The Parable Of the Frog And the Turtle
A Metaphor About the Importance of Keeping an Open Mind
Lately, I’ve been positively impressed by the success of this article of mine:
One of my cornerstones is personal growth, but I have always approached it from a more technical and scientific standpoint.
The sincerity of the appreciation I received prompted me to reflect, and I decided to complement the high neuroscientific aspect with a more practical dimension, based on something that our brain particularly loves: the stories.
The following is a metaphor for the importance of how, in order to find what we love to do, we need to abandon our certainties and explore the unknown.
A frog lived in a small pond at the bottom of a well from which it had never ventured in its life.
One day, a turtle passed by and looked inside.
Surprised by the visit, the frog immediately invited the turtle to come in, praising the beauty and majesty of its home.
However, the turtle did not descend into the well, as it could never climb out.
The frog asked why it mattered, since that was the most beautiful place that existed.
The turtle then said it didn’t want to give up its freedom, because the sea and the world beyond the wall were infinite. It also proposed that the frog leap out of the well, to join her and explore the world.
The frog felt scared: it couldn’t understand how something could exist that was more beautiful, or even just different, from its own well, and refused.
The moral is that mental closure is an unwise strategy.
Every living being is in constant flux.
We are not the same as yesterday, and we won’t be the same tomorrow.
Embracing change means following the flow of life, opening ourselves to new experiences and things that will make us say, ‘I never thought it could be so beautiful to do this!’.
Closing ourselves off like the frog, on the other hand, means resisting change, which may temporarily soothe the fear of change but, in the long run, becomes a one-way ticket to a life of regrets.
To the next time!
