OPPORTUNITIES ARE LIKE A TOUCHSTONE

When the great library of Alexandria was burnt, as the story goes, one book was saved. But it was not a valuable book; and so a poor man, who could read a little, bought it for a few coppers.

The book wasn’t very interesting, but between its pages there was something very interesting indeed. It was a thin strip of vellum on which was written the secret of the “Touchstone”!

The touchstone was a small pebble that could turn any common metal into pure gold. The writing explained that it was lying among thousands and thousands of other pebbles that looked exactly like it. But the secret was this: The real stone would feel warm, while ordinary pebbles are cold.

So the man sold his few belongings, bought some simple supplies, camped on the seashore, and began testing pebbles. He knew that if he picked up ordinary pebbles and threw them down again because they were cold, he might pick up the same pebble hundreds of times. So, when he felt one that was cold, he threw it into the sea. He spent a whole day doing this but none of them was the touchstone. Yet he went on and on this way.

The days stretched into weeks and the weeks into months. One day, however, about mid afternoon, he picked up a pebble and it was warm. He threw it into the sea before he realised what he had done. He had formed such a strong habit of throwing each pebble into the sea that when the one he wanted came along, he still threw it away.

So it is with opportunity. Unless we are vigilant, it’s easy to fail to recognise an opportunity when it is in hand and it’s just as easy to throw it away.

SELF-EMPOWERMENT

To fill yourself with a quality or power, which you feel you do not have or one, which is lacking inside you, try the following exercise. Suppose you feel that you lack contentment (satisfaction). To increase this quality inside you, sit comfortably in a pleasant room with your eyes open.

Withdraw (remove) energy mentally from everything around you – turn your attention inward. You might think of how a tortoise withdraws into its shell to detach itself from the outside world, but, carrying the experience of the world with it inside its shelter.

Create a point of consciousness. Focus on the centre of your forehead. Think of this point as a bright star, a sparkling jewel, a flame or a being of light. This will radiate positive energy, making you feel good about yourself.

Affirm (strengthen) this positive energy through positive thoughts and images about yourself such as “I am a contented soul; I shower everyone whom I meet with the quality of contentment”, “I am a jewel of contentment”, or “I am the child of the Supreme Soul, the Ocean of Contentment”.

Focus your energy on contentment, and let this become the object of your meditation. As you focus, you will give experience contentment, turning the thought into a feeling.

Experience this feeling by giving your conscious attention to it.

During the entire day, you could visualise yourself performing each action under the canopy (shelter) of the Ocean of Contentment. Now perform this exercise for different virtues like cheerfulness, courage, humility (egolessness), tolerance, forgiveness, determination, etc., especially for the ones you think are lacking inside you. For the qualities already existing inside you, you could use this exercise to strengthen those features of your personality and bring them more into your actions and interactions.