Androcles and the Lion is a story about a boy who noticed an injury in the angry Lion and then removed it. Later Androcles was put into a place with the lion and the lion did not attack him and they lived happily ever after.
Why am I sharing this? It is also the story of who we are as humans. We both are the lion who is hurt by things and doesn’t understand why or how to fix them. We are also Androcles who can understand and fix our suffering.
It is not always clear what our life can or should be. Our talents are not always so obvious to us. With time everything becomes clear. In others, you can see the mistakes you did in your own past.
Not that the choices that other people make are mistakes. They make perfect sense of their life. For example, I choose to work with technology because it was all that I thought I could do. Now I see that I could do many things, and that technology was just the easiest skill that was in demand.
How can we gain more insight into ourselves? We can talk with honest friends, therapists or challenge our own ideas. For me, I use the scientific method. Scientists try to prove or not prove things. So I look for real reasons why I should believe in a certain way, and if there are helpful reasons for those beliefs.
Take for example what I eat. I try to research what science says and is learning about food. I find that by eating as naturally as possible I feel better. I still eat some processed food, but that is decreasing the older I get. I don’t feel good when I eat too much-processed food and slowly I learn what my body doesn’t deal well with.
For example, I ate bacon a month ago and it made me sick. I went to my doctor and she wasn’t surprised it made me sick. So now I avoid bacon. There was just a little bit on my salad and it made me feel terrible. Little by little I learn what my body doesn’t like, and I avoid it.
I am not telling you to avoid bacon. You are free to do whatever makes you happy. Listening to my body and how it reacts means that I am now Androcles and the lion.