Seeing the Beauty in our flaws

Lets find our Strength in our Weakness...

All of us want to be the best and have the best of everything. However we have hindrances in being so and for many of us, they come in the form of our own self... as small little flaws in the way we are... physically or mentally. Often with the wrong way of looking at it, we see the saw unique flaws greatly enlarged. As a result we feel down and upset and often feel ordinary or even worse, handicapped! But have we ever thought... May be there is a reason we are the way we are... Here is a story... Read along...

A water bearer had two large pots, each hung on the end of a pole whichhe carried across his neck. One of the pots was perfectly made andnever leaked. The other pot had a crack in it and by the time the waterbearer reached his master's house it had leaked much of it's water and wasonly half full.

For a full two years this went on daily, with the bearer deliveringonly one and a half pots full of water to his master's house. Of course,the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments. But the poor crackedpot was ashamed of its own imperfection, and miserable that it was ableto accomplish only half of what it had been made to do.

After two years of what it perceived to be a bitter failure, it spoketo the water bearer one day by the stream. "I am ashamed of myself, andI want to apologize to you." The water bearer felt sorry for the old cracked pot, and in his compassion he said, "As we return to the master's house, I want you to notice the beautiful flowers along the path."

 Indeed, as they went up the hill, the old cracked pot took notice of the sun warming the beautiful wild flowers on the side of the path, and this cheered it some. But at the end of the trail, it still felt bad because it had leaked out half its load, and so again the pot apologized to the bearer for its failure.

The bearer said to the pot, "Did you notice that there were flowersonly on your side of your path, but not on the other pot's side? That'sbecause I have always known about your flaw, and I took advantage of it.I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while wewalk back from the stream, you've watered them. For two years I havebeen able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate my master's table.Without you being just the way you are, he would not have this beautyto grace his house."

 So, may be everything is the way it is for a positive reason. Each of us have our own unique flaws. We're all cracked pots. Agreed! But by acknowledging our faults, we too can be the cause of beauty. Know that in our weakness we find our strength....  Like the cracked pot, we all have our own unique flaws. But it’s these cracks and flaws we each have that makes our lives together so very interesting and rewarding. With the right attitude, our flaws will turn to be our blessings. Happiness is never impossible with the right attitude. No matter the cracks and dents, we are still unique and special beings. Feel special and learn to see each other around with that same idea... Doing that will sure make us feel extra special, no matter the cracks!!!

Our outlook of life...

There was once a beggar who inspite of living without even proper food would long to have great shoes. Everytime he sees rich men around his place his gaze would move to their shoes. He always felt, "Oh... how I wish I had those shoes... I am not that lucky in life!". This he would think everytime he sees people around with great shoes. One day, as he was walking around a street, he saw a pair of abandoned,  slightly worn out shoes near a thrash pick up. He was so happy and he wore them and walked so very majestically. As he turned over the corner, he noticed a man, struggling to stand up. He had lost both his legs and was in rags. He seemed to be another beggar, a beggar with no legs and no thoughts for shoes! Something stuck him hard. As he helped the man up, he realised how lucky he was that he atleast had two healthy legs to walk. He felt ashamed that he wasted a lot of time whining for not being lucky to wear shoes when there are many who donot even have legs. For the first time he felt happy... whole heartedly happy and above all he felt lucky!.


Many a time in life, we are like the beggar who wished for shoes. We often forget our blessings and keenly count our losses or shortcomings. We look at those who are better off than us and feel jealous or sad that we could not be like them. And every such time we totally forget that there are a lot many below us , the less fortunate ones, who donot even have a fraction of what we have. Happiness and peace in life comes from our outlook of life. It all depends on how we see each thing in life... When we have a situation, we could see above us and feel upset or see below us and feel lucky. I had always felt that in any kind of situation, however hard they might be, there are people suffering far more than us somewhere in this world. We may or maynot know them, but if we could just remember it and realise how true it is we would feel lucky in any situation and Life will then give us the strength to go on and win it.