Ever since I saw 'Kung-Fu Panda, I've been hooked onto the wisdom of the wise old turtle Oogway. Turtles convey steadfastness and caution, support, self reliance, stability and longevity. While we do not have a say over our longevity, we surely can learn to be steadfast and cautious, be self-reliant and stable, and be a source of support to those who might be dependent on us.
I'd like to look at some of the wise sayings:
1. Your mind is like this water when it is agitated it becomes difficult to see. But if you allow it to settle the answer becomes clear. A tranquil mind - to be attained by meditating and practice. There is, I feel, great beauty in a tranquil mind.
2. One often meets his destiny on the road he takes to avoid it. How true. This has happened to us as a family and me as an individual a few times.It is just so very important that we learn to listen and practice listening to our inner voice. Our instincts never fail us. It is just that when the inner voice tells us something that is quite the opposite of what we desire/think/want to do, we oftentimes hush it up. Or are skeptical about it, or allow our egos to get in the way. We just don't listen to that voice that comes from deep within us.
3. You are too concerned with what was, and what will be. Always the past interferes...either in something that we said, or experienced, or did, or things that were said and done to us. We become victims of our circumstances. But there is a way out. A leading man in a movie I saw said - 'The past is another country. I never visit it'. This is the secret then - just don't look back or go back either in thought or word. It serves no purpose. It can, very often in fact, cause a whole lot of damage. Another thing that interferes in our living in the present is looking at the future. Again, what does this achieve? Nothing. We cannot change one moment of what has been planned for us. We can though, make ourselves strong every moment of the now to make the most of or deal with what the future brings us.
4. Look at this tree, I cannot make it blossom when it suits me, nor make it bear fruit before its time. If only we could master this wisdom. What has to happen will happen in its own time. There is nothing, absolutely nothing that we can do to hasten anything that has been planned for us or that we have to go through, or that we have to enjoy, or endure....
5. Things become special because people believe them to be special. This was the message of the Dragon Scroll and also what Po's father tells him when Po asks him for the secret ingredient of the special soup. This is the ultimate secret. To be able to believe that we are special. To believe that what we have is special. To believe that we have the ability to do anything, absolutely anything because we are special.
How I wish these were easy to attain..............and yet the secret of tranquility and peacefulness lies in this. Asking for happiness, or asking for strength of mind and heart to deal with the unfortunate incidents that befall us, or plain and simple trying hard to cope with our human frailities, will never give us the tranquility needed to live each moment of each day.