Sunday, February 27, 2011

Dallas


335/365 - Buddha
Originally uploaded by Wayne-K
I was in Dallas, Texas last week for my company's annual sales conference. The venue for Wednesday was the new Cowboy Stadium, in Arlington, TX. It's a state of the art facility and the perfect location for a Super Bowl....too bad the Cowboys were watching it on TV this year.

The new Cowboy's coach, Jason Garrett, was the guest speaker. As part of his presentation, he told a story of a Buddhist monk. Here's a seriously paraphrased version, courtesy of my very bad memory.

A Buddhist monk was walking through the woods, when he came across a pride of lions and tigers. The lions and tigers started chasing him, and he ran like crazy until he came to the edge of the cliff. He looked down and there were poisonous snakes at the bottom of the cliff. He looked back up and the lions and tigers were charging. Snakes, lions and tigers, snakes, lions and tigers...finally he decides to jump. On the long drop down, he reaches out and grabs a twig. He notices a strawberry at the end of the twig, picks it, and starts eating it. A passerby, noticing the monk's dire situation, asks the monk why he's smiling. The monk says, "because the strawberry is sweet."

So what's the moral of the story? Well, life is full of trials and tribulations, and other challenges. But, rather than stress over the lions, tigers, and snakes, you should look for the positives and be happy with the small wonders....like a sweet strawberry.

This story was a gentle reminder for me. Lately, things have been tough at work, but I'm going to try to focus on the positives.

Here's a shot of the big screen monitor at Cowboy Stadium.

Cowboy Stadium

The theme for my photography project this week is "shoes." Here's a picture of my gardener's size 13 shoe. I love my gardener....he does a wonderful job maintaining the yard....and even makes coffee for me and the old lady in the mornings!

338/365 - These Shoes are Made for Raking

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