How Poor Are We…??

One day, a father of a very wealthy family took his son on a trip to the country with the firm purpose of showing his son how poor people live. They spent a couple of days and nights on the farm of what would be considered a very poor family. On their return from their trip, the father asked his son, "How was the trip?"

"It was great, Dad."

"Did you see how poor people live?" the father asked.

"Oh yeah," said the son.

"So, tell me, what you have learned from the trip?" asked the father.

The son answered, "I saw that we have one dog and they had four. We have a pool that reaches to the middle of our garden, and they have a creek that has no end. We have imported lanterns in our garden, and they have the stars at night. Our patio reaches to the front yard, and they have the whole horizon. We have a small piece of land to live on, and they have fields that go beyond our sight. We have servants who serve us, but they serve others. We buy our food, but they grow theirs. We have walls around our property to protect us; they have friends to protect them."

The boy's father was speechless.

Then his son added, "Thanks, Dad, for showing me how poor we are."

 

Two Choices

Jerry is the manager of a restaurant. He is always in a good mood. When someone would ask him how he was doing, he would always reply: "If I were any better, I would be twins!" Many of the waiters at his restaurant quit their jobs when he changed jobs, so they could follow him around from restaurant to restaurant. Why? Because Jerry was a natural motivator. If an employee was having a bad day, Jerry was always there, telling him how to look on the positive side of the situation.

Seeing this style really made me curious, so one day I went up to Jerry and asked him: "I don't get it! No one can be a positive person all of the time. How do you do it?" Jerry replied, "Each morning I wake up and say to myself, I have two choices today. I can choose to be in a good mood or I can choose to be in a bad mood. I always choose to be in a good mood. Each time something bad happens, I can choose to be victim or I can choose to learn from it. I always choose to learn from it. Every time someone comes to me complaining, I can choose to accept their complaining or I can point out the positive side of life. I always choose the positive side of life."

"But it's not always that easy,” I protested. "Yes it is," Jerry said. "Life is all about choices. When you cut away all the junk every situation is a choice. You choose how you react to situations. You choose how people will affect your mood. You choose to be in a good mood or bad mood. It's your choice how you live your life."

Several years later I heard that Jerry accidentally did something you are never supposed to do in the restaurant business. He left the back door of his restaurant open. And then in the morning, he was robbed by three armed men. While Jerry trying to open the safe box, his hand, shaking from nervousness, slipped off the combination. The robbers panicked and shot him. Luckily, Jerry was found quickly and rushed to the hospital. After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, Jerry was released from the hospital with fragments of the bullets still in his body.…

I saw Jerry about six months after the accident. When I asked him how he was, he replied, "If I were any better, I'd be twins. Want to see my scars?" I declined to see his wounds, but did ask him what had gone through his mind as the robbery took place. "The first thing that went through my mind was that I should have locked the back door," Jerry replied. "Then, after they shot me, as I lay on the floor, I remembered that I had two choices: I could choose to live or could choose to die. I chose to live."

"Weren't you scared” I asked? Jerry continued, "The paramedics were great. They kept telling me I was going to be fine. But when they wheeled me into the Emergency Room and I saw the expression on the faces of the doctors and nurses, I got really scared. In their eyes, I read 'He's a dead man. I knew I needed to take action."

"What did you do?" I asked. "Well, there was a big nurse shouting questions at me," said Jerry. "She asked if I was allergic to anything." 'Yes,' to bullets, I replied. Over their laughter, I told them: “I am choosing to live. Please operate on me as if I am alive, not dead.”

Jerry lived – thanks to the skill of his doctors, but also because of his amazing attitude!

I learned from him that every day you have the choice to either enjoy your life or to hate it. The only thing that is truly yours - that no one can control or take from you – is your attitude, so if you can take care of that, everything else in life becomes much easier.

 

Ingenuity

A city boy, Kenny, moved to the country and bought a donkey from an old farmer for $100.00. The farmer agreed to deliver the donkey the next day.
The next day the farmer drove up and said, "Sorry son, but I have some bad news, the donkey died last night."

Kenny replied: "Well then, just give me my money back."
The farmer said: "Can't do that. I went and spent it already."
Kenny said: "OK then, just unload the donkey."
The farmer asked: "What ya gonna do with him?"
Kenny: "I'm going to raffle him off." (Note: To raffle is to sell a thing
by lottery - draw lot - to a group of people each paying the same amount
for a ticket)
Farmer: "You can't raffle off a dead donkey!"
Kenny: "Sure I can. Watch me. I just won't tell anybody he's dead."

A month later the farmer met up with Kenny and asked, "What happened with that dead donkey?"
Kenny: "I raffled him off. I sold 500 tickets at two dollars a piece and made a profit of $898.00."
Farmer: "Didn't anyone complain?"
Kenny: "Just the guy who won. So I gave him back his two dollars."

Kenny grew up and eventually became the chairman of ENRON.

It is impossible to make anything foolproof because fools are so ingenious. n      Murphy's Law

And Do You Know What Else Is Wrong...!

There's nothing more unproductive than someone who's constantly criticising and complaining.

Stop as soon as you catch yourself, and start talking about the positive actions that can be taken to improve the current situation.

Complaining is easy. But if you want to make a difference, turn a bad situation into a better one by speaking positively about what can be done.

 

Today's Challenge: Speak Enthusiastically - Motivate and Inspire.

		1.        Be MOTIVATIONAL! What have you been critical about recently? How did you speak about this issue to others?
		2.      Be INSPIRATIONAL! Who's complaining conversations can you turn into positive ones?
		3.       Be SUPPORTIVE! When you speak with others, are you as encouraging as you could be?

Your speech is a direct link to your emotions. Change one and you'll change the other. Your internal "self-talk" directly affects your expectations, and your expectations govern the way you act. You cannot speak in a negative manner and productively focus on what needs to get done at the same time. If you want to think and feel more powerfully, then learn to speak in a way that reflects positive and powerful feelings.

 

"Our attitudes control our lives. Attitudes are a secret power working twenty-four hours a day, for good or bad.

It is of paramount importance that we know how to harness and control this great force."

 

Handbook - (I wish it was a Brain book)

HAND BOOK

I wish this handbook was a brain book

.... coz hand books are to be kept handy for easy access to guidelines in life (pull out a handbook and read thru it at hard times)

..... but brain books cud be readily cached in the brain without efforts for hands to pull the book out and eyes to read them up !!

Health:
1. Drink plenty of water.

2. Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a beggar.

3. Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants
and eat less food that is manufactured in plants.

4. Live with the 3 E's -- Energy, Enthusiasm, and Empathy.

5. Make time to practice meditation, yoga, and prayer.

6. Play more games.

7. Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day.

8. Sleep for 7 hours.

9. Take a 10-30 minutes’ walk every day. And while you walk, smile.

Personality:

1. Don't compare your life to others'. You have no idea what their journey is all about.

2. Don't have negative thoughts or things you cannot control.

Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment.

3. Don't overdo. Keep your limits.

4. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.

5. Don't waste your precious energy on gossip.

6. Dream more while you are awake....

7. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.

8. Forget issues of the past. Don't remind your partner with his/her mistakes of the past.
That will ruin your present happiness.

9. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone. Don't hate others.

10. Make peace with your past so it won't spoil the present....

11. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.

12. Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn.

13. Problems are simply part of the curriculum that appear and fade away like
algebra class but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime.

14. Smile and laugh more.

15. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.

Society:

1. Call your family often.

2. Each day give something good to others.

3. Forgive everyone for everything.

4. Spend time with people over the age of 70 & under the age of 6.

5. Try to make at least three people smile each day.

6. What other people think of you is none of your business.

7. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch.

Life:

1. Do the right thing!

2. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.

3. GOD heals everything.

4. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.

5. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.

6. The best is yet to come.

7. When you awake alive in the morning, thank GOD for it.

8. Your Inner most is always happy. So, be happy.

... leave tension and enjooooooy :)

Optimism

As a man walked down the street, he passed some elephants, and suddenly stopped. He was confused by the fact that those huge creatures were being held by only a small rope tied to their front leg. No chains, no cages. It was obvious that the elephants could, at anytime, break away from their bonds but for some reason, they did not. He saw a trainer near by and asked why those beautiful, magnificent animals just stood there and made no attempt to get away.

"Well," he said, "when they are very young and much smaller we use the same size rope to tie them and, at that age, it was enough to hold them. As they grew up, they were conditioned to believe they could not break away. They believe the rope can still hold them, so they never try to break free."

The man was amazed. These animals could at any time break free from their bonds but because they believed they couldn't, they were stuck right where they were! Like the elephants, how many of us go through life hanging onto a belief that we cannot do something, simply because we failed at it once before?

Moral of the Story
"Never let yesterday's disappointments overshadow tomorrow's dreams. Break free, you can."

The Drive For Excellence...

Excellence: A Drive from the Inside, Not Outside 

A man once visited a temple under construction where he saw a sculptor making an idol of God. Suddenly he noticed a similar idol lying nearby. Surprised, he asked the sculptor, "Do you need two statues of the same idol?" "No," said the sculptor without looking up, "We need   only one, but the first one got damaged at the last stage." The gentleman examined the idol and found no apparent damage. "Where is the damage?" he asked. "There is a scratch on the nose of the idol." said the sculptor, still busy with his work.  "Where are you   going to install the idol?" The sculptor replied that it would be installed on a pillar twenty feet high. "If the idol is that far, who is going to know that there is a scratch on the nose?" the gentleman asked.

The sculptor stopped his work, looked up at the gentleman, smiled and said, "I will know it."

The desire to excel is exclusive of the fact whether someone else appreciates it or not.

"Excellence" is a drive from inside, not outside.

Excellence is not for someone else to notice but for your own satisfaction...