A young shepherd, in his early 20s, was seamlessly relaxing under a tree on the outskirts of a village when a wise man happened to pass by and stumbled upon him.
Wise Man: “What are you doing here my child?”
Young Shepherd: Nothing! I’m just Resting!
Wise Man: I might sound harsh to You but it seems to me that you have made yourself an aimless vagrant, doing nothing but wasting your time here. You are so young and well-built, you should be utilizing your precious time working hard on pursuing your passion and building something great…
Young Shepherd: What will happen if I work hard and pursue my dreams?
Wise Man: My son, you would be able to amass wealth, build a castle, buy anything you’ve ever dreamt of and be successful in life.
Young Shepherd: What will happen then?
Wise Man: Then you would be able to live your life happily and relax.
Young Shepherd: But…why do I have to think that far and push myself so hard if I’m doing the same thing right now?
Lessons learnt:
Love what you do or do what you love. If being a monk, an aimless wanderer, a homeless traveler pleases you or if you are perfectly fine with having no passion, what’s the point listening to other? They are not in your shoes. People will keep imposing their thoughts on you with no exceptions.
External motivation is not for everybody and doesn’t work the same way to all until the person gets curious and dares to explore.
Not all the knowledge within our environment is equally applicable to us all. Different things appeal to us differently. While many of us consider materialistic possessions and fame to be success, there are some who would consider generosity, kindness, wisdom and virtue of living a disciplined life to be the real taste of success.
There is no secret to success. If you take action and focus on things you are doing, you will receive success you deserve in proportion. For some, motivation works as compelling drive to take action but for many it is worthless.
Every unique being has different levels of consciousness and they are not designed to receive the same signal that you receive. Things don’t resonate the same way for them; therefore, they should be left alone to live their life they want.