Heart Tales is a monthly newsletter for people on an adventure toward wholeness. It is published by Jim Cyr, storyteller, author, crisis intervention specialist, and minister.

A couple of months ago, while I was meditating, I heard a still small voice within me say, “Less is more.” That’s all the voice said, but I knew it was very important. So for the next several weeks I sought the meaning of what I heard. The following story captures the meaning I discovered.

……….

Once there was a holy man who sat with his begging bowl in hand at the entrance to a village. A peasant traveling down the road into the village stopped to stare at the beggar. “Aren’t you tired of being poor?” the peasant asked the holy man. “Just once I’d like to have enough money to feed my wife and children and have a little left over,” lamented the peasant.

The holy man looked at the peasant and smiled. “I might have something that will help you,” the beggar said, as he reached into a tattered old bag hanging from his belt. From the small bag the holy man pulled a large gold piece. “Here, take this. I don’t need it,” the vagabond saint said, as he handed it to the peasant.

The poor man took the gold piece and hid it in his tattered shirt. He hurried home holding his treasure close to his breast. When he arrived he took the gold piece out of his shirt, placed it on the table, and stared at it. That night the peasant slept with the gold piece under his pillow dreaming of what he would buy with it the next day.

In the morning the man took the gold piece, wrapped it up, put it back in his shirt, and carried it back to the holy man. “Here, I want to give this back to you. I don’t need this,” said the peasant.

The holy man said, “OK.” He took the gold piece and put it back in his bag. “Is there anything you need?” asked the saint. “Yes,” said the poor man. “I need to know what you know that you can give that away.”

I invite you to send me your thoughts about “The Piece of Gold.” You can email me at jim@hearttales.net

Book

My book, The Cracked Pot: Finding Grace in the Cracks of Childhood Abuse, is available at Amazon.com.

“This is one man’s true story of the unspeakable things that were done to him as a child and his rocky journey through adulthood to find God, peace AND his true self. “

Blog

If you enjoy this newsletter, check out The Heart Tales Blog at http://hearttales.net/blog. The blog is published every Monday and Thursday and contains a story with a brief reflection.

Telecast

If you missed the telecast of my interview with Diane Eble you can hear the replay at http://www.askjimcyr.com/replay.php

The true spirit of my work is to lead people on a life-changing adventure toward wholeness by connecting their hearts to their true selves, to others, and to God, through stories of healing, wisdom, and faith. My life-changing adventure toward wholeness includes performances of folk and fairy tales, sacred stories, and personal stories, and workshops on how to tell stories in therapeutic settings.

“Jim’s storytelling spoke to many of the problems our women face on the road to recovery from addiction and gave them options for handling those problems they had not considered before.”
Helen Raytek, Program Director, Crawford House

“Jim, I want to thank you for your time, efforts, and talents in presenting your Clinical Benefits of Storytelling Workshop. I was very impressed with your professional and fun deliverance of the material and many useful resources and examples. I felt I benefited from it both personally and professionally, and will use what I learned…”
John J. D. Schweska, L.P.C. Assistant Program Director, Mobile Response and Stabilization Services, Catholic Charities, Diocese of Metuchen

“…your newsletter is a wonderful resource, and I hope that many will subscribe to it.”
Dr. Robert Bela Wilhelm, Storyfest Ministry

“…Thank you once again, Jim, for sharing your stories/your story and influencing my healing.”
Eileen