Here’s a thought I’d like to share…
The Tale of Two Pebbles Many years ago in a small Indian village, a farmer had the misfortune of owing a large sum of money to a village moneylender. The moneylender, who was old and ugly, fancied the farmer’s beautiful daughter. So he proposed a bargain. He said he would forgo the farmer’s debt if he could marry his daughter. Both the farmer and his daughter were horrified by the proposal. So the cunning money-lender suggested that they let providence decide the matter. He told them that he would put a black pebble and a white pebble into an empty money bag. Then the girl would have to pick one pebble from the bag. If she picked the black pebble, she would become his wife and her father’s debt would be forgiven. If she picked the white pebble she need not marry him and her father’s debt would still be forgiven. If she refused to pick a pebble, her father would be thrown into jail. They were standing on a pebble-strewn path in the farmer’s field. As they talked, the moneylender bent over to pick up two pebbles. As he picked them up, the sharp-eyed girl noticed that he had picked up two black pebbles and put them into the bag. He then asked the girl to pick a pebble from the bag. She paused… Then the girl put her hand into the moneybag and drew out a pebble. Without looking at it, she fumbled and let it fall onto the pebble-strewn path where it immediately became lost among all the other pebbles. “Oh, how clumsy of me!” she said. “But never mind, if you look into the bag for the one that is left, you will be able to tell which pebble I picked.”
It was the pause that changed the course of this story. The pause created space, and in that space creativity and intuition had room to enter.
If we are so focused on the problem, we do not have room for a solution.
Even in the face of things we don’t understand, we must cultivate the ability to pause, to drop beneath our fears and constricted ways of thinking, and make room for our wisdom and creativity to arise.
Pause and create space. Do this in everyday practices like meditation, conscious breathing, prayer, or quiet reflection. Do this is larger ways like a day of quiet, scheduled downtime, and retreats.
If we learn to pause, we can choose our response rather than reacting in a way that perpetuates our patterns.
Wishing you lovely pauses and beautiful responses,
Namasté Augusta