MONKEY BLESSINGS: Three lessons from three little monkeys

MONKEY BUSINESS
Monkeys may be able to do it but can humans? And that is to see no evil, hear no evil and speak no evil. Three little monkeys in the form of a small ornament took pride of place in my grandmother’s living room for all of my growing-up years. I was fascinated by it and studied it for hours and hours during the first two decades of my life. Indelibly imprinted on my mind, I was equally fascinated by the symbol it stands for. The history of how these little monkeys together mean so much is disputed, but we can say that the philosophy emanates from Japanese and Chinese culture. Thus this philosophy is either universal or Asian in thinking. If Asian, then my upbringing has been colored with Asian culture.

MODERN MONKEYS
One monkey has his hands over his eyes, while another has his hands over his ears and lastly the third monkey has his hands over his mouth. In this modern world, it is virtually impossible to avoid seeing and hearing some of the evil things that go on. In fact, it may be unwise to close our eyes to some of the happenings unfolding around us. But what we can control is our thought processes and what comes out of our mouths. Today’s blessing is inspired by three little monkeys who wanted to ensure that that they spoke no evil. I like to think they stand for the idea that we should not speak ill of others and to always have nice words on our tongues.

INSPIRED SPEECH
B: Beautiful speech is a boon to society. Brain power includes the ability to process information in the most constructive way. You may see and hear evil but it does not have to drag you down if you evaluate all information by looking for the blessings and silver linings in each situation.

L: Live and act with kind thoughts because speech is the end product of our thoughts. Thoughts come first so kind thoughts inevitably lead on to kinder, nicer speech.

E: Embrace the philosophy that we should see the best in situations and speak in the highest terms.

S: Smile and act like it is a wonderful day to be alive. Let this smile go beyond your face and let people feel it is in your voice too.

S: Speak to others in kind and positive terms. Think and speak to yourself the same way.

Y: You are in control of the timing of your speech. So before you speak or respond to speech, take a moment to be truly thankful. Thankfulness has the knock-on effect of making speech more considered, mature and constructive. An injection of thankfulness can work wonders on uplifting both thoughts and speech.

O: Offer your love, your kindness, your time, your attention to yourself and receptive people in your orbit. At the very least you will uplift yourself and you may help a few people to boot.

U: Uplift your thoughts and your speech to the highest levels. Think of it as an journey to go higher and higher in your thoughts, deeds, actions and speech.