Former monk and instructor of Positive Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania Cory Muscara shared this Chinese parable. I have heard it quoted in multiple places a variety of times, and for good reason. It’s worth repeating and considering.
“There once was an old farmer who used a horse to till his fields. He relied on this horse for the health of his farm. One day, though, the horse escaped into the hills. All the neighbors came by to sympathize with the man over his bad luck, only for him to reply: ‘Bad luck? Good luck? Who knows?’
A week later, the horse returned with a herd of horse friends. The farmer now had all this extra help. Of course, the neighbors came by to congratulate the farmer. ‘What great luck you have!’ they said. Again, his reply: ‘Good luck? Bad luck? Who knows?’
Soon after, as the farmer’s son was attempting to tame one of the wild horses, he fell off its back and broke his leg. Again, the neighbors stopped by. ‘We’re so sorry to hear about this bad luck,’ they said. His reaction: ‘Bad luck? Good luck? Who knows?’
A month later, the army marched into the village and conscripted every able-bodied youth they could find. When they saw the farmer’s son with his broken leg, they let him off.
After the army left, the neighbors ran to the farmer, ‘Wow, what great luck you have!’
Can you guess the farmer’s response?
’Good luck? Bad luck? Who knows?’”
While it’s fun to celebrate things that feel like good news, and can be important to grieve things that feel like bad news, it might serve us to step off the extreme roller coaster of emotions that can come along with events in our lives.
We can do this by intentionally recognizing that we don’t see the big picture right now, or the long-term effects of these events.
Acceptance of what is without assuming that we know what the final outcome will be is one way to find peace in the moment, and faith in the future.
I personally like to take this a step further and choose to believe that all things can work together for our good (even if we don’t see how that’s possible right now).
It’s a thought worth considering.
Cheers,
Bethany