The Farmer & His Horses – A Story for Difficult Days

In this brief lecture I tell an old Taoist story and explain how it can help you through tough times.

Transcript

So today I would just like to explore a Taoist story and explain how it could apply to your life and how I found it has applied to my life.

So there's a Taoist story of an old farmer who had worked on his crops for many years and one day this farmer's horse ran away and so upon hearing this news his neighbours came to visit.

Such bad luck is what all his neighbours started to say,

You know,

Kind of sympathetically.

Maybe,

The farmer replied.

And next morning the horse returned bringing with it three other wild horses and all the neighbours came back and they were just saying,

How wonderful,

Oh you've got three new horses.

Maybe,

Said the old man again,

The old farmer.

So the following day his son tries to ride one of these new horses,

These untamed horses and his son's thrown from the horse and he breaks his leg and again the neighbours come to the house and they're trying to offer their sympathy at his misfortune saying,

Oh I'm sorry,

I'm sorry,

Your son's broken his leg,

That's such bad luck.

Maybe,

The farmer answers again.

And the day after this military officials come to the village and they try to draft young men into the army and because the farmer's son's leg is broken they pass by his house and they say,

We can't accept him.

And the neighbours again come back to the farmer's house and they say,

Oh that's great,

That's so great,

Your son doesn't have to go to war.

And again the farmer sits there and quite stoically,

Maybe.

So what's the moral of this story or what did I take from this story?

And what I took from this story was to not allow the mind to make distinctions and make judgements too quickly because the mind is always going to make judgements and it's always going to have opinions.

What if we can relax back into ourselves and not allow the mind to grasp onto every event that comes into our experience?

The part of our mind that wants to label things is trying to be logical and it's trying to be scientific but that's the last thing it's really doing.

It's not being logical.

You know,

Take the old man,

He had these events that were occurring and he didn't know what the outcome was,

He didn't have that information because the truth is we never know the outcome.

We never have enough information to make a true and honest judgement and obviously that's not to say that we shouldn't sometimes take what we know and make an assumption but what we tend to do is immediately label things,

This is good,

This is bad,

This is right,

This is wrong.

And if we have that patience and we pay attention then we see things in the long run more accurately and more truthfully.

So I just want to end with a question that I've asked myself and I try to ask myself quite frequently,

Particularly when I'm having a bad day.

Because when I'm having a bad day the mind tries to justify the bad day and tries to predict all the future bad days.

You know it says this day is bad because of this and tomorrow is going to be bad because of this.

And really I have no idea but that's the job of a certain aspect of mind,

It's to make judgements.

So I try to ask myself this and I try to ask it as truthfully and as honestly as I possibly can.

Are you sure this isn't the most important day of your life?

That's the question I ask because a truthful answer,

A completely truthful answer,

No you can never be sure that this isn't the most important day of your life because up until the day turns over something could happen that completely changes your life for the better.

And it could be something obvious,

You know a phone call about a new job or about some fortune.

Or it could be something that you don't even notice,

Something subtle that creates a butterfly effect that results in the best thing that's ever happened to you.

So in any moment you don't know that this isn't the most important day of your life.

So I just want you next time you're having a rough day or even if you're having a normal day,

An average day,

I just want you to ask yourself the question and sit with the question and really feel the question.

Are you sure this isn't the most important day of your life?

Thank you very much.

If you appreciated this talk and you'd like to hear more from me,

I have a free 5 day self-esteem challenge where I will send you daily practices to improve your confidence,

Increase your self-awareness and better your self-esteem.

And you can get that at ProjectMonkeyMind.

Com forward slash challenge.

That's projectmonkeymind.

Com forward slash challenge.

Reviews

Thank you fo sharing this story.
Beautiful. This is what I needed to here this morning ☀️

Thank you Ben. Needed to hear your words today.
🙏🦋💜

Gratitude 🙏🏾 V

I really love this. I am always a joy, seeker, a bright side thinker, and this is a wonderful lesson and fable. . Thank you for sharing that I wonder where you came across it

Excellent. Thanks

Great story & great lessons to be learned. Thank you. Namaste 🙏

Excellent fable for teaching students. Thank you 🙏🏻

Thank you for these resonant lessons for life. They are rich food for thought.

I know I've heard the story before but couldn't remember it. I absolutely love your interpretation and gentle reminders about judging our days. Beautiful work!

Maybe.... one little word that can help change perspective. Thank you for reminding me of this gorgeous story.. and that we can never see the full picture.

I truly appreciate this. Living without judgement is my stickiest challenge. This is such a beautiful tale and such a succinct daily question to steer me into the flow.

This was a valuable lesson for me; a different way to evaluate your day. Thank you!

I have heard this one before. Always a nice reminder and lovely to hear your take on it 🌸

The day was so hard that even I got to the point when I cried, but this story showed me that these days will come eventually and it's ok it's not a bad thing as a saying goes ,,There is no rainbow without rain, like there is no happiness without a little pain"

Very insightful and appreciated!!!
Much love and thanks 💞
Namasté 🙏🏼☮️

Loved this! Reminds me of a story about an ‘Indian’ (Native American) and a friend.
A friend of an Indian arrives in town to find his dear friend standing barefoot in a stone circle participating in a ceremony of sorts.
Due to the recent prolonged drought, the friend simply assumed the Indian was “praying to their a Gzuyyrain”. When the friend finally asked, “does all of this praying and asking God for rain REALLY work?”
The Indian pauses. After a long silence, he replied, “no, I am not praying. I am imagining that its already raining. The water droplets splashing on my shins, my toes covered in mud and the distant sound of thunder. The sky lights up as the far-off crackle fills the atmosphere. Thats what works, dear friend.”

Imagine you ALREADY HAVE what you aim to experience. Experience the thunderstorm with all 5 of your senses. This strong connectedness on such a concentrated heightened level, is the best way to attract, attain or experience whatever your soul yearns for.

Loved this! Thank you
You have a fantastic voice
Fun to listen to!

Great story to help us reduce judgement on situations.

I needed that reminder. Thank you💕

Loved it thank you ❤️