bin with a hole

it was an interesting morning. in fact, it had been an interesting few days cos of late, i recieved no less than 2-3 emails asking if i could help the author solve some of his life's issues, relationship issues, that is. i decided to write something about it now cos today's mail was extra interesting. it came from out of nowhere and what's interesting was that this person actually used his name (it didn't come across as a pseudonym compared to previous ones) and stated that he had been referred to me by a friend. how interesting right?

well, i took it as a compliment. really. compliment for that fact that someone out there felt i was worth the effort to seek advise from. and for that, i thought i should reply the mail. but i was conscious of the fact that my sharing was but my perspective of things. might not be the best answer nor an answer that he wanted to hear. but a perspective still...

told thomas about it this afternoon and he told me to delete all such mails cos i have problems of my own. he was concerned that by reading other people's problems, i might end up feeling even more scarred/ traumatised. but i disagree. i might have my problems, but certainly, to be able to help someone is an honour and that is something i, as a buddhist, cannot not do. if there is one thing i must do in life, it would be to lent help to people who need them. and coincidentally, i happened to be reading a book by a renowned monk about how to open one's heart to happiness and in it, he shared about how monks manage themselves when they counsel people with problems and issues. he liken themselves as bins, recieving all the problems and issues from people and the way they manage it was to be a bin with a hole at the bottom. accept the problems and issues (that people wanna throw out of their lives) and let it out immediately.

and that is probably what i should learn to be - a bin with a hole at the bottom.