There is an old, old story about a farmer in China. One year the weather was very good and his crops grew strong and high, and all his neighbours told him how lucky he was to have such a fine crop and he replied, ‘maybe’.
Then the day before he was going to start the harvest a herd of wild horses came running off the plains and trampled all his crops flat. His neighbours came round and said how unlucky he was to lose his fine crop. The famer replied, ‘maybe’.
The next day the day the farmer’s son went out with a length of rope and caught a wild stallion and three mares, and the neighbours came round to admire the horses and told the farmer how lucky he was. The farmer said, ‘maybe’.
In the morning the farmer’s son started to break in the horses and no sooner had he mounted the stallion then it threw him, and as he fell on the ground he broke his leg. The neighbours carried him indoors and commiserated with the famer, saying how unlucky he was that his only son was so badly injured. The farmer said, ‘maybe’.
The next day the Emperor’s army came to the village on the way to fight a great battle and all the able-bodied young men were pressganged into the army. But the farmer’s son was not taken because of his broken leg. All his neighbours told the farmer how lucky he was that his son had been saved from the army and the farmer said ‘maybe’.
Less Judgement is Better
The farmer understood that a positive could become a negative, and vice versa. He was a patient man who lived in the present, not in the past or for the future.
There’s limited benefit to judging situations, it takes away from the present, the one gift we have right now. By living in the past or for something in the future we place stress on ourselves, and create expectations which will normally not serve us in a positive manner.
So, relax and take it easily, enjoy today and get the most out of it. Less judgement and expectations equals a more stable and creative mind.
