.
Today, before you say an unkind word, think of someone who can’t speak.
Before you complain about the taste of your food, think of someone who has nothing to eat.
Before you complain about your husband or wife, think of someone who’s crying out to God for a companion.
Today, before you complain about life, think of those who may have died before their time.
Before whining about the distance you drive, think of those who walk the same distance on foot.
When you are tired and complain about your job, think of the unemployed, the disabled, and those who wish they had your job.
And, when depressing thoughts seem to get you down, put a smile on your face and think: you’re alive and still around for a reason.

The Man in the Dungeon

Charles Dickens wrote about a prisoner who stayed for many years in a dungeon. After serving his sentence, he got his freedom. He was brought out from his cell into the bright daylight of the open world.

This man looked all around and after a few moments was so uncomfortable with his newly acquired freedom that he asked to be brought back to his cell into confinement.

To him, the dungeon, the chains and the darkness were more secure and comfortable than accepting the change of freedom and the open world.