14Continuing with Your Mindfulness AlternativeSome Lessons Learned for Your Journey
Good Thing, Bad Thing, Who Knows?
One of the oft-repeated phrases in our house is “Good thing, bad thing, who knows?” I first came across the question in a Sufi story that Srikumar Rao related in his book Are You Ready to Succeed? I've since seen the story elsewhere and attributed to other traditions, but it always makes the same essential point in the same way. It goes like this:
A farmer had a beautiful, powerful horse that was the envy of his neighbors in the community. One day the horse jumped the fence and ran away. The farmer's neighbors were quick to come over and offer their regrets over the farmer's loss of such a horse. He simply shrugged and said, “Good thing, bad thing, who knows?”
Then one day the horse came back to the farm along with five magnificent wild horses. The farmer and his son corralled the horses to train them for work on the farm. When they saw the horses, the neighbors rushed over to admire the horses and marvel at the farmer's good fortune. In response to their comments, he just shrugged and said, “Good thing, bad thing, who knows?”
A few days later, the farmer's son was training one of the new horses and fell off ...
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