How Miracle Happens?
Most people would see miracle as the sudden or unanticipated fulfillment of their strong urge/desire or getting what they badly or madly wanted irrespective of the truth, as Dalai Lama is believed to have said, that “sometimes not getting what you want is a wonderful stroke of luck!” In other words failure can also be a miracle (or blessing in disguise) if only we could look below the thin layer of so-called luck or ask any married and thus frustrated lover who before getting the love of his life fantasized about living happily ever after. But even then most people abhor failure as they abhor poison and thus it should not be strange to know that success has a hundred fathers but failure is always an orphan.
It is because nobody knows that this “orphan” called failure (in addition to having a chance or potential of being blessing in disguise) becomes or can become the “father” of success after passion meets the patience. And this is also another way of miracle creation. And as most people lack the ability to be patient they are doomed to miss their target in spite of many other admirable qualities, such as good education, intelligence, hard work etc. Tragically, sometimes they would quit just when the success was round the corner.
Remember that love is a passionate affair but to bear a child or fruit of love, a woman has to wait for nine long months in pain as well as uncertainty.
Moreover, it is not just having a patience, but waiting with an attitude. In other words, as Joyce Meyer (American writer and speaker and president of Joyce Meyer Ministries) has been quoted saying too “patience is not just the ability to wait, but the ability to maintain a positive attitude while waiting.”
It can also be called “emotional intelligence” that has been defined by Salovey, Mayer, and other researchers in following words:
“Emotional intelligence encompasses the abilities to perceive emotions in oneself and others, to use emotions in thought and action, to understand emotions, and to manage or control emotions, to discriminate among them and use this information to guide one’s thinking and actions.”
Moreover, according to Daniel Goleman (American author, psychologist, and science journalist), emotional intelligence (EI or EQ) is as important as IQ for success, including in academic, professional, social, and interpersonal aspects of one’s life.
However, before trying to prove the point, it is necessary to make an effort to comprehend the very idea of “success” that we all worship like we worship God. And like God, the agreed upon concept or definition of success also remains as obscure or elusive as a needle in a haystack. It is because it is a subjective idea or term unique to each individual and covering many aspects of our lives.
In short, it is different for different people: some equate it with inner peace or nirvana (Siddhartha Gautama, also known as Buddha, left behind his wealth, beautiful wife and a son to embrace life free of all desires and thus gain enlightenment), while others, as well as majority (contrary to the perceptions and philosophy of Buddha) see it as having a lot of degrees, professional career development, money, fame and, enjoyment (or satisfaction of mostly sensual pleasures) in life.
However, more precisely we can define it as a sense of achievement of one’s goals or satisfaction of one’s desires (or otherwise, as was said by Dalai Lama) regardless of the nature or desirability of goals or desires.
It is another matter that if your aim or goal is not worth pursuing you are already a failed person.
Anyhow, the main problem is that most people fail to achieve their goals or become successful due to various factors of which “impatience” or “restlessness” is very common as well as most important.
Below are two wonderful examples to explain the the success as a result of link between passion and patience.
Story of a boy who wanted to learn wisdom
This story has been taken from famous motivational speaker Robin Sharma’s book “The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari.”
A boy traveled far from his home to meet a sage in the mountains to learn some wisdom from him. When, after a long a tiring journey, he ultimately found the old sage and during his first meeting he (impatiently) asked about the length of time it will take him to learn wisdom, he was told that it will take a minimum period of five years.
“This is a very long time,” boy groaned, “How about if I worked twice as hard?”
“Then it will take ten years,” said the master.
“Ten?,” boy was astonished, “That is even longer.”
“How about if I studied all day and even during the night?”
“Fifteen years,” said the sage calmly.
“I don’t understand,” boy showed his helplessness, “The more time and energy I promise to devote, the longer I am told it will take to gain wisdom.”
“The answer is simple. With your eyes are fixed on the destination, you will be unable to have guidance along the journey,” clarified the monk.
In other words, he was saying that if you only keep focusing on the destination to reach there as soon as possible, your would not be able to focus on the journey and see the path and this will make it even more lengthy as well as difficult.
So we must remain patient and have belief that whatever is meant to be will be.
Below is another beautiful example of the connection between success and patience:
Fable of Chinese Bamboo Tree
Chinese farmers plant the bamboo seed and they water and fertilize it, but during the whole year nothing happens. Still not losing any hope they continue the practice during the second-year and still, nothing happens. Even then they continue watering and fertilizing the ground but still nothing happens. And there are no apparent results sometime even during the course of the fifth year. But what happens ultimately may blow your mind. Read the story below:
“During spring season, a Chinese farmer once planted a bamboo tree as he heard that it can create miracles, and he needed one to care for his struggling family.
The farmer faithfully watered, fed, and cared for the soil, in which he planted the bamboo seeds and waited for an entire year but saw no sign of life. He saw no growth, no sprouts, no hope. The second year was the same as were the third and fourth years. His patience and faith in this “miracle” bamboo plant started to fade. How could something he had so diligently cared for reap absolutely no reward? However, during the fifth year, just as he was about to lose hope and give up on his dream of growing the plant, he noticed it started to sprout. The bamboo sprung up 60 feet over the next six weeks!”
It reportedly grows almost 4 feet just within the initial 24 hour during the Spring shooting time. And at a growth rate of up to 9 inches a day, it can even reach a towering height of 100 feet or more within a single season
However, as already pointed out, it is not always getting what you want that can be called success. Remember that even after a long time and waiting with patience not getting what you want may also be a success or in the already quoted words of Dalai Lama, “a wonderful stroke of luck”. So never get hopeless, frustrated, or curse your fate. Always be grateful because you never know what is really good for you or in other words what really is a miracle: Getting or not getting?
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References:
i) https://www.washington.edu/doit/chapter-five
ii) https://thebeautifultruth.org/life/meaning/a-brief-history-of-failure/
iii) https://nobaproject.com/modules/emotional-intelligence
iv) “The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari” by Robin Sharma, pp. 52, 53.
v) https://premiermartialarts.com/blog/the-story-of-the-chinese-bamboo/
