Power of Thoughts

Power of Positive Thoughts

This is a story I have known since my childhood. I do not remember whether I had read it somewhere or my grandmother told me. Those days reading bed time stories from a book was not common. But my grandmother had a treasure chest full of stories. Some from Mahabharat, Ramayan, Panchtantra, etc. and many more from her experiences of life as a teacher. She had recently retired from the position of headmistress of the highest level girls’ school of the state. She used to tell me stories at bed time, many of which are still very clear in my memory, even after almost seven decades. Every story had some moral message in it. My grandmother also would then explain how the moral of the story can be applied to many aspects of life and in many different situations.

I am sure concepts like ‘positive thinking’ were not talked about in those days. People were taking the spiritual guidance and mental strength from the sayings and stories from the old scripts. And they certainly had some influence on the lives of many people who had faith in those. You may call it ‘Power of Faith’. Kind of a ‘positive thinking’ if you wish to say so now.

The story was simple and short. But its moral was definitely very powerful. It has given me moral strength in many difficult situations in life, when there was no one around to give me a shoulder for support.

A man was walking slowly in the street carrying a wooden box on his head. He was perspiring and the effects of unbearable weight of that box were clearly visible on his face.

A friend met him and asked him what was the problem.

He said, “the weight of this box is killing me. I wish I knew some way of making it lighter.”

“What’s in it ?” the friend asked.

“There is nothing in it. It is empty.” He said, with a tone of frustration.

The friend thought for a moment and said, “If you fill it with something that’s very light and floats in the air, like cotton fluff, that may make the box lighter for you.”

The man said with expression of hope on his face, “really ? So if I fill it with some cotton fluff, the box will become lighter ?”

“Why not ?” said the friend encouragingly, “It stands to reason, doesn’t it? The fluff flies in the air, so it will help you lift the box and thus make it lighter.”

The man bought a kilo of cotton fluff from the nearby shop and filled in the box. He picked up the box, put on his head, and started walking vigorously, believing in good faith, that the box was now lighter than before !

The principle of physics may tell you that the box is now one kilo heavier than before but the principle of mind power, “the power of positive thinking” sometimes works opposite to the principles of physics.