An artist once came to a king who was a great admirer of art and said, “O king, if you give me a blank wall in your palace I can create a spectacular painting on it”.
Just then another young man was present there said to the king, “Your Majesty, please allow me to work on the opposite wall as well, I am an artist too.
The King asked the young man “what would you like to make?”
The man said, “I shall make an exact replica of the painting that the other artist makes on the wall opposite to mine and I shall do so without even looking at his work.
I would request you to place a thick curtain between the two walls so that neither of us can see the other’s work and also have guards to make sure there’s no cheating.
Everyone in the court, including the King was intrigued and the King decided to give both artists the opportunity to show their talents. The following day a thick curtain was put in place and both the artists started painting.
The first artist arrived with paints, oils, and brushes with which to work. The second one only required a cloth and a bucket of water to work.
After a month, the first artist informed the king that his work was finished, and when the monarch inquired about the second artist’s work, the young man replied that he, too, was finished.
The king came to the palace and went on to see the first artist wall painting. He was stunned by the spectacular painting and give the artist a hefty sum as a reward.
He then asked for the curtain to be opened up to see if the second artist had met up with the challenge of creating the exact same painting without seeing it.
The curtain parted, and there it was. An exact replica of the painting was painted on the other wall. Every single line, colour, and minute detail was identical to what appeared on the previous wall.
The King doubled the amount of money given to the man, but he was amused and wanted to know his secret.
“It was really straightforward, your majesty,” the young artist said. Every day, I polished the marble wall until it gleamed like a mirror, allowing the picture on the opposite wall to be reflected.
The Moral of the Story:
People frequently express their lack of confidence, their belief that they lack talent, and their lack of motivation. All of them are a part of you; the difficult part is cleansing the mental wall so that what’s deep within you, your talent, positivism, confidence, and goodness, are reflected in your thoughts and thus in your actions, and then you may achieve something truly remarkable.
Don’t they say that “the soul knows how to heal itself”? The challenge is to Silence the Mind and one of the ways to silence the mind negative chatter is to neglect it.
Sometimes a little child who gets just a little hurt starts to cry aloud. If the mother pays attention, the child cries louder but if she ignores the child knowing well there’s nothing serious, the child’s crying slowly dies down.
Exactly in the same way if we pay attention to the negative chatter of the mind it gets louder but if we try to ignore it it’s slowly died down.
How does one ignore that chatter?
By absorbing positive energy into the mind, reading, hearing, or viewing positive material, and as the mind becomes gradually cleansed, the beautiful artwork within you will be reflected on it.
