This inspirational story is about Maria's new hat.
Maria is a young lady who lives with her Mom in a small apartment.
An average woman, she was on the secretarial staff in a large company. Her routine was quite mundane.
Her colleagues generally ignored her at work and the ones that did notice, let her know that they considered her boring.
Maria accepted this and pretty much kept to herself, carrying on with her work.
One morning, she was on her way to work when she saw a new hat shop. Curious, she decided to walk in and see. She saw a little girl with her mother, trying on hats and others doing the same.
She decided to try on a few herself until she found one she liked. She put it on and looked at herself in the mirror. She was surprised to find that it looked nice on her.
The little girl was the first to notice and exclaimed, "Mommy, look how pretty she looks in that hat!"
The mother smiled and said, "This hat looks wonderful on you!"
Another customer heard this and said, "You look lovely with that hat on!"
Maria looked at her reflection in the mirror again and for the first time, liked what she saw.
She smiled happily and went to the counter to buy the hat. Then she walked out of the shop with a spring in her step.
It was as if the world had suddenly changed. Everything looked bright. She had never really noticed the colorful flowers or the fragrance in the air . . . or the sound of the traffic, the buzz of conversation around her. Suddenly everything seemed new and fresh.
She walked as if on a cloud, a song in her heart.
As she passed the coffee shop she walked by every morning, one of the handsome young men called out to her, "Hey there! Looking good! Are you new around here? May I buy you a cup of coffee?"
Maria smiled shyly and kept walking.
Finally, she reached her office. There, the doorman opened the door and wished her a good day. Maria was surprised because he had never really noticed her before.
After acknowledging the greeting, she got into the elevator. The people there cheerfully asked her, "Which floor?" and pressed the button for her.
Still a bit dazed from all the attention, Maria entered her office. Everyone greeted her as if they were seeing her for the first time and complimented her on how lovely she looked today.
Even the manager asked her out to lunch to discuss how she felt about her work.
The magical day drew to an end and Maria impulsively decided to take a cab home instead of the bus.
No sooner than she raised her hand than two taxis stopped. Thinking about the miraculous day, she got into the first cab and settled back, musing on how her life had changed.
And it was all thanks to the new hat.
When she got home, her mom opened the door and broke into a and said, "Oh Maria! How beautiful you look! Your eyes are sparkling the way they used to when you were a little girl!"
"Yes, Mom!" said Maria, "It is all because of my new hat! I had the most marvelous day!"
"Maria . . . what hat?" asked her mother
Maria panicked.
She touched her head and was shocked to discover that the gorgeous hat that had changed her life was not there. She didn't remember taking it off in the cab. Or at lunch. Or at the office. She tried to recall everything she had done from the moment she stepped into the shop . . . how she had noticed it for the first time and tried it on. She had then paid the cashier . . . and now she remembered how, when she got her purse out to pay, she had placed the hat on the counter. She had paid and walked out of the shop-without the hat, yet glowing.
It was not the hat that had freed Maria-it was the quality of her thoughts.
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Often, we allow our thoughts to trap us or liberate us just like Maria's new hat.
We can choose to be stuck in a rut . . . or be, do and have anything we want.
Our minds are powerful-capable of creating poison and nectar.
Our thoughts shape our reality.We just have to choose.
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Maria's new hat is a Wednesday Wisdom story.
Wednesday Wisdom is a series with short bursts of easy-to-consume wisdom in the form of stories, quotes, anecdotes, reflections, easy meditation, thought-provoking questions and humor.
