Do You Hold Onto Your “Sacred Cows”
Do you often find yourself discouraged? Or are you seemingly ”stuck” doing or thinking the same things over and over? You want to change, but you just can’t seem to make it happen. It might be time to let go of your “sacred cows”. Now read the story below:
THE LONE COW (author unknown)
A wise man was walking with his student and conversing about the importance of visiting new places and meeting new people, and the knowledge one can gain from these experiences. They came upon a very poor area and passed a rundown house where they saw a couple with their children.All five were dressed in torn clothes and no shoes. The house was severely neglected. The wise man approached the father and inquired as to how he managed to survive in this impoverished area where there was no commerce or work opportunity. The man answered that the family owned a small cow that produced some milk; some of which they traded in the nearby town for other food, and the rest they used to make some cheese and yogurt for themselves. That is how they survived. The wise man thanked him for his honesty and went on his way.
As they walked on, the wise man told his student that he must go back, find the cow, and throw it over the abyss. The student was shocked and tried to convince his teacher that this would be a mistake, that it would surely destroy the poor family. The wise man listened and then walked away. Being faithful, the student went back and fulfilled his teacher’s wish, but the picture of the cow falling down the abyss kept torturing him.
The student was never able to completely forget the incident. Years later he went back to see if there was any way he could help the family or possibly repay them for the suffering he had caused. As he approached the area, he immediately noticed a change, everything looked nice and well kept. He became very depressed and was sure that the family, after losing their one cow, had been forced from their house and land just to survive. He saw a new house in place of the old one, and as he approached the house he saw a vaguely familiar man.
He inquired about the poor family with the single cow that used to live there, and he was told that the same family still lives there. He then asked how they had managed to pull out of such dire poverty and become successful. The man smiled and told him that a few years ago their only cow had suddenly disappeared and that initially they were in shock; but as a result they had to develop new skills and find new ways to survive. The man admitted that the loss of the cow had been the best thing that ever happened to the family.
The reality is we all have things we are holding onto. Why – because we believe our survival may be dependent upon that one item. Yet in reality, it may be the only thing holding us back from trying something completely new and different.
To move forward and break free of the life we now live, the income level we are at, or perhaps even the relationships we now have – we must trust ourselves enough to release the items we are clinging onto. Yes, those “sacred cows” that we feel we couldn’t possibly live without. Letting go of comfortable and familiar is not easy to do, yet once we do we may find ourselves in a different environment with a new set of circumstances. It is here we may thrive, rather than just survive.