I have been listening to the personal development program that I market as part of my business. – today was all about how we can make a difference in how we live and show up every day. The presenter shared the Starfish story and it’s a great illustration of making a difference in other people’s lives. We all have the power to inspire and make a difference.
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An old man was doing his daily walk along the beach one morning, when he spotted a young boy crouched by the water, scooping something up from the sand and throwing it into the sea.
The beach was normally empty at this time of day, and so the old man stopped to watch for a while.
He noticed that the boy kept on shuffling a little further down the beach, then repeating this same action again and again – stopping, scooping, throwing, moving.
“What are you doing there, boy?” the old man asked, walking closer.
“I’m saving these starfish that are stranded” replied the boy, “if they stay on the beach they will dry out and die, so I’m putting them back into the ocean so they can live.”
The old man was silent for a few seconds.
“Young man” he said, “on this stretch of beach alone, there must be more than one hundred stranded starfish. Around the next corner, there must be at least one thousand more. This goes on for miles and miles and miles – I’ve done this walk every day for 10 years, and it’s always the same. There must be millions of stranded starfish! I hate to say it, but you’ll never make a difference.”
The boy replied “well I just made a difference for that one”, and continued with his work.
I have been spending time on my Personal Development / MIndest course. I spend some time yesterday learning all about the Mental Models that drive us through life – we do things without question. Our programming controls how we operate on a daily basis, without question, unless we decide to make a change in break patterns from the past.
I used to tell this story when I was in party plan – when I illustrated how we all learned to put on perfume. Dab on the wrist, behind the ears, etc. This actually bruises the scent – but it was done because, during the war times, it was scarce and it was away to make it go further. Our mothers watched their mothers, and so on. – exactly like the story below.
A young married couple was in their kitchen. The husband was sitting at the kitchen table reading the newspaper while his wife was preparing a roast lamb for dinner.
The husband watched the wife cut off the shank. He asked why she cut the shank off, proclaiming “that’s the best part !” She said, “that’s what my mum always did.” The husband asked, “why did your mom do that?” The wife didn’t know.
Later, the wife called her mom to find out why she cut the shank on a roast lamb. Her mom said, “because that was what my mum always did..”
So the wife called her grandmother – and asked her – Grandma – why did you always cut off the lamb shank ?
Grandma’s reply – Dear – I did that so it would fit in the baking pan!!
Where are you running patterns from the past in your life ? Next time you do something with our question, stop and ask yourself – Why do I do this ?
