Coaching Story: “This Too Shall Pass”

 

Have you struggled with really awful experiences and wished they would quickly pass? Or cursed your strings of bad luck and wondered when the bad streak will ever end? What about the other end – have you ever let a great victory get into your head and made bad decisions? Consider the following story.

There’s a famous fable of an ancient powerful king. As powerful as he was, he often struggled with emotional highs and lows, and that had caused him heavily during critical moments in battles.

The King was prone to periods of great elation where he would make very poor decisions, and periods of great despair where he would get extremely upset.

One of the kingdom’s wise men created a ring for the King, a device that would help stop him from getting lost in his high and low moments.

The King asked, “How does it work?”

“Wear the ring with you always. In times when you need it most, it will show you the answer and you will know what to do.” replied the wise man.

Almost immediately, a horseman rode in and demanded to speak to the King.

“Your Majesty! Your Majesty! The kingdom is surrounded. We’re under attacked!”

The King and all his best men rode out to meet their enemies in the battlefield. They fought for a long time and it appeared that they would be defeated.

Everything seemed dark and hopeless, just when the tired King was about to surrender the ring suddenly shined and caught his attention.

Engraved on the ring was an illuminated message – four words which he did not see before: “This too shall pass.”

All of the sudden, the King found new hope, courage and a burst of energy out of nowhere and fought back with everything he had. His new strength inspired his men to fight like never before, like men possessed. Soon, the tide of the battle turned and they won.

The King returned to his city and threw a massive celebration for many days. Just when he was losing himself in the midst of a great feast, the ring shined and there was an illuminated message which drew his attention.

This time it said, “This too shall pass.”

Those four words woke the King up and returned him to his centered self. He came back to his senses, he returned to clarity, which had always been there inside of him.

Isn’t it interesting that when the King read the message, nothing in the external world changed but his thoughts? That alone changed his whole experience and the eventual outcome.

Terrible, catastrophic moments may cause you to be trapped in a negative spiral of thoughts and you may lose heart…but only for a while, if you let it. Recognize that in those moments, you are feeling the quality of your thoughts and THAT is your reality, not the external world. And those thoughts will surely pass like dark clouds making way for new light to pierce through. Remember: “This too shall pass.” The external circumstances may be the same, but you now live it differently, and therefore, create a different outcome.

In the same way, don’t get too carried away by great triumphant moments. Go ahead, celebrate and indulge in those “feel-good” moments. As long as you do that with a clear head without letting your successes blind you, you’ll be alright. And remember: “This too shall pass.”

It’s not that you should not feel anything and disregard the emotional part of you, it’s just that when you’re aware of where your experiences come from, the false feelings simply fall away. Your feelings is an excellent barometer that tells you the quality of your thinking. If you remain in the gentle awareness of the illusory nature of your thought-generated reality, you’ll be alright. You’ll not lose clarity of what to do in the moment.

There was once a great success coach, and his grandfather once gave him two excellent advice: “When you experience a crushing defeat, failure or make a huge mistake, go ahead and let out your emotions: shout, scream, cry, do whatever you want….for 15 minutes. Then shut up, and get on with it!” and “When you accomplish a great victory, go ahead and celebrate: shout, scream, sing, dance, do whatever you want….for 15 minutes. Then shut up, and get on with it!”

I thought those were great advice!

“If the only thing people learned was not to be afraid of their experience, that alone would change the world.” ~ Syd Banks

Reference:

https://coaching-journey.com/coaching-story-this-too-shall-pass/ 

10 Harsh Truths That Will Improve Your Life Instantaneously

Truth is a beautiful and terrible thing, and should therefore be treated with great attention if you want to improve your life instantaneously.

Everyone wants to make an impact and live a life they can be proud of. But anyone who has ever known success or even been around the block
a time or two knows that life comes with some hard realities.

Success takes hard work and commitment, but what happens when luck and success evade us?

Maybe we have to start looking at the hard truths that show us whether we're standing in the way of our own success.

Maybe what's needed is to spend some time rethinking, revamping, and restructuring our approach to give us the best chance at moving
 forward successfully.

Here are 10 harsh truths--they may not be fun to hear or think about, but they can help you improve your life immediately.

1. You can't control a lot of things--but you can control how you respond.

In life and in business, most things are outside your control. But there is one thing you can always control--and that is yourself, your reactions 
and ideas.

2. Life isn't always happy--but there's value in both the bad and the good.

There is tremendous pressure on all of us to be happy. But life is sometimes difficult and painful. When you let go of the idea that only happiness
 has value, you can accept life in all its glorious complexity.

3. Nothing lasts forever--and that's a good thing.

Whatever the situation or emotion, there's great freedom when you can learn to let go, make the experience a part of who you are becoming,
 and move on.

4. We can do our best and still fail--and it's not our fault.

As leaders we have a tendency to be hard on ourselves. But when you let go of perfectionism you can accept that you did your best, whatever the 
outcome. Hope for the best and expect great things--and if that doesn't happen, let it go.

5. You're not everyone's cup of tea--and that's OK.

It's been acknowledged again and again that you can't please everyone. But if you focus on staying in favor with yourself, you can fly above the
 approval of others.

6. The past is gone--but you can build a great future on its foundation.

We're all inclined to spend time analyzing the past. It's valuable up to a point, but beyond that it's just a recipe for paralysis. Hold onto what 
you have learned, let go of any pain, and move forward into the present--and from there, the future.

7. The beliefs of others are not your concern--acceptance is.

Each one of us is unique in our own way, and that is what makes this world so fantastic. What is right for me may be wrong for you--all we can
 do is to let go of judgment and accept one another for we are.

8. Some people and situations are harmful--and there's strength in walking away.

Once in a while, you encounter a person or situation that's just wasting your time, sucking precious resources and energy from your life. It may not be your place to judge, but that doesn't mean you have to allow toxicity to hold you back. Just leave it behind you.

9. Deceit and games don't fuel careers--trust is the key.

Business is built on relationships, and like partnerships, marriages, or friendships, trust and authenticity are the key components.

10. Many things you can't choose, but you have a choice in everything you do.

You can make excuses, blame others, embrace the toxic and wrong--or you can follow a brighter path. It's up to you.

When you let go of the bad ideas in your life, it's not about weakness--it's about realizing that you are important enough to choose well and 
strong enough to let go of the things that may be holding you back.

I was reading this awesome article from Inc and the original post link below for reference..
http://www.inc.com/lolly-daskal/10-harsh-truths-that-will-improve-your-life-instantaneously.html?cid=sf01002

All in one : Python

A curated list of awesome Python frameworks, libraries, software, and resources

Reference:

https://github.com/vinta/awesome-python

Downs and Ups - Life lessons

It is quite common for anyone to go through the ups and downs and that is what is life.

I want to leave you all with something special and has much wisdom: The Butterfly 

A man found a cocoon for a butterfly. One day a small opening appeared, he sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force its body through the little hole. Then it seemed to stop making any progress. It appeared as if it had gotten as far as it could and could go no farther. Then the man decided to help the butterfly. He took a pair of scissors and snipped the remaining bit of the cocoon. The butterfly then emerged easily. Something was strange. The butterfly had a swollen body and shriveled wings. The man continued to watch the butterfly because he expected at any moment, the wings would enlarge and expand to be able to support the body, which would contract in time. Neither happened. In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around with a swollen body and deformed wings. It was never able to fly. What the man in his kindness and haste did not understand, was that the restricting cocoon and the struggle required for the butterfly to get through the small opening of the cocoon are God's way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings so that it would be ready for flight once it achieved its freedom from the cocoon. Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our life. If God allowed us to go through all our life without any obstacles, that would cripple us. We would not be as strong as we could have been. Not only that, we could never fly!