This thought has been lingering in my head for long and I finally decided to blog it out.
I received this story in one of the Watsapp (chat app) groups and it kind of made me think.
The story is about a missing Sheep.
Two school goings kids had a crazy idea.
They rounded up 3 Sheeps from neighborhood and painted the numbers 1,2 and 4 on their sides.
That night they let the Sheeps loose inside their school building.
The Sheeps wrecked havoc over the night.
Next morning, when the authorities entered the school, they could smell something was wrong.
They soon saw sheep droppings on the stairs and near the entrance and realized that some Sheeps had entered the building.
A search was immediately launched and very soon, the 3 Sheeps were found and they were numbered 1,2 and 4. But the authorities were worried where was Sheep No.3?
They spent the rest of the day looking for Sheep No.3.
Gradually there was panic and frustration.
The school declared classes off for the students for the rest of the day.
The teachers, helpers, guards, canteen staff were all busy looking for sheep No. 3, which of course was never found.
Simply because it did not exist. :\
This story tells us that those among us who in-spite of having a good life are always feeling a "lack of fulfillment" are actually looking for elusive, missing non-existent Sheep # 3.
Whatever the area of complaint or search or dissatisfaction may be relationship, job-satisfaction, materialistic achievement, list is endless...
An absence of something is always larger than the presence of many other things.
After few days I went to have coffee with a newly acquired friend one of the evenings before leaving the city for good (which I wasn't very happy about) and we both were talking about our lives, Jobs, friends, family and relationships etc. I did not realize when the whole discussion went deeper and got more intimate. As much as I was happy to find a friend I could talk to at deeper levels, all of a sudden I realized that somewhere we were looking for 3rd sheep. Actually our problems were not that big and I include myself here as well.
I forwarded this story to her and said maybe we are looking for 3rd sheep. It also means we are having a fulfilled life, because that is why instead of being worried about the basics we are perhaps concentrating on wrong things. Think about it, if we did not have food to eat or clothes to wear or a place to live in, would we be worrying about petty things in life like how someone behaved or how they did not behave or what they said or they think. Of course not, our whole focus and energy would be on getting food on table, clothes and a place to keep us warm and protected.
That is when I realized, that at some point of time we all look for the 3rd sheep and we have to remind ourselves and each other that we gotta stop looking for that one, because we need to realize perhaps it doesn't exist; and we must stop looking for it in every possible corner. :)
Stop looking for Sheep #3 and have worry free days and a fulfilled life ahead ...
Cheers! :)
