You Are The Tenth One ....

Below is a story , from amongst many books i have on psychology . I have a fascination with how the mind works , and i look to them for curiosity and guidance , which i`m trying to find at the moment . So a few more of my posts will be on these for now .

It`s from a collection of " stories " from The Unpanishads .



There are ten men walking through the woods .They come upon a river which they must cross. Because the current is so strong , they are afraid that some of them will be washed away .
So they decide to hold hands and lock arms as they cross . . This way no one will get lost . They reach the other side , just to be sure , they decide to count to verify that everyone has made it across .
The first man counts , 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 , " somebody is missing ! " he shouts in alarm . The next person in line begins to count ... 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 " oh no ! somebody is missing ! Who did we loose ? Each person , in turn counts the lot of them and comes up with only 9 people .
Finally , a sage comes by and , hearing the nature of their complaint , realises their mistake .
He counts them one by one , and reaches 10 .
" You are the tenth one " the sage says to each .



This is such a simple story , and no doubt some of you will have guessed the answer . But it illustrates the need not to forget to count yourself - in your life .

With the Christmas festivities coming up . Women try to do so many things for others , to make it a happy time for all to be enjoyed . Yes , you want to do the best dinner , give the best presents , wow factor trimmings . Please your relatives , visit them at home , or have them come to you . Feel the need to do everything , as "It`s my job " to do it or " if i didn`t do it then nothing would get done ! "

But i think YOU count as well . Nothing is perfect . I think we do put on ourselves , by not saying NO , i would like to do something different this year , and afraid of upsetting the apple cart . Or just do it because they feel obliged to , and go with the flow , which causes so much unnecessary stress at this time of year .

I know i had stress , when i had to choose who to go to on Christmas day , my mum or my mother in law . You cannot please everyone .


I`m not trying to say " Bah Humbug " in celebrating Christmas and causing arguments for you . Or enjoying the time spent with loved ones . Just a means of you thinking maybe what do you want , to make you feel happier , and less put on yourself , to help you enjoy it more , and not think what happened , it`s all gone so quickly , and be taken for granted .


However , if you do like all what goes with it . I hope you get some " me " time in between to enjoy it ! And i know alot of you will ! ;o)

And i`m not afraid to say i`m doing what i want this Christmas , the first time in many years !

This worm has turned !!