Flower of honesty

In ancient China, a particular prince of the region of Thing-Zda was about to be crowned emperor; however, according to the law, he first had to get married. Since this meant choosing a future empress, the prince needed to find a young woman whom he could trust absolutely. On the advice of a wise man, he decided to summon all the young women of the region in order to find a worthy candidate.

An old lady, who had served in the palace for many years, heard about the preparations for this gathering and felt very sad, for her daughter nurtured a secret love for the prince.  When the old lady got home, she told her daughter and was horrified that she intended going to the palace. The old lady was desperate. 'But, daughter, what on earth will you do there? All the richest and most beautiful girls from the court will be present. It's a ridiculous idea! I know you must be suffering, but don't turn the suffering into madness.' 'My dear mother, I am not suffering and I certainly haven't gone mad. I know I won't be chosen, but its my one chance to spend at leadt a few moments close to the prince, and that makes me happy, even though I know that quite a different fate awaits me.' That night, when the young woman reached the palace, all the most beautiful girls were indeed there, wearing the most beautiful clothes and the most beautiful jewelry, and prepared to do anything to seize the opportunity on offer.  Surrounded by members of his court, the prince announced a challenge. 'I will give each of you a seed. In six months' time, the young woman who brings me the loveliest flower will be the future empress of China.' The girl took her seed and planted it in a pot, and since she wasn't very skilled in the art of gardening, she prepared the soil with great patience and tenderness, for she believed that if the flowers grew as large as her love, then she would need not worry about the results Three months passed and no shoots appeared.  The young woman tried everything; she consulted farmers and peasants, who showed her the most varied methods of cultivation, but all to no avail. Each day she felt her dream had moved farther off, though her love was as alive as ever. At last, six months were up, and still nothing had grown in her pot.  Even though she had nothing to show, she knew how much effort and dedication she had put in during that time, and so she told her mother that she would go back to the palace on the agreed date and at the agreed hour. Inside, she knew this would be her last meeting with her true love, and she wouldn't have missed it for the world. The day of the audience arrived. The girl appeared with her plantless pot, and saw all the other candidates had achieved wonderful results: each girl bore a flower lovelier than the last, in the most varied forms and colours. Finally, the longed-for moment came.  The prince entered and he studied each of the candidates with great care and attention. Having inspected them all, he announced the result and chose the servant's daughter as his new wife. All the girls present began to protest, saying that he had chosen the only one of them who had failed to grow anything at all. The prince calmly explained the reasoning behind the challenge. This young woman was the only one who cultivated the flower that made her worthy of becoming the empress: the flower of honesty. All the seeds I handed them were sterile and nothing could have grown from them.' *Except taken from by Paulo Coelho's Like A Flowing River

Unanswered mysteries

You may know people are don't appear to be happy.  Perhaps they're different and desire to be taken seriously when they're not.  Are you the kind of person who would hide your perceived talent or ideas and suffer inside because of secrecy? Do you think you may be laughed at or put down?  Do you have reason to believe offering your service would be controversial or ostracized?

Each person has unique talents with the potential to help the world.  You need not receive some official pardon or forgiveness for what you are.  You have things to offer, so why hold back?  Rather than be discouraged by scam-artists or dishonest people, concentrate on how authentic you feel at the core.  Every person is full of unanswered mysteries.  You may not yet realize you're capable of things that will surprise even you.  Learning about you is your life journey. 

You will likely find life more fulfilling if you resist following rhythms or examples set by others.  As you learn to respect your own rhythm and traits, you will travel your own way, learn what feels comfortable when you're ready, and complete the journey you set out on alone.  Its part of a larger plan.  What you learn along the way is exactly what you are supposed to learn for the next step.

You may find out how other people live or promote their careers, but what you learn about them reflects back on yourself.  How you interpret your reality, and what you offer will all come about during your journey to discover yourself.  You'll sense your confidence as it grows and be happy to share those aspects of yourself that reveal who you truly are.  Raising self-awareness can be an enriching life education.

Transitory glory

How might you overlook hidden gems within difficult and trying situations? You define these situations much like you unconsciously select your adversaries. They appear in your path as a test which you choose as part of a longer quest to experience success. The decisions you make will shape your future in the form of consequences and affect the past in the form of redemption.

As you accept your passions, you're supposed to become more enthusiastic about your conquests. Your courage is supposed to develop to clear the fog and help you to see directions of your path. When you're ready to accept what used to appear unacceptable, this is an example of how you evolve to redefine success. Remaining flexible encourages you to accept not knowing things and still feel a sense of accomplishment where you are.  A sense of success now is transitory anyway.

Have you ever met anyone whose goal in life appears to be to disrupt the lives of others and prolong their misery? Forgive the apparent troublemaker. Is your mind not the real troublemaker in how it exaggerates the nature of your obstacles? Conside the impact of your imagination...

Rather than visualize obstacles to success, see perceived troublemakers as a godsend. After all, they symbolize what you could become if you don't find your way out of the confines of your judgment, conditioning and hard feelings. The people who get lost in their own world of problems, and attempt to draw you in, can't separate their ego or raise their awareness of another way. It is who they are.

As you learn to surrender to nature, you shift your impulse to judge and fight for retribution. You choose instead to sense the energy around you and how you can tap into that for other purposes. Whenever you rethink your view of success at a given moment, you are calling into question your previous judgment and conditioning.

Whenever you choose not to judge yourself or someone else, a view of success emerges based on how you free the mind and soul from conditioning. Your ego is seen as separate from success. You free yourself from identification with whatever you were taught and come up with unique ideas from inside you. Uncovering yourself at the core may be the ultimate success. Even that is constantly changing which implies some success will only ever seem like it is transitory glory.

Wake up call

'Why do you live the life you lead?' asked the angel during a dream.

'Well, to learn, to help others, to feel I do meaningful things,' you reply.

'When will it be possible for you to slow down and truly experience life?'

'If I did, I wouldn't have enough time left to do what is urgently required.'

'Nonesense! To live in a vicious circle is to give into fear of idleness and hide courage.'

'How would I know how to survive where I was? Who would tell me when things must happen?'

'Be grateful for situations where you're expected to resolve your own issues. If you're coddled and helped through every problem, then you won't realize your confidence or potential.'

'I have so many unfinished things from yesterday and things awaiting me tomorrow...'

'If you aren't careful, death may be staring you in the face before you explore meaning in life.'

'Reflecting on such issues gets me no closer to meeting deadlines.'

'Watch out. You may discover you sail through life and do not really live.'

'I live so much to the fullest, I have a real chance of realizing my worldly goals.'

'Pity. You focus on absurdities and put things off, overlooking priceless moments.

Blessing in disguise

Losing your job may be one of the best things that ever happened to you.  Are you stuck on the myth that you must work hard for money? Do what you've always done? Maybe you wonder if your mind is telling you the right thing or the best thing.  Every event contains hidden meaning and every reaction has its consequences.  When some undesirable idea emerges, do you cut it away or ignore it? 

A forced change in your circumstances is telling you something.  Do you see it? Do you get the message?  Do you notice anything at all? Would trying to get your old job back or a similar position be considered interfering with nature or destiny? Some people might say that individuals take steps to control and shape their lives out of arrogance.  Could intervention also be positive?

The time has arrived again to discern your intention and put it into action.  You have done all that you have asked of yourself.  If you failed to hit one target, you will no doubt hit others.  Opportunities arise when you don't give into the fear that other opportunities don't exist for you.  How often do you pay attention to what's happening inside yourself?  You're on the road to climb new mountains. 

Its not unusual for a person to struggle toward dreams.  At the same time,  when a person realizes certain paths are unsuitable or no longer serve a meaningful purpose, it reveals humility and deep understanding.  There's nothing reproachable about channelling your energies in new directions.  Despite any series of events that may discourage you, never lose a sense of hope and meaning concerning your future.  Great things are in the works!