Have you heard the story of the Golden Buddha? It's a wonderful story that illustrates the fantastic brilliance that you have within you, that you might have forgotten about.
Once you realize the power that already lies within you, the life that you want to create will only be a choice away.
When you were a baby, when you wanted something, you cried and screamed and let everybody know that was within earshot that you demanded satisfaction.
And guess what? You got it.
Imagine if your world was like that today.
You decided what you wanted, made your request known, and it was made manifest.
It might not come as quickly, and you might need to develop a strategy a little bit more complex that screaming and crying, but the overall model is the same.
Decide what you want, let other people know, and together you can figure out how to get it.
Here is the story of the Golden Buddha.
Many years ago, in Thailand, they had a statue of a golden Buddha.
There was an impending invasion by their next door neighbors, in Burma.
Because the Burmese had a significantly larger military, the Thais decided the best course would be to protect their assets, and hunker down and hope the conquering Burmese wouldn't do much more than raze a few cities, and then retreat back behind their borders.
One of the things that they hid was their golden Buddha statue.
They covered it in about ten centimeters of clay, to make it look like a normal Buddha statue.
Because it was only a few meters high, they figured it wouldn't draw too much attention.
The Burmese came and went as expected.
But because of the hardship of war, in all the ensuing confusion, the clay-golden Buddha got lost in the shuffle.
They had what thought was a clay Buddha statue in a medium to small sized temple for about two hundred years.
One day a monk was cleaning the statue, and a piece of clay fell off, revealing the luxurious golden Buddha underneath, which had been perfectly preserved.
When they finished carefully stripping away the clay on the exterior, they were incredibly shocked and overjoyed to see the treasure that had been hidden all these years.
You can still see the true Golden Buddha in the Chinatown section of Bangkok.
I was surprised when I saw how small and unassuming this beautiful statue was in such a small temple surrounded by a modern, busy city.
The Golden Buddha, of course, is you.
When you were a child you had no fear when it came to expressing yourself and your desires.
As you grew older, you covered yourself and your desires as did the Thais, because you feared what other people would do if they found them.
If they saw the real you.
The truth about you, however, is just as magnificent as the truth about the Golden Buddha.
Inside you are pure gold, and by expressing yourself and your desires, you will not incur the wrath of others, as you might fear, but their gratitude.
Because by boldly expressing your true gift to the world, the true nature of who you are, you will be showing others that it is safe for them to do so as well.
And that is the greatest gift of all.
Once you realize the power that already lies within you, the life that you want to create will only be a choice away.
When you were a baby, when you wanted something, you cried and screamed and let everybody know that was within earshot that you demanded satisfaction.
And guess what? You got it.
Imagine if your world was like that today.
You decided what you wanted, made your request known, and it was made manifest.
It might not come as quickly, and you might need to develop a strategy a little bit more complex that screaming and crying, but the overall model is the same.
Decide what you want, let other people know, and together you can figure out how to get it.
Here is the story of the Golden Buddha.
Many years ago, in Thailand, they had a statue of a golden Buddha.
There was an impending invasion by their next door neighbors, in Burma.
Because the Burmese had a significantly larger military, the Thais decided the best course would be to protect their assets, and hunker down and hope the conquering Burmese wouldn't do much more than raze a few cities, and then retreat back behind their borders.
One of the things that they hid was their golden Buddha statue.
They covered it in about ten centimeters of clay, to make it look like a normal Buddha statue.
Because it was only a few meters high, they figured it wouldn't draw too much attention.
The Burmese came and went as expected.
But because of the hardship of war, in all the ensuing confusion, the clay-golden Buddha got lost in the shuffle.
They had what thought was a clay Buddha statue in a medium to small sized temple for about two hundred years.
One day a monk was cleaning the statue, and a piece of clay fell off, revealing the luxurious golden Buddha underneath, which had been perfectly preserved.
When they finished carefully stripping away the clay on the exterior, they were incredibly shocked and overjoyed to see the treasure that had been hidden all these years.
You can still see the true Golden Buddha in the Chinatown section of Bangkok.
I was surprised when I saw how small and unassuming this beautiful statue was in such a small temple surrounded by a modern, busy city.
The Golden Buddha, of course, is you.
When you were a child you had no fear when it came to expressing yourself and your desires.
As you grew older, you covered yourself and your desires as did the Thais, because you feared what other people would do if they found them.
If they saw the real you.
The truth about you, however, is just as magnificent as the truth about the Golden Buddha.
Inside you are pure gold, and by expressing yourself and your desires, you will not incur the wrath of others, as you might fear, but their gratitude.
Because by boldly expressing your true gift to the world, the true nature of who you are, you will be showing others that it is safe for them to do so as well.
And that is the greatest gift of all.