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The Mustard Seed

One day, a woman approached the Buddha with tears streaming down her face, and a cold, lifeless baby in her arms. She begged the Buddha to perform a miracle and bring her son back to life.

The Buddha responded: “I can help you, but only after you bring me mustard seed from a house that has not been touched by death.” The woman travelled back to her village, and started knocking on doors.

The woman had no luck with the first house. Just a few months ago, one of the elders there had died. The next house was similar: sickness took a child there too. The disappointment continued until the woman realized the pattern.

Every house has been touched by death. The quest given to her by the Buddha made the woman realize the universality of death — the impermanence of all things — including people.

Weary, the woman returned to the Buddha. He asked if she had come with the mustard seed he needed to perform the miracle. The woman admitted what she had discovered, and asked to join the Buddha as one of his disciples.

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The Plain Girl

There was a girl in my class at school who was exceedingly plain . But she didn’t appear to realise that she was plain, and that had a very interesting result.

You see, she thought she was beautiful. And she acted as if she was the most beautiful girl in the school with the result that people responded to her as if she were, indeed, beautiful. She had more attention from the boys than any other girl in the class.

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Forgetting How Old You Are

She was a granny in her early sixties. Not young, perhaps, yet there was something about her that caused people to not notice her chronological age…
Jacqueline was a tough and very professional business-woman with onerous and on-going responsibilities. Yet everyone, even the lowest in the hierarchy, received the same full unhurried attention.
In a very natural manner, she had poise, pizzazz, and humour. When she encountered someone she appeared genuinely delighted to meet them. And people felt special because of this attention. Especially when she smiled, which she did a lot, because Jacqueline’s smile was magical. It transformed her appearance and, unlike the practised stretching of the mouth muscles that so often passes for a smile, her smile emanated from deep down inside, took a while to reach full power, and then lingered magically bathing everyone in its warmth.
She looked after herself. Jacqueline supplemented her wonderful personality with an easy elegance and natural beauty. She looked after herself. She dressed well and favoured flamboyant hair styles, used little or no make-up and had not resorted to ‘cosmetic’ surgery.
She was slim, fit and had loads of poise. But her secret ‘beauty aid’ weapon probably was unnoticeable to most people. She acted as if she’d forgotten how ‘old’ she was. And, curiously, this affected the men and women with whom she came into contact! I noticed men of all ages flirting with her- and she mischievously and joyously responded.

From: Pegasus NLP, https://nlp-now.co.uk/nlp-attitude-towards-ageing/?doing_wp_cron=1706319826.5448319911956787109375