The Legend of the Touchstone

According to an ancient legend, if you could find a touchstone on the coast of the Black Sea and hold it in your hand, everything you touched would be healed and restore life and vitality. You would recognize the touchstone from ordinary stones by its warmth. Ordinary stones would feel cold and empty, but when you picked up the touchstone, it would turn warm in your hand and you would feel your life being restored.

There once a man who sold everything he had and went to the coast of the Black Sea in search of this elusive touchstone. He began immediately to walk along the shoreline picking up one stone after another in his diligent and intentional search for the touchstone. He was consumed with this dream. He wanted desperately to find this miraculous stone, find his youth, vitality and abundant life again. However, after several days had gone by, he suddenly realized that he was picking up the same stones again and again. So he devised a plan. Pick up a stone, if it’s cold throw it into the Sea. This he did for weeks and months.

Then one morning, he went out to continue his routine search for the touchstone. He picked up a stone; it was cold, so he threw it into the Sea. He picked up another stone … cold! He threw it into the Sea. He picked up another stone. It turned warm in his hands, BUTbefore he realized what he was doing … he threw it into the Sea. Because of his habits, the routine of searching and lack of expecting anything different, his habits took over and what he wanted more than anything passed by and was lost forever.