The empty boat - a Zen story about staying calm when something makes you angry

Hellooo Steemians!

I want to share a little Zen story with you today. It's about not getting angry because of other peoples behaviour, whatever that behaviour may be:

"A man repaints his boat. Once it’s done, he’s so pleased with how it looks that he decides to take it out on the lake, even though it’s a foggy day. As he steers through the fog, another boat slams into his, damaging the new paint job.

The man is furious. Why the hell didn’t the person in the other boat pay attention and watch where he was going? The man turns to yell at the person in the other boat, and finds that there is no other person. It’s just an empty boat, drifting on the lake."

So how can this be helpful in everyday life or also on Steemit, when you get trolled? Imagine people or things you get angry about as an empty boat. Anything that happens, happens because of its own reasons. Maybe another person is just having a bad day or has a bad character for example. This isn't anything, that has to do with yourself. So you don't have to worry about it. Of corse that doesn't mean you have to take anything, that happens to you.

It is just sort of mind training to stay calm when things provoke you. It makes it easier to see, wether it makes sense to react to something or not. And when you react, you'll be able to react in a calm and maybe even friendly way. Remember: the calm and friendly person will always be the winner! ;-)