Wisdom story: A travelers lesson about being mindful of your thoughts

Once upon a time, there was a brave traveler who was on a mission to traveled to every corner of the world. On his journey, he saw everything there was to see and experienced more than most people could imagine.  As our brave traveler came to the last place on earth he had not visited yet he remembered how he began his journey and all the people who told him that he should give up as what he was trying to do something that was never done before. He remembered every heated debate of what is possible and what not. In all of his years traveling around the world, he formulated a mantra he kept repeating to himself and shared with others, “With a positive mindset you will always find a way. Just be mindful of your thoughts and everything will be ok.”

As he was walking and contemplating where he would like to settle after his journey would end, he noticed a beautiful big tree with a lot of shade where he could rest. So he went to the tree, lied down and took a nap. But when he woke up he was about to learn that this was no ordinary tree. This tree was special, it was a “wish-fulfilling” tree.

As our brave traveler opened his eyes the first thing he noticed he was very hungry wished he would have something to eat. All of a sudden, a tasty dish appeared before him. He looked at the dish a bit surprised but decided to eat it anyway “food is food” thinking to himself.

After he ate the food and felt full, another thought came to his mind, “How nice it would be if I had something to drink now…” Right then, a fine bottle of wine appeared in front of him. Lying in the shade of the tree, calmly drinking the delicious wine, enjoying the pleasant cool breeze, the traveler began wondering.

“Now, what’s going on? Where is all this coming from? Could it be that some ghosts are playing tricks on me? And behold, ghosts instantly appeared before his very eyes. They were hideous and cruel, just as he imagined they should be. “Oh my god, they will kill me,” he thought to himself, terrified. And as the tree read his thought it made it happen… they killed him. As the brave traveler was dying he was in disbelief and wondering why has this happened to him.

Suddenly the tree spoke to the young traveler, “Dear traveler, once you have stepped in my shade I have heard every wish and thought you had. And as you saw I made each of them come true. If you can not bear the consequences I suggest you should be more mindful of your thoughts.”