Tension, anxiety and worry can be threatening to our health and so often are completely unnecessary. Often they are simply due to our wrongful perception of a situation or ungrounded fears for the future. In this connection there is a joke my grandson told me that I have been telling my yoga classes at the Australian School of Meditation and Yoga this week.
Once there were three construction workers who sat down for their lunch on the flat rooftop fifteen stories up. The first one opened his lunch box, saw his sandwiches and said, “Oh no, vegemite sandwiches again! If I ever get another vegemite sandwich I’m going to kill myself!’
The second man opened his lunch box and said, “Oh no, peanut butter sandwiches again! If I ever get another peanut butter sandwich I’m going to kill myself!”
The third man opened his lunch box and said, “Oh no, jam sandwiches, if I ever get another jam sandwich I’m going to kill myself!”
The next day they were again sitting down for lunch and when the first man opened his lunch box and saw his vegemite sandwich he threw himself off the top of the building. The second man saw his peanut butter sandwich and followed him and the third man opened his lunch box, saw his jam sandwich and also hurled himself off the building.
A few days later at the funeral the three wives were gathered around the coffins. The first wife was crying and crying, wringing her hands, she said “Oh if only I’d known, if only I’d known, I’d never have given him vegemite sandwiches.”
The second wife was also crying and crying, “Yes,” she says, “If I’d only known I’d never have given him peanut butter sandwiches again!”
The third wife however was not crying. The other two turned to her and said, “Why aren’t you upset that you gave him jam sandwiches all the time.”
“Well,” said the third wife, “It’s very unfortunate that he didn’t like jam sandwiches, he could have had any type he wanted, but you know….
he always made his own lunch!!”
