1 Lesson Bamboo Can Teach Us
🎋Let's listen to this very wise plant
At the Shaolin temple in Germany a few summers ago, master Shi Heng Yi told us a story about bamboo. It went something like this:
Bamboo takes a really long time to sprout out of the ground. It may appear as if nothing is happening on the surface for months. We may get impatient. But really it is just quietly growing its roots. Then one day when it’s ready and when we least expect it, it shoots out from the ground and grows at an incredible speed.
On days we feel impatient and doubtful of ourselves, we must remember the bamboo. It will take patience and quiet hard work, but one day we will sprout. We can’t give up even when we don’t see immediate visible results.
We must also recognize our efforts along the way, even if we haven’t yet reaped the rewards or seen evidence of growth. If we keep chipping away a little at a time, one day we will realize just how much we grew. Plus, if we want to have a strong future, we must take our time to establish a network of strong roots, just like the bamboo.
Just because progress is slow doesn’t mean it’s not happening. Life is about taking the long way home after all, isn’t it? Perhaps it requires a bit of patience and faith that our time will come if we keep trying our best.
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The Secret of Happiness...
There is a wonderful story (or a version of it told by other cultures) about a young boy who wandered the hot desert for weeks and finally came across a beautiful castle. Inside there were musicians, merchants, the most delectable dishes and sweets, tapestries and artifacts from all over the world.