A Pearl of Wisdom

Once upon a time, there lived a young frog at a bottom of a dry well. He had been there all his life and was very comfortable with his surrounding. As he looked up at the sky, he enjoyed the quarter-sized sky. One day, his cousin came to visit him from the outside world. His cousin asked him why he hadn't ever ventured out of the well. He replied, “I don’t need to, I am comfortable here. Besides the sky is so small, there is nothing out there for me to see.” His cousin pleaded with him and finally got him to agree to hop up out of the well. As he reached the midway point toward the opening of the well, he looked up and saw the sky broaden. He became fascinated and at the same time nervous and hesitating. His cousin continued to plead him forward and he finally reached the top of the well. He was speechless as he glanced the vast sky in all directions, “I never knew how expansive and beautiful the sky is.”

It is easy for us to be very comfortable at a certain junction of our life, to a point that we may be so complacent and paralyzed that we are afraid to move forward. We set up a place for ourselves to stay in so we may never need to face the world because the unknown part of our life might be very scary and uncertain. Fear of moving forward may indeed stifle our growth, causing us to lose opportunities and broader perspectives on life. The place you are most comfortable may be the place that can create the most pain for you in the future.

Be curious and courageous. Don’t be afraid of new things. Don’t be afraid of changes. Embrace them with open arms and enjoy the interplay of Yin and Yang of our life. May the millennium bring excitement, peace, and fulfillment.