A wonderful woman told me an ancient Taoist story that has profoundly influenced my thinking. As such I’m delighted to share it now in faith that it uplifts you too.

Once upon a time there was a farmer who patiently tended his crops for many years. He was without a formal education and so unassailed by other people’s wisdom, he was free to discover his own.

One day he woke to find that his horse had run away. His neighbour lamented on his behalf that this event was a disaster. To this the wise farmer replied, “Maybe it is, but then maybe it isn’t”.

The next day that horse returned with three wild horses in tow. The neighbour, seeing that the one horse had become four, was delighted on the wise farmer’s behalf saying “How wonderful that your fortunes have been raised by chance”. To this the wise farmer replied, “Maybe it is, but then maybe it isn’t”.

On the third day the farmer’s son took one of the wild horses for a ride and broke his leg. The neighbour again visited to express his condolences. To his assertion that misfortune was afoot the wise farmer replied, “Maybe it is, but then maybe it isn’t”.

On the fourth day the soldiers arrived to conscript the young men from that region. When they saw the state of the farmer’s son’s leg they left him behind and moved on. The neighbour asserted this event as good fortune. I’m sure you can guess what the wise farmer said.

For me the moral of this story is that my attachment to events as being good or bad finds me struggling at the surface of a very stormy sea. Calmly sinking beneath the surface reveals that “good” and “bad” as two essential ends of the same wave.

Clinging to that you perceive as being good will only extend the depth of your inevitable fall. Avoiding that which you perceive as being bad occludes the opportunity for learning that every challenge contains. A bushfire may be horribly hot, but out of the ashes the forest is renewed.