[Average read time: 2 minutes]
You can’t paint the whole world red.
There was a rich man once who was bothered by two aches – one in his stomach and the other in his head.
He was diagnosed and treated by many medical experts.
He consumed heavy loads of drugs and underwent countless injections. But the aches persisted with the same vigor as before.
At last, a monk arrived at the scene of his agony. He spoke very kindly to him and pronounced the fault to be in his eye.
Set the eye right and the aches would disappear.
To improve the eye, concentrate on only one color. Concentrate on red, he suggested. Do not let the eyes fall on green, yellow, or any other color.
The rich man got together a group of painters and purchased barrels of red paint and directed that every object on which his eye was likely to fall be painted thick red.
When the monk came to visit him after few several days, the rich man’s servants ran with buckets of red paint and poured it on him since the monk was wearing green. The rich man did not want to see any color other than red because the aches would return.
Hearing this, the monk laughed and said, “If only you had purchased a pair of red glasses, worth just a few dollars, you could have saved these walls, pots, pans, chairs, and sofas – and also a large share of your fortune!”
You can’t change the world to meet your needs. Focus on the things you can control.
You can’t paint the whole world red.
Stay Zen.
