Are you carrying old thoughts?

Are you carrying around thoughts that are causing you stress? How many of those thoughts do you really need to hold on to?

You probably have lots of thoughts during the day that are no help to you at all, apart from helping you hold onto negative emotions unnecessarily. Recently I saw someone in the supermarket telling anyone who’d listen how annoyed she was about having to wear a mask. Clearly it wasn’t just this incident that she had an issue with, there was a whole backstory there. I saw her a little while later and she was still complaining.  It reminded me of the story of the two monks crossing a river…

The tale is about an elder monk and his student, who were out walking when they got to a shallow river. As they approached, getting ready to walk through, they saw a young person standing at the side of the river, looking too scared to cross. The elder monk asked them if they would like some assistance, and they gladly accepted the offer to carry them across the river. The younger monk was visibly concerned, as the monks had taken a vow which forbids such an action.

An hour later, the young monk was still bothered that the other monk had gone against their vows, but said nothing. Two more hours passed, then three, and soon it was too much for him to take, and he blurted out “Why did you carry them across the river when you knew it went against our vows?”.

The elder monk replied “I put them down hours ago! Why are you still carrying them?”

It’s a great reminder that we don’t need to carry thoughts that serve no use to us, other than to cause us stress. Letting them go, helps us stay more present and as a leader gives us more of a chance of staying connected to those we’re leading.

See if there are any thoughts you notice today that you’ve been holding on to for a while. Would it be helpful to be able to let go of them?