CHANGE OTHERS OR CHANGE SELF?
I was a revolutionary when i was young and my prayer to God was, "Lord, give me the energy to change the world."
As i approached middle age and recalled that half of my life was gone without changing a single soul, i changed my prayer to "Lord, give me the strength to change all those who come in contact with me - just my family and friends- and i shall be content."
Now that i am an old man and my days are numbered, my prayer is, "Lord, give me the grace to change myself."
If i would have prayed for this right at the start, i would not have wasted my life.
I was a revolutionary when i was young and my prayer to God was, "Lord, give me the energy to change the world."
As i approached middle age and recalled that half of my life was gone without changing a single soul, i changed my prayer to "Lord, give me the strength to change all those who come in contact with me - just my family and friends- and i shall be content."
Now that i am an old man and my days are numbered, my prayer is, "Lord, give me the grace to change myself."
If i would have prayed for this right at the start, i would not have wasted my life.
Sufi Sayzadi
CHANGING THINGS
A PRAYER
God, grant me the serenity to accept,
The things i cannot change;
The courage to change things i can;
God, grant me the serenity to accept,
The things i cannot change;
The courage to change things i can;
And the wisdom to know the difference.
A man remained a bachelor. All his friends and acquaintances kept asking him why he was not marrying. He kept quiet.
At last he became old and was about to die. His friends became sad. His closest friend could no longer suppress his curiosity. He asked him, "At least now you can tell me why you did not marry." In a low voice, the man replied,"Since you are my best friend, I can now confide in you. I was looking for the perfect woman."
The friend then asked, "You did not find one?"
He hesitated for a moment and replied," Only recently I found her," and continued, "but she also had been looking for a perfect man to marry." Then the man breathed his last.
A man remained a bachelor. All his friends and acquaintances kept asking him why he was not marrying. He kept quiet.
At last he became old and was about to die. His friends became sad. His closest friend could no longer suppress his curiosity. He asked him, "At least now you can tell me why you did not marry." In a low voice, the man replied,"Since you are my best friend, I can now confide in you. I was looking for the perfect woman."
The friend then asked, "You did not find one?"
He hesitated for a moment and replied," Only recently I found her," and continued, "but she also had been looking for a perfect man to marry." Then the man breathed his last.
'A prayer' in your blogpost, made my day! Thoughtful and may be thats what we want, the wisdom to know 'the difference'!
ReplyDeleteA human being cannot live without others; yet she/he cannot live with others. We like some aspects of a person and dislike some others aspects. We dislike all aspects of some persons. We try and wish to change the other person but can never succed. The way is to change ourselves and create conditions where the other person INWARDLY WISHES to change herself/himself (to our liking !).
DeleteAwesome.. just loved this post!
ReplyDeleteThank you.
DeleteI had come across this when I was heading my Bank's Staff Training College at Patna. I was taking sessions on Human Behaviour in addition to subjects relating to Banking. Sessions on Human Resources included Understanding Human Behaviour, Leadership, Motivation etc.
Dear Gardener:
ReplyDeletePeople are people, but plants! You can till the soil and help your plants grow and thrive. What else do you need to change? :) It is really true that civilization began with the invention of the human assisted growing of plants.
God, help my garden grow, and I won't have Sufi Sayzadi's regrets :)
Best wishes,
-A
A really wonderful observation! You can't order a person to change in the same way as you can't order a plant to grow and thrive.As you say, one can only till the soil and add some fertiliser, preferably organic, to help the plant to thrive and then leave it to the plant to decide whether to respond and thrive.
DeleteWhile researching something on the web, I came across this essay about organic fertilizers and thought you may find it interesting.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.soilandhealth.org/03sov/0302hsted/030202/03020208.html
There appears to be some science in it. :)
Yes, it is interesting and very informative. It will be useful for me.
DeleteThank you:)