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4 Simple Changes to Regain Your Life from Fibromyalgia
What You Need To Know: Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
According to the American College of Rheumatology, Fibromyalgia
affects 3 to 6 million Americans. Other sources say the total
number affected could be 8 million people. It...
8 Steps for Coping with and Healing Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD)
Attention deficit disorder is a serious disorder and it is not
going away. It causes depression, inattentiveness, relationship
and behavorial problems, deviant behavior (crime), can lead to
drug abuse, alcoholism and even suicide. To better...
9 Steps To Cleaner and Healthier Skin
For cleaner, healthier and easier to manage skin just follow
this list of nine items:
1) Lower your stress level through prayer and meditation. Stress
creates hormones that actually age us as they destroy cells and
create toxic biproducts...
Bring enlightenment to your environment.
Most self-help studies stress the need to create a perfect environment to be able to live a "successful" life. From the most famous celebrities to the most celebrated politicians, and all of us mere mortals in between! To be truly happy, therefore...
Creative Procrastination
Do you ever postpone things, or just forget about them for a while, or tell yourself, "I'll get to that later?" Do you sometimes feel guilty about it? Well, it's true that procrastination can be a bad habit, but there are times when it can be...
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The Monkey With The Wooden Apples
There once was a happy monkey wandering the jungle, eating delicious fruit when hungry, and resting when tired. One day he came upon a house, where he saw a bowl of the most beautiful apples. He took one in each hand and ran back into the forest.
He sniffed the apples and smelled nothing. He tried to eat them, but hurt his teeth. They were made of wood, but they were beautiful, and when the other monkeys saw them, he held onto them even tighter.
He admired his new possessions proudly as he wandered the jungle. They glistened red in the sun, and seemed perfect to him. He became so attached to them, that he didn't even notice his hunger at first.
A fruit tree reminded him, but he felt the apples in his hands. He couldn't bear to set them down to reach for the fruit. In fact, he couldn't relax, either, if he was to defend his apples. A proud, but less happy monkey continued to walk along the forest trails.
The apples became heavier, and the poor little monkey thought about leaving them behind. He was tired, hungry, and he couldn't climb trees or collect fruit with his hands full. What if he just let go?
Letting go of such valuable things seemed crazy, but what else could he do? He was so tired. Seeing the next fruit tree, and smelling it's fruit was enough. He dropped the wooden
apples and reached up for his meal. He was happy again.
Letting Go Of Wooden Apples
Like that little monkey, we sometimes carry things that seem too valuable to let go. A man carries an image of himself as "productive" - carries it like a shiny wooden apple. But in reality, his busyness leaves him tired, and hungry for a better life. Still, letting go seems crazy. Even his worries are sacred apples - they prove he's "doing everything he can." He holds onto them compulsively.
This is a hard thing to see. We identify so strongly with our things even, feeling pain when our cars are dented. How much more powerfully do we identify with our beliefs and self-ideas? Yet they don't always feed our souls, do they? And we become tired of defending them.
How else could the story end? The monkey might be found dead of hunger, under a beautiful tree, with fruit within reach, but still grasping his wooden apples. I chose to end it with him letting go, because only with open hands can we recieve.
About the Author
Steve Gillman has meditated and studied meditation for over twenty years. You can visit his website, and subscribe to The Meditation Newsletter at: http://www.TheMeditationSite.com/newsletter.html
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