A fable of unburdening - Maxwell Maltz

Category: Coaching Notes

Coaching Notes This is a story of an obviously weary traveller, walking down a dusty road, with a large boulder hoisted on one shoulder, a knapsack full of bricks on his back, a huge pumpkin precariously balanced on his head, and a nest a sturdy weeds and vines wound around his legs so that he could only take short, hobbling steps. As you might imagine this human packhorse was hobbling along, uncomfortably stooped over, his progress slow and tedious, his physical struggle great.

A person sitting by the roadside called his hello and asked, "Say, traveller, why do you burden yourself with that big, heavy rock on your shoulder?"

Incredibly, the traveller said:, "Hmm. You know, I never noticed just how heavy it was before and, until you mentioned it, I hadn't given much thought to my reasons for taking it with me." After a few moments pondering, the traveller set the boulder down, left it by the side of the road, and walked on, a bit strighter, a bit quicker.

A little further along, he encountered another bystander who queried him about the knapsack full of bricks. "Hmm. I'm glad you made mention of it," said the traveller, "I really hadn't paid any attention to what was in the knapsack." He took out all the bricks, left them at the roadside, and walked on.

A little further along, a curious child playing by the road called out to him. "Hey mister, why do you have all those weeds wrapped around your legs?"

The traveller took out his pocket knife and sliced away the weeds.

One by one, the bystanders made the traveller aware of his needless old burdens. So, one by one, he accepted the new awareness, rejected the old burdens and abandoned them by the side of the road. Finally, he was a truly free man, and walked straight and tall like such a man.

Were his problems the boulder, the bricks, the weeds? No, not at all. The one problem was his lack of awareness of them.