Tattoos Etched into the Soul
By: Alix Hembery
Years ago, a friend of mine got a tattoo saying "A journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step". The words wrapped beautifully around her foot and I really admired both the aesthetics and the 'note to self' she received from it. I thought to myself, what would I get tattooed? What message would I want to see day in and day out on my body? This thought actually stayed with me for years and what was originally a tattoo debate evolved into what life lesson I wanted to live by.
Now being from a large Persian family, there are always elders to bestow upon you their life lessons. Some stories you take with a large grain (maybe even a rock) of salt. But there are those stories that change your entire outlook on life. Words that once spoken seem to dance in the air and actually emblazon themselves like tattoos onto your conscious. My grandmother told me one such story, not of something that happened to her, but actually the fable where the phrase "this too shall pass" comes from. Do you know it?
In a very abbreviated version: Long, long ago a dervish arrives in a village after a remote and arduous journey. He asks the villagers for shelter and food and they direct him to the house of the most wealthy man nearby. There the dervish is greeted with a feast and lavish sleeping quarters. Upon leaving, he thanks the owner for the immaculate hospitality and the man responds "But of course, these things are all material and in the end, this too shall pass."
Years later, the dervish comes to the same village and seeks the same man. Now, however, the man is a simple servant. He still shares what little food he has and makes a bed for the dervish on his mud floor. Over the measly dinner the man explains that a flood ruined his home and his business. The dervish expresses his lament for the man's situation but is encountered with the same phrase. The man says, "Not to worry my friend, this too shall pass."
One day the sultan of the land asks his wise men to gather. The sultan desires a phrase; one that will make him happy when he is sad, and sad when he is happy. The dervish, being one of the sultan's wise men, remembers the man from the village and approaches the sultan with these words - this too shall pass. The sultan sees the duality and the truth in this phrase and has it inscribed on a ring. He rules from that day forward with a temperament that neither loses hope nor becomes complacent.
Now you might be thinking, why would the sultan want to be sad when he is happy? I think some of the ideas get lost in translation. What the sultan probably sought after was a reminder that life's moments are fleeting, even the good ones. All the more reason to relish them.
My grandmother's story, now probably retold over hundreds- perhaps thousands of years, has become my mental tattoo. Whether in a daily mantra or prayer, I remind myself that "this too shall pass". If I've had a horrific day where someone has let me down, or I haven't acted to my full potential, then I remember that tomorrow is another day, another chance. Or if I've had an amazing day, then I also remember "this too shall pass", and I stand in gratitude.
We all need that tattoo, whether physically inscribed on us or just mentally revisited. We all need that one message that gives us hope and motivates us. Have you decided what your personal 'note to self' is?