At the Sanctuary, we make a large bowl of popcorn every day. This is used as a healthy low calorie snack for monkeys. We also use it to distract capuchin monkeys when they tease each other and squeal too loud. This tends to happen at least once a day (monkeys are smart, I think they could be organizing this ?!).
Johnny, at 12 1/2 lbs. Male Crying Capuchin Monkey uses a foolproof plan to get Willie, an older male crying capuchin, to start screaming. It’s a high-pitched screech that
Johnny
Capuchins do when they are alarmed or stressed (or mercilessly teased). Johnny waves a nice soft piece of woolen bedding with his arm outstretched as far as he can through the bars of his enclosure, towards Willie, who is in the neighboring enclosure. Johnny has that expression on his face that says, “Come on Willie, do you want this? You know you want this. Trust me, I won’t take it off this time.” Willie falls in love with it every time. When he goes to grab it, Johnny pushes him away. Come on, you know you did this to your little brother or cousin!
Willie
So when I heard the screeching, I stopped what I was working on and grabbed the bowl of popcorn. Always two steps behind the monkeys, I was working on the honor system (imagining that each monkey would take only a handful) and I raised the entire bowl towards Johnny. Johnny grabbed the bowl with one hand and used his entire free arm as a spoon to scoop out as much popcorn as he could! “Hey, little one …” “Now there won’t be enough for everyone else,” I said (as if he cared!).
There I was that day, thinking in terms of lack. I think we tend to do this in business too, believing that anyone else doing the same job as us could take all of our business away from us. But in an interview that appeared on The Hindu Business Line with Mr. Arun Agarwal, CEO of Cholamandalam MS General Insurance, there is another possibility. Here’s a line from the interview:
Has being the latest player to enter the general insurance industry been a disadvantage? For example, companies that you would have otherwise approached may already have linked their insurance to each other’s.
“It has not hurt us. On the contrary, it has helped us. We prepare our business plans, our systems and our products, after taking into account the collective experience of participants from the public and private sectors. The market is large enough for everyone “.
David Owen Ritz teaches an advanced course on building prosperity consciousness. From the course manual, Keys to the Kingdom, Ritz says, “Your beliefs about your own highest potential are among the most important in determining how much prosperity and abundance you allow into your life. They are like the role in which your inner path map is printed. Naturally, you will find it difficult to go beyond the limitations imposed on your life by your own beliefs, just as you would have trouble navigating beyond the edges of a road map. You cannot easily venture into territory that you don’t know exists. These fundamental beliefs hold within themselves the key to all your personal possibilities and life potentials. They can bind you or free you. “
The only fault that exists is the fault that you believe in. By eliminating your belief in lack, you eliminate the lack that appears in your life. Suddenly, there is enough. Your belief is what prevents unlimited good from flowing into your life and your business. The market is big enough for everyone. You have unlimited sources of good.
I like what clothing designer Oluyinka Alawode has to say. “A business person should not feel threatened by bigger players, there is room for everyone. The sky is big enough for every bird to flap its wings and fly.” (www.businessdayonline.com)
Johnny knows that “there is no shortage of popcorn in the Universe.” Also, I almost forgot. We have 40 more bags in the kitchen.
