If you haven't stumbled across Kevin Bungert and his blog yet, please take a moment to check him out. He's been writing a series of posts on his coaching and life philosophies that I have throughly enjoyed. He really seems to have a grasp on what it takes to not only be a successful real estate person, but a successful person, period!
The other day he wrote a post called, "The Most Important Thing In Life Is Your Health" which makes a compelling argument that no matter what your other gifts are, that taking care of your body is the single most important thing that you can do in order to be happy and successful. Having recently suffered a health setback in the form of an unexpected injury (I torn my right rotator cuff), I've been doing a lot of thinking on the subject of both health and being happy.
I wish that I had a better story to tell about how I torn that rotator cuff, but I don't. I didn't get into a bar fight or crash my motorcycle, I simply raised my arm and it torn. This injury was the last in a series of insults that my body has been throwing at me. Such as, after having a life time of excellent eye sight, all of a sudden I needed glasses. Then I fell sober out of a bar. No good reason, I was just a klutz and fell and broke my right leg. Then as I was healing from that, I got a stone bruise in my left foot.
When my foot didn't get better, I went to see my doctor and he told me that I had plantar fasciitis which is basically a stone bruise that doesn't go away. If you've ever had it, it sucks! When I asked my doctor why I got it, he told me that it's just one of those things that happen when you get older. The fact that I'm bigger and I've ran quite a bit, probably didn't help things out much.
Then I torn that damn rotator cuff for no apparent reason. It just popped! To say that I started feeling old was an understatement! Here I was, after years of working out, going blind, getting clumsy, hurting for no apparent reason and hurting myself by doing almost nothing! I fell into a kind of funk over it all.
I guess that maybe it was the start of a mid-life crises of some sorts. My business was having trouble, the market sucked, my kids didn't need me as much and it had become readily apparent that I was getting older. Being as I couldn't afford to go out and buy myself a Vette, I decided to meditate my way out of this funk.
I thought back to some of the things that I have read over the years including a story that I had read somewhere. I guess that it's kind of a fable, but it helped me to put things in perspective and it illustrates why, as I pointed out in my comments on Kevin's posting, I think that being responsible for your own happiness is really the single most important thing in your life.
The Monk And The Tigers
One day a monk was walking along a path when he noticed that he wasn't alone. In the woods near him he saw a large tiger that was following him. He became fearful and attempted to run away from the tiger.
As he ran down the path as fast as he could, he didn't see that the path turned and he tumbled over the edge of a cliff. As he slid down the slide of the cliff he was able to grab hold of a small tree that was growing out of the side of the cliff. Soon, the tree started to pull away from the cliff under his body weight.
This is when he noticed the second tiger waiting for him at the bottom of the cliff. If he fell, it would be to a certain death.
He thought about attempting to climb back up the cliff, when he saw that the first tiger was looking down on him from above. There would be no escape by climbing up.
At that particular moment he noticed a large, ripe strawberry that was also growing out of the side of the cliff. He looked up at the first tiger, then down at the second one. He then saw that it would only be another few seconds before the tree that he was holding onto was going to succumb to his body weight.
In those seconds he thought of what the Buddha had taught him. Knowing that there was to be no escape, he reached out and ate the strawberry. He savored it for as long as he could, then he let go. Falling to a certain death.
The monk died with a smile on his face.
The moral of the story is that he took responsibility for his own happiness. Even when faced with certain death, he made what he could out of the situation and enjoyed the sweetness of that strawberry while he could.
I personally am not that enlightened. I might have eaten the strawberry...probably would have.....but then I would have done my best to kick some tiger ass. Maybe it's the American in me, but I would have gone down fighting!
But that doesn't change the moral of the story......No matter what your situation is. If you're business isn't going as well as you would have hoped or maybe you're like me and your body seems to be falling apart, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter because happiness isn't something that comes from the outside. It's something that comes from inside of you and if you're taken personal responsibility for your happiness, no matter what the world throws at you, then at least when it comes your time, like the monk in the story, you'll die with a smile upon your face.
R.B. "Bob" Mitchell
ValueList Real Estate Services, Inc.
P.S. I don't know the origins of the story of the monk and the tigers, if anybody does know, could you please let me know.
Bob Mitchell is president of ValueList Real Estate Services, St. Louis' largest discount/full-service real estate and mortgage company. If you would like to find out more about Bob, ValueList or our flat-fee listing program, please feel free to visit our web site at valuelistre.com
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