LIVING FULLY IN THE MOMENT

One day, while walking through the wilderness, a man  encountered a vicious tiger. He ran for his life, and the tiger gave chase.

The man came to the edge of a cliff, and the tiger was almost upon him. Having no choice, he held on to a vine with both hands and climbed down.

Halfway down the cliff, the man looked up and saw the tiger at the top, baring its fangs. He looked down and saw another tiger at the bottom, waiting for his arrival and roaring at him. He was caught between the two.

Two rats, one white and one black, showed up on the vine above him. As if he didn’t have enough to worry about, they started gnawing on the vine.

He knew that as the rats kept gnawing, they would reach a point when the vine would no longer be able to support his weight. It would break and he would fall. He tried to shoo the rats away, but they kept coming back.

At that moment, he noticed a strawberry growing on the face of the cliff, not far away from him. It looked plump and ripe. Holding onto the vine with one hand and reaching out with the other, he plucked it.

With a tiger above, another below, and two rats continuing to gnaw on his vine, the man tasted the strawberry and found it absolutely delicious.

Source | Derek Lin, The Tao of Daily Life. Pages 10-11

PONDER AND CONSIDER

This delightful story, which for many may be unreal, pure nonsense and bordering on the absurd, is in fact and simply about living in the moment. Despite his perilous situation, the man chose not to let unrealized dangers paralyze him. He was able to seize the moment and savor it.

• Are adversity, crisis and potential dangers robbing you of the precious gift of life?
• Do you allow adversity, crisis and potential dangers to paralyze you and block you from living every single moment as best and as fully as possible?