I signed up at a new website tonight for their Power Thought of the Day and lo and behold, I got a great story!

Here tis...

    THE DUCK STORY

I was sitting at my desk, gazing out the window and pondering the topic for Today's Power Thought when I observed a family of ducks trying to cross the road. Mother Duck, Father Duck and 3 ducklings would move off the grass and onto the road, travelling a metre until they invariably met a car coming towards them, forcing them to do an about face and waddle back to the safety of the grass. 

As I watched 'The Duck Family' repeat this disempowering pattern at least 15 times in half an hour, I found myself judging them as animals of fear, indecision and uncertainty who weren't getting anywhere in life. Instead of making a committed decision to complete their walk across the road to safety in the few minutes they had between cars, they chose to hover around the curb, tempting death and participating in the start/stop actions of backtracking, circling and continually changing their mind.

Oh No! A tragic event has befallen Mr and Mrs Duck - there are now only 2 ducklings trailing behind them! At this point I realise that the third baby has fallen down a stormwater drain (located in the area they were circling) and disappeared from view! 

Kurek Ashley (one of my personal empowerment mentors) teaches that: 

'If you are not evolving, you are dissolving.'   

I found myself labelling the actions of Mr and Mrs Duck as 'dissolving actions' and interpreted their lack of decisive, empowering activity as causing them the grief of losing a child.

Have you ever judged the actions of another person?

Do you have any indecisive, disempowering habits and if so, what sort of grief is this way of operating causing you?

 ___

I mentioned the disappearing duck dilemma to my husband and he walked to the drain to check things out. Peering down the hole he noticed a group of ducklings huddling together, chirping fearfully at the bottom of the drain. A concerned driver pulled over to offer assistance and quickly jumped down the drain to rescue the frightened, fluffy adventurers. From my vantage point at the window, I witnessed strangers with a common purpose working together as a team with one man passing ducklings up to the other and began to count their progress.

1..2..3..4..5..6..(No Way!)..7..8..9..10..11..(Unbelievable!)..12..13! 

Thirteen ducklings rescued! "No wonder Mr and Mrs Duck had been hovering around the drain for so long!" 

The decisive, committed action of these two men achieved a fabulous outcome for 'The Duck Family,' when fear and uncertainty had been keeping Mr and Mrs Duck 'stuck in a rut' that could have resulted in the loss of their entire family! 

What were Mr and Mrs Duck to do with the circumstances they found themselves in? 

A duck can't lift the lid off a stormwater drain and climb down to rescue their loved ones, so they did the only thing that parents CAN do - they did the best they could at the time. Mr and Mrs Duck stayed close to their fallen children in a show of love and support even if this meant losing more and more ducklings to the hole in the ground. 

I learnt a great lesson today, which is that 'things are not always as they seem.' None of us know another person's true motivation for taking the actions they take and with this in mind, no human being has the right to judge the behaviour of anyone else. Stop participating in the commentary panel of your mind that enjoys judging the actions of other people. It is more empowering to concentrate on the one thing you DO have the POWER to influence - YOURSELF!

Do you have any unsuccessful, habitual actions you wish to eliminate to achieve more favourable outcomes for your life?

As you go about your days, keep 'The Duck Story' in mind and use it to your advantage ...

There's a book on the site that looks excellent. So good in fact that I just had to gift myself a copy! LOL.

I'll let you know how it goes.

But back to the story, I used to do that a lot! I would get so upset at the way people were doing things thinking that I saw the whole picture. The more years I have here the more I realise that I rarely, if ever see the whole picture.

I loved this story. The website? www.EmpowerMyDay.com

xoxoxxo