You’re Only as Happy as Your Power to Accept

Long ago, in a distant village, there was a bit of a problem in town. It seems that every night, somebody would break into the villager’s huts and break stuff. Sometimes, some items would be stolen. Often times, a lot of stuff would be broken.

The villagers would wake up and they would see eating utensils, plates, and other household items strewn about. Well, this went on for a few weeks until the town collectively could not stomach it anymore so they asked the town Wiseman, “We have this problem. Can you solve it?”

The town Wiseman said, “I got it. Come to the town square tomorrow and you’ll see the solution to your problem.” Sure enough, when people woke up the next day, they went to the town square. Right in the middle of the town square was this huge coconut tree with a hole in its trunk.

There was a monkey with its hand stuck in the trunk. It turns out that this monkey was responsible for breaking into the villagers houses and stealing random food stuff and causing all sorts of havoc. The villagers were relieved. They couldn’t believe it.

“How did you do it?” they asked the Wiseman. They were just so amazed. The Wiseman said, “This monkey is very easy to catch. You see, I put a silver ball in the tree trunk. It caught his eye because he was looking for shiny objects when he was breaking into your houses. He reached in and grabbed it, but he couldn’t let go. That’s why he’s stuck.”

All of us are that monkey at a certain level. There are certain things that we cannot let go, so we focus on them. We waste a tremendous amount of emotional energy on them. We definitely expend a tremendous amount of brain processing power on them, but regardless of our best efforts, they never change.

They continue to hold us back and drag us down. You have to understand that if you want to let go and be free unlike that monkey, you have to accept your flaws. Understand that you are not alone and understand that your flaws do not have to define you.

This then leads to you accepting your feeling. Let’s face it. Everybody screws up. If you have the power to decide, chances are you will decide wrong from time to time. That’s perfectly okay, but you have to accept them.

You can’t run away from them. You can try to explain them. You can try to make up excuses for them. Accept them. You screwed up. When you do this, you then put yourself in the position to move on.

Otherwise, you’re just playing games with yourself. You’re just making excuses. You’re making justifications, but at the end of the day, the problem still remains.

Exercise your freedom to move on. Once you do that, things are possible once again. You’re no longer stuck. You’re no longer dwelling. You’re free.