How poor we are?

One day, a rich dad took his son on a trip. Wanted to show him how poor someone can be. They spent time on the farm of a poor family.

On the way home, dad asked, “Did you see how poor they are? What did you learn?”.

Son said, “We have one dog, they have four, 
we have pool, they have rivers, 
we have lanterns at night, they have stars, 
we buy foods, they grow theirs, 
we have walls to protect us, they have friends, 
we have encyclopedias, they have Bible.” 
Then they headed,”Thanks dad for showing me how poor we are.”

MORAL LESSON: It’s not about money that make us rich, it’s about simplicity of having God in our lives.

http://shortstoriesshort.com/story/how-poor-we-are/

Tasting Life

Before the young man began his studies, he wanted assurance from the Master.

“Can you teach me the goal of human life?”

“I cannot,” replied the Master.

“Or at least its meaning?”

“I cannot.”

“Can you indicate to me the nature of death and of life beyond the grave?”

“I cannot.”

The young man walked away in scorn. The disciples were dismayed that their Master had been shown up in 
a poor light.

Said the Master soothingly, “Of what is it to comprehend life’s nature and life’s meaning if you have never tasted it? I’d rather you ate your pudding than speculated on it.”

http://www.inspirationpeak.com/cgi-bin/stories.cgi
http://www.thestoreofinspiration.com/tasting-life-by-anthony-de-mello-2

Who I Am Makes a Difference - Blue Ribbons

Who You Are Makes A Difference

A teacher in New York decided to honor each of her seniors in high school by telling them the difference they each made.

Using a process developed by Helice Bridges of Del Mar, California, she called each student to the front of the class, one at a time.

First she told them how the student made a difference to her and the class. Then she presented each of them with a blue ribbon imprinted with gold letters which read, "Who I Am Makes a Difference."

Afterwards the teacher decided to do a class project to see what kind of impact recognition would have on a community.

She gave each of the students three more ribbons and instructed them to go out and spread this acknowledgment ceremony.

Then they were to follow up on the results, see who honored whom and report back to the class in about a week.

One of the boys in the class went to a junior executive in a nearby company and honored him for helping him with his career planning. He gave him a blue ribbon and put it on his shirt.

Then he gave him two extra ribbons, and said, "We're doing a class project on recognition, and we'd like you to go out, find somebody to honor, give them a blue ribbon, then give them the extra blue ribbon so they can acknowledge a third person to keep this acknowledgment ceremony going. Then please report back to me and tell me what happened."

Later that day the junior executive went in to see his boss, who had been noted, by the way, as being kind of a grouchy fellow. He sat his boss down and he told him that he deeply admired him for being a creative genius. The boss seemed very surprised. The junior executive asked him if he would accept the gift of the blue ribbon and would he give him permission to put it on him. His surprised boss said,"Well, sure."

The junior executive took the blue ribbon and placed it right on his boss's jacket above his heart. As he gave him the last extra ribbon, he said,

"Would you do me a favor? Would you take this extra ribbon and pass it on by honoring somebody else? The young boy who first gave me the ribbons is doing a project in school and we want to keep this recognition ceremony going and find out how it affects people."

That night the boss came home to his 14-year-old son and sat him down. He said, "The most incredible thing happened to me today. I was in my office and one of the junior executives came in and told me he admired me and gave me a blue ribbon for being a creative genius. Imagine. He thinks I'm a creative genius."

Then he put this blue ribbon that says "Who I Am Makes A Difference" on my jacket above my heart. He gave me an extra ribbon and asked me to find somebody else to honor.

As I was driving home tonight, I started thinking about whom I would honor with this ribbon and I thought about you. I want to honor you.

"My days are really hectic and when I come home I don't pay a lot of attention to you. Sometimes I scream at you for not getting good enough grades in school and for your bedroom being a mess, but somehow tonight, I just wanted to sit here and, well, just let you know that you do make a difference to me.

Besides your mother, you are the most important person in my life. You're a great kid and I love you!"

The startled boy started to sob and sob, and he couldn't stop crying. His whole body shook.

He looked up at his father and said through his tears, "I was planning on committing suicide tomorrow, Dad, because I didn't think you loved me. Now I don't need to." 

http://www.motivateus.com/stories/whoyou.htm

http://youareadifferencemaker.com/BlueRibbonStory

Bank Account - Value of Time

Imagine there is a bank which credits your account each morning with Rs. 86,400 carries over no balance from day to day, allows you to keep no cash balance, and every evening cancels whatever part of the amount you had failed to use during the day.

What would you do?
Draw out each paisa, of course!

Well, everyone has such a bank. It's name is TIME.
Every morning, it credits you with 86,400 seconds.
Every night it writes off, as lost, whatever of this you have failed to invest to good purpose.
It carries over no balance. It allows no overdraft.
Each day it opens a new account for you.
Each night it burns the records of the day.
If you fail to use the day's deposits, the loss is yours.
There is no going back. There is no drawing against the tomorrow.

Therefore, there is never not enough time or too much time.
Time management is decided by us alone and nobody else.
It is never the case of us not having enough time to do things, but the case of whether we want to do it.

You must live in the present on today's deposits.
Invest it so as to get from it the utmost in health, happiness and success!

The clock is running. Make the most of today.

To realize the value of ONE YEAR, ask a student who failed a grade.
To realize the value of ONE MONTH, ask a mother who gave birth to a premature baby.
To realize the value of ONE WEEK, ask the editor of a weekly newspaper.
To realize the value of ONE HOUR, ask the lovers who are waiting to meet.
To realize the value of ONE MINUTE, ask a person who missed the train.
To realize the value of ONE SECOND, ask a person who just avoided an accident.
To realize the value of ONE MILLISECOND, ask the person who won a silver medal in the Olympics.

Treasure every moment that you have! And treasure it more because you shared it with someone special, special enough to spend your time.

And remember, time waits for no one.

Yesterday is history.
Tomorrow is a mystery.
Today is a gift.

That's why it's called the Present.

So live in the Present moment, as it is gifted to you by God and
Spend your each second to earn the cheerful and joyful life.

http://narendraalianionline.blogspot.in/2011/08/most-precious-and-valuable-thing-on.html

How To Get What I Want

How to get what I want? You've heard the expression, "What you see is what you get." My grandfather used to say: "If you look at a tree long enough, it will move." We see what you want to see.

Psychologists tell us that nothing controls our live more than our self-image. We live like the person we see in the mirror. We are what we think we are. If you don't think you'll see be successful, you won't. You can't be it if you can't see it. Your life is limited to your vision. If you want to change your life, you must change your vision of your life. 

How to get what I want Arnold Schwarzenegger was not that famous in 1976 when he met with a newspaper reporter. The reporter asked Schwarzenegger. "Now that you've retired from bodybuilding, what do you plan to do next?"

Schwarzenegger answered very calmly and confidently: " I'm going to be the #1 movie star in Hollywood."

The report wad shocked and amused at Schwarzenegger's plan. At that time, it was very hard to imagine how this muscle-bound body builder, who was not a professional actor and who spoke poor English with a strong Austrian accent, could ever hope to be Hollywood's #1 movie star! 

So the reporter asked Schwarzenegger how he planed make his dream come true, Schwarzenegger said: " I" ll do it the same way I became the #1 body builder in the world. What I do was to create a vision of who I want to be, then I start living like that person in my mind as if it were already true." Sounds almost childishly simple, doesn't it? But it worked! Schwarzenegger DID become the #1 highest paid movie star in Hollywood! Remember: " If you can see it, you can be it."

A successful businessman I know wears a shirt with these words on it. "Don't just pursue your dreams. Chase them down and tackle them!" You only get one life to live, so why not live the best life possible? so you can be fully satisfied at what you see and get. Just think a minute!

http://www.goal-setting-for-success.com/how-to-get-what-i-want.html

One Year To Live

Anthony Burgess was 40 when he learned that he had only one year to live. He had a brain tumor that would kill him within a year. He know he had a battle on his hands. He was completely broke at the time, and he didn't have anything to leave behind for his wife, Lynne, soon to be a widow.

Burgess had never been a professional novelist in the past, but he always knew the potential was inside him to be a writer. So, for the sole purpose of leaving royalties behind for his wife, he put a piece of paper into a typewriter and began writing. He had no certainty that he would even be published, but he couldn't think of anything else to do.

"It was January of 1960," he said, "and according to the prognosis, I had a winter and spring and summer to live through, and would die with the fail of the leaf."

In that time Burgess wrote energetically, finishing five and a half novels before the year wad through (very nearly the entire lifetime output of E.M. Forster, and almost twice that of J. D. Salinger.) 

one year to live But Burgess did not die. His cancer had gone into remission and then disappeared altogether. In his long and full life as a novelist ( he is best known for A Clock-work Orange), he wrote more than 70 books, but without the death sentence from cancer, he may not have written at all.

Many of us are like Anthony Burgess, hiding greatness inside, waiting for some external emergency to bring it out. Ask yourself what you'd do if you had Anthony Burgess's original predicament. "If I had just a year to live, how would I live differently? What exactly would I do?" 

http://www.goal-setting-for-success.com/one-year-to-live.html

A Bitter Reality

An Engineering Student must read....

As the dream of most parents I had acquired a degree in Software Engineering and joined a company based in USA, the land of braves and  opportunity. When I arrived in the USA, it was as if a dream had come true.

Here at last I was in the place where I want to be. I decided I would be staying in this country for about Five years in which time I would have earned enough money to settle down in India.

My father was a government employee and after his retirement, the only asset he could acquire was a decent one bedroom flat.

I wanted to do some thing more than him. I started feeling homesick and lonely as the time passed. I used to call home and speak to my parents every week using cheap international phone cards. Two years passed, two years of Burgers at McDonald's and pizzas and discos and 2 years watching the foreign exchange rate getting happy whenever the Rupee value went down.

Finally I decided to get married. Told my parents that I have only 10 days of holidays and everything must be done within these 10 days. I got my ticket booked in the cheapest flight. Was jubilant and was actually enjoying hopping for gifts for all my friends back home. If I  miss anyone then there will be talks. After reaching home I spent home one week going through all the photographs of girls and as the time was getting shorter I was forced to select one candidate.

In-laws told me, to my surprise, that I would have to get married in 2-3 days, as I will not get anymore holidays. After the marriage, it was time to return to USA, after giving some money to my parents and telling the neighbors to look after them, we returned to USA.

My wife enjoyed this country for about two months and then she started feeling lonely. The frequency of calling India increased to twice in a week sometimes 3 times a week. Our savings started diminishing.

After two more years we started to have kids. Two lovely kids, a boy and a girl, were gifted to us by the almighty. Every time I spoke to my parents, they asked me to come to India so that they can see their grand-children.

Every year I decide to go to India… But part work part monetary conditions prevented it. Years went by and visiting India was a distant dream. Then suddenly one day I got a message that my parents were seriously sick. I tried but I couldn't get any holidays and thus could not go to India ... The next message I got was my parents had passed away and as there was no one to do the last rights the society members had done whatever they could. I was depressed. My parents had passed away without seeing their grand children.


After couple more years passed away, much to my children's dislike and my wife's joy we returned to India to settle down. I started to look for a suitable property, but to my dismay my savings were short and the property prices had gone up during all these years. I had to return to the USA...


My wife refused to come back with me and my children refused to stay in India... My 2 children and I returned to USA after promising my wife I would be back for good after two years.

Time passed by, my daughter decided to get married to an American and my son was happy living in USA... I decided that had enough and wound-up every thing and returned to India... I had just enough money to buy a decent 02 bedroom flat in a well-developed locality.

Now I am 60 years old and the only time I go out of the flat is for the routine visit to the nearby temple. My faithful wife has also left me and gone to the holy abode.

Sometimes

I wondered was it worth all this?

My father, even after staying in India,

Had a house to his name and I too have the same nothing more.

I lost my parents and children for just ONE EXTRA BEDROOM.

Looking out from the window I see a lot of children dancing. This damned cable TV has spoiled our new generation and these children are losing their values and culture because of it. I get occasional cards from my children asking I am alright. Well at least they remember me.


Now perhaps after I die it will be the neighbors again who will be performing my last rights, God Bless them.

But the question
still
remains 'was all this worth it?'

I am still searching for an answer.................!!!

START THINKING

IS IT JUST FOR ONE EXTRA BEDROOM???

LIFE IS BEYOND THIS ...DON'T JUST LEAVE YOUR LIFE ...
START LIVING IT ...
LIVE IT AS YOU WANT IT TO BE ...

http://www.studyconnect.com/forums/showthread.php?t=28487

Don’t judge people before you truly know them

A 24 year old boy seeing out from the train’s window shouted…

“Dad, look the trees are going behind!”

Dad smiled and a young couple sitting nearby, looked at the 24 year old’s childish behavior with pity, suddenly he again exclaimed.

“Dad, look the clouds are running with us!”

The couple could not resist and said to the old man.

“Why don’t you take your son to a good doctor?”

The old man smiled and said…

“I did and we are just coming from the hospital, my son was blind from birth, he just got his eyes today.”

Moral of the short story:

Every single person on the planet has a story. Don’t judge people before you truly know them.

http://www.videoinspiration.net/blog/inspirational-famous-short-stories/

A Blind Girl

There was a blind girl who hated herself just because she was blind. She hated everyone, except her loving boyfriend. He was always there for her. She said that if she could only see the world, she would marry her boyfriend.

One day, someone donated a pair of eyes to her and then she could see everything, including her boyfriend. Her boyfriend asked her, “Now that you can see the world, will you marry me?”

The girl was shocked when she saw that her boyfriend was blind too, and refused to marry him. Her boyfriend walked away in tears, and later wrote a letter to her saying:

“Just take care of my eyes dear.”

------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is how human brain changes when the status changed. Only few remember what life was before, and who’s always been there even in the most painful situations.

Life Is A Gift

Today before you think of saying an unkind word–
think of someone who can’t speak.

Before you complain about the taste of your food–
think of someone who has nothing to eat.

Before you complain about your husband or wife–
think of someone who is crying out to God for a companion.

Today before you complain about life–
think of someone who went too early to heaven.

Before you complain about your children–
think of someone who desires children but they’re barren.

Before you argue about your dirty house, someone didn’t clean or sweep–
think of the people who are living in the streets.

Before whining about the distance you drive–
think of someone who walks the same distance with their feet.

And when you are tired and complain about your job–
think of the unemployed, the disabled and those who wished they had your job.

But before you think of pointing the finger or condemning another–
remember that not one of us are without sin and we all answer to one maker.

And when depressing thoughts seem to get you down–
put a smile on your face and thank God you’re alive and still around.

Life is a gift – Live it, Enjoy it, Celebrate it, and Fulfill it.

-Author Unknown
http://academictips.org/blogs/moral-tale-the-story-of-a-blind-girl/

Temper Control

There once was a little boy who had a bad temper. His father gave him a bag of nails and told him that every time he lost his temper, he must hammer a nail into the back of the fence.
The first day the boy had driven 37 nails into the fence. Over the next few weeks, as he learned to control his anger, the number of nails hammered daily gradually dwindled down. He discovered it was easier to hold his temper than to drive those nails into the fence...

Finally the day came when the boy didn't lose his temper at all. He told his father about it and the father suggested that the boy now pull out one nail for each day that he was able to hold his temper. The days passed and the young boy was finally able to tell his father that all the nails were gone.

The father took his son by the hand and led him to the fence. He said, "You have done Well, my son, but look at the holes in the fence. The fencewill never be the same. When you say things in anger, they leave a scar just like this one.You can put a knife in a man and draw it out. It won't matter how many times you say I'm sorry, the wound is still there. A verbal wound is as bad as a physical one.

Friends are a very rare jewel, indeed. They make you smile and encourage you to succeed. They lend an ear, they share a word of praise, and they always want to open their hearts to us.  When I go to bed at night, I want to always believe that I have never left nail holes in any of those precious, vulnerable hearts.

http://www.moytura.com/reflections/fence.htm

Hermit

There is a story in Indian tradition of a hermit who was disturbed during meditation one day by the cawing of a crow. He glanced up at it in anger, and it fell immediately to the ground, dead. “What power I’ve acquired!” thought the hermit proudly. A devata (angel) just then appeared to him and said, “You think yourself so highly advanced, but there is one who is more advanced than you, living in the town near here. You could learn much from her.”

“A woman! Is that possible?”

“Go and see,” said the angel, and instructed him where to find her. The hermit entered the town and, after some time, arrived at a very ordinary home; he considered it beneath him even to enter there. He therefore called out, and a woman answered from within, “I will come to you shortly. I am busy just now, serving my husband.”

“She’s married!” thought the hermit indignantly. “How could a married person possibly be on a higher spiritual plane than I?” Just then she called out, “Be patient, Sir. I am not your crow!”

So she knew about that episode! He decided to wait. When at last she emerged, she spoke from a level of wisdom that did indeed prove enlightening for him.

Humbled, he returned to his place of seclusion. The angel hadn’t yet finished with him, however. Appearing to him a second time, he said, “You’ve learned something, but not yet everything that you need to know. There is another person in town from whom you still have much to learn.” The angel instructed him where to go.

The hermit returned to town. This time, he found himself entering the lowest section, where the butchers and leather workers worked and lived.

“How could any saint possibly live here?” he marveled. When he reached the house of the person he was to see, he found it belonged to a young man who, again, hadn’t time for him at the moment; he was busy serving his parents.

When finally the youth appeared, the hermit learned from him that to do one’s God-allotted duty is the highest calling, and should never be despised. The important thing is not to become attached to one’s duty.

This was, for him, a vitally important lesson. Many renunciates, in forsaking worldly involvement, overlook their duty to serve their broader family of mankind. The renunciate should offer back gratefully to this world the energy and blessings he receives from God. His renunciation should be a means of expanding his sense of selfhood.

To achieve this end, he must develop an attitude of selfless service, rendered to others according to his own ability. If he can sit all day in effective meditation, that may in fact be the highest service he can offer. His meditation, however, should be practiced with an attitude of self-offering to God, and a desire for the upliftment of all mankind, not with a desire only for personal (even though spiritual) gain.

http://www.nayaswami.org/book/01-my-intention.asp