The Rice

I got an email today that I really liked. It tells the story of a man who goes to his wife’s grave. He sees a Chinese man putting a bowl of rice on the next grave. He asked the Chinese fellow: do you really think the dead will come out of the grave to eat the rice?

And the Chinese guy said: Yes! When your wife will come to smell the flowers.

The moral is to be open to other ways of thinking and to different customs.

But why is it so important to be open?

Openness allows you to grow as you do not restrict yourself to a certain outcome. It makes you a better recipient of experiences and by being open you have better chances or seeing the opportunities that comes your way.

The world around us is constantly changing. The people we meat, the jobs we do, family etc. It is important to be able to move on smoothly with the rest of the universe. It will make our lives easier and we will be able to better survive the changes around us.

It is like the soft grass and the tough stick in a strong wind. The stick will break but the grass will sway until the wind go passed him and then will be back to its original position.

I read once that one can open up by practicing empathy. Simply try to get in the other person’s shoes and try to feel what they are experiencing. Try to get into their way of thinking to better understand them.

Who will it be for you? Your neighbour? Your colleague at work?  Your mother in-law?