Whether you lose a job, fall in love, or get a flat tire, eventually, you learn that life can
change in an instant. Yoga practice teaches you to remain tranquil and accept life’s frequent roller coaster of events, despite knowing that pleasure, pain, good, and bad don’t last forever.
The Buddhist parable about a wise farmer illustrates how life can quickly turn around for the better and for the worse.
There was once a farmer who had a magnificent prize-winning stallion that he
planned to sell for a large profit. One week before the horse was to be sold, a hurricane
swept through the farmer’s land. It tore down the barn where the horse lived, and the
stallion ran off.
“What bad luck!” the farmer’s wife said.
“Good luck, bad luck, who knows? We’ll have to see,” said the farmer.
The next week, the farmer and his wife saw a herd of horses galloping toward the
farm with their prize-winning stallion leading a pack of four horses.
“What good luck!” said the farmer’s wife.
“Good luck, bad luck, who knows? We’ll have to see,” said the farmer.
Soon the farmer and his son were training the new horses until one day the son
was thrown from one and broke both his legs. The farmer’s wife was distraught and
sobbing, “My only son! We should have never let those horses in. This is very bad
luck,” she said.
“Good luck, bad luck, who knows? We’ll have to see,” said the farmer.
The next week, soldiers came to the farm. Their king had declared war and the soldiers
were drafting every young man in the country. The soldiers saw that the farmer’s
son had two broken legs and left him at home. The farmer’s wife was relieved.
“Oh, what good luck we have!” she said.
As expected, the farmer said, “Good luck, bad luck, who knows? We’ll have to see.”
Detached from life’s peaks and valleys, knowing that change is the only certainty, the
farmer accepted the ever-changing events with an open and objective mind.
Today, let’s accept and be thankful for what’s true in our bodies, in our minds, and in
our lives at this moment. Know that change can be just a call, a text, or a breath away.
