Contents
Step 53: “You get more with a kilogram of love than with a ton of anger”
The 88 rungs of happy people
In this chapter of “The 88 Steps of Happy People” I explain how with patience and kindness you can achieve anything
During my stay in Ohio, in the US, while still a teenager, I had two host families. The second is the protagonist of Step 10 of The Intelligence of Success. That family was adorable and now you’ll see why. The first was not so. But before I tell you about both, I have to tell you an absolutely wonderful story. Its author created it 2.600 years ago. It was none other than Aesop.
One day, the wind approached the Sun, bragging that no one was as powerful as it.
—The rain falls with less force, the snow hardly makes noise and even earthquakes can hardly shake the air, but I… I… I am capable of creating whirlwinds and tornadoes, ”the wind boasted. And with them I can achieve things that not even you, in all your splendor, could dream of.
“How interesting,” replied the Sun, avoiding judgment. I propose a challenge to you. Do you see that man who is walking down that path? Whoever manages to remove his coat and hat will be the strongest.
The wind blew and blew; from the right, from the left, from above, from below, but the stronger the wind blew, the stronger the man clung to both garments. What did the sun do? She simply gave him her smile by shining her light and warmth, and with that she got the man to voluntarily shed his hat and raincoat.
Before I tell you the following story, if I call the first family the Wind Family and the second as the Sun FamilySurely you are already getting an idea of why.
When I got to the home of the Viento Family they asked me to dry myself inside the shower every time I took a shower, because if I did it outside, the water that fell on the foot towel would moisten the floor and could damage it (according to them) . I, afraid of being able to disappoint them, of course only wanted to comply with what they had asked me, but there was a problem: habits do not change from one day to the next. The first day I did what they asked me, the second and the third as well, but it was obvious that sooner or later at some point I would forget, and that happened on the fourth. When I got back from school, both parents were waiting for me with their arms crossed, ready to take all their frustration out on me. I felt so miserable.
A few weeks later, a kind of inspector determined that the family was not suitable to host a host student in their home and I moved to the Sol Family home. Their entire home was light! But what made them shine the most was their way of being and treating people. I wish I had a whole Step just to describe them and tell you everything I learned with them. Like the first family, they also had their rules, and the day it was time to wash clothes they asked me not to put my socks inside out in the basket, because if not, then they had to do double work to put them on the right side. once washed. I, of course, again had every intention of pleasing them, and actually ended up getting used to it. The problem was that before the success there were several failures. It contains five.
When I failed the second time, the mother told me this, which turned out to be exactly the same as the first: “When you put your socks in the basket, would you mind putting them on the right side?” Realizing that it was not the first time, I answered with a false confidence a “yes, of course”, while I felt my whole body blush in unison. Now comes the important thing. Do you know what he told me the third, fourth and fifth time? This phrase: “When you put your socks in the basket, would you mind putting them upright?” He did not change a single word and did not alter his tone in the least! The level of frustration with which he told me the first time was zero, and that of the fifth … too! I … could not believe. I was never wrong again.
Patience, kindness, kindness, moderation, but above all love. So much transmitted with so little. She had made her sun shine instead of blowing her wind, and in doing so she had not given me an inconsequential lesson on how to fold socks, but an unforgettable lesson on how to live my life.
# 88StepsPeopleHappy
You get more with a kilogram of love than with a ton of anger.
@Angel