Today is a timely story that aims to inspire you to practice mindfulness. To be more and more here and now. It is the coaching of mindfulness and being attentive given in the form of an inspiring parable about a king who wanted to know the right time.
Coaching about being here and now in the form of a parable
A king once thought to himself that if he knew the time was right, he would do everything right; if he always knew which people to associate with and which he should not; and if he always knew which of his works was most important.
He summoned all the learned men of his country, but they gave him answers that were not satisfactory to him.
He then decided to ask the hermit, famous for his great wisdom. The hermit was digging through the beds in front of his hut and seemed exhausted. The king took a shovel and dug the earth hour by hour, while the hermit was silent the whole time.
At dusk, a bearded man with serious injuries came from the woods. The hermit and the king nurtured him as best they could. This is how their evening found them. The king was finally so tired that he fell asleep on the threshold.
At dawn, the bearded man told him in a weak voice that he wanted to kill him because of his brother's death sentence, but now that he had saved his life, he would serve the king to the end of his days with his sons.
The king forgave the man, promised to send his doctor, and went back to the hermit to put his three questions to him.
"You have already received the answer," replied the hermit. “If you had not taken over my job yesterday, this man would have attacked you. So you dug my flower beds at the right time, I was the most important man, and the most important work was done for me. Then there was the time to nurture this wounded man, that was the most important thing then; otherwise, he would have bled out without making peace with you. Then he was the most important man for you, and what you did for him, was the most important work. So remember:
The most important time is always the moment. The most important person is always the one with whom fate has come into contact with us at a given moment. And the most important work is always doing good for him. This is a man's vocation in life.
Leo N. Tolstoy
What else does the parable of the right time tell us?
Yesterday was already, but tomorrow is not here yet. The only day we have is today. I hope this here-and-now coaching will encourage you to pay more attention to the present moment and free yourself from the speculations of your mind. Another great form of coaching about mindfulness and the importance of passing time can be watching the video entitled "Johnny", which tells about the life and attitude of Fr. Jan Kaczkowski.
See also other coaching stories and parables:
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