Wisdom of the world - Week 161

Does The Master Not Suffer With Bad Disciples

A disciple asked Firoz:
"The mere presence of a master causes all sorts of curious people to gather round, to discover something beneficial. Can't this be a hindrance and negative? Can't this divert the master from his path, or cause him to suffer because he could not teach that which he wished?"
Firoz, the Sufi master, replied:
"The sight of an avocado tree laden with fruit whets the appetite of all those who pass by. If someone wishes to satisfy his hunger beyond his needs, he will eat more avocados than necessary, and will be sick. However, this causes no indigestion to the man who owns the avocado tree.
It is the same with our Search. The path must be open to all; but it is for God to set the limits of each individual."


Paulo Coelho

Wisdom of the world - Week 160

 

Why Are You Crying

A man knocked at his friend’s door to ask him a favour:
“I want you to lend me four thousand dinars because I have a debt to pay. Can you do that for me?”
The friend asked his wife to gather together everything they had of value, but even so it was not enough. They had to go out and borrow money from the neighbours until they managed to get the full amount.
When the man left, the woman noticed that her husband was crying.
“Why are you sad? Now that we’ve got ourselves in debt with our neighbours, are you afraid we won’t be able to repay them?”
“Nothing of the sort! I’m crying because he is someone I like so much, but even so I had no idea he was in need. I only remembered him when he had to knock on my door to ask me for a loan.”
Paulo Coelho

Wisdom of the world - Week 159

The Prince and the Dark Horse

There was once a young prince who, having reached the age of maturity, left home to live on a grand estate given to him by his father. He was told that if he ever needed help he was to put a light in the uppermost tower window, and his father would send a special horse and carriage to carry him to safety.
However, his father also warned him that an evil wizard, an enemy of the kingdom, lived not too far from his new home. The prince was told to be wary when setting his signal, for this wizard would also see this light and might himself send his own horse and carriage to carry the prince off to who knows what kind of danger.
Of course, this frightened the young ruler-to-be. After all, how would he be able to tell the difference? His father assured him there was a foolproof measure. Each time, before entering the rescue carriage, he was to closely examine the horse pulling it. A light-coloured horse would always take him to safety, but a dark horse would always take him to danger.
As one might imagine, many of the ordeals that come with the ruling life befell the prince, each one causing him to put a light in the window. And for many months, because he was in such a rush to escape his castle when he felt in danger, he failed to heed his father's warning; time and time again he neglected to examine the horse that came to get him. As a result he often found himself on one painful wild ride after another where, too late, he realised his inattentiveness was causing him as much distress as the condition he was trying to escape.
Eventually, he found the presence of mind before he would get into the carriage that had come for him to see if the horse pulling it had been sent by the evil wizard or by his father.

Guy Finley

Extreme Rose Pruning!!!

Wisdom of the world - Week 158

Loving the People

My son Paul got a job with a large chain of music shops. He had never worked in a retail organisation before. The pay was based on a small salary plus commission. They put him through an extensive sales training. It was the usual stuff on how to approach a customer, present the product and mostly of course, close the deal and make the sale! It was almost like a car dealer's pitch, "Do you want the red car or the white?"
He wasn't doing well. To make matters worse, they had an embarrassing gimmick. A photographer was based in the car park and took a picture of every customer who left without carrying anything. These photos were posted on what they called "The Be Back" board in the employees canteen. Many of the "I'll be back" customers were his.
Paul dropped by for coffee one morning. He said, "Mam, you used to be in sales. What am I doing wrong? What's the key?" I answered him, "The key is that you have to love those people you are selling to. Never count the commission in your mind. Do what is best for them if they are just buying some strings or an expensive guitar."
I went on "I believe that 99% of communication is mental. People sense if you are coming to them with a loving attitude or as a desperate salesman looking to close them."
He said he'd try it.
His sales started coming in. Then they really escalated. He became the top salesman in the shop. And his salary reflected it. (the management started to watch him carefully to make sure he wasn’t giving stock away) In six months, he was one of the top ten salesman in the entire chain out of 40 around the country. This company gives an extravagant party once a year to honour their top ten salespeople. Limos, deluxe hotel, elegant dinner - the works. Paul was of course included.
After the dinner, the president of the company approached him.
He said, "Paul, how did you do this? You came up out of nowhere."
Paul answered, "I don't want to tell you. You won't believe me."
"Of course I'll believe you. Tell me."
Paul gulped. "I started loving the people who come in."
The big boss replied, "Okay Paul, now tell me how you REALLY did it."