The Story of Two Monks and a Woman...

Two monks were strolling by a stream on their way home to the monastery. 

They were startled by the sound of a young woman in a bridal gown, sitting by the stream, crying softly.

Tears rolled down her cheeks as she gazed across the water. She needed to cross to get to her wedding, but she was fearful that doing so might ruin her beautiful handmade gown.

In this particular sect, monks were prohibited from touching women.

But one monk was filled with compassion for the bride. Ignoring the sanction, he hoisted the woman on his shoulders and carried her across the stream - assisting her journey and saving her gown.

She smiled and bowed with gratitude as the monk splashed his way back across the stream to rejoin his companion.

The second monk was furious. "How could you do that?!" he scolded.

"You know we are forbidden to touch a woman, much less carry her around!"

The offending monk listened in silence to a stern lecture that lasted all the way back to the monastery.

His mind wandered as he felt the warm sunshine and listened to the singing birds.

After returning to the monastery, he fell asleep for a few hours.

And then he was awakened in the middle of the night by his fellow monk.

"How could you carry that woman?!" his agitated friend cried out.

"Someone else could have helped her across the stream. You were a bad monk!"

"What woman?" the sleepy monk said.

"Don't you even remember? That woman you carried across the stream." His colleague snapped.

"Oh! Her..." laughed the sleepy monk.

"I only carried her across the stream. You carried her all the way back to the monastery."

The lesson here is simple: When it comes to our flawed past, always leave it at the stream.

How are you feeling today? Or in the past months?

Have you fully let go of the pain or anger that you felt?

Is it affecting your daily life?

We cannot change the past, but we can always change the future. 

We cannot change the situation, but we can always change our reaction towards that situation.

I know a lot of crazy things happened in the past months. 

All we can do is accept, learn from it, and move on.

Do not let a negative emotion affect your day or even your whole life.

Let's continuously raise awareness and check on ourselves. 

Love. Jerom