This essay will illustrate a story showing the limitations of positive as well as negative thinking . The story used here is called ” Crying Over Spilled Milk” from the book ‘ Waking Up To What You Do” authored by Zen teacher Diane Eshin Rizzeto. Please be open to the suggestions and be reminded that “our minds are like parachutes..they only work when open”. Here’s the story:
There was a struggling mother who sent one of her daughters to the corner store to purchase milk. On the way home, the girl’s shoe caught in a crack in the pavement and as she stumbled she dropped the carton of milk and half of it spilled. The daughter returned home crying and feeling clumsy, inadequate and guilty. She simply told her mother that their was now only half a carton of milk.
The next day the mother sent another daughter on the same errand. Once again, this daughter tripped on the cracked pavement, spilling half the milk. But this child had a different take on the spill. She peeked inside the carton and saw it was still half full. She returned happy, proud she was able to save as much as she did and sure the loss of the milk would not make a difference at home. She told her mother she tripped but was able to save half the milk.
On the next day, the mother sent her last daughter to buy the milk. Like her sister, the daughter tripped spilling half the milk. She picked up the carton with the remainder of the milk. At first, she muttered a little “darn it” as she observed a wave of anger pass quickly through her. Then she looked inside the carton and thought, ‘Hmmmm. There’s about half gone”. On the way home she thought of the implications of the situation and the best way to deal with it. When she arrived home, she said to her mother, ” I am sorry, I tripped over the pavement and lost half the milk. if we’re very careful how we use it then we might have enough to get us through the day. But right now, I must call the city streets department and report the dangerous crack in the pavement so they don’t fall and hurt themselves”.
The daughter with the positive attitude concentrated only on what was saved, ignoring how to address the problem. Suggestion: Consider the limitations of positive thinking alone, for it does not help to understand self or circumstances. It is simply substituting what we want for what is!
