Yesterday, I had a Skype coaching session with one of my client.  We were talking about  dropping the past so he can move forward with his life .

So, I told him a tale that my mother told me when I was a teenager.

Once upon a time, there was a Buddhist monk named I-hsiu. One day on his return to the temple with his young disciple. As they approached a small river, master I-hsiu and his young monk saw a very pretty lady walking back and forth looking very distressed and concerned.

“Lady”, asked master I-hsiu, “You look very worried. How may I assist you?”

“I want to cross the river to visit my father who is very ill, but the bridge had broken and  I can’t swim so I can’t cross the river by myself. Is there another bridge near by master?” said the young lady.

“The closest  bridge  is many miles away from here.  Don’t worry; I will carry you across the river so you can see you father.” said master I-hsui.

So the monk carried the lady on his back and walked across the river. Once he  arrived the other side, he put her down, farewell to the lady and gave his best wishes to her father.

Observing the whole situation, the young disciple was rather uncomfortable with the whole thing. He began to question himself “ As a monk, we are not allow to touch the woman and how could my master do this? Isn’t the Lord Buddha taught us to keep a distance from women?”

Couple of months had past, the whole situation was still bothering the young monk. So finally, the student could not stand it any longer and raised the issue with the master.

” Master why did you carry that women cross the river?  When you know  we’re forbidden to do so”.

Upon hearing this, Master I-hsiu replied:

“Are you still carrying her my little one?. I put her down ever since I crossed the river. You must be very tired carrying her around for the last two months!

So what in your life  have you been carried for too long that slowly killing you?

Want to learn more about how to to let go the past and move on?