Top 5 Stories Teaching Advanced Thinking

A blind young man visited a relative's house. As he was leaving in the dark, the kind relative lit a lantern for him. The relative said, 'It's getting dark, and the road is dim. Take this lantern with you for convenience.' The blind young man replied, 'You clearly know I'm blind, yet you give me a lantern. Are you teasing me?'

The relative explained, 'Your thinking is narrow. The road isn't just for you; others pass by too. With the lantern, others can see you, avoiding any collision.' The blind young man nodded in acknowledgment.

Experience Lesson: Narrow thinking is personal perspective; holistic thinking is when you consider the overall environment and circumstances. Systematic thinking reveals that your actions always interact with others.

Three builders were constructing a wall. Someone passing by asked, 'What are you doing?' The first builder angrily replied, 'Can't you see? Building a wall.' The second one smiled and said, 'We're constructing a tall building.'

The third, singing happily, cheerfully stated, 'We're building a new city.' Ten years later, the first builder was constructing another wall at a different site, the second one sat in the design office, becoming an engineer, and the third became the owner of the other two.

Experience Lesson: What may seem ordinary work in your hands right now is the beginning of a significant enterprise. Recognizing this means you can create a large business.

After Columbus discovered America, many thought it was just luck. At a gathering, a noble asked Columbus: 'Sir Columbus, we all know America is right there, and you just happened to step onto it! If we go, we will surely find it too.'

Facing the challenge, Columbus remained calm. He placed a boiled egg on the table and said: 'Ladies and gentlemen, who can stand an egg upright? Who can do this?'

Everyone tried but failed. Columbus, tapping the egg's bottom on the table, placed the dented part on the surface. The egg stood upright. After a moment of stunned silence, the room buzzed with excitement: 'Oh wow, what's the big deal? Anyone can do that.'

Columbus then said: 'Exactly, it's that simple. Discovering America is not difficult, just as easy as making an egg stand upright on a table. But may I ask, before I did it, did anyone else succeed?'

Experience Lesson: Witnessing something already done makes it seem easy. However, if a phenomenon is unexplained, the journey to find the result is challenging. Similarly, creativity is fundamentally simple; it depends on whether you dare to think and act.

Creativity is essentially an open-minded attitude, welcoming new ideas, perspectives, and changes. Sometimes, people might say, 'Is that creativity? Actually, I knew it too!'

There were two monks living in temples on adjacent mountains. A stream flowed between them, and each day, both monks went down to fetch water at the same time. This routine continued for five years. Suddenly, one day, the monk on the left mountain didn't go down to fetch water. The monk on the right mountain thought, 'Maybe he overslept,' and didn't think much of it. On the second day, the other monk still didn't go, and on the third day, the same. After a month passed, the remaining monk began to think, 'Maybe he's sick.'

So, he climbed over to the neighboring mountain to visit his friend. When he saw his friend practicing martial arts in the temple, the curious monk asked, 'It's been a month since you didn't go down to the stream. Don't you need water to drink?' The other monk pointed to a well and replied, 'For the past five years, every day after my martial arts practice, I've been digging this well. Now I can get water from here without going down the mountain, and I have more time for my martial arts.'

Experience Lesson: We often forget to spend after-work hours digging our own well, cultivating expertise in a particular field. If we make good use of our time, we can be like the monk on the left mountain, ensuring that as we grow older, we not only have water to drink but also have more leisure time for our hobbies.

Once, there was a smart kid who went to a grocery store with his mother. The owner, charmed by the boy, offered him a pack of bubblegum, hoping the boy would take it. However, the boy didn't do anything. After persistently urging him, the owner decided to scoop a handful of candies into the boy's shirt pocket. When they returned home, the boy's mother asked him why he didn't take the candy himself and let the owner do it. The boy replied: 'Because my hands are small, and the owner's hands are big. If the owner takes them, I'll surely get more!'

Experience Lesson: This is a clever kid who knows his limitations. More importantly, he understands that others may be stronger. When faced with tasks beyond our capabilities, learning to depend on others timely is a form of humility, and it's a kind of intelligence.