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  The Oak and the Reed

I am sure some of you have seen this story before, but as it has got such a great message, its always good to be reminded of it again.

There was once a mighty oak tree that grew at the edge of a wood.
At the foot of this spreading giant grew a thin reed. With every breeze the reed would bend, swaying and sighing.
The oak looked down upon the thin reed and laughed.
"Look at me," boasted the oak. "See how strong I am. The wind may blow his hardest, but I will never bend."
Now it came to pass that there was a terrible storm. Never had the wind been wilder. It lashed at the oak tree, stiff and straight, and bent the reed.
Harder and still harder blew the wind, but the oak tree would not bend. Then, suddenly, with a great cracking and splitting, the oak tree fell over and lay uprooted on the ground.
When the wind died down, the little reed stood upright, as before. Sadly it looked down upon the fallen giant.
"Strength is not everything. It is a good thing to be able to bend when one has to," said the reed.

This is such a great story as it displays how important it is to be open, flexible and work 'with' situations that get handed to us on a daily basis in order to reach higher levels of success.
When things dont seem the way we want them, the natural reaction is to fight it. Like the oak tree you might just be uprooted and turned upside down. Being hubris and stubborn wont get you very far, but being gentle and flexible like the reed expresses humility and allows you to be fluid and work 'with' the flow of what's being dished to you. Once you can identify and practise this, bad situations will certainly be easier to overcome.

Have an awesome week and may you always have the wisdom to know when to apply stregnth and flexibilty!

Darren

This weeks quote...

“Humility is the only true wisdom by which we prepare our minds for all the possible changes of life.” - George Arliss