“Don’t believe a word I say! Find out for yourself.”
Very wise words from my very wise teacher Eric Dowsett.
I quote Eric all the time, but do I listen to what I am saying?
Sometimes yes, sometimes no.

I tend to view my teachers with a sense of awe ~ I forget they are people too, just like me and you!

This reminds me of one of my favorite stories – you may have heard this:
A newlywed woman was excited to cook her first ham for her husband.
He watched her prepare the ham for the oven observing she cut off both ends of the ham, then placed the ham in the roasting pan.
Her husband asked “why did you cut off the ends?
Wife replied, “that’s how my Mom always did it.”
So they called her Mom, Mom said “that’s how my Mom always did it.”
Next they called Grandma, and
Grandma said “because my pan was too small for the ham!”

A perfect story to remind us to find out for ourselves.

I do my research for the most part, but this is something I didn’t fact check.
I understood that “Mala Beads” or “Prayer Beads” had the same number of beads as “Catholic Rosary Beads.”
Well that is not the case as one of my students recently pointed out.

My research findings:
Mala Beads have 108, 27 4 times with a spacer between each 27 and large “guru bead” at the bottom with a tassel.
Mala Beads are used to count “Mantras” in “Japa Meditation” (Reciting Meditation)
“Rosary Beads” have 59 beads made of in sets of ten Hail Mary’s” called “decades’. The “Hail Mary” is said on the ten beads within a decade, while the “Lord’s Prayer” is said on the large bead before each decade and followed by 1 “Glory Be”.
Both Mala Beads and Rosary Beads serve the same purpose, a method to count the words of the mantras or prayers said.

Interesting findings, but most of a reminder to do your own research.
Follow up and find out what is right for you.. Don’t believe a word I say!