Sanjay Sabarwal's Blog

"Take it easy, Son," said the old man. "You’ll last longer."

"But if we get to the market ahead of the others, we’ll have a better chance of getting good prices," argued the son.

No reply.  Dad just pulled his hat down over his eyes and fell asleep on the seat.  Itchy and irritated, the young man kept goading the ox to walk faster. His stubborn pace refused to change.

Four hours and four miles down the road, they came to a little house. The father woke up, smiled and said, "Here’s your uncle’s place. Let’s stop in and say ‘hello.’"

"But we’ve lost an hour already," complained the hotshot.

"Then a few more minutes won’t matter.  My brother and I live so close, yet we see each other so seldom," the father answered slowly.

The boy fidgeted and fumed while the two old men laughed and talked away almost an hour.  On the move again, the man took his turn leading the ox. As they approached a fork in the road, the father led the ox to the right.

"The left is the shorter way," said the son.

"I know it," replied the old man, "but this way is so much prettier."

"Have you no respect for time?" the young man asked impatiently.

"Oh, I respect it very much!  That’s why I like to look at beauty and enjoy each moment to the fullest."

The winding path led through graceful meadows, wildflowers and along a rippling stream – all of which the young man missed as he churned within, preoccupied and boiling with anxiety. He didn’t even notice how lovely the sunset was that day. Twilight found them in what looked like a huge, colorful garden.

The old man breathed in the aroma, listened to the bubbling brook, and pulled the ox to a halt.  "Let’s sleep here," he sighed.

"This is the last trip I’m taking with you," snapped his son. "You’re more interested in watching sunsets and smelling flowers, than in making money!"

"Why, that’s the nicest thing you’ve said in a long time," smiled the dad.  A couple of minutes later he was snoring – as his boy glared back at the stars. The night dragged slowly, the son was restless.

Before sunrise the young man hurriedly shook the father awake. They hitched up and went on. About a mile down the road they happened upon another farmer – a total stranger – trying to pull his cart out of a ditch.

"Let’s give him a hand," whispered the old man.

"And lose more time?" the boy exploded.

"Relax, son…  you might be in a ditch yourself.  We need to help others in need – don’t forget that." The boy looked away in anger.

It was almost eight o’clock that morning by the time the other cart was back on the road.  Suddenly, a great flash split the sky. What sounded like thunder followed.  Beyond the hills, the sky grew dark.

"Looks like big rain in the city," said the old man.

"If we had hurried, we’d be almost sold out by now," grumbled his son.

"Take it easy… you’ll last longer.  And you’ll enjoy life so much more," counseled the kind old gentlemen.

It was late in the afternoon by the time they got to the hill overlooking the city.  They stopped and stared down at it for a long time.  Neither of them said a word.  Finally, the young man put his hand on his father’s shoulder and said, "I see what you mean, Dad."

They turned their cart around and began to roll slowly away from what had once been the city of Hiroshima.

I can work for you or against you.

I can make you a  success or failure.

I control the way you feel and the way you act.

I can make you laugh…work…love. I can make your heart sing with joy…excitement…elation…

Or I can make you wretched…dejected…morbid…

I can make you sick…listless…

I can be as a shackle…heavy…attached…burdensome…

Or I can be as the prism’s hue…dancing…bright…fleeting…lost forever unless captured by pen and purpose.

I can be nurtured and grown to be great and beautiful…seen by the eyes of others through action in you.

I can never be removed… only replaced.

I am a thought.

Why not know me better?

"Well," he said, "when they are very young and much smaller we use the same size rope to tie them and, at that age, it’s enough to hold them.  As they grow up, they are conditioned to believe they cannot break away.  They think the rope can still hold them, so they never try to break free."  I was amazed. These animals could at any time break free from their bonds but, because    they believed they could not, they were stuck right where they were.

   Like the elephants, how many of us go through life hanging onto a belief  that we cannot do something, simply because  we failed at it once    before?  How many of us are being held back by old, outdated beliefs that no longer serve us?  Have you avoided trying something new because of a limiting belief? Worse, how many of us are being held back by someone else’s limiting beliefs?  Do you tell yourself you can’t sell  because you’re not a salesperson?

  
he turned to his trusty minister and ordered: “I want you to carpet the entire kingdom by tomorrow morning, or it’s off with your head!”

The poor minister sat up half the night thinking about this impossible task, and knowing full well that he would surely lose his head come morning. Suddenly, just as the sun began to rise, his fear turned to joy. He had an idea. Bounding from his bed, he ran to the royal carpetorium.

When the king awoke the next morning he jumped quickly out of bed and hurried to the royal window to view his carpet covered kingdom. Seeing not one inch of carpet anywhere he began bellowing for the minister roaring wildly. “Minister, Where’s my minister? I’ll have his head!”

At that very moment, the minister appeared at the king’s door clutching a pair of very foreign objects in his hands. “Oh your highness, please be so kind as to try these first,” he begged. The king agreed, and in the wink of an eye the minister slipped the world’s first pair of carpet slippers onto the king’s royal feet.

Instantly the king’s anger turned to delight. Shuffling around the room with the softness of the finest carpet in the kingdom beneath his feet, all he could do was smile with every step.

The moral of this story relates to effective listening and finding something to get interested in. It is about listening for more than we are accustomed to, and turning every interaction into a challenge. Throughout life we often find ourselves in situations we don’t like and can’t change; we can, however, learn how to change our own experience and gain valuable insights along the way. Most of us do not realize the importance of listening as a communicative tool. Yet studies have shown that we actually spend 50% more time listening than we do talking. We often take listening for granted, never realizing that it is a skill that can be learned.