Maybe..

As this year draws to a close and I write my last blog of 2023, I take a moment to cast my mind back over the past 12 months and say ‘WHAT A YEAR!’

I have had to be brave and adaptable, trusting and curious, patient and accepting. There have been extremes of the light and the the dark. Some of it makes sense now, whilst other things are yet to play out.

I have been thinking over the past week about the Taoist story about the farmer. You may know it, but if you don’t, it goes like this.

A farmer had tended the land for many years and grew crops. One day, his horse ran away. The neighbours came to commiserate. ‘What bad luck’ they said.

‘Maybe’ the farmer replied.

The next day, the horse returned to the farm and brought three wild horses back with him. ‘What good luck’ the neighbours exclaimed.

‘Maybe’ the old farmer answered.

The following day, the farmer’s son was thrown from one of the wild horses whilst trying to ride it and broke his leg. ‘What bad luck’ the neighbours cried.

‘Maybe’ said the farmer.

At the end of the week, military personnel came to the village and drafted any able-bodied young men into the army. The farmer’s son, with his broken leg, was not considered. The neighbours congratulated the farmer on how well things had turned out.

‘Maybe’

In our world, we are so used to seeing and wanting fast results. It’s easy then, as the neighbours in the story did, to see outcomes as neatly packaged. It either went right or it went wrong. Things are either good or bad. Perhaps we have forgotten the richness of a long and well-told story, the tapestry that is our life.

How many things can you look back on and know that something positive in your life today only happened because of something in your past that felt heavy or difficult at the time? Who did you meet later on? What did you experience?

For me, having a view like this really helps me to live with more equanimity. It doesn’t mean that I don’t get excited, disappointed, stressed or anticipatory. But when it doesn’t all go to plan, I step back and know that I can’t see the whole picture.

Maybe.