Parables in life enlighten us to live better. There is a parable about an old monk who looks at a very young monk and tells him that he has only three months to live.
The young monk, on hearing the dictate of the older, wiser monk, takes off running. After three months, he returns to the monastery looking very bright, with a glowing face.
When the old monk asked him what had happened, the young monk replied, that he took the dictate very seriously, thinking he only had three months left to live, he went looking for all the people who he had met till now who had done good to him and to whom he had not expressed his gratitude. Every time he expressed his gratitude he felt energized as he felt overwhelmed by the realization that many people care for him and have done good to him, he felt loved and nurtured.
He also went around looking for people to whom he had done something wrong, and had not apologized. While he was saying sorry and asking for forgiveness, he felt the guilt in him reducing, and was overcome by the feeling of doing something good for others, to whom he had done wrong. This feeling of guilt, was replaced with the feeling of compassion, which energized him greatly.
The combined act of thanking people who had done good to him and asking for forgiveness from people to whom he had done wrong gave him the will and the way to live.
The old monk patted the young monk on the back, and encouraged him to live on the new found path.
If we were to do more of what the young monk did, say thank you to people who do good to us, we will develop an attitude of gratitude, empower ourselves with humility and open ourselves to more and more of what good others have in store for us.
When we actively start admitting what we have done wrong to others and seek for their forgiveness, we will reduce our guilt and in the process empower ourselves with the desire to correct our mistakes, and in the process revitalize relationships which may have frozen due to our ignorance or indifference.
Instead of wanting others to express their gratitude towards us, when we do good to them and ask for forgiveness from us, when they do wrong to us, we will be better off, if we were to start counting our blessings and our mistakes, we will become better and better, and in the process feel better and better.
I strongly feel, do bad, feel bad, do good, feel good. I wish all the readers to add quantity and quality to their lives.