Everything lies in our hands.

“Here’s a story. One day a monk caught a butterfly in both his hands. He saw a priest and asked him, ‘Is the butterfly dead or alive?’

The priest said. ’I’ll not answer that question. You will always be right. If I tell you the butterfly is alive, you can apply pressure with your hands and when you open your hands again, it will be dead. If I say the butterfly is dead, you’ll open your hands and let the butterfly fly out of your hands. The fate of the butterfly lies in your hands.’

Yes, everything lies in your hands,” concluded The Art Of Living teacher, Laoshe Hwa Seng.

Is not that true of everything in our lives? We are the ones who make the decision; to do or not to do something, to allow ourselves to sink into pathetic self-pity in a loss or throw ourselves into some energetic activity to overcome it, or decide to quit or rise up again after a failure.

To be right in our actions, we depend upon the experience and knowledge we have on the subject matter. Once a decision is made, we have to take positive action. Act on what we believe is right and therefore the best for us.

Then no matter what happens, there should be no regrets. Regrets gets us nowhere. If an obstacle or problem should appear, think again of the best possible solution and move on again. That is how life should be lived. And just as Edison found the light eventually, so can we.

Nobody else can make the decision for us. All depends upon us. We are the pilot of our own destiny. So, let's move.

Teach our children the importance of experience and knowledge too. Their future depends upon them as they too hold their own destiny in their own hands.