What if we were to redefine our flaws as features?
This story perfectly illustrates how…
It’s a sweet, little parable I once read about a father and son who walked to the well, carrying two buckets.
One bucket was perfect, the other was cracked.
The son noticed it. “Why don’t you replace it? It’s broken,” he asked.
The father just smiled, “Pay attention tomorrow,” he said.
The next day, the son noticed something.
On the cracked bucket’s side of the path, flowers bloomed in every colour.
The other side was bare.
The father said, “I’ve known about that crack for a while. I planted seeds there on the side I always carried the cracked bucket. Every spilt drop watered them. Without that crack, there’d be no flowers.”
Hmmm.
Yeah, I know, it's a bit kitsch, but the sentiment is pure.
We all perceive ourselves to have cracks, faults, and flaws.
But maybe we can reframe them so that they’re not flaws, and upgrade them to be features.
The big question is: What are we cultivating with them?
