As I sat in yoga today waiting for class to start I was working overtime to disengage from my "to do" list...which, in spite of many hours of work, hasn't really been greatly reduced over the weekend. I was just in the middle of deciding that I should do what I joked about last week and create an entirely new "to do" list. It would read "wake up", "breathe", "shower, get dressed, go to work", and so forth... Yes. Only basic stuff. So that I could actually feel like I could check something off my list at the end of the day! But this thought was interrupted by Dean calmly walking into the room and inviting us into child's pose. Amazingly, I went there...and quieted by breath...and was able to, at least for the next hour, let go of that "to do" list. And I'm so grateful that I was able to do that. If I hadn't I would have missed this wonderful story that Dean told.
I think that (at least according to my
internet research!) it's based on a Taoist tale about a farmer. And it goes something like this:
One day a farmer's horse ran away. His neighbor hears of his bad news and comes over to commiserate. "I hear that you lost your horse. That is bad news and back luck." "Well, who knows?" said the farmer, "Maybe it is and maybe it isn't."
The next day the farmer's horse returned to his stable, but it brought with it a drove of wild horses it had befriended who made themselves at home. The neighbor couldn't believe it. He decided to come over and congratulate him. "This is such goodness," he says. "Well, who knows," said the farmer, "Maybe it is and maybe it isn't."
The next day the farmer's son decided to ride on one of the new wild horses to break it in. As luck would have it, the son was thrown from the horse and broke his leg.
Of course, upon hearing this sad news, their neighbor came over to offer condolences. "This is such a sad thing," he said. "Your son has broken his leg. This is bad news." "Well, who knows," said the farmer. "Maybe it is and maybe it isn't."
On the following day, soldiers came to recruit people for the army. They took sons from most of the surrounding farms, but because the farmer's son had a broken leg, he could not go and was spared. And well, maybe it was good news and maybe it wasn't.
I loved this story. For someone who's always trying to make sense of things, it's a great lesson for me to just say "who knows?" - it is what it is. It will quite possibly be good. Or it might be bad. And all I can do is let it be whatever it is going to be...and secretly hold on to the possibility that it's all good.
(On that note, I do think that the rain this weekend was ALL GOOD. Hallelujah! And getting to hear Stevie Wonder at
ACL last night was a lovely little surprise...and even though it was a stressful thought not to be getting work done all night, I think a little spontaneity when a free ticket came my way was all good, too.)
"Root both feet firmly upon the earth. Let the earth support you. Experience what it feels like to have both feet on the ground."
