It isn’t no disgrace for a man to fall, but to lie there and grunt is. Once upon a time Nasrudin and his master went hunting in the forest. The master cut his thumb while shooting his bow and arrow because he held it incorrectly. Nasrudin stopped the bleeding and bandaged the deep wound as his master moaned in pain. In an attempt to console his master, Nasrudin said. "Sir, there are no mistakes, only lessons, and we can learn from them if we're willing."

The master became enraged. "How dare you lecture me!" he barked. And with that he threw Nasrudin into a deserted well and continued on without his devoted servant.

A little further on, a group of forest people captured the master and took him to their chief for human sacrifice. The fire was roasting hot, and the master was about to be thrown into it when the chief noticed his bandaged thumb and set him free. It was a rule that all sacrificial victims had to be perfect specimens. Realizing how right Nasrudin had been, the master rushed back to the well to rescue his faithful servant. Acknowledging his unjust actions, the master pulled Nasrudin out and asked him to forgive him for the terrible mistake.

Nasrudin assured him that he had not made a mistake at all. On the contrary, he insisted that there was another lesson concealed here. Nasrudin told his master that he had done Nasrudin a great service by throwing him into the well. He thanked his master for saving his life explaining that if he had continued with him into the forest, the forest people would have taken him for sacrifice and surely he would had died.

"You see," Nasrudin ventured, "there are no mistakes, only lessons to learn. What we call our mistakes can be blessings in disguise, if we're willing to learn from them." This time the master smiled and nodded in agreement.

Coaching Questions:

1. Why did the master respond to the servant's first message so negatively?

2. Is this response from master's similar to those in leadership roles? How?

3. Was there an "Amygdala Hijacking" in the story?

4. Is the ending too simple? Do things always work out perfectly?

5. Can you point to positive things that happened as a result of things that are going negative!