THREE PIECES OF WISDOM

 

Best replies to change the way you think

In this article I’m going to share three pieces of wisdom, three best replies that will change the way you think. These are the exerts, which I found very interesting and made me to see things differently and helped me to gain insight.

First Reply: “HOW TO BREATHE.”

I vividly remember my first day of monk school. I had just shaved my head but I wasn’t wearing robes yet, and I still looked like I was from London. I noticed a child monk-he can’t have been more than ten years old-teaching a group of five-year-olds. He had a great aura about him, the poise and confidence of an adult.

 

“What are you doing?” I asked.

 

“We just taught their first class ever,” he said, then asked me,” What did you learn in your first day of school?”

 

“I started to learn the alphabet and numbers. What did they learn?”

 

“The first thing we teach them is how to breathe.”

 

Breath is the only thing that stays with us until we die, other things can change. When you get stressed, when you get angry―what changes? your breath. And the reverse is absolutely possible, you can control your emotions by changing your breath. Controlling your breath, you can have enough time span between impulse and your response. When you learn to manage your breath, you can navigate any situation of life. With a compassionate and calm mind, you can develop the will, the drive to bring about change.

 

Second Reply: “I’M LIVING A LIFE.”

On being asked about the ups and downs of his career, movie star Kevin Costner responded with these words,

 “I’m living a life.”

I found this reply to be profound. Rather than spending his days in judging the events and experiences of his life as either good or bad, he adopted a neutral stance and simply decide to accept them for what they are: a natural part of the path he is on.

At some point in our lives we all have to rise from the still lakes of mud. The situations of life should not be rejected, rather we must welcome them and stay in the present in order to derive the proper lessons that life wishes to teach us. You should not choose circumstances to dictate how you feel or act. Instead let your vision dictate yourself. Always look for the bigger picture of your life. Looking at the larger picture of what is happening to humanity, you can know more clearly how you can serve and contribute. And if you perceive the bigger picture of life, you will become “visionaries”.

 

Third reply: “BE A GOOD HUMAN BEING. THERE IS A LOT OF OPPORTUNITY IN THIS AREA AND VERY LITTLE COMPETITION.”

I asked a wise man,

“tell me sir, in which field could I make a great career?”

He said with a smile,

“be a good human being. There is a lot of opportunity in this area and very little competition.”

Today we have guided missiles that can destroy its target with a pin point accuracy, but misguided men. Our education system builds us for a job or a career. We define our identity by our profession or our job title we have. In the pursuit of those paychecks we give up humanity. We should be taught about character, patience, resilience, determination, values and grifts, these are the skills that actually helps us navigate our life. Remember changing the world starts with you.