Sunday, December 11, 2011

Trust in Yourself - Hear No Evil


Once upon a time, but not long ago, there lived a happy colony of frogs in a pond rich with food and spring water.

Unfortunately, due to the effects of global warming and climate change, the pond started to slowly dry up. Food became scarce and the water became a sticky slimy mix of mud and dirt.

The frogs began to fall sick one by one, and disease started to spread across the once healthy colony. The frogs started to panic, they had to leave the pond or all are doomed to die a slow and agonising death on the parched river bed.


So one day, it was the time for the great migration. The entire colony of several hundred frogs set off to the “promised pond” flowing with pristine mountain stream water and teeming with juicy worms and delicious, crunchy beetles and dragon flies.

As soon as the journey started, one frog complained, “Why do we have to choose such a sizzling hot day to start our journey?”

Indeed, not only was the weather hot, the ground was hard and peppered with sharp stones. The sharp stones cut painfully into the tiny feet of the frogs. “Why did we choose such a difficult route?!” grumbled another frog.

Soon, murmurings of many questions with no easy answers spread across the entire colony. The murmurings got louder…. and… LOUDER.

Finally, the inevitable happened.

The first frog stopped. “This journey doesn’t make sense at all”, it proclaimed. Then another frog stopped. “This journey isn’t worth the trouble”, echoed another.

“Let’s just go back”, declared another. One by one, the frogs stopped.

All, but one

One tiny frog just continued when every frog had stopped. It pressed ahead, further, and further from the chattering crowd, one painful hop at a time.

It struggled down a deep valley, and then painfully made its way up a steep, rock cliff to arrive at the golden pond on the other side.

The colony of frogs was watching from their side of the hill. They shouted at the top of their voices and waved their feet frantically at the little frog to turn back. But it was all in vain.

The entire colony was amazed, and in awe. Every frog was wondering what special powers this little one had that helped it overcome such incredible huddles.

Then a cousin of the little frog revealed to the colony that his little frog cousin was…. well…. deaf!

It quickly dawned on the colony that the little frog had no special powers at all. It was just deaf and oblivious to all the self defeating talk and thoughts of the colony.

Dear friends, have you had the experience of abandoning your dreams and plans because of the negative voices you heard?


Who is the loudest naysayer in your life?

For many of us, that very person is none other than, WE, ourselves.

For many of us, the loudest, negative voice come from inside us. Compared to our own negative voice, even the devil is sometimes kinder.

All of us have two voices in our head. The critical, negative voice, and the supportive, positive voice.

In order not to abandon our dreams like the frogs, we need to trust our positive, supportive voice.

We need to trust in our way of thinking, for that gives us the confidence to be creative in thinking up new ideas.

We need to trust in our ability, for that gives us the confidence to take bold action.

We need to trust in our purpose, for that gives us the confidence to stay committed in the face of huddles that will inevitably stand in the way of achieving our dreams.

So my dear friends, be like the little frog, be deaf to the negative voices that discourage you from your goals. Trust instead in your thinking, ability, and purpose.
Good luck!