Hello there.
Thank you so much for joining me for this reading of another classic Old Parable.
This is another one of Aesop's Fables.
The peacock and the crane.
This is a story about differing kinds of beauty.
Differing kinds of specialness.
And it reminds me personally.
A couple of my favourite different sayings.
One being comparison.
Is the thief of joy.
And the other one being Don't shrink.
Don't puff up.
Stand your sacred ground.
It feels to me like both of those sayings are illustrated quite well by this symbolical story.
So,
Before we get into the story here,
Let's just take a moment.
To have a nice Deep.
Exhale.
Letting go of the day.
Letting go of whichever baggage you might be bringing along with us into this moment.
For right now.
There's nowhere else we have to go.
Nothing else we have to be doing So we can just relax.
Get ourselves comfortable.
And enjoy.
Another classic parable.
The peacock and the crane.
One day,
A peacock and a crane found themselves together in the same place.
The peacock was a magnificent bird.
With feathers of brilliant colours.
Emerald green,
Deep blue,
Gold and purple.
He took great pride in his beautiful plumage.
And loved nothing more than spreading his splendid tale for others to admire.
And sew.
When he encountered the crane.
Whose feathers were plain and pale by comparison.
He couldn't resist showing off.
Just look at my beautiful feathers!
" the peacock exclaimed,
Spreading his tail into a magnificent fan.
See how I shine.
With all the colours of the rainbow.
And Look at you.
Your feathers are so dull.
Ordinary.
What a.
.
.
Terrible thing it must be to look as you do.
The crane.
Looked at the peacock for a moment.
It was true that the peacock had ears.
Beautiful feathers.
There was no denying it.
But.
.
.
The crane knew that beauty was not the only quality worth having.
And sew.
Without arguing or boasting about herself.
The crane,
Simply spread.
Her broad wings and rose into the air.
Higher.
And higher she flew.
Soaring above the ground and into the open sky.
Looking down at the peacock,
She called out,
Yes,
Your feathers certainly are beautiful.
Can you follow me up here though?
The peacock looked up at the crane.
As she sailed freely through the sky.
He could spread his magnificent tail.
He could strut about the ground and delight everyone who admired his colourful appearance.
Art.
He could not follow the crane into the heavens.
And so the peacock remained where he was.
While the crane soared away into the distance.
The peacock had one gift.
And the crane.
Another.
But Crane's plain feathers did not make her any less remarkable.
Maybe there's a little something for us to learn from these two birds.
How often do we look at another person and think they have something Oui.
Luck.
We might perceive them as more attractive,
More successful,
More confident.
More accomplished than we believe ourselves to be.
Or maybe we find ourselves on the other side of the equation.
We recognise something in ourselves another person doesn't seem to possess and we perhaps feel privately a little superior.
We may puff ourselves up.
Compare,
Measure.
Forgetting.
That the things we see are only a small part of the story.
We do not have to be the most beautiful person in the room.
Or the cleverest.
The wealthiest or the most admired?
We also don't have to diminish ourselves when somebody else shines.
And we especially don't have to make ourselves feel bigger.
If we believe we possess something somebody else lacks.
There will always be somebody who can do something you can't.
Somebody whose gifts are different to ours.
Maybe it feels more peaceful.
To stop comparing ourselves one against the other.
And rather allowing ourselves.
To be who each of us are.
Without apology.
And without pretense.
You don't have to shrink to make room for somebody else's brilliance.
And we don't have to puff ourselves up.
To prove that we matter.
May we simply stand in our own worth.
Appreciate the particular gifts we have.
And leave room.
For the beautiful gifts.
About this.
