Are You A Flute Player?

Dear lovely people,

Tom was very brave and intelligent. One day, while promenading and reflecting about his life, he went far into the forest. Just then a jackal saw him. He decided to eat the boy and came in his way. When Tom saw that he had no way to save himself and that he was stuck, he said to the jackal, "Brother, I am not afraid of death but I want to die peacefully. So, I want to play my flute and dance to its tune. Then you can eat me."

The jackal permitted him. In the split of that second and unknown to the jackal, Tom decided to play a song that for always summons his dog. As soon as Tom started playing his flute, his dog came running. The gigantic dog saw the jackal and leapt on it. The jackal ran for his life while Tom returned home with his dog smiling to the power of his wit.

Just like Tom, you can trust that once in a while, I feel “stuck.” I mean really stuck. When I started examining the feeling critically, I came to realize that “being stuck” is a label I give to a natural part of life. It’s a time when not much happens. The anxiety comes when I think it should be otherwise. I start to force myself to work, to come up with ideas, and to make things happen.

Each time I don’t get anywhere with what I want, I call it being stuck. So, what is being stuck except the way I perceive life? Having gone through many of such periods, I have grown through it and today, I struggle less, because I’m beginning to let it be. It’s actually the process of letting it be that frees up my mind and enable me churn out solutions each time such as, soliciting or leveraging the knowhow of those in my network. I guess my little friend Tom, approaches such moments similarly. What about you?

Nib It In The Bud

Dear lovely people,

I suppose you really want to succeed as everybody else. But then often, the timing in taking action and the extent to which people are ready to stretch it makes the difference between winners and losers.

Once there was a woman who had a flourishing kitchen garden admired by most people in the neighborhood. She used to take good care of her garden. She even taught her daughter, how to tend a garden.

One day, while walking in the garden, the woman saw some eggs of insects on the leaves of plants. She asked her daughter to destroy the eggs immediately with insecticides. But the daughter simply ignored her words. She told herself she’ll do it the next day and the next day which never came. She ended up taking no action.

Unfortunately, the mother fell ill. When she got well and went to her garden, she was shocked to see that the insects had damaged the whole garden. The daughter realized her mistake. The mother made her understand that one should never neglect duty and that action for always should be taken in time. That is how the garden that was the admiration of most people in the entire neighborhood ended.

Whether in your financial transactions, business or work, it is ​for always better to ​act or ​deal with ​problems ​immediately, because if you ​wait to ​deal with them ​later, things will certainly get ​worse and the ​problems will take ​longer to ​deal with if at all they don’t get out of hand. For short, nib your problems in the bud.

Cut Down Your Mango Tree

Dear lovely people,

Proverbs 6:9-11 (ESV) is very clear “How long will you lie there, O sluggard? When will you arise from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man.”

Once there lived a lazy man in a populous village. He was so lazy to the point that his only source of income was a mango tree, which was planted in the backyard of his house by an elder brother of his.

One day, one of his relatives came to his house for a visit. At breakfast, lunch and dinner, only mangoes were served to the relative. He got fed up of this and thought of a plan to help him out his laziness.

That night, when the lazy man was fast sleeping, the relative quietly woke up, cut down the tree and fled away. Next day, when the man saw that the tree was cut down, he cried for weeks and finally thought of a way out.

When the need for something becomes imperative, you are forced to find ways of getting or achieving it. The lazy man had been pushed to limits such that he had no choice but to do something. Necessity had suddenly become the mother of invention in his life – to paraphrase Plato.

After few years, the same relative again came to his house. By now, the man had worked so hard and prospered. His condition had improved tremendously. He thanked the relative for making him realize his mistake.