The rabbi and the cottage
So, there's this old story that I like to tell - There are a lot of variations in the deails, but it's about a man who lives in a remote village and goes to his rabbi for advice on becoming more successful. When the rabbi asks how he defines success, the man explains that he lives in a tiny shack with his wife and children and that he wants to have a big clean house.
The rabbi tells him to go home and bring his goat inside from the yard to live with him. The man does so and returns a few days later. He now has a goat crowding his home and droppings on his floor and he fails to see how this will help him to succeed.
The rabbi sends him back home with directions to have his wife start hanging the laundry inside to dry instead of out in the yard. On his following visits, the man is instructed to let his chickens inside etc etc.
Finally, when the man is at his wits end, the rabbi instructs him to let the goat and chickens back outside, hang his laundry outside, etc etc.
The man returns home, clears everything out, and gives the floor a good scrub. He is amazed by all the space he has and how clean and quiet his home is.
That's been my story for the last few months - I had some things that I wasn't entirely happy about in my life before, but things went so overboard with work demands and the snowballing problems that causes with my social life, parenting, relationships, housecleaning, etc that the small bits of normal life I can grasp at seem amazing and wonderful. I am nearing a resolution to the work issue and I am just around the corner from kicking out the chickens and the goat...life is going to be great!
The rabbi tells him to go home and bring his goat inside from the yard to live with him. The man does so and returns a few days later. He now has a goat crowding his home and droppings on his floor and he fails to see how this will help him to succeed.
The rabbi sends him back home with directions to have his wife start hanging the laundry inside to dry instead of out in the yard. On his following visits, the man is instructed to let his chickens inside etc etc.
Finally, when the man is at his wits end, the rabbi instructs him to let the goat and chickens back outside, hang his laundry outside, etc etc.
The man returns home, clears everything out, and gives the floor a good scrub. He is amazed by all the space he has and how clean and quiet his home is.
That's been my story for the last few months - I had some things that I wasn't entirely happy about in my life before, but things went so overboard with work demands and the snowballing problems that causes with my social life, parenting, relationships, housecleaning, etc that the small bits of normal life I can grasp at seem amazing and wonderful. I am nearing a resolution to the work issue and I am just around the corner from kicking out the chickens and the goat...life is going to be great!