Peter and the Magic Thread
Peter was a very lively little boy, everyone loved him. But he could never live in the moment. He had not learned to enjoy the process of life. When he was in school, he dreamed of being outside playing. When he was outside playing, he dreamed of his summer vacation. Peter constantly daydreamed, never taking the time to savor the special moments that filled his days. Feeling tired, he decided to rest on a patch of grass and eventually dozed off. After only a few minutes of deep sleep, he heard someone calling his name. “Peter, Peter” came the shrill voice from above. As he slowly opened his eyes, he was startled to see a striking woman standing above him holding a magical little ball with a hole in the centre and out of the hole dangled a long golden thread.
This is the thread of your life. If you pull the thread just a bit, an hour will pass in seconds. If you pull a little harder, whole days will pass in minutes. And if you pull with all your might, months – even years – will pass by in days. Peter grew very excited at this and asked for the ball.
The next day Peter was sitting in the classroom feeling restless and bored. Suddenly remembering the new toy he pulled a little bit of the golden thread, he quickly found himself at home, playing in the garden. Realizing the power of the magic thread, Peter soon grew tired of being a schoolboy and longed to be a teenager, so he pulled hard on the golden thread.
Suddenly he was a teenager with a very pretty young girlfriend called Elise. But still Peter wasn’t content. He dreamed of being an adult. So again he pulled on the thread and many years whizzed by in an instant. Now he found that he had been transformed into a middle-aged adult. Elise was now his wife and Peter was surrounded with a houseful of kids. He also noticed his once jet black hair had started to turn gray. His once youthful mother whom he loved so dearly had grown old and frail. Yet Peter still could not live in the moment. He had never learned to “Live in the Now”. So once again he pulled on the magic thread and waited for the changes to appear.
Peter now found that he was a ninety-year-old man. His thick dark hair had turned white as snow and his beautiful young wife Elise had also grown old and had passed away a few years earlier. His wonderful children had grown up and left home to lead lives of their own. For the first time in his entire life, Peter realized that he had not taken the time to embrace the wonders of living. He had never gone fishing with his kids or taken a moonlight stroll with Elise. He had never planted a garden or read those wonderful books his mother had loved to read. Instead, he had hurried through life, never resting to see all that was good along the way.
Peter became very sad at this discovery, he decided to go out to the forest where he used to walk as a boy to clear his head and warm his spirit. He eventually lay down on a small patch of grass and fell into a deep slumber. After only a minute, he heard someone calling out to him “Peter, Peter”. He looked up in astonishment to see that it was none other than the old woman who had given him the ball with the magic golden thread many years earlier.
“How id you enjoy my special gift” she asked
Peter replied “At first it was fun but now I hate it. My whole life has passed before my eyes without giving me the change to enjoy it. Sure there would have been sad times as well as great times, but I haven’t had the chance to experience either. I feel empty inside, I have missed the gift of living.
“You are very ungrateful” the old woman said “But I will give you one last wish”
Peter hastily answered “I’d like to go back to being a schoolboy and live my life over again”.
He instantly fell back asleep
Peter went on to live a full life, one rich with many delights, joys and triumphs, but it all started when he stopped sacrificing the present for the future and began to live in the moment.
(Extract from The monk who sold his Ferrari by Robin S Sharma)