Deep in the mountains lived a gardener. Every day he would
walk down to the stream that ran through the valley and fill two
clay pots with water for his garden.

With the pots full and balanced on either end of a wooden pole,
he would carry them up the steep path that led to his garden
high on the hillside. This was arduous work, but the man took
great pleasure in looking after his garden. One hot summer’s
day, half way up the path, he decided to take a rest. When he lay
the pots down, a small rock sticking out of the ground made a
little hole in one of the pots.
A few months later, while the gardener was taking a nap down
by the stream, the pot without a hole said to the other, ‘You
are useless.’

The pot with the hole replied, ‘What do you mean I am
useless?’

‘You have a hole in you. Every day our owner works so hard to
carry the water to his garden, but by the time we get there most
of your water has already leaked out.’
On hearing this pot with the hole became sad.
The next day the pot told the gardener how he felt.
‘Tell me my friend, why are you so sad?’ replied the gardener.
‘Well, every day you fill me with water and work so hard to climb up
the mountain, but by the time we reach the garden most of the
water has leaked out.’

‘This is true. You have a hole,’ said the gardener. ‘But do you
know what that means?’
‘Uh, it means I am useless. I can no longer fulfil my task which is to
contain the water,’ said the pot, feeling even sadder.
‘Have you looked at the path we walk up to reach the garden?’
asked the gardener. ‘Thanks to you, the side of the path is full of
flowers. When I realised you had a hole I started planting seeds
along the path. Now the path is adorned with beautiful flowers,
and bees come to gather nectar from those flowers. You see, you
are not useless at all.’

You

Do you know who you are?
That may sound like a strange question,
but your story truly begins when you can start
to feel what is happening inside you.

If this life is your story, wouldn’t you want to make sure it is
an interesting one?
Some people want their story to be an adventure. They want
to climb the Himalayas or do things no one has ever done.
But the greatest adventure is looking within and getting to
know the real you, the one that never changes, even as your
body ages.

You will be with you all through this story, but will you befriend
yourself? Are you willing to listen to what you really want? Something that you have always wanted, a want that
will not go away. When you can feel that, you are ready to
write your story.

You know about the people around you,
but do you know yourself?

Patient: Doctor, I am in pain.
Doctor: Uh, where does it hurt?
Patient: It hurts everywhere. When I touch my head it hurts.
When I touch my jaw it hurts.
My ear, my leg — everywhere it hurts.
Doctor: I see. I think your finger is broken.

Have you worked on your relationship with you? Or have you
been more concerned with what other people think of you?
We worry about how our neighbours and colleagues see us.
We have learned to measure ourselves with the scales of the
world, to measure our status, our level of success.

What is important is how we feel about us. Do we feel good,
do we feel at ease, or not?
Don’t waste a moment measuring yourself. Begin to lend
your ear to what is happening inside of you. Get to know that
companion, that strength.

The coconut
Whenever you see a tiny, uninhabited tropical island, you will see a coconut tree there, standing tall. How did it get there? It made an unlikely journey through a truly hostile environment. It doesn’t have a map or a GPS, nor does it have a sail or an engine, but that little coconut contains within it everything it needs to make its journey. Water is required to stay alive in the ocean and to sprout when the coconut gets to the new shore. On its journey it will be surrounded by water, but it can’t use that salt water, so the coconut packs its own sweet water. The coconut’s husk provides flotation and protection throughout the journey and it sticks out of the water just enough to catch the wind and act like a sail.
With great courage the coconut sets off for an unknown destination. Falling from the tree, it gets bounced around in the surf. Again and again it tries to get out into the open ocean, and once it does, it starts catching the wind, catching the ocean currents and it is on its way. In the middle of the vast ocean, with huge waves, this coconut shows no fear. We build ships, huge tankers, but when the storms come, those ships head to the nearest port until the storm passes. Not the humble coconut. With each wave it goes up and with each wave it will tumble down. That storm has been harnessed into something that helps it on its way.
Then one day with high tide it gets washed up onto a new shore. Quietly it puts down its roots and in time another coconut will one day be ready to set sail from there. The coconut makes the most of what it has, it grabs each opportunity without hesitation and it finds its niche. The place where it can be.
We also have the essentials we need in order to find our niche. To make use of our courage and find a place within us where we can be at ease with ourselves.