The woman drove home from the hospital in a daze. „You probably have only one month to live.“ the new Doctor had told her after reviewing her test results.
As her mind cleared on the long journey she started to plan the month ahead. She thought of the letters and e-mails she needed to write, the calls she wanted to make, apologies for past mistakes, statements of love to those close to her. She realised there were experiences she had always postponed having which she could still cram into this month. Above all she wanted to spend her last weeks feeling fully alive.
She arrived home, keen to start doing the things she had thought about. The phone was ringing as she opened the door and she took the call. It was from the hospital, there had been a terrible mix up. Her tests were clear, there was no problem.
Monat: Juli 2011
There was once a troubled man who had lost his love and was walking through a forest in search of answers to calm his aching heart when he suddenly came across a cocoon. He noticed a small hole in the cocoon and could see that there was movement inside. He grew curious, moved closer, and soon noticed that a butterfly was trying to free itself. Much time went by and the butterfly seemed to be making little progress in its’ attempt to get loose from inside. The small hole that it had managed to make was not getting much bigger and it seemed trapped. So the man decided to help the butterfly by making the hole larger to enable it to escape to freedom more easily.
The butterfly then plopped to the ground. The man smiled thinking that he had freed the butterfly from its’ pain and struggles. However, he soon noticed that the butterfly was not moving normally. It seemed to be limping on the ground. In fact, the butterfly had very small wings and every attempt that it made to fly was futile. It remained that way and never was able to fly freely as other butterflies do.
You see, butterflies necessarily have to struggle in order to break free from their cocoon. It is only through the struggling that the fluid in their wings can allow them to fully grow. And in this way, once they have struggled enough are they then ready to enter the world and fly freely as fully grown butterflies.
Upon realizing this important lesson the man then became determined to push forward in his own life and allow the necessary time for his heart to heal. This lesson had taught him that our struggles in life can allow us to grow more fully and discover our own ‘wings’ in life when the time is right.
Very often being patient with our struggles in life and allowing for the necessary time to pass by can lead to wonderful transformation.
Martin was returning to work in his London office after spending two weeks with his brother over in New York. He was coming back with a heavy heart. It was not just that it was the end of a wonderful holiday; it was not just that he invariably suffered badly from jet lag; it was that Monday mornings always began with a team meeting and, over the months, he had grown to hate them.
Martin was aware that colleagues approached these meetings with hidden agendas; they indulged in game-playing; and he knew that people were not being honest and open. The meetings themselves were bad enough – but then there was all the moaning afterwards. „The usual people saying the usual things“. „I could have improved on that idea, but I wasn’t going to say“. „I was thinking of making a suggestion – but I couldn’t be bothered“.
As this morning’s meeting began, Martin braced himself for the usual moroseness and monotony. But, as the meeting progressed, he became aware of a strange background noise. At first, he thought that he was still hearing the engine noise from the aircraft that had brought him back to London – he had had to sit over the wing and the droning was terrible. But, as he concentrated on the noise, it became a little clearer.
He realised – to his amazement – that he could hear what his colleagues were thinking as well as what they were saying. As he concentrated still harder, he found that he could actually hear what they were thinking at the same time as they were speaking. What surprised him, even more than the acquisition of this strange power, was that he discovered that what people were saying was not really what they were thinking. They were not making clear their reservations. They were not supporting views which they thought might be unpopular. They were not contributing their new insights. They were not volunteering their new ideas.
Martin found it impossible not to respond to his new knowledge. So he started to make gentle interventions, based more on what he could hear his colleagues thinking than on what he could hear them saying. „So, John are you really saying ..“ „Susan, Do you really think that …“ „Tom, Have you got an idea on how we could take this forward?“ He was aware that his colleagues were unsettled by how insightful were these interventions. They looked at him mystified. In truth, he felt rather proud of his newly-acquired talent.
Emboldened now, Martin forgot his usual misery at participating in such meetings and began making comments of his own. However, he became aware that some of his colleagues were looking at him quizzically. One or two even had a gentle smile playing on their lips. Only gradually did it dawn on him – they could hear his thoughts and he was not really saying what he was thinking.
As the meeting progressed, Martin became aware of changes to the tone and style of the event. It was clear to him now that, one by one, each member of the meeting was learning how to hear the thoughts of all the others and this was subtly changing how they inter-acted with one another. The game-playing started to fall away; people started to speak more directly; views became better understood; the atmosphere became more open and trusting.
The meeting ended. As people left the room, Martin found that he could still hear what they were thinking. „That was the best meeting we’ve ever had.“ „All meetings should be like that.“ „In future, I’m going to say what I think“.
Author: Roger Darlington