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GEMS OF WISDOM(A Monk’s Collection)

Short Parables on Lifecontaining secrets of livinga happy and contended life.

ByPALAKODETI SRIKANTH

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GEMS OF WISDOM(Discover the Secrets of Living a Happy and great life)

By P. Srikanth

Title Design and Type Setting by :IMMADI VENUGOPAL

(One of my best friend who is a continuoussource of inspiration for me.)

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DEDICATION

I dedicate this book with deep respect and great loveto my parents and all my GURU’s who had given mean excellent life and kind enough to impart me withtheir knowledge and blessings.

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b L ETTER TO READER a

Dear Reader,

I hope these stories touch you at a deep inner level. I requestyou to share the stories and philosophy you have learntwith whom you love and care. I wish you a life rich withhealth, peace and joy and hope that you will do your partto help in building a new ravishing world. Thankyou forgiving me the privilege of sharing the knowledge andphilosophy with you.

As you read this book if you find any mistakes please notifyme so that corrective steps can be taken for subsequentprints. You are highly appreciated if you can send in shortstories with a message. Thanks for your cooperation.

Email ID : [email protected]

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b PREFACE a

Every one’s life is like this Image. You can see an old woman inone angle and a young charming beauty in another (see upsidedown). In the same way every problem in life gives us a deadend(oldwoman) or an excellent opportunity to thrive (youngwoman),Everthing depends on us, on our attitude, how we perceive thesituation.

If we take things in positive sense the outcome will be positive.Do your work (Karma) perfectly and forget about the result.

If you think you can, you can. If you think you can’t you can’t.- Henry Ford.

Happiness is not about what happens to us. It’s about how weperceive what happens to us. Its the knock of finding a positivefor every negative, and viewing a set back as a challenge. If wecan just stop wishing for what we don’t have, and start enjoyingwhat we do have our live can be richer; more fulfilled and happier.The time to be happy is now. - Lynn Peters.

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Sl. No. Title of the Story Page No.

1. Message by George Carlin 1

2. Life 2

3. The Three Dolls 4

4. Negative Influence 5

5. Value 6

6. Failures 7

7. Secret of Success 8

8. Sand and Stone 8

9. Two Frogs 9

10. Four Candles 10

11. The Wooden Bowl 11

12. Quiz 13

13. The Starfish 14

14. Unconditional Love 15

15. Kind and Beggar 16

16. Mothers Day 18

17. Frog in a Milk-Pail 19

18. Alexander Fleming 19

19. A Life Worth Saving 21

20. Pictue of Peace 21

21. Money 22

22. Anger 23

23. Jealous 24

C O N T E N T S

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Sl. No. Title of the Story Page No.

24. Power of Giving 26

25. Juggler 28

26. Sparky 29

27. The Trouble Tree 30

28. The Signs of Happiness 32

29. Laugh 34

30. Balloon 36

31. Faith 36

32. Pencil 37

33. Arrogance 39

34. Building Your House 40

35. The Present 41

36. True Wealth 43

37. Good or Evil 44

38. Abraham Lincoln 44

39. Black or White 46

40. The Proud Red Rose 47

41. Two Monks 48

42. Humility 49

43. The Hares and the Frogs 50

44. Burden of My Own 50

45. Parents 52

46. Marble Stone 54

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47. Eagle in a Storm 55

48. Right Decision 56

49. Great Value in Disaster 58

50. Encouragement 59

51. Positive Thinking 60

52. Napoleon and the Furrier 61

53. The Cracked Pot 62

54. Good News 64

55. Creativity 65

56. The Stranger in the Garden 67

57. Punishment 68

58. Don’t Judge a Book by its Cover 70

59. The Selfish Man 72

60. Desire 73

61. Intentions 75

62. Hatred 77

63. Friendship 78

64. Dark Candle 79

65. What You Sow Thy You Reap 80

66. Football 83

67. The Best Day of My Life 84

68. Contentment 85

69. A Selfless Effort 87

Sl. No. Title of the Story Page No.

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70. Confidence 88

71. Puppies for Sale 89

72. Generosity 90

73. Cup of Coffee 91

74. The making of a Mother 92

75. King and his Four Wives 94

76. Trees that Wood 97

77. Spoken Words 99

78. Mountain 99

79. The Buzzard, The Bat and The Bumblebee 101

80. Determination 102

81. Olympic Diver 104

82. Greed 105

83. The Praying Hands 105

84. Lilliput 108

85. Try Something Different 108

86. Cheat 109

87. The Lord of Love 110

88. Think Twice 112

89. Beggar 114

90. Glass of Water 115

91. The Chicken 116

92. The Brick 118

Sl. No. Title of the Story Page No.

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93. Teacher 119

94. A Simple Gesture 122

95. Vanilla Ice Cream 123

96. The Farmer and the Stork 125

97. The Sculptor’s Attitude 126

98. The Travellers and the Plain Tree 127

99. Run, Patti, Run 128

100. A Slave to his Destiny 130

101. The Cab Driver 132

102. Sense of a Goose 134

103. Father’s Eyes 136

104. Words and Actions should be the Same 138

105. The Most Beautiful Heart 139

106. Special Orders 141

107. God’s Representatives 142

108. The Window 144

109. God Exists 146

110. Just P.U.S.H! 147

111. Don’t We All 149

Sl. No. Title of the Story Page No.

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b MESSAGE BY GEORGE CARLIN a

The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildingsbut shorter tempers, wider freeways, but narrower viewpoints.We spend more, but have less. We buy more, but enjoy less. Wehave bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences, butless time. We have more degrees but less sense, more knowledge,but less judgment, more experts, yet more problems, moremedicine, but less wellness.

We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laughtoo little, drive too fast, get too angry, stay up too late, get up tootired, read too little, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom.We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. Wetalk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often. We’ve learnedhow to make a living, but not a life. We’ve added years to life notlife to years.

We’ve been all the way to the moon and back, but have troublecrossing the street to meet a new neighbor. We conquered outerspace but not inner space. We’ve done larger things, but notbetter things. We’ve cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul.We’ve conquered the atom, but not our prejudice.

We write more, but learn less. We plan more, but accomplishless. We’ve learned to rush, but not to wait. We build morecomputers to hold more information, to produce more copiesthan ever, but we communicate less and less.

These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion, big men andsmall character, steep profits and shallow relationships. Theseare the days of two incomes but more divorce, fancier houses,but broken homes. These are days of quick trips, disposablediapers, throwaway morality, one night stands, overweight bodies,and pills that do everything from cheer, to quiet, to kill.

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It is a time when there is much in the showroom window andnothing in the stockroom. A time when technology can bring thisletter to you, and a time when you can choose either to share thisinsight, or to just hit delete.

Remember; spend some time with your loved ones, because theyare not going to be around forever. Remember, say a kind wordto someone who looks up to you in awe, because that little personsoon will grow up and leave your side. Remember, to give a warmhug to the one next to you, because that is the only treasure youcan give with your heart and it doesn’t cost a cent.

Remember, to say, “I love you” to your partner and your lovedones, but most of all mean it. A kiss and an embrace will mendhurt when it comes from deep inside of you. Remember to holdhands and cherish the moment for someday that person will notbe there again.

Moral of the Story: Life is not a race. Take it slower. Hearthe music before the song is over. Give yourself time to love,time to speak and time to share the precious thoughts inyour mind.

b LIFE a

One day a small opening appeared on a cocoon, a man satand watched for the butterfly for several hours as it struggled toforce its body through that little hole. Then, it seemed to stopmaking any progress. It appeared as if it had gotten as far as itcould and it could go no further. So, the man decided to help thebutterfly. He took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remainingbit of the cocoon. The butterfly then emerged easily. But it had aswollen body and small, shriveled wings.

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The man continued to watch the butterfly because he expectedthat, at any moment, the wings would enlarge and expand to beable to support the body, which would contract in time.

Neither happened! In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its lifecrawling around with a swollen body, and shriveled wings. It wasnever able to fly what the man in his kindness and haste did notunderstand was that the restricting cocoon and the strugglerequired for the butterfly to get through the tiny opening was God’sway of forcing fluid from the body of butterfly into its wings sothat it could be ready for flight once it achieved its freedom fromthe cocoon.

Moral of the Story: Sometimes struggles are exactly whatwe need in our life. If God allowed us to go through ourlife without any obstacles, it would cripple us. We wouldnot be as strong as what we could have been. We couldnever fly.

I asked for strength, and God gave me

difficulties to make me strong.

I asked for wisdom and God gave me

problems to solve.

I asked for prosperity and God gave me

brain and brawn to work.

I asked for courage and God gave me danger to overcome.

I asked for love and God gave me troubled people to help.

I asked for favors and God gave me opportunities.

I received nothing I wanted.

I received everything I needed.

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b THE THREE DOLLS a

A sage presented a prince with a set of three small dolls. Theprince was not amused.

“Am I a girl that you give me dolls?” He asked.

“This is a gift for a future king,” Said the sage. “If you look carefully,you’ll see a hole in the ear of each doll.”

The sage handed him a piece of string.

“Pass it through each doll,” he said.

Intrigued, the prince picked up the first doll and put the stringinto the ear.

It came out from the other ear.

“This is one type of person,” said the sage. “Whatever you tellhim, comes out from the other ear? He doesn’t retain anything.”

The prince put the string into the second doll. It came out fromthe mouth.

“This is the second type of person,” said the sage. “Whateveryou tell him, he tells everybody else.”

The prince picked up the third doll and repeated the process.The string did not reappear from anywhere else.

“This is the third type of person,” said the sage. “Whatever youtell him is locked up within him. It never comes out.”

“What is the best type of person?” Asked the prince.

The sage handed him a fourth doll, in answer.

When the prince put the string into the doll, it came out from theother ear.

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“Do it again,” said the sage. The prince repeated the process.This time the string came out from the mouth. When he put thestring in a third time, it did not come out at all.

“This is the best type of person,” said the sage. “To be trustworthy,a man must know when not to listen, when to remain silent andwhen to speak out.”

Moral of the Story: In this world there are people whorepresent one or the other doll in this story. Try to nurtureyour self to become and acquaint the skill of Fourth doll.

b NEGATIVE INFLUENCE a

There was a hunter who bought a bird hunter dog, the only oneof its kind in this world that could walk on water. He couldn’tbelieve his eyes when he saw the miracle. At the same time, hewas very pleased that he could show off his new acquisition tohis friends. He invited a friend to go duck hunting. After sometime, they shot a few ducks and the man ordered his dog to runand fetch the birds. All day long, the dog ran on water and keptfetching the birds. The owner was expecting a comment or acompliment about this amazing dog, but never got one. As theywere returning home, he asked his friend if he had noticed anythingunusual about his dog. The friend replied, “Yes in fact, I did noticesomething unusual. Your dog can’t swim”.

After hearing the same reply from some other friends he disownedthe dog.

Moral of the Story: Some people always look at negativeside and feel that they are winning by down playing others.But by this attitude they are down sizing their abilities.

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b VALUE a

A well-known speaker started off his seminar by holding up aRs.100 note. In the room of 200, he asked, “Who would like tohave this Rs.100 note?”

Hands started going up.

He said, “I am going to give this Rs.100 note to one of you butfirst, let me do this.” He proceeded to crumple the Rupee note.

He then asked, “Who still wants it?”

Still the hands were up in the air.

“Well,” he replied, “What if I do this?” And he dropped it on theground and started to grind it into the floor with his shoe.

He picked it up, now all crumpled and dirty. “Now who still wantsit?” Still the hands went into the air.

“My friends, you have all learned a very valuable lesson. Nomatter what I did to the money, you still wanted it because it didnot decrease in value. It was still worth Rs.100.

Moral of the Story: Many times in our lives, we are dropped,crumpled, and ground into the dirt by the decisions we makeand the circumstances that come our way. We feel as thoughwe are worthless. But no matter what has happened or whatwill happen, you will never lose your value. You are special- Don’t ever forget it!

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b FAILURES a(a) In 1913, Lee De Forest, inventor of the triode tube, was

charged for fraudulent means to mislead the public intobuying the stocks of his company by claiming that he couldtransmit the human voice across the Atlantic. He waspublicly humiliated.

(b) Walt Disney faced many rejections from newspaperseditors, who said he had no talent. One day a minister at achurch hired him to draw some cartoons. Disney wasworking out of a small mouse-infested shed near thechurch. After seeing a small mouse, he was inspired. Thatwas the start of Mickey Mouse.

(c) Thomas Alva Edison had only three months of formalschooling. He was partially deaf. He failed approximately10,000 times while working on the light bulb.

(d) Beethoven (Music composer) was told that he had no talentfor music, but he gave some of the best music to the world.He was Deaf.

(e) Amitabh Bachan (angry young man of the Bollywood) wasrejected by every one and suggested him to try in singing.But he persistently tried and he is a living legend today.

(f) Milton wrote great poetry on nature. He was blind

Moral of the Story: A setback can act as a driving force andalso teach us humility. There are no real failures in life,only results. There are no true tragedies in life only lessons.There are no problems only opportunities waiting to berecognized as solutions by the person of wisdom.

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b SECRET OF SUCCESS a

A young man asked Socrates the secret to success. Socratestold the young man to meet him near the river the next morning. Theymet. Socrates asked the young man to walk with him toward theriver. When the water got up to their neck, Socrates took the youngman, by surprise and ducked him into the water. The boy struggledto get out but Socrates was strong and kept him there until the boystarted turning blue. Socrates pulled his head out of the water andthe first thing the young man did was to gasp and take a deep breathof air. Socrates asked, “What did you want the most when you werethere?” The boy replied, “Air”. Socrates said, “That is the secret ofSuccess. When you want success as badly as you wanted the air,then you will get it. There is no other secret.

Moral of the Story: A burning desire is the starting point ofall accomplishments. Put your heart, mind, intellect andsoul even to your smallest acts. This is the secret of success

b SAND AND STONE a

A story tells that two friends were walking through the desert.During some point of the journey they had an argument, and onefriend slapped the other one in the face. The one who got slappedwas hurt, but without saying anything, wrote in the sand: “TODAYMY BEST FRIEND SLAPPED ME IN THE FACE.”

They kept on walking until they found an oasis, where theydecided to take a bath. The one, who had been slapped, gotstuck in the mire and started drowning, but the friend saved him.After the friend recovered from the near drowning, he wrote ona stone: “TODAY MY BEST FRIEND SAVED MY LIFE.”

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The friend who had slapped and saved his best friend asked him,“After I hurt you, you wrote in the sand and now, you write on astone, why?”

The other friend replied: “When someone hurts us, we shouldwrite it down in sand where winds of forgiveness can erase itaway. But, when someone does something good for us, we mustengrave it in stone where no wind can ever erase it.”

Moral of the Story: Lets learn to write our hurts in thesand, and to carve our benefits in stone. We forget thatforgiveness is greater than revenge. People make mistakes.We are allowed to make mistakes. But the actions we takewhile in a rage will haunt us forever.

b TWO FROGS a

A group of frogs were traveling through the woods, and twoof them fell into a deep pit. When the other frogs saw how deepthe pit was, they told the two frogs that they were as good asdead. The two frogs ignored the comments and tried to jump upout of the pit with all their might. The other frogs kept tellingthem to stop, that they were as good as dead. Finally, one of thefrogs took heed to what the other frogs were saying and gaveup. He fell down and died.

The other frog continued to jump as hard as he could. Onceagain, the crowd of frogs yelled at him to stop the pain and justdie. He jumped even harder and finally made it out. When he gotout, the other frogs said, “Did you not hear us?” The frog explainedto them that he was deaf. He thought they were encouraging himthe entire time.

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Moral of the Story: There is power of life and death in thetongue. An encouraging word to someone who is down canlift them up and help them make it through the day.

A destructive word to someone who is down can be what ittakes to kill them. Be careful of what you say. Speak life tothose who cross your path. The power of words... it issometimes hard to understand that an encouraging wordcan go such a long way. Anyone can speak words that tendto rob another of the spirit to continue in difficult times.Special is the individual who will take the time toencourage another.

b FOUR CANDLES a

In a room there are four candles burning. The ambiance was sosoft you could hear them talking. The first one said

‘I am PEACE however nobody can keep me lit. I believe I willgo out’

Its flame rapidly diminishes and goes out completely.

The second one says

‘I am FAITH. Most of all I am no longer indispensable, so itdoes not make any sense that I stay lit any longer’

When it finished talking a breeze softly blew on it putting it out.

Sadly, the third candle spoke in its turn.

I am LOVE I have not got the strength to stay lit. People put measide and don’t understand my importance. They even forget tolove those who are nearest to them.

And waiting no longer it goes out.

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Suddenly a child enters the room and sees three candles notburning. ‘Why are you not burning you are supposed to stay littill the end.

Saying this the child begins to cry.

Then the fourth candle said

Don’t be afraid, while I am still burning we can relight the othercandles, I am HOPE.

With shining eyes, the child took the candle of hope and lit theother candles.

The flame of Hope should never go out from our life and thateach of us can maintain HOPE, FAITH, PEACE AND LOVE.

Moral of the Story: Hope never abandons you. You abandonhope. Consult not your fears but your hopes and yourdreams. Think not about your frustrations, but about yourunfulfilled potential. Concern yourself not with what youtried and failed in, but with what it is still possible for youto do.

b THE WOODEN BOWL a

A frail old man went to live with his son, daughter-in-law,and a four-year old grandson. The old man’s hands trembled, hiseyesight was blurred, and his step faltered. The family ate togethernightly at the dinner table. But the elderly grandfather’s shakyhands and failing sight made eating rather difficult. Peas rolled offhis spoon onto the floor. When he grasped the glass often milkspilled on the tablecloth. The son and daughter-in-law becameirritated with the mess. “We must do something about grandfather,”

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said the son. I’ve had enough of his spilled milk, noisy eating,and food on the floor. So the husband and wife set a small tablein the corner. There, grandfather ate alone while the rest of thefamily enjoyed dinner at the dinner table. Since grandfather hadbroken a dish or two, his food was served in a wooden bowl.Sometimes when the family glanced in grandfather’s direction,he had a tear in his eye as he ate alone. Still, the only words thecouple had for him were sharp admonitions when he dropped afork or spilled food. The four-year-old watched it all in silence.

One evening before supper, the father noticed his son playingwith wood scraps on the floor. He asked the child sweetly, “Whatare you making?” Just as sweetly, the boy responded, “Oh, I ammaking a little bowl for you and mama to eat your food fromwhen I grow up.” The four-year-old smiled and went back towork. The words so struck the parents that they were speechless.Then tears started to stream down their cheeks. Though no wordwas spoken, both knew what must be done. That evening thehusband took grandfather’s hand and gently led him back to thefamily table.

For the remainder of his days he ate every meal with the family.And for some reason, neither husband nor wife seemed to careany longer when a fork was dropped, milk spilled, or thetablecloth soiled. Children are remarkably perceptive. Their eyesever observe, their ears ever listen, and their minds ever processthe messages they absorb. If they see us patiently provide a happyhome atmosphere for family members, they will imitate that attitudefor the rest of their lives. The wise parent realizes that every daythat building blocks are being laid for the child’s future.

Moral of the Story: Life is about people connecting withpeople, and making a positive difference. Take care of thoseyou love, and those who loves you. Let us all be wise andcare elders.

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b QUIZ aTake this quiz:

1. Name the five wealthiest people in the world.

2. Name the last five Oscar winners.

3. Name the last five winners of the Miss Universe contest.

4. Name ten people who have won the Nobel Prize.

5. Name the last half dozen National Award winners forbest actor or actress.

How did you do?

The point is, none of us remember the headliners of yesterday.These are no second-rate achievers. They are the best in theirfields. But the applause dies. Awards tarnish. Achievements areforgotten. Accolades and certificates are buried with their owners.

Here’s another quiz. See how you do on this one:

1. List a few teachers who aided your journey throughschool.

2. Name three friends who have helped you through adifficult time.

3. Name five people who have taught you somethingworthwhile.

4. Think of a few people who have made you feel,appreciated and special.

5. Think of five people you enjoy spending time with.

6. Name half a dozen heroes whose stories have inspiredyou. Easier?

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Moral of the Story: The people who make a difference inyour life are not the ones with the most credentials, themost money, or the most awards. They are the ones whocared you. So care every one irrespective of their credibilityand let them cherish your memories

b THE STARFISH a

Once upon a time there was a wise man who used to go to theocean to do his writing. He had a habit of walking on the beachbefore he began his work. One day he was walking along theshore. As he looked down the beach, he saw a human figuremoving like a dancer.

He smiled to himself to think of someone who would dance tothe day. So he began to walk faster to catch up. As he got closer,he saw that it was a young man and the young man wasn’t dancing,but instead he was reaching down to the shore, picking upsomething and very gently throwing it into the ocean. As he gotcloser he called out,

“Good morning! What are you doing?” The young man paused,looked up and replied,

“Throwing starfish in the ocean.”

“I guess I should have asked, why are you throwing starfish inthe ocean?”

“The sun is up, and the tide is going out. And if I don’t throwthem in they’ll die.”

“But, young man, don’t you realize that there are miles and milesof beach, and starfish all along it. You can’t possibly make adifference!”

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The young man listened politely. Then bent down, picked anotherstarfish and threw it into the sea, past the breaking waves andsaid,

“It made a difference for that one.”

Moral of the Story: There is something very special in eachand every one of us. We have all been gifted with the abilityto make a difference. And if we can become aware of thatgift, we gain through the strength of our visions the powerto shape the future. We must each find our starfish. And ifwe throw our stars wisely and well, the world will beblessed.

b UNCONDITIONAL LOVE a

A story is told about a soldier who was finally coming homeafter having fought in a war. He called his parents “Mom andDad, I’m coming home, but I’ve a favor to ask. I have a friendI’d like to bring home with me.”

“Sure,” they replied, “We’d love to meet him.”

“There’s something you should know the son continued, “he washurt pretty badly in the fighting. He stepped on a land mind andlost an arm and a leg. He has nowhere else to go, and I want himto come live with us.”

“I’m sorry to hear that, son. Maybe we can help him findsomewhere to live.”

“No, Mom and Dad, I want him to live with us.”

“Son,” said the father, “you don’t know what you’re asking.Someone with such a handicap would be a terrible burden on us.

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We have our own lives to live, and we can’t let something likethis interfere with our lives. I think you should just come homeand forget about this guy. He’ll find a way to live on his own.”

At that point, the son hung up the phone. The parents heardnothing more from him. A few days later, however, they receiveda call from the police. Their son had died after falling from abuilding, they were told. The police believed it was suicide. Thegrief-stricken parents were taken to the city morgue to identifythe body of their son. They recognized him, but to their horrorthey also discovered something they didn’t know, their son hadonly one arm and one leg.

The parents in this story are like many of us. We find it easy tolove those who are good-looking or fun to have around, but wedon’t like people who inconvenience us or make us feeluncomfortable. We would rather stay away from people whoaren’t as healthy, beautiful, or smart as we are. Thankfully, there’ssomeone who won’t treat us that way. Someone who loves uswith an unconditional love that welcomes us into the forever family,regardless of how messed up we are.

Moral of the Story: May God give us the strength we needto accept people as they are, and to help us all be moreunderstanding of those who are different from us!

b KING AND BEGGAR a

The king was to pass by a beggar’s hut and the man was besidehimself with excitement, not because he was about to see theking but because the king was known to part with expensive jewelsand huge sums of money when moved by compassion.

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He saw the King’s chariot just as a kindly man was filling hisbegging bowl with uncooked rice. Pushing the man aside, he raninto the street, shouting praises of the king and the royal family.

The chariot stopped and the king beckoned to the beggar.

“Who are you?” He asked.

“One of the most unfortunate of your subjects,” said the beggar.“Poverty sits on my doorstep and follows me about like a dog. Ihaven’t eaten since yesterday afternoon!”

“Have you nothing for your king except a tale of woe?” Said theruler, putting out his hand. “Give me something.”

The beggar, astonished, carefully picked up 5 grains of rice fromhis bowl and laid them on the King’s outstretched palm.

The king drove away. The beggar’s disappointment was great.He raved and ranted and cursed the king again and again for hismiserliness. Finally, his anger spent, he went on his rounds.

When he returned home in the evening he found a bag of rice onthe floor.

“Some generous soul has been here,” He thought and took out ahandful of rice from the bag. To his astonishment there was asmall piece of gold in it. He realized then that the bag had beensent by the king. He emptied the rice on the floor, feeling surethere would be more gold pieces in it, and he was right. He found5, one for each grain of rice he had given to the king.

“It is not the king who has been miserly,” thought the man, sadly.“If I had been generous and given him the whole bowl of rice, Iwould have been a rich man today.”

Moral of the Story: What you offer to others will beget backto you. Always give the best to others. “Do all the good you

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can, By all the means you can, In all the ways you can, Inall the places you can, At all the times you can, To all thepeople you can, As long as ever you can.”

b MOTHERS DAY a

A man stopped at a flower shop to order some flowers to bewired to his mother who lived two hundred miles away.

As he got out of his car he noticed a young girl sitting on the curbsobbing.

He asked her what was wrong and she replied, “I wanted to buya red rose for my mother and I don’t have enough money.

The man smiled and said, “Come on in with me. I’ll buy you arose.”

He bought the little girl her rose and ordered his own mother’sflowers.

As they were leaving he offered the girl a ride home.

She said, “Yes, please! You can take me to my mother.”

She directed him to a cemetery, where she placed the rose on afreshly dug grave.

The man returned to the flower shop, canceled the wire order,picked up a bouquet and drove the two hundred miles to hismother’s house.

Moral of the Story: People can’t wait until we are free tospend time with them, take time from your schedule andspend with them to make them happy and have nicememories.

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b FROG IN A MILK -PAIL a

A frog was hopping around a farmyard, when it decided toinvestigate the barn. Being somewhat careless, and maybe a littletoo curious, he ended up falling into a pail half-filled with freshmilk.

As he swam about attempting to reach the top of the pail, hefound that the sides of the pail were too high and steep to reach.

He tried to stretch his back legs to push off the bottom of the pailbut found it too deep.

But this frog was determined not to give up, and he continued tostruggle.

He kicked and squirmed and kicked and squirmed, until at last,all his churning about in the milk had turned the milk into a bighunk of butter.

The butter was now solid enough for him to climb onto and getout of the pail!

Moral of the Story: Try and try until you succeed. Nevergive up. Through perseverance many people win successout of what seemed destined to be certain failure.

b ALEXANDER FLEMING a

His name was Fleming, and he was a poor Scottish farmer.One day, while trying to eke out a living for his family, he heard acry for help coming from a nearby bog. He dropped his toolsand ran to the bog. There, mired to his waist in black mud, was aterrified boy, screaming and struggling to free himself. Farmer

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Fleming saved the lad from what could have been a slow andterrifying death.

The next day, a fancy carriage pulled up to the Scotsman’s sparsesurroundings. An elegantly dressed nobleman stepped out andintroduced himself as the father of the boy Farmer Fleming hadsaved.

“I want to repay you,” said the nobleman. “You saved my son’slife.”

“No, I can’t accept payment for what I did,” the Scottish farmerreplied, waving off the offer. At that moment, the farmer’s ownson came to the door of the family hovel.

“Is that your son?” The nobleman asked. “Yes,” the farmer repliedproudly.

“I’ll make you a deal. Let me take him and give him a goodeducation.

If the lad is anything like his father, he’ll grow to a man you canbe proud of.”

And that he did. In time, Farmer Fleming’s son graduated fromSt. Mary’s Hospital Medical School in London, and went on tobecome known throughout the world as the noted Sir AlexanderFleming, the discoverer of Penicillin.

Years afterward, the nobleman’s son was stricken with pneumonia.

What saved him? Penicillin.

The name of the nobleman? Lord Randolph Churchill.

His son’s name? Sir Winston Churchill.

Moral of the Story: Someone once said what goes aroundcomes around. What you offer to others will be paid back

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b A L IFE WORTH SAVING a

A man risked his life by swimming through the treacherousriptide to save a youngster being swept out to sea. After the childrecovered from the harrowing experience, he said to the man,“Thank you for saving my life.” The man looked into the boy’seyes and said, “That’s okay, kid. Just make sure your life wasworth saving.”

Moral of the Story: Life is Precious don’t live a mediocrelife. Have great aspirations. Living for self is human andliving for others is divine.

b PICTURE OF PEACE a

There once was a King who offered a prize to the artist whowould paint the best picture of peace. Many artists tried. TheKing looked at all the pictures, but there were only two he reallyliked and he had to choose between them.

One picture was of a calm lake. The lake was a perfect mirror,for peaceful towering mountains were all around it. Overheadwas a blue sky with fluffy white clouds. All who saw this picturethought that it was a perfect picture of peace.

The other picture had mountains, too. But these were ruggedand bare. Above was an angry sky from which rain fell and inwhich lightening played. Down the side of the mountain tumbleda foaming waterfall. This did not look peaceful at all. But whenthe King looked, he saw behind the waterfall a tiny bush growingin a crack in the rock. In the bush a mother bird had built hernest. There, in the midst of the rush of angry water, sat the mother

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bird on her nest... perfect peace.

Which picture do you think won the prize?

The King chose the second picture. Do you know why?

Because, as explained by the King: “peace does not mean to bein a place where there is no noise, trouble, or hard work. Peacemeans to be in the midst of all those things and still be calm inyour heart. That is the real meaning of peace.”

Moral of the Story: Peace and Happiness are the internalfeelings. Pure heart is the way towards them. Until heextends his circle of compassion to all living things, manwill not himself find peace

b MONEY a

In 1923 eight of the wealthiest people in the world met. Theircombined wealth is estimated, exceeded the wealth of thegovernment of the United States at that time. After 25 years.

1) President of largest steel company, Charles Schwab,lived on borrowed capital for five years before he diedbankrupt.

2) President of the largest gas company, Howard Hubson,went insane.

3) One of the greatest commodity traders, Arthur Cotton,Died insolvent.

4) President of New York Stock Exchange, RichardWhitney, was sent to jail.

5) A member of President’s Cabinet, Albert Fall, was

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pardoned from jail to go home and die in peace.

6) The greatest “Bear” on Wall Street, Jessie Livermore,committed suicide.

7) President of the world’s greatest monopoly, IvarKrueger, committed suicide.

8) President of Bank of International Settlement, LeonFraser, committed suicide.

Moral of the Story: Money is not constant. Money can beearned and lost. Never try to flaunt your money. Money isimportant but it is not everything.

What money can buy?

Sex but not Love

Luxury but not Comfort

Acquaintance but not true friendship

Music but not Peace

Sleep but not Rest

Medicine but not Health

Party but not Happiness

b ANGER a

There once was a little boy who had a bad temper. His Fathergave him a bag of nails and told him that every time he lost histemper, he must hammer a nail into the back of the fence.

The first day the boy had driven 20 nails into the fence. Over thenext few weeks, as he learned to control his anger, the number of

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nails hammered daily gradually dwindled down.

He discovered it was easier to hold his temper than to drive thosenails 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 boynow pull out one nail for each day that he was able to hold histemper. The day passed and the young boy was finally able to tellhis father that all the nails were gone.

The father took his son by the hand and led him to the fence. Hesaid, “You have done well, my son, but look at the holes in thefence. The fence will never be the same.

Moral of the Story: When you say things in anger, they leavea scar just like this one. You can put a knife in a man anddraw it out. It won’t matter how many times you say I’msorry, the wound is still there. Anger is one alphabet lessto danger.

b JEALOUS a

There was a companion of the king who visited him all thetime. He would sit beside him and say, ‘Treat the good-doer withgood and don’t treat the evildoer with evil for his evil will besufficient for him.’

Another man envied his position with the king and his good speech.The envious man came to the king and related: ‘Your companionthat sits beside you claimed that you had a bad smell.’

The king inquired, ‘But how can I verify this?’

The man replied, ‘Call him to you. He will put his hand on his

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nose as he gets closer to you.’

The king said, ‘Leave, and I will see! ‘This man left the king andinvited the King’s companion to a meal that he had placed muchgarlic in.

The companion ate and then went to the king as usual and said,‘Treat the good-doer with good and don’t treat the evildoer withevil, for his evil will be sufficient for him.’

The king said to him, ‘Get closer to me!’ The man moved closer,and placed his hand over his mouth so that the king would notsmell the odor of garlic.

The king thought to himself, ‘That man was truthful.’ The kingthen handwrote a letter and gave it to the companion. The kingnever wrote anything unless he wanted to give someone a prizeor gift.

But this letter was written to one of his administrators andcontained the following message: ‘when the bearer of this lettercomes to you, slaughter him and skin him. Then fill his skin withstraw and send him back to me.’

Later, the envious man met the companion on his way and asked,‘What is this letter?’

The companion replied, ‘The king has given me a gift.’

The envious man asked, ‘Would you give it to me.’

The other companion said, ‘It’s yours.’

The envious man took it and went to the administrator. Theadministrator said to him, ‘This letter is a command from the kingto slaughter you and skin you.’

The envious man announced, ‘this letter is not mine. I beseechyou to check with the king before you do anything.’

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The administrator informed him that there would be no changesto what the king had written. Then he slaughtered him, skinnedhim, filled his skin with straw, and sent him back to the king.

In the meantime, the companion returned to the king as usual.The king was shocked and demanded, ‘What happened to theletter?’

He said, ‘So-and-so met me and asked me for it, so I gave it tohim.’

The king then challenged, ‘Have you said that I have a bad smell?’

The man rebutted, ‘No!’

So the king asked, ‘Then why did you place your hand over yourmouth?’

The man answered, ‘So-and-so provided me with food that hadmuch garlic in it and I hated that you might smell it.’

The king declared, ‘you are truthful. The evil of the evildoer issufficient for him.’”

Moral of the Story: Whoever works righteousness benefitshis own soul; whoever works evil; it is against his own soul

b POWER OF GIVING a

Ram received an automobile from his brother as Birthdaypresent. One day when Ram came out of his office, a street urchinwas walking around the shiny new car, admiring it. “Is this yourcar, Uncle?” He asked. Ram nodded. “My brother presentedme on my birthday” The boy was astounded.

“You mean your brother gave it to you and it didn’t cost younothing? Boy, I wish...” He hesitated. Of course Ram knew what

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he was going to wish for. He was going to wish he had a brotherlike that. But what the lad said jarred Ram all the way down tohis heels. “I wish,” the boy went on, “that I could be a brotherlike that.” Ram looked at the boy in astonishment, and thenimpulsively he added, “Would you like to take a ride in myautomobile?” “Oh yes, I’d love that.”

After a short ride, the boy turned and with his eyes aglow, said,“Uncle, would you mind driving in front of my house?” Ram smileda little. He thought he knew what the lad wanted. He wanted toshow his neighbors that he could ride home in a big automobile.

But Ram was wrong again. “Will you stop where those two stepsare?” The boy asked. He ran up the steps. Then in a little whileRam heard him coming back, but he was not coming fast. Hewas carrying his little crippled brother. He sat him down on thebottom step, then sort of squeezed up against him and pointed tothe car.

“There she is, uncle, just like I told you upstairs. His brothergave it to him and it didn’t cost him a penny. And some day I’mgoing to give you one just like it...then you can see for yourself allthe pretty things in the Shop windows that I’ve been trying to tellyou about.”

Ram got out and lifted the boy to the front seat of his car. Theshining-eyed older brother climbed in beside him and the three ofthem began a memorable holiday ride.

Moral of the Story: Power of Giving is supreme. It is divine.We began by imagining that we are giving to them; we endby realizing that they have enriched us

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b JUGGLER a

In an university commencement address several years ago, BrianDyson, CEO of Coca Cola Enterprises, spoke of the relation ofwork to one’s other commitments: “Imagine life as a game inwhich you are juggling some five balls in the air. You name them -work, family, health, friends and spirit - and you’re keeping all ofthese in the air.

You will soon understand that work is a rubber ball. If you dropit, it will bounce back. But the other four balls - family, health,friends and spirit - are made of glass. If you drop one of these,they will be irrevocably scuffed, marked, nicked, damaged oreven shattered. They will never be the same.

You must understand that and strive for balance in your life. How?

-Don’t undermine your worth by comparing yourself with others.It is because we are different that each of us is special.

-Don’t set your goals by what other people deem important. Onlyyou know what is best for you.

-Don’t take for granted the things closest to your heart. Cling tothem as you would your life, for without them, life is meaningless.

-Don’t let your life slip through your fingers by living in the pastor for the future. By living your life one day at a time, you liveALL the days of your life

-Don’t give up when you still have something to give. Nothing isreally over until the moment you stop trying.

-Don’t be afraid to admit that you are less than perfect. It is thisfragile thread that binds us to each other.

-Don’t be afraid to encounter risks. It is by taking chances thatwe learn how to be brave.

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-Don’t shut love out of your life by saying it’s impossible to find.The quickest way to receive love is to give; the fastest way tolose love is to hold it too tightly; and the best way to keep love isto give it wings.

-Don’t run through life so fast that you forget not only whereyou’ve been, but also where you are going.

-Don’t forget, a person’s greatest emotional need is to feelappreciated.

-Don’t be afraid to learn. Knowledge is weightless, a treasureyou can always carry easily.

-Don’t use time or words carelessly. Neither can be retrieved.

-Life is not a race, but a journey to be savored each step of theway.

Moral of the Story: Your life, your achievement, yourhappiness, your people are of paramount importance. Liveup to your highest vision of yourself no matter what thecircumstances you might encounter.

b SPARKY a

For Sparky, school was all but impossible. He failed everysubject in the eighth grade.

He flunked physics in high school, getting a grade of zero. Sparkyalso flunked Latin, algebra and English. He didn’t do much betterin sports. Although he did manage to make the school’s golf team,he promptly lost the only important match of the season. Therewas a consolation match; he lost that, too.

Throughout his youth Sparky was awkward socially. He was

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not actually disliked by the other students; no one cared thatmuch. He was astonished if a classmate ever said hello to himoutside of school hours. There’s no way to tell how he mighthave done at dating. Sparky never once asked a girl to go out inhigh school. He was too afraid of being turned down.

Sparky was a loser. He, his classmates...everyone knew it. Sohe rolled with it.

Sparky had made up his mind early in life that if things weremeant to work out, they would. Otherwise he would contenthimself with what appeared to be his inevitable mediocrity.

However, one thing was important to Sparky - drawing. He wasproud of his artwork.

Of course, no one else appreciated it. In his senior year of highschool, he submitted some cartoons to the editors of theyearbook. The cartoons were turned down. Despite this particularrejection, Sparky was so convinced of his ability that he decidedto become a professional artist.

After completing high school, he wrote a letter to Walt DisneyStudios. He was told to send some samples of his artwork, andthe subject for a cartoon was suggested.

Sparky drew the proposed cartoon. He spent a great deal oftime on it and on all the other drawings he submitted. Finally, thereply came from Disney Studios. He had been rejected onceagain. Another loss for the loser.

So Sparky decided to write his own autobiography in cartoons.He described his childhood self - a little boy loser and chronicunderachiever. The cartoon character would soon become famousworldwide. For Sparky, the boy who had such a lack of successin school and whose work was rejected again and again wasCharles Schultz. He created the “Peanuts” comic strip and the

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little cartoon character whose kite would never fly and who neversucceeded in kicking a football.

Moral of the Story: Failures are the Stepping-stonestowards Success. Persistent efforts, Confidence and Faithare the Factors for success. The timid and fearful firstfailures dismay, but the stout heart stays trying by nightand by day. He values his failures as lessons that teach theone way to get to the goal he would reach.

b THE TROUBLE TREE a

The carpenter I hired to help me restore an old farmhouse hadjust finished a rough first day on the job. A flat tire made him losean hour of work, his electric saw quit and now his ancient pickuptruck refused to start.

While I drove him home, he sat in stony silence. On arriving, heinvited me in to meet his family. As we walked toward the frontdoor, he paused briefly at a small tree, touching the tips of thebranches with both hands.

When opening the door, he underwent an amazing transformation.His tanned face was wreathed in smiles and he hugged his twosmall children and gave his wife a kiss.

Afterward he walked me to the car. We passed the tree and mycuriosity got the better of me. I asked him about what I had seenhim do earlier.

“Oh, that’s my trouble tree,” he replied. “I know I can’t helphaving troubles on the job, but one thing for sure, troubles don’tbelong in the house with my wife and the children. So I just hangthem up on the tree every night when I come home. Then in the

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morning I pick them up again. “Funny thing is,” he smiled, “whenI come out in the morning to pick ‘them up, there aren’t nearly asmany as I remember hanging up the night before.”

Moral of the Story: Be thankful for problems... Or idiotswould have your job. Don’t carry your office on your headwhen you are at home. Relax and Chill out that is the bettersolution to tackle problems.

b THE SIGNS OF HAPPINESS a

There was a young couple that led a very happy life together.The only thing that they worried about was, whether theirhappiness would last forever or would they too would have toface problems.

One day, they heard that a wise old man had come to town; hecould solve all kinds of problems and guide people. So the coupledecided to visit the wise old man and tell him their source ofworry.

The wise old man told them; “Travel around the world and seeka man and a woman who are perfectly happy as a couple. Whenyou find such a couple, ask them for a piece of cloth from theman’s shirt, then keep that piece of cloth with you, and youalways remain happy.”

The young couple began their journey, to find the happiest couplein their world. In one place they heard that the governor and hiswife were the happiest people, so they went to their palace andasked them, “Are you the happiest couple?”

The governor and his wife replied, “Yes, we are happy in everyway except for one thing; we do not have any children.”

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Well that didn’t make the governor and his wife the happiestcouple. So they continued their journey. They arrived in one citywhere they had heard that the happiest couple lived. They wentto their house and asked them, “Are you the happiest couple?”

The couple replied, “Yes, we are really happy in every way exceptthat we have too many children which make our life a bituncomfortable.”

No, this couple did not sound to be the happiest. And, so theycontinued their journey. They visited many cities, towns andvillages asking the same question but they did not find what theywere looking for.

One Day the young couple came across a shepherd in the desert.The shepherd was grazing his sheep when his wife and child camealong. The shepherd greeted his wife and gently patted the childshe was carrying. She laid the mat and started to eat contentedly.The young couple came to them and asked them, “Are you thehappiest couple?”

The shepherd and his wife replied, “Nobody is unhappier thanthe king.” The young couple immediately realized that they werethe happiest couple and asked them for a piece of the shepherd’sshirt, so that their happiness too would last throughout.

The shepherd said, “If I give you a piece of cloth from my shirtthen I will be left without any clothes since I own just one shirt.”

The young couple at once understood that it is very difficult tofind perfect happiness anywhere in the world. The couple decidedto return to their Village. They went to the wise old man andrelated all that had taken place. They also complained that hisguidance was difficult to abide by.

The wise old man laughed and said, “Was your journey uselessor did you learn something from it?”

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The young man replied, “Yes, after this trip I have learn that inthis world, nobody is perfectly happy, only that person is happywho does everything to please God.”

The wife said, “I have learn that in order to be happy it is importantto remember two things; first, all human beings should be thankfuland contented with whatever they have.”

“And secondly, for ultimate happiness one must always practicepatience.”

After that, young couple thanked the wise old man for his guidanceand returned home. The wise man prayed for them and said,“Indeed the sign of happiness is in their heart and they have goodmanners and if the lifetime is spent in pleasure of God there wouldbe no differences in the existence of mankind.”

Moral of the Story: When one door of happiness closes,another opens; but often we look so long at the closed doorthat we do not see the one, which has opened for us.Contentment and Patience are the qualities, which leadstowards Happiness

b LAUGH! a

Many years ago, Norman Cousins was diagnosed as“terminally ill.” He was given six months to live. His chance forrecovery was one in 500. He could see the worry; depressionand anger in his life contributed to, and perhaps helped cause,his disease.

He wondered, “If illness can be caused by negativity, can wellnessbe created by positivism?” He decided to make an experimentof himself. Laughter was one of the most positive activities he

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knew. He rented all the funny movies he could find - Keaton,Chaplin, Fields, the Marx Brothers. (This was before VCRs, sohe had to rent the actual films.) He read funny stories. He askedhis friends to call him whenever they said, heard or did somethingfunny. His pain was so great he could not sleep. Laughing for 10solid minutes, he found, relieved the pain for several hours so hecould sleep. He fully recovered from his illness and lived another20 happy, healthy and productive years. (His journey is detailedin his book, Anatomy of an Illness.) He credits visualization, thelove of his family and friends, and laughter for his recovery. Somepeople think laughter is a waste of time. It is a luxury, they say, afrivolity, something to indulge in only every so often. Nothing couldbe further from the truth. Laughter is essential to our equilibrium,to our well being, to our aliveness. If we’re not well, laughterhelps us get well; if we are well, laughter helps us stay that way.Since Cousins’ groundbreaking subjective work, scientific studieshave shown that laughter has a curative effect on the body, themind and the emotions. So, if you like laughter, consider it soundmedical advice to indulge in it as often as you can. If you don’tlike laughter, then take your medicine - laugh anyway.

Moral of the Story: Use whatever makes you laugh - movies,sitcoms, cartoons, jokes, and friends. Give yourselfpermission to laugh - long and loud and out loud - wheneveranything strikes you as funny. The people around you maythink you’re strange, but sooner or later they’ll join in evenif they don’t know what you’re laughing about. Somediseases may be contagious, but none is as contagious asthe cure.. Laughter.

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b BALLOON a

There was a man who made living selling balloons at a fair. Hehad all colors of balloons, including red, yellow, blue and green.Whenever business was slow, he would release a helium-filledballoon into the air and when the children saw it go up, they allwanted to buy one. They would come up to him, buy a balloonand his sales would go up again. He continued this process allday. One day, he felt someone tugging at his jacket. He turnedaround and saw a little boy who asked, “If you release a blackballoon, would that also fly? “Moved by the boy’s concern, theman replied with empathy, “Son, it is not the colors of the balloon,it is inside that makes it go up.”

Moral of the Story: The same thing applies to our lives.The thing inside of us that makes us go up is our attitude.It is our attitude at the beginning of a difficult undertaking,which more than anything else, will determine its outcome

b FAITH a

Once upon a time there was a small boy. He complained aboutGod that he is not taking adequate care with his children. Godwas pleased and asked the child what he wanted. The boy wassurprised and asked God to be with him all the times. God repliedthat I am always with my children. I will be walking aside of themwhere ever they go. Boy said, “I cannot see your foot steps besideme”. God smiled and said from now onwards you can see myfootsteps beside you. Boy was very happy and left to play.

He was curious and wanted to test whether God was with him ornot. He walked in the mud to watch the footsteps of God. He

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was amazed there were God’s footsteps.

Boy wanted to conduct a difficult test to the God and went up toa cliff and walked on the aisle, wind was blowing. A carelessstep may lead to the fall into the valley. The boy observed thatthere were only one pair of footsteps is visible. Boy was dismayedand called God and asked for an explanation that why he left himalone on the cliff. God smiled and said, “My child I am with youall the times the footsteps you see on the cliff are of mine. I washolding you and walked the aisle carefully so that you may notfall into the valley. The boy was delighted and thanked the God.

Moral of the Story: The creator knows what to give andwhen to give. Don’t be desperate and loose confidence, putyour efforts maximum and forget about the result.

Every person is a gem created by God. Should we feel attimes disheartened and discouraged, a confiding thought,a simple movement of heart towards God will renew ourpowers. Whatever He may demand of us, He will give us atthe moment the strength and the courage that we need.

b PENCIL a

The Pencil Maker took the pencil aside, just before puttinghim into the box.

“There are 5 things you need to know,” he told the pencil, “BeforeI send you out into the world. Always remember them and neverforget, and you will become the best pencil you can be.”

“One: You will be able to do many great things, but only if youallow yourself to be held in someone’s hand.”

“Two: You will experience a painful sharpening from time to time,

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but you’ll need it to become a better pencil.”

“Three: You will be able to correct any mistakes you might make.”

“Four : The most important part of you will always be what’sinside.”

“Five: On every surface you are used on, you must leave yourmark. No matter what the condition, you must continue to write.”

The pencil understood and promised to remember, and went intothe box with purpose in its heart.

Now replacing the place of the pencil with you. Always rememberthem and never forget, and you will become the best person youcan be.

One: You will be able to do many great things, but only if youallow yourself to be held in God’s hand. And allow other humanbeings to access you for the many gifts you possess.

Two: You will experience a painful sharpening from time to time,by going through various problems in life, but you’ll need it tobecome a stronger person.

Three: You will be able to correct any mistakes you might make.

Four: The most important part of you will always be what’s onthe inside.

Five: On every surface you walk through, you must leave yourmark. No matter what the situation, you must continue to doyour duties.

Moral of the Story: Allow this parable on the pencil toencourage you to know that you are a special person andonly you can fulfill the purpose to which you were born toaccomplish. Never allow yourself to get discouraged andthink that your life is insignificant and cannot make achange.

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b ARROGANCE a

A young man was getting ready to graduate from an Engineeringcollege. For many months he had admired a beautiful sports bikein a dealer’s showroom, and knowing his father could well affordit, he told him that was all he wanted.

As Graduation Day approached, the young man awaited signsthat his father will purchase the bike. Finally, one day his fathercalled him into his private study. His father told him how proudhe was to have such a fine son, and told him how much he lovedhim. He handed his son a beautiful wrapped gift box.

Curious, but somewhat disappointed the young man opened thebox and found a lovely, Holy Book (Bhagawat Gita). Angrily, heraised his voice at his father and said, “With all your money yougive me a Holy book?” And stormed out of the house, leavingthe holy book.

Many years passed and the young man was very successful inbusiness. He had a beautiful home and wonderful family, butrealized his father was very old, and thought perhaps he shouldgo to him. He had not seen him since that graduation day. Beforehe could make arrangements, he received a telegram telling himhis father had passed away, and willed all of his possessions tohis son. He needed to come home immediately and take carethings.

When he arrived at his father’s house, sudden sadness and regretfilled his heart. He began to search his father’s important papersand saw the Holy book, just as he had left it years ago. Withtears, he opened the book and began to turn the pages. As heread those words, a key dropped from an envelope taped behindthe book. It had a tag with the dealer’s name, the same dealerwho had the sports bike he had desired. On the bill was the date

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of his graduation, and the words...PAID IN FULL.

Moral of the Story: Sometimes we don’t realize the goodfortune we have or we could have because we expect “thepackaging” to be different. What may appear, as badfortune may in fact be the door that is just waiting to beopened?

b BUILDING YOUR HOUSE a

An elderly carpenter was ready to retire. He told his employer-contractor of his plans to leave the house-building business tolive a more leisurely life with his wife and enjoy his extendedfamily. He would miss the paycheck each week, but he wantedto retire. They could get by.

The contractor was sorry to see his good worker go & asked ifhe could build just one more house as a personal favor. Thecarpenter said yes, but over time it was easy to see that his heartwas not in his work. He resorted to shoddy workmanship andused inferior materials. It was an unfortunate way to end adedicated career.

When the carpenter finished his work, his employer came toinspect the house. Then he handed the front-door key to thecarpenter and said, “This is your house... my gift to you.”

The carpenter was shocked!

What a shame! If he had only known he was building his ownhouse, he would have done it all so differently.

Moral of the Story: So it is with us. We build our lives, aday at a time, often putting less than our best into thebuilding. Then, with a shock, we realize we have to live in

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the house we have built. If we could do it over, we woulddo it much differently.

But, you cannot go back. You are the carpenter, and everyday you hammer a nail, place a board, or erect a wall.Someone once said, “Life is a do-it-yourself project.” Yourattitude and the choices you make today, help build the“house” you will live in tomorrow. Therefore, Build wisely!

If a man is called to be street sweeper, he should sweepstreets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethovencomposed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He shouldsweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earthwill pause to say; here lived a great street sweeper who didhis job well - Martin Luther King, Jr.

b THE PRESENT a

Imagine there is a bank that credits your account each morningwith $86,400.

It carries over no balance from day to day. Every evening thebank deletes whatever part of the balance you failed to use duringthe day. What would you do? Draw out every cent, of course!

Each of us has such a bank. Its name is TIME. Every morning, itcredits you with 86,400 seconds. Every night it writes off, aslost, whatever of this you have failed to invest to good purpose.It carries over no balance. It allows no overdraft. Each day itopens a new account for you. Each night it burns the remains ofthe 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

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“tomorrow.” You must live in the present on today’s deposits.Invest it so as to get from it the utmost in health, happiness, andsuccess!

The clock is running. Make the most of today.

To realize the value of ONE YEAR, ask a student who failed agrade

To realize the value of ONE MONTH, ask a mother who gavebirth to a premature baby.

To realize the value of ONE WEEK, ask the editor of a weeklynewspaper.

To realize the value of ONE HOUR, ask the lovers who arewaiting to meet.

To realize the value of ONE MINUTE, ask a person who missedthe train.

To realize the value of ONE-SECOND, ask a person who justavoided an accident.

To realize the value of ONE MILLISECOND, ask the personwho won a silver medal in the Olympics.

Moral of the Story: Treasure every moment that you have!And treasure it more because you shared it with someonespecial, special enough to spend your time. And rememberthat time waits for no one. Yesterday is history, Tomorrowis a mystery, and Today is a gift, that’s why it’s called the“Present”.

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b TRUE WEALTH a

One day a father of a very wealthy family took his son on atrip to the country with the purpose of showing his son how thepoor people live so he could be thankful for his wealth.

They spent a couple of days and nights on the farm of what wouldbe considered a very poor family.

On their return from their trip, the father asked his son, “Howwas the trip?” “It was great, Dad.” “Did you see how poor peoplecan be?” The father asked. “Oh yeah” said the son. “So what didyou learn from the trip?” Asked the father.

The son answered, “I saw that we have one dog and they hadfour. We have a pool that reaches to the middle of our gardenand they have a creek that has no end.” “We have imported lanternsin our garden and they have the stars at night.” “Our patio reachesto the front yard and they have the whole horizon.” “We have asmall piece of land to live on and they have fields that go beyondour sight.” “We have servants who serve us, but they serve others.”“We buy our food, but they grow theirs.” “We have walls aroundour property to protect us, they have friends to protect them.”

With this the boy’s father was speechless. Then his son added,“Thanks dad for showing me how poor we are.”

Moral of the Story: Many people chase after success. Otherspursue money. But I think the happiest people on earth arethe one’s who have found significance. The real questionof life must be. What has significance for you? Richnessmade out of heart is the essence of life. Money can comeand go but the heart you have is the asset you possess.Enrich with good knowledge and become rich.

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b GOOD OR EVIL a

One evening an old man told his grandson about a battle thatgoes on inside people. He said, “My son, the battle is betweentwo (2) wolves inside us all.”

One is Evil . It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed,arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride,superiority, and ego.

The other is Good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility,kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassionand faith.

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked hisgrandfather: “Which wolf wins?”

The old man simply replied, “The one you feed.”

Moral of the Story: The only devils in this world are thoserunning around inside our own hearts and that is whereall our battles should be fought. It depends on us. We canmake a lot difference. Always feed the good wolf.

b ABRAHAM LINCOLN a

Probably the greatest example of persistence is AbrahamLincoln. If you want to learn about somebody who didn’t quit,look no further.

Born into poverty, Lincoln was faced with defeat throughout hislife. He lost eight elections, twice failed in business and suffereda nervous breakdown. He could have quit many times - but hedidn’t and because he didn’t quit, he became one of the greatest

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presidents in the history of United States of America.

Lincoln was a champion and he never gave up. Here is a sketchof Lincoln’s road to the White House:

1816 His family was forced out of their home. He had towork to support them.

1818 His mother died.

1831 Failed in business.

1832 Ran for state legislature - lost.

l832 Also lost his job - wanted to go to law school butcouldn’t get in.

1833 Borrowed some money from a friend to begin abusiness and by the end of the year he was bankrupt.He spent the next 17 years of his life paying off thisdebt.

1834 Ran for state legislature again - won.

1835 Was engaged to be married, sweetheart died and hisheart was broken.

1836 Had a total nervous breakdown and was in bed forsix months.

1838 Sought to become speaker of the state legislature -defeated.

1840 Sought to become elector - defeated.

1843 Ran for Congress - lost.

1846 Ran for Congress again - this time he won - went toWashington and did a good job.

1848 Ran for reelection to Congress - lost.

1849 Sought the job of land officer in his home state -

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rejected.

1854 Ran for Senate of the United States - lost.

1856 Sought the Vice-Presidential nomination at his party’snational convention-get less than 100 votes.

1858 Ran for U.S. Senate again - again he lost.

1860 Elected president of the United States.

Moral of the Story: If you want to succeed, double yourfailure rate.- Tom Watson Sr.

Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, themind can achieve - Napoleon Hill

b BLACK OR WHITE a

When I was in elementary school, I got into a major argumentwith a boy in my class. I have forgotten what the argument wasabout, but I have never forgotten the lesson I learned that day.

I was convinced that “I” was right and “he” was wrong - and hewas just as convinced that “I” was wrong and “he” was right.The teacher decided to teach us a very important lesson. Shebrought us up to the front of the class and placed him on one sideof her desk and me on the other. In the middle of her desk was alarge, round object. I could clearly see that it was black. Sheasked the boy what color the object was. “White,” he answered.

I couldn’t believe he said the object was white, when it wasobviously black! Another argument started between my classmateand me, this time about the color of the object.

The teacher told me to go stand where the boy was standing andtold him to come stand where I had been. We changed places,

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and now she asked me what the color of the object was. I had toanswer, “White.” It was an object with two differently coloredsides, and from his viewpoint it was white. Only from my sidewas it black.

Moral of the Story: You must stand in the other person’sshoes and look at the situation through their eyes in orderto truly understand their perspective.

b THE PROUD RED ROSE a

One beautiful spring day a red rose blossomed in a forest.Many kinds of trees and plants grew there. As the rose lookedaround, a pine tree nearby said, “What a beautiful flower. I wishI was that lovely.” Another tree said, “Dear pine, do not be sad,we can not have everything.”

The rose turned its head and remarked, “It seems that I am themost beautiful plant in this forest.” A sunflower raised its yellowhead and asked, “Why do you say that? In this forest there aremany beautiful plants. You are just one of them.” The red rosereplied, “I see everyone looking at me and admiring me.” Thenthe rose looked at a cactus and said, “Look at that ugly plant fullof thorns!” The pine tree said, “Red rose, what kind of talk isthis? Who can say what beauty is? You have thorns too.”

The proud red rose looked angrily at the pine and said, “I thoughtyou had good taste! You do not know what beauty is at all. Youcan not compare my thorns to that of the cactus.”

“What a proud flower”, thought the trees.

The rose tried to move its roots away from the cactus, but itcould not move. As the days passed, the red rose would look at

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the cactus and say insulting things, like: This plant is useless? Howsorry I am to be his neighbor.”

The cactus never got upset and he even tried to advise the rose,saying, “God did not create any form of life without a purpose.”

Spring passed, and the weather became very warm. Life becamedifficult in the forest, as the plants and animals needed water andno rain fell. The red rose began to wilt. One day the rose sawsparrows stick their beaks into the cactus and then fly away,refreshed. This was puzzling, and the red rose asked the pinetree what the birds were doing. The pine tree explained that thebirds got water from the cactus. “Does it not hurt when theymake holes?” Asked the rose.

“Yes, but the cactus does not like to see any birds suffer,” repliedthe pine.

The rose opened its eyes in wonder and said, “The cactus haswater?” The red rose felt too ashamed of its past words andbehavior. The rose learned a lesson and never judged anyone bytheir appearance again.

Moral of the Story: Don’t Judge people on their physicalappearance, Try to experience their inner feelings.

b TWO MONKS a

Two monks on a pilgrimage came to the ford of a river. Therethey saw a girl dressed in all her finery, obviously not knowingwhat to do since the river was high and she did not want to spoilher clothes. Without more ado, one of the monks took her on hisback, carried her across and put her down on dry ground on theother side.

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Then the monks continued on their way. But the other monkafter an hour started complaining, “Surely it is not right to touch awoman; it is against the commandments to have close contactwith women. How could you go against the rules for monks?”

The monk who had carried the girl walked along silently, butfinally he remarked, “I set her down by the river an hour ago,why are you still carrying her?”

Moral of the Story: Often we carry unnecessary baggage inour brains. Mature person is the one who knows what tothink and what not to.

b HUMILITY a

Many years ago a rider came across some soldiers who weretrying to move a heavy log without success. The corporal wasstanding by as the men struggled. The rider asked the corporalwhy he wasn’t helping. The corporal replied, “I am the corporal;I give order.” The rider dismounted, went up and stood by thesoldiers and they were lifting the log, he helped them. With hishelp, the log got moved. The rider quietly mounted his horse andwent to the corporal and said, “ The next time your men needhelp, send for the Commander-in-Chief.” After he left, the corporaland his men found out that the rider was George Washington.Moral of the Story: Success and Humility go hand in hand.Simplicity and Humility are two hallmarks of greatness. Thetree laden with fruit always bends low. So if you wish to begreat, be lowly and meek

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b THE HARES AND THE FROGS

The Hares were so persecuted by the other beasts they didnot know where to go. As soon as they saw a single animalapproach them, off they used to run. One day they saw a troopof wild Horses stampeding about, and in quite a panic all theHares scuttled off to a nearby lake, determined to drownthemselves rather than live in such a continual state of fear. Butjust as they got near the bank of the lake, a troop of Frogs,frightened in their turn by the approach of the Hares, scuttled off,and jumped into the water.

“Truly,” said one of the Hares, “things are not so bad as theyseem:”Moral of the Story: There is always someone worse off thanyou

b BURDEN OF MY OWN a

Once Upon a time there lived a king and had twin sons. Therewas some confusion about which one was born first. As theygrew to young manhood, the king sought a fair way to designateone of them as crown prince. All who knew the young men thoughtthem equal in intelligence, wit, personal charm, health, and physicalstrength. Being a keenly observant king, he thought he detecteda trait in one, which was not shared by the other.

Calling them to his council chamber one day, he said, “My sons,the day will come when one of you must succeed me as king.The burdens of sovereignty are very heavy. To find out which ofyou is better able to bear them cheerfully, I am sending you together

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to a far corner of the kingdom. One of my advisors there willplace equal burdens on your shoulders. My crown will one daygo to the one who first returns bearing his burden like a kingshould.”

In a spirit of friendly competition, the brothers set out together.Soon they overtook an aged woman struggling under a burdenthat seemed far too heavy for her frail body. One of the boyssuggested that they stop to help her. The other protested: “Wehave a burden of our own to worry about. Let us be on ourway.”

The objector hurried on while the other stayed behind to give aidto the aged woman. Along the road, from day to day, he foundothers who also needed help. A blind man took him miles out ofhis way, and a lame man slowed him to a cripple’s walk.

Eventually he did reach his father’s advisor, where he securedhis own burden and started home with it safely on his shoulders.When he arrived at the palace, his brother met him at the gate,and greeted him with dismay. He said, “I don’t understand. I toldour father the burden was too heavy to carry. However did youdo it?”

The future king replied thoughtfully, “I suppose when I helpedothers carry their burdens, I found the strength to carry my own.”

Moral of the Story: To excel is to reach your own highestdream. But you must also help others, where and when youcan, to reach theirs. Personal gains are empty if you do notfeel you have positively touched another’s life. Share theBurdens of Others. Others will follow the Trail.

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b PARENTS a

A long time ago, there was a huge mango tree. A little boyloved to come and play around it everyday. He climbed to thetree top, ate the mangoes, took a nap under the shadow... Heloved the tree and the tree loved to play with him.

Time went by...

The little boy grew up, and he no longer played around the treeeveryday. One day, the boy came back to the tree with a sadlook on his face.

“Come and play with me,” the tree asked the boy.

“I am no longer a kid, I don’t play around trees anymore.” Theboy replied, “I want toys. I need money to buy them.”

“Sorry, I don’t have money...but you can pick all my mangoesand sell them so you will have money.”

The boy was so excited. He grabbed all the mangoes on the treeand left happily. The boy didn’t come back after he picked thefruits. The tree was sad.

One day, the boy grown into a man returned and the tree was soexcited.

“Come and play with me,” the tree said.

“I don’t have time to play. I have to work for my family.

We need a house for shelter. Can you help me?”

“Sorry, I don’t have a house, but you can chop off my branchesto build your house.”

So the man cut all the branches off the tree and left happily. Thetree was glad to see him happy but the boy didn’t come back

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afterward. The tree was again lonely and sad.

One hot summer day, the man returned and the tree was delighted.

“Come and play with me!” The tree said.

“I am sad and getting old. I want to go sailing to relax myself.Can you give me a boat?”

“Use my trunk to build your boat. You can sail far away and behappy.”

So the man cut the tree trunk to make a boat. He went sailingand didn’t come back for a long time.

Finally, the man returned after he had been gone for so manyyears. “Sorry, my boy [man]. But I don’t have anything for youanymore. No more mangoes for you...” The tree said.

“I don’t have teeth to bite,” the man replied.

“No more trunk for you to climb on.”

“I am too old for that now” the man said. “I really can’t give youanything ... the only thing left is my dying roots,” the tree saidwith sadness.

“I don’t need much now, just a place to rest. I am tired after allthese years,” the man replied.

“Good! Old tree roots are the best place to lean on and rest.

Come sit down with me and rest.” The boy sat down and thetree was glad and smiled with tears...

This is the story of everyone.

The tree in the story represents our parents. When we were young,we loved to play with Mother and Father. When we grew up, weleft them... We only came to them when we needed something orwhen we were in trouble. No matter what, parents will always

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be there and give you everything they can to make you happy.

It may seem as if the way the boy treats the “tree” in the story iscruel, but many of us take our parents for granted in the sameway. Never forget how important your parents are and try not totake them for granted...they may not be around forever.

Moral of the Story: Don’t take things for Granted and don’tbe selfish and greedy.

b MARBLE STONE a

Once Upon a time there was a museum laid with beautifulmarble tiles with a huge marble lady statue displayed in the middleof the lobby. Many people came from all over the world just toadmire this beautiful marble lady statue.

One night, the marble tiles started talking to the Marble lady.

Marble tile: Marble lady, it’s just not fair! Why does everybodyfrom all over the world come all the way here just to step on mewhile admiring you? Not fair!

Marble lady: My dear friend, marble tile, Do you still rememberthat we were actually from the same cave?

Marble tile: Yeah! That’s why I feel it is even unfair. We wereborn from the same cave and yet we receive different treatmentnow. Not fair!

Marble lady: Then, do you still remember the day when thedesigner tried to work on you, but you resisted his tool?

Marble tile: Yes, of course I remember. I hate that guy! Howcould he use his tool on me, it hurt so badly?

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Marble lady: That’s right! He couldn’t work on you at all as youresisted being worked on.

Marble tile: So???

Marble lady: When he decided to give up on you and startworking on me instead, I knew at once that I would be somethingdifferent after his efforts. I did not resist his tool; instead I boreall the painful tools he used on me.

Marble tile: Mmmmmmmmm

Marble Lady: My friend, there is a price to everything in life.Since you decided to give up half way, you can’t blame anybodywho steps on you now

Moral of the Story: The more hard knocks you go throughin life, the more you’ll learn and put them to use in thefuture. Do not be discouraged by setbacks, challenges andfailures. No Pain…No Gain! Keep yourself focused on yourhighest values, your goals, and your Aspirations in life. ADiamond is just a piece of stone, which managed thepressure to become a Diamond.

b EAGLES IN A STORM a

Did you know that an eagle knows when a storm is approachinglong before it breaks?

The eagle will fly to some high spot and wait for the winds tocome. When the storm hits, it sets its wings so that the wind willpick it up and lift it above the storm. While the storm rages below,the eagle is soaring above it.

The eagle does not escape the storm. It simply uses the storm to

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lift it higher. It rises on the winds that bring the storm.

When the storms of life come upon us - and all of us will experiencethem - we can rise above them by setting our minds and ourbelief towards God. The storms do not have to overcome us.We can allow God’s power to lift us above them.

God enables us to ride the winds of the storm that bring sickness,tragedy, failure and disappointment in our lives. We can soarabove the storm.Moral of the Story: Remember, it is not the burdens of lifethat weigh us down; it is how we handle them. Perseveranceis a great element of success. If you only knock long enoughand loud enough at the gate, you are sure to wake up some-body.

b RIGHT DECISION a

At the 1924 Olympic games in Paris, the sport of canoe racingwas added to the list of international competitions. The favoriteteam in the four-man canoe race was the United States Team.One member of that team was a young man by the name of BillHavens.

As the time for the Olympics neared, it became clear that Bill’swife would give birth to their first child about the time the USTeam would be competing in the Paris games. In 1924 there wereno jet airliners from Paris to the United States, only slow ocean-going ships. And so Bill found himself in a dilemma. Should he goto Paris and risk not being at his wife’s side when their baby wasborn? Or should he withdraw from the team and remain with hisfamily?

Bill’s wife insisted that he go to Paris. After all, competing in the

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Olympics was the culmination of a lifelong dream. But Bill feltconflicted and, after much soul searching, decided to withdrawfrom the competition and remain home, where he could supporthis wife when the child arrived.

He considered being at her side his highest priority - even higherthan going to Paris to fulfill his dream. As it turned out, the UnitedStates four-man canoe team won the gold medal in Paris. AndBill’s wife was late in giving birth to their child. She was so late,in fact, that Bill could have competed in the event and returnedhome in time to be with her when she gave birth.

People said, “What a shame” But Bill said he had NO REGRETS.FOR THE REST OF HIS LIFE, HE BELIEVED HE HADMADE THE RIGHT DECISION.

Bill Havens knew what was most important to him. Not everybodyfigures that out. And he acted on what he believed was best. Noteverybody has the strength of character to say no to somethinghe or she truly wants in order to say yes to something that trulymatters. But for Bill, it was the only way to peace; the only wayto no regrets.

There is an interesting sequel to the story of Bill Havens. TheChild eventually born to Bill and his wife was a boy, whom theynamed Frank. Twenty-eight years later, in 1952, Bill received acablegram from Frank. It was sent from Helsinki, Finland, wherethe 1952 Olympics were being held.

The cablegram read: “DAD, I WON. I’M BRINGING HOMETHE GOLD MEDAL YOU LOST WHILE WAITING FOR METO BE BORN.”

Frank Havens had just won the gold medal for the United Statesin the canoe-racing event, a medal his father had dreamed ofwinning but never did.

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Moral of the Story: Take Right Decision on Right time anddon’t look back. Don’t think about the criticism oropposition.

b GREAT VALUE IN DISASTER a

Thomas Edison’s laboratory was virtually destroyed by fire inDecember, 1914. Although the damage exceeded $2 million, thebuildings were only insured for $238,000 because they were madeof concrete and thought to be fireproof. Much of Edison’s life’swork went up in spectacular flames that December night. At theheight of the fire, Edison’s 24-year old son, Charles, franticallysearched for his father among the smoke and debris. He finallyfound him, calmly watching the scene, his face glowing in thereflection, his white hair blowing in the wind.

“My heart ached for him,” said Charles.

“He was 67 - no longer a young man - and everything was goingup in flames. When he saw me, he shouted, “Charles, where’syour mother?”

When I told him I didn’t know, he said, “Find her. Bring herhere. She will never see anything like this as long as she lives.”

The next morning, Edison looked at the ruins and said,

“There is great value in disaster. All our mistakes are burned up.Thank God we can start a new.” Three weeks after the fire,Edison managed to deliver his first phonograph.

Moral of the Story: Work persistently and do your karma anddon’t expect the results. Opportunities knock at the strangesttimes, It’s not the time that matters but how you answer thedoor.

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b ENCOURAGEMENT a

Some of the greatest success stories of history have followed aword of encouragement or an act of confidence by a loved oneor a trusting friend. Had it not been for a confident wife, Sophia,we might not have listed among the great names of literature thename of Nathaniel Hawthorne. When Nathaniel, a heartbrokenman, went home to tell his wife that he was a failure and hadbeen fired from his job in a customhouse, she surprised him withan exclamation of joy.

“Now,” she said triumphantly, “you can write your book!”

“Yes,” replied the man, with sagging confidence, “and what shallwe live on while I am writing it?”

To his amazement, she opened a drawer and pulled out asubstantial amount of money.

“ Where on earth did you get that?” He exclaimed.

“I have always known you were a man of genius,” she told him.“I knew that someday you would write a masterpiece. So everyweek, out of the money you gave me for housekeeping, I saveda little bit. So here is enough to last us for one whole year.”

From her trust and confidence came one of the greatest novelsof American literature, The Scarlet Letter.Moral of the Story: Most of the people don’t know theirstrengths. Encouragement is the tonic, which stimulates andpushes a man to the limits.

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b POSITIVE THINKING a

A man once telephoned Norman Vincent Peale. He wasdespondent and told the reverend that he had nothing left to livefor. Peale invited the man over to his office. “Everything is gone,hopeless,” the man told him. “I’m living in deepest darkness. Infact, I’ve lost heart for living altogether.”

The famous author of The Power of Positive Thinking smiledsympathetically. “Let’s take a look at your situation,” he said calmly.On a sheet of paper he drew a vertical line down the middle. Hesuggested that they list on the left side the things the man hadlost, and on the right, the things he had left. “You won’t need thatcolumn on the right side,” said the man sadly.

Peale asked, “When did your wife leave you?” “What do youmean? She hasn’t left me. My wife loves me!”

“That’s great!” Said Peale enthusiastically. “Then that will benumber one in the right-hand column—Wife hasn’t left. Now,when were your children jailed?”

“That’s silly. My children aren’t in jail!”

“Good! That’s number two in the right-hand column—Childrennot in jail,” said Peale, jotting it down.

After a few more questions in the same vein, the man finally gotthe point and smiled in spite of himself. “Funny, how things changewhen you think of them that way,” he said.

Moral of the Story: Don’t worry with the set of problemsyou have. There are people who are suffering with severeproblems when compared with you. Rather take it as anopportunity to learn from those problems.

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b NAPOLEON AND THE FURRIER a

During Napoleon’s invasion of Russia, his troops were battlingin the middle of yet another small town in that endless wintryland, when he was accidentally separated from his men. A groupof Russian Cossacks spotted him and began chasing him throughthe twisting streets. Napoleon ran for his life and ducked into alittle furrier’s shop (Maker of Fur Garments) on a side alley. AsNapoleon entered the shop, gasping for breath, he saw the furrierand cried piteously, “Save me, save me!

Where can I hide?” The furrier said, “Quick, under this big pileof furs in the corner,” and he covered Napoleon up with manyfurs.

No sooner had he finished than the Russian Cossacks burst inthe door, shouting, “Where is he? We saw him come in.” Despitethe furrier’s protests, they tore his shop apart trying to findNapoleon. They poked into the pile of furs with their swords butdidn’t find him. Soon, they gave up and left.

After some time, Napoleon crept out from under the furs,unharmed, just as Napoleon’s personal guards came in the door.The furrier turned to Napoleon and said timidly, Excuse me forasking this question of such a great man, but what was it like tobe under those furs, knowing that the next moment would surelybe your last?

Napoleon drew himself up to his full height and said to the furrierindignantly, “How could you ask such a question of me, theEmperor Napoleon! Guards take this impudent man out, blindfoldhim and execute him. I, myself, will personally give the commandto fire!”

The guards grabbed the poor furrier, dragged him outside, stood

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him up against a wall and blindfolded him. The furrier could seenothing, but he could hear the movements of the guards as theyslowly shuffled into a line and prepared their rifles, and he couldhear the soft ruffling sound of his clothing in the cold wind. Hecould feel the wind tugging gently at his clothes and chilling hischeeks, and the uncontrollable trembling in his legs. Then he heardNapoleon clear his throat and call out slowly, “Ready . . . aim . ..” In that moment, knowing that even these few sensations wereabout to be taken from him forever, a feeling that he couldn’tdescribe welled up in him as tears poured down his cheeks.

After a long period of silence, the furrier heard footsteps’approaching him and the blindfold was stripped from his eyes.Still partially blinded by the sudden sunlight, he saw Napoleon’seyes looking deeply and intently into his own - eyes that seemedto see into every dusty corner of his being. Then Napoleon saidsoftly, “Now you know.”

Moral of the Story: Experience is the best teacher. You gainstrength, courage, and confidence by each experience inwhich you really stop to look fear in the face. You are ableto say to yourself, “I have lived through this horror. I cantake the next thing that comes along.” — Eleanor Roosevelt

b THE CRACKED POT a

Once upon a time there was a water bearer, who had twolarge pots, each hung on each end of a pole which he carriedacross his neck. One of the pots had a crack in it, and while theother pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of waterat the end of the long walk from the stream to the master’s house,the cracked pot arrived only half full.

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For a full two years this went on daily, with the bearer deliveringonly one and a half pot full of water in his master’s house.

Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments,perfect to the end for which it was made. But the poor crackedpot was ashamed of its own imperfection, and miserable that itwas able to accomplish only half of what it had been made to do.

After two years of what it perceived to be a bitter failure, it spoketo the water bearer one day by the stream. “I am ashamed ofmyself, and I want to apologize to you.” “Why?” Asked thebearer?

“What are you ashamed of?”

“I have been able, for these past two years, to deliver only halfmy load because this crack in my side causes water to leak outall the way back to your master’s house. Because of my flaws,you have to do all of this work and you don’t get full value fromyour efforts, “ the pot said. The water bearer felt sorry for theold cracked pot, and in his compassion he said, “As we return tothe master’s house, I want you to notice the beautiful flowersalong the path.”

Indeed, as they went up the hill, the old cracked pot took noticeof the sun warming the beautiful wild flowers on the side of thepath, and this cheered it some.

But at the end of the trail, it still felt bad because it had leakedout half its load, and so again it apologized to the bearer for itsfailure.

The bearer said to the pot, “Did you notice that there were flowersonly on your side of your path, but not on the other pot’s side?

That’s because have always known about your flaw, and I tookadvantage of it. I planted flower seeds on your side of the path,

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and every day while we walk back from the stream, you’vewatered them. For two years I have been able to pick thesebeautiful flowers to decorate my master’s table. Without you beingjust the way you are, he would not have this beauty to grace hishouse.”

Moral of the Story: Each of us has our own unique flaw.But it’s the cracks and flaws we each have that make ourlives together so very interesting and warding. You’ve justgot to take each person for what they are and look for thegood in them.

b GOOD NEWS a

Robert De Vincenzo, the great Argentine golfer, once won atournament and, after receiving the check and smiling for thecameras, he went to the clubhouse and prepared to leave. Sometime later, he walked alone to his car in the parking lot and wasapproached by a young woman. She congratulated him on hisvictory and then told him that her child was seriously ill and neardeath. She did not know how she could pay the doctor’s billsand hospital expenses.

De Vincenzo was touched by her story, and he took out a penand endorsed his winning check for payment to the woman.“Make some good days for the baby,” he said as he pressed thecheck into her hand.

The next week he was having lunch in a country club when aProfessional Golf Association official came to his table. “Someof the boys in the parking lot last week told me you met a youngwoman there after you won that tournament.” De Vincenzo

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nodded. “Well,” said the official, “I have news for you. She’s aphony. She has no sick baby. She’s not even married. She fleecedyou, my friend.”

“You mean there is no baby who is dying?” Said De Vincenzo.

“That’s right,” said the official.

“That’s the best news I’ve heard all week.” De Vincenzo said.

Moral of the Story: See Positive side of the story in everysituation. It really helps to have a happy life and keepcontinuing the good work. The person who sends outpositive thoughts activates the world around him positivelyand draws back to himself positive results. — NormanVincent Peale

b CREATIVITY a

In his book about Creativity Roger von Oech tells us about amajor oil company’s concern with the lack of creativity amongsome of its research and development people. To deal with theproblem, top management brought in a team of psychologists todetermine the difference between the creative R & D people andthe less-creative ones. The hope was that their findings wouldstimulate the less-creative people.

The psychologists asked the scientists all kinds of questions. Theyasked about educational backgrounds, about the environment inwhich their favorite colors were. After three months, thepsychologists found that the biggest difference between the twogroups was that the creative people thought they were creativeand the less-creative people did not. As a consequence, thosewho thought they were creative acted like it. They ignored old

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methods and hatched new ideas. The less-creative people didthings as they had always been done.

Some “I’m not creative” people stifle themselves because theythink creativity belongs only to people like Beethoven, Einstein,and Shakespeare. These are some of the super luminaries of thecreative world, but by and large, these people didn’t get their bigideas out of the blue.

On the contrary, most of their big ideas came from paying attentionto their small ideas, playing with them, and making them big ideas.

One of the major factors that differentiate creative people fromless-creative people is that creative people pay attention to theirsmall ideas. They know that a small idea can lead to a bigbreakthrough, and they believe that they are capable of making ithappen.

Moral of the Story: What you think about yourself you are.If you think you can do you can do. If you think you cannotyou cannot

If you like to win, but you think you can’t it is almost certainyou won’t

If you think you’ll lose, you’re lost for out of the world wefind

Success begins with a fellow’s will it’s all in the state ofmind

If you think you are outclassed, you are you’ve got to thinkhigh to rise

You’ve got to be sure of yourself before you can ever win aprize

Life’s battle don’t always go to the stronger or faster man

But soon or late, the man who wins is the man who thinkshe can!

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b THE STRANGER IN

THE GARDEN a

Once upon a time there was a man who had a big garden. Hehad planted many fruit trees and cared for them till they bearfruits. Now he wanted to pick up the fruits and sell them to makemoney for his family.

One fine day while picking fruits with his son, the man saw astranger sitting on the branch of a tree and picking the fruits. Thisman become angry and shouted, “Hey you! What are you doingon my tree? Aren’t you ashamed of stealing fruits in the day time?”The stranger on the branch just looked at the gardener but didn’treply, and continued picking the fruits. The gardener was veryangry and shouted again, “For a whole year I have taken care ofthese trees, you have no right to take the fruits without mypermission so come down at once!”

The stranger on the tree answered, “Why should I come down?This is the garden of God and I am the servant of God, so I havethe right to pick these fruits and you should not interfere betweenthe work of God and his servant.” The gardener was very surprisedat this answer and thought of a plan. He called his son and said,“Go bring a rope and get this man down from the tree.” His sonbrought the rope and the gardener ordered him to tie the strangerto the tree. The gardener then took a stick and started to beatthe stranger. The stranger began to scream. “Why are you beatingme? You have no right to do this.”

The gardener paid no attention and continued beating him. Thestranger screamed, “Don’t you fear God, you are beating aninnocent man? The gardener answered, “Why should I fear? Thiswood in my hand belongs to God and I am too the servant of

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God, so I have nothing to fear, and you shouldn’t interfere withthe work of God and his servant.” The stranger hesitated andthen spoke, “Wait don’t beat me, I am sorry for taking the fruits.This is your garden and I should seek your permission beforetaking the fruits. So, please forgive and set me free.”

The gardener smiled and said, “Since you have now realized yourmistake, I will forgive you but remember that God has given allhis servants brains so every person’s deeds are in his own hands.”Then the gardener untied him and let him go free.

Moral of the Story: God has given us a beautiful life itshould be lead with Values. It is our duty to compose ourcharacter, not to compose books, and to win, not battlesand provinces, but order and tranquility for our conductof life. — Montaigne

b PUNISHMENT a

The following is an extract from a dairy of an Army Officer.

In one of my assignments as a young infantry officer, I was sentto the 48th Infantry near Frankfurt, Germany. In those days ourprized weapon was a huge 280-mm atomic cannon. Guarded byinfantry platoons, these guns were hauled around the forests ontrucks to keep the Soviets from guessing their location.

One day Captain Tom Miller assigned my platoon to guard a280. I alerted my men, loaded my .45 caliber pistol and jumpedinto my jeep. I had not gone far when I realized that my .45 wasgone.

I was petrified. In the army, losing a weapon is serious business.I had no choice but to radio Captain Miller and tell him. “You

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what?” He said in disbelief. He paused a few seconds, then added,“All right, continue the mission.”

When I returned, uneasily contemplating my fate, Miller calledme over. “I’ve got something for you,” he said, handing me thepistol. “Some kids in the village found it where it fell out of yourholster.”

“Kids found it?” I felt a cold chill.

“Yeah,” he said. “Luckily they only got off one round before weheard the shot and took the gun away.” The disastrous possibilitiesleft me limp. “For God’s sake, son, don’t let that happen again.”

He drove off. I checked the magazine and found it was full. Thegun had not been fired. Later I learned that I had dropped it inmy tent before I ever got started. Miller had fabricated the sceneabout the kids to give me a good scare. Today the army mighthold an investigation, call in lawyers and likely enter a bad markon my record. Miller gave me the chance to learn from my mistake.His example of intelligent leadership was not lost on me.

Moral of the Story: Nobody ever got to the top withoutslipping up. When someone stumbles, “Pick ‘them up, dust‘them off and get ‘them moving again.” Life is learning -from our mistakes as well as our successes. The only realmistake in life one said, is the mistake not learned from?

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b DON’T JUDGE A BOOK

BY ITS COVER! a

A lady in a faded gingham dress and her husband, dressed ina homespun threadbare suit, stepped off the train in Boston andwalk timidly without an appointment into the Harvard UniversityPresident’s outer office.

The secretary could tell in a moment that such backwoods, countryhicks had no business at Harvard and probably didn’t evendeserve to be in Cambridge.

“We want to see the president,” the man said softly.

“He’ll be busy all day,” the secretary snapped.

“We’ll wait,” the lady replied.

For hours the secretary ignored them, hoping that the couple wouldfinally become discouraged and go away. They didn’t and thesecretary grew frustrated and finally decided to disturb thepresident, even though it was a chore she always regretted.

“Maybe if you see them for a few minutes, they’ll leave,” shesaid to him.

He sighed in exasperation and nodded. Someone of hisimportance obviously didn’t have the time to spend with them,but he detested gingham dresses and homespun suits clutteringup his outer office.

The president, stern faced and with dignity, strutted toward thecouple.

The lady told him, “We had a son who attended Harvard for oneyear. He loved Harvard. He was happy here. But about a yearago, he was accidentally killed. My husband and I would like to

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erect a memorial to him, somewhere on campus.”

The president wasn’t touched.... He was shocked.

“Madam,” he said, gruffly, “we can’t put up a statue for everyperson who attended Harvard and died. If we did, this placewould look like a cemetery.”

“Oh, no,” the lady explained quickly. “We don’t want to erect astatue. We thought we would like to give a building to Harvard.”

The president rolled his eyes. He glanced at the gingham dressand homespun suit, and then exclaimed, “A building! Do you haveany earthly idea how much a building costs? We have over sevenand a half million dollars in the physical buildings here at Harvard.”

For a moment the lady was silent.

The president was pleased. Maybe he could get rid of them now.

The lady turned to her husband and said quietly, “Is that all itcosts to start a university? Why don’t we just start our own?”

Her husband nodded.

The president’s face wilted in confusion and bewilderment. Mr.and Mrs. Leland Stanford got up and walked away, traveling toPalo Alto, California where they established the University thatbears their name, Stanford University, a memorial to a son thatHarvard no longer cared about.

You can easily judge the character of others by how they treatthose who they think can do nothing. Never Judge a person byhis or her physical appearance. Diamonds are available in Minesand look like ordinary stones.

Moral of the Story: If you judge people, you have no timeto love them. — Mother Teresa

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b THE SELFISH MAN a

Once upon a time, there was a selfish man. He liked everythingto be his own. He could not share his belongings with anyone,not even his friends or the poor.

One day, the man lost thirty gold coins. He went to his friend’shouse and told him how he lost his gold coins. His friend was akind man.

As his friend’s daughter was coming from an errand she foundthirty gold coins, when she arrived home, she told her father whatshe had found. The girl’s father told her that the gold coins belongto his friend and he sent for him. When the selfish man arrived, hetold him how his daughter had found his thirty gold coins andhanded then to him. After counting the gold coins the man saidthat ten of them was missing and had been taken by the girl as hehad forty gold coins. He further commented that he will recoverthe remaining amount from him (the girl’s father). But the fatherrefused.

The man left the gold coins and went to the court and informedthe judge there about what had taken place between him and thegirl’s father.

The judge sent for the girl and her father, and when they arrivedasked the girl how many gold coins did she find. She repliedthirty gold coins. The Judge then asked the selfish man how manygold coins did he lose and he answered forty gold coins.

The judge then told the man that the gold coins did not belong tohim because the girl found thirty and not forty as he claimed tohave lost and then told the girl to take the gold coins and that ifanybody is looking for them he will send for the girl.

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The judge told the man that if anybody reports that they havefound forty gold coins he will send for him. It was then that theman confessed that he lied and that he lost thirty gold coins butthe judge did not listen to him.

Moral of the Story: It is the genius of sincerity and truthaccomplishes no victories without it. Truth is divine. Alwaysstand by truth. To live in the presence of great truths andeternal laws, to be led by permanent ideals - that is whatkeeps a man patient when the world ignores him, and calmand unspoiled when the world praises him. — Honore DeBalzac

b DESIRE a

An emperor was coming out of his palace for his morning walkwhen he met a beggar. He asked the beggar, “What do you want?”

The beggar laughed and said, “You are asking me as though youcan fulfill my desire!”

The king was offended. He said, “Of course I can fulfill yourdesire. What is it? Just tell me.”

And the beggar said, “Think twice before you promise anything.”The beggar was no ordinary beggar; he was the Emperor’s pastlife master. He had promised in that life, “I will come and try towake you in your next life. This life you have missed but I willcome again.” But the king had forgotten completely — whoremembers past lives? So he insisted, “I will fulfill anything youask. I am a very powerful emperor, what can you possibly desirethat I can give to you?”

The beggar said, “It is a very simple desire. You see this begging

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bowl? Can you fill it with something?”

The emperor said, “Of course!” He called one of his Ministersand told him, “Fill this mans begging bowl with money.” Theminister went and got some money and poured it into the bowl,and it disappeared. And he poured more and more, and themoment he would pour it, it would disappear. And the beggingbowl remained always empty.

The whole palace gathered by and by the rumor went throughoutthe whole capital, and a huge crowd gathered. The prestige ofthe emperor was at stake. He said to his minister, “If the wholekingdom is lost, I am ready to lose it, but I cannot be defeated bythis beggar.”

Diamonds and pearls and emeralds, his treasuries were becomingempty. The begging bowl seemed to be bottomless. Everythingthat was put into it — everything immediately disappeared, wentout of existence. Finally it was the evening, and the people werestanding there in utter silence. The king dropped at the feet of thebeggar and admitted his defeat. He said, “Just tell me one thing.You are victorious - but before you leave, just fulfill my curiosity.What is the begging bowl made of?”

The beggar laughed and said, “It is made up of the human mind.There is no secret. It is simple made up of human desire.” Thisunderstanding transforms life. Go into one desire — what is themechanism of it? First there is a great excitement, great thrill, andadventure. You feel a great kick. Something is going to happen,you are on the verge of it. And then you have the car, you havethe yacht, you have the house, you have the woman, and suddenlyall is meaningless again.

What happens? Your mind has dematerialized it. The car isstanding in the drive, but there is no excitement anymore. Theexcitement was only in getting it. You became so drunk with the

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desire that you forgot your inner nothingness. Now the desire isfulfilled, the car in the drive, the woman in your bed, the money inyour bank account - again excitement disappears. Again theemptiness is there ready to eat you up. Again you have to createanother desire to escape this yawning abyss. That’s how onemoves from one desire to another desire. That’s how one remainsa beggar. Your whole life proves it again and again — every desirefrustrates. And when the goal is achieved, you will need anotherdesire.

Moral of the Story: The irony of desire is that when youreceive the object of desire, it creates that state of mind wecall satisfaction for only a moment. The day you understandthat desire as such is going to fail comes the turning pointin your life. The other journey is inwards. Move inwards,lets go back home to Godhead.

b INTENTIONS a

How many times have you said, “I intend to make ______happen!” Or “My intention is to accomplish ______.”? Therewas no doubt in your mind that you were going to succeed atwhatever you were intending, right?

Now, compare those statements to, “I think maybe I’ll get thisdone today.” Or “I’m trying to make time for that.” Not muchconfidence or power in either of those statements is there?

See what the difference is? Intention. When we intend to dosomething, we have already pictured the outcome! The steps weneed to take to reach our goal have been mapped out (whetherwe’re conscious of them or not), and we’re moving full speed

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ahead to the end result, which is already a foregone conclusion.Because we intend it to be so. Whew! The power in that! If weonly knew!

Our intentions are the most definitive expressions of our thoughts.When we think or better yet, voice, our intentions, we give acommand to the Universe. We put into motion the energy thatwill get us to our intended goal. The only thing that can stop us isif we change our intention somewhere along the way.

We are where we are in life as a result of our intentions for ourlives and ourselves. Oh, I can hear your protests! “I didn’t intendto be in this destructive relationship” or “You don’t mean I intendto be broke all the time!”

Well, there’s good news and bad news. The bad news is, yesthose are your intentions so long as you’re living them. They maynot be revealed on a conscious level, but somewhere, deep down,you have created your life situations by what your intentions havebeen with what you’ve been given. The good news is that youcan choose a new set of intentions if you so desire!

How? Simply by using the power you have been given andintending to have what it is that you really want your life to reflect.Up until now, you may not have been aware that your intentionsare why you are where you are. Now that you know, why notconsciously put a few intentions out there and see what happens?That’s right, test your power!

Moral of the Story: Do you intend to be a successful, wealthyperson? Do you intend to involve yourself in healthyrelationships? Do you intend to respond to every situationwith love? If so, then speak your intentions. Speak themevery day, loud and clear! Let your own powerful energytake you where you intend to go!

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b HATRED a

A kindergarten teacher has decided to let her class play a game.The teacher told each child in the class to bring along a plasticbag containing a few potatoes. Each potato will be given a nameof a person that the child hates, so the number of potatoes that achild will put in his/her plastic bag will depend on the number ofpeople he/she hates. So when the day came, every child broughtsome potatoes with the name of the people he/she hated. Somehad 2 potatoes; some 3 while some up to 5 potatoes.

The teacher then told the children to carry with them the potatoesin the plastic bag wherever they go (even to the toilet) for 1 week.Days after days passed by, and the children started to complaindue to the unpleasant smell let out by the rotten potatoes. Besides,those having 5 potatoes also had to carry heavier bags. After 1week, the children were relieved because the game had finallyended.

The teacher asked: “How did you feel while carrying the potatoeswith you for 1 week?” The children let out their frustrations andstarted complaining of the trouble that they had to go throughhaving to carry the heavy and smelly potatoes wherever they go.Then the teacher told them the hidden meaning behind the game.The teacher said: “This is exactly the situation when you carryyour hatred for somebody inside your heart.

The stench of hatred will contaminate your heart and you willcarry it with you wherever you go. If you cannot tolerate thesmell of rotten potatoes for just 1 week, can you imagine what isit like to have the stench of hatred in your heart for your lifetime?”

Moral of the Story: Throw away any hatred for anyone fromyour heart so that you will not carry sins for a lifetime.

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Forgiving others is the best attitude to take. “Learn toForgive and Forget.” Forgiving is human and Forgettingis Divine.

b FRIENDSHIP a

It’s easier to make friends than to keep them. A pretty face, aclever mind, a jovial manner, a generous impulse, a happyoccasion, can be cause enough to arouse your interest in a personat first encounter. But time tells. The friends you want to keepare the friends who mean the most. Do not expect too much ofthem.

Be careful. Do not ask favor. Just content yourself with thepleasant belief that they would do anything for you. Do not settraps for them. If you tempt a friend, you are unworthy offriendship. Do not ask them to go out of their way to accommodateyou.

Do not presume on their good nature. Enjoy friends like flowers,but never cut them.

There’s a miracle called Friendship That dwells in the heart youdon’t know how it happens or when it gets started but you knowthe special lift it always brings and you realize that Friendship isGod’s most precious gift. Friends are rare jewels, indeed. Theymake you smile and encourage you to succeed they lend an ear,they share a word of praise, and they always want to open theirhearts to us.

Moral of the Story: You make more friends by becominginterested in other people than by trying to interest otherpeople in yourself. Making a million friends is not a

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miracle; the miracle is to make a friend who will stand byyou when millions are against you.

b DARK CANDLE a

A man had a little daughter - an only and much - belovedchild. He lived for her - she was his life. So when she became illand her illness resisted the efforts of the best obtainable physicians,he became like a man possessed, moving heaven and earth tobring about her restoration to health.

His best efforts proved unavailing and the child died. The fatherwas totally irreconcilable. He became a bitter recluse, shuttinghimself away from his many friends and refusing every activitythat might restore his poise and bring him back to his normal self.

But one night he had a dream. He was in Heaven, and waswitnessing a grand pageant of all the little child angels. They weremarching in an apparently endless line past the great White Throne.Every white - robed angelic tot carried a candle. He noticed thatone child’s candle was not lighted. Then he saw that the childwith the dark candle was his own little girl. Rushing to her, whilethe pageant faltered, he seized her in his arms, caressed hertenderly, and then asked: “How is it, darling, that your candlealone is unlighted?”

“Father, they often relight it, but your tears always put it out.”

Just then he awoke from his dream. The lesson was crystal clear,and its effects were immediate. From that hour on he was not arecluse, but mingled freely and cheerfully with his former friendsand associates. No longer would his useless tears extinguish hislittle darling’s candle!

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Moral of the Story: We come into this world alone, andalone we leave it. And between the entrance and the exit,we spend our time looking for the purpose of life. Aftercompletion of the role we will be back to Godhead. Whenyou were born you cried and the world rejoiced. Live youlife in such a way that when you die the world cries whileyou rejoice.

b WHAT YOU SOW

THY YOU REAP a

An emperor in the Far East was growing old and knew it wastime to choose his successor. Instead of choosing one of hisassistants or his children, he decided something different. He calledyoung people in the kingdom together one day. He said, “It istime for me to step down and choose the next emperor. I havedecided to choose one of you.”

The kids were shocked! But the emperor continued. “I am goingto give each one of you a seed today. One very special seed. Iwant you to plant the seed, water it and come back here afterone year from today with what you have grown from this oneseed. I will then judge the plants that you bring, and the one Ichoose will be the next emperor!”

One boy named Krishna was there that day and he, like the others,received a seed. He went home and excitedly told his mother thestory. She helped him get a pot and planting soil, and he plantedthe seed and watered it carefully. Every day he would water itand watch to see if it had grown. After about three weeks, someof the other youths began to talk about their seeds and the plantsthat were beginning to grow.

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Krishna kept checking his seed, but nothing ever grew. 3 weeks,4 weeks, 5 weeks went by. Still nothing. By now, others weretalking about their plants but Krishna didn’t have a plant, and hefelt like a failure. Six months went by, still nothing in Krishna’spot. He just knew he had killed his seed.

Everyone else had trees and tall plants, but he had nothing. Krishnadidn’t say anything to his friends, however. He just kept waitingfor his seed to grow.

A year finally went by and all the youths of the kingdom broughttheir plants to the emperor for inspection. Krishna told his motherthat he wasn’t going to take an empty pot. But honest aboutwhat happened, Krishna felt sick to his stomach, but he knew hismother was right. He took his empty pot to the palace. WhenKrishna arrived, he was amazed at the variety of plants grown bythe other youths. They were beautiful in all shapes and sizes.Krishna put his empty pot on the floor and many of the otherkinds laughed at him. A few felt sorry for him and just said, “Heynice try.”

When the emperor arrived, he surveyed the room and greetedthe young people. Krishna just tried to hide in the back. “Whatgreat plants, trees and flowers you have grown,” said the emperor.“Today, one of you will be appointed the next emperor!” All of asudden, the emperor spotted Krishna at the back of the roomwith his empty pot. He ordered his guards to bring him to thefront. Krishna was terrified. “The emperor knows I’m a failure!Maybe he will have me killed!”

When Krishna got to the front, the Emperor asked his name.“My name is Krishna,” he replied. All the kids were laughing andmaking fun of him. The emperor asked everyone to quiet down.He looked at Krishna, and then announced to the crowd, “Beholdyour new emperor! His name is Krishna!” Krishna couldn’t

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believe it. Krishna couldn’t even grow his seed. How could hebe the new emperor? Then the emperor said, “One year agotoday, I gave everyone here a seed. I told you to take the seed,plant it, water it, and bring it back to me today. But I gave you allboiled seeds, which would not grow. All of you, except Krishna,have brought me trees and plants and flowers. When you foundthat the seed would not grow, you substituted another seed forthe one I gave you. Krishna was the only one with the courageand honesty to bring me a pot with my seed in it. Therefore, he isthe one who will be the new emperor!”

If you plant honesty, you will reap trust.

If you plant goodness, you will reap friends.

If you plant humility, you will reap greatness.

If you plant perseverance, you will reap victory.

If you plant consideration, you will reap harmony.

If you plant hard work, you will reap success.

If you plant forgiveness, you will reap reconciliation.

If you plant openness, you will reap intimacy.

If you plant patience, you will reap improvements.

If you plant faith, you will reap miracles.

But

If you plant dishonesty, you will reap distrust.

If you plant selfishness, you will reap loneliness.

If you plant pride, you will reap destruction.

If you plant envy, you will reap trouble.

If you plant laziness, you will reap stagnation.

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If you plant bitterness, you will reap isolation.

If you plant greed, you will reap loss.

If you plant gossip, you will reap enemies.

If you plant worries, you will reap wrinkles.

If you plant sin, you will reap guilt.

Moral of the Story: So be careful what you plant now, Itwill determine what you will reap tomorrow, The seeds younow scatter, Will make life worse or better, your life or theones who will come after. Yes, someday, you will enjoy thefruits, or you will pay for the choices you plant today.

b FOOTBALL a

Anita had recently joined a mega mart as sales representative.After a fortnight, she had received a phone call from her nine-year old son, kiran. He needed a football to play. She explainedthat as a single parent, money was very tight, and her first salarywould have to go for paying bills. Perhaps she could buy hisfootball with her second or third salary. When Anita was preparingherself to leave for day. Rajesh, the store manager, asked her tocome to the small room in back of the store that served as anoffice. Anita wondered if she had done something wrong or leftsome part of her job incomplete. She was concerned andconfused. Rajesh handed her a box. “I overheard you talking toyour son,” he said, “and I know that it is hard to explain things tokids. This is a football for kiran because he may not understandhow important he is, even though you have to pay bills beforeyou can buy football. You know we can’t pay good people likeyou as much as we would like to; but we do care, and I want you

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to know that you are important to us.”

The thoughtfulness, empathy and love of this convenience storemanager demonstrates vividly that people remember more howmuch an employer cares than how much the employer pays.

Moral of the Story: People want to work for an organizationthat values them and promote their personal growth. Honestyand Loyalty cannot be bought by money. Only love, affectionand belongingness can generate such feelings.

b THE BEST DAY OF MY LIFE a

Today, when I awoke, I suddenly realized that this is the bestday of my life, ever!

There were times when I wondered if I would make it to today;but I did! And because I did I’m going to celebrate!

Today, I’m going to celebrate what an unbelievable life I havehad so far: the accomplishments, the many blessings, and, yes,even the hardships because they have served to make me stronger.

I will go through this day with my head held high, and a happyheart. I will marvel at God’s seemingly simple gifts: the morningdew, the sun, the clouds, the trees, the flowers, and the birds.Today, none of these miraculous creations will escape my notice.

Today, I will share my excitement for life with other people. I’llmake someone smile. I’ll go out of my way to perform anunexpected act of kindness for someone I don’t even know.Today, I’ll give a sincere compliment to someone who seemsdown. I’ll tell a child how special he is, and I’ll tell someone Ilove just how deeply I care for her and how much she means tome. Today is the day I quit worrying about what I don’t have

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and start being grateful for all the wonderful things God has alreadygiven me. I’ll remember that to worry is just a waste of timebecause my faith in God and his Divine Plan ensures everythingwill be just fine.

And tonight, before I go to bed, I’ll go outside and raise myeyes to the heavens. I will stand in awe at the beauty of the starsand the moon, and I will praise God for these magnificenttreasures. As the day ends and I lay my head down on my pillow,I will thank the Almighty for the best day of my life. And I willsleep the sleep of a contented child, excited with expectationbecause I know tomorrow is going to be the best day of my life,ever!

Moral of the Story: Living is gift and we must make thebest out of it, everyday of our lives. The real winners in lifeare the people who look at every situation with anexpectation that they can make it work or make it better.— Barbara Pletcher

b CONTENTMENT a

Once upon a time there was a farmer who was happy andcontent. He was happy because he was content. He was contentbecause he was happy. One day a wise man came to him andtold him about the glory of diamonds and the power that goesalong with them. The wise man said, “If you had a diamond thesize of your thumb, you could have your own city. If you had adiamond the size of your fist, you could probably own yourcountry”. And then he went away. That night the farmer couldn’tsleep. He was unhappy and he was discontent. He was unhappybecause he was discontent and discontent because he wasunhappy.

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The next morning he made arrangements to sell off his farm, tookcare of his family and went in search of diamonds. He looked allover the country and couldn’t find any. He was emotionally,physically and financially broke. He got so disheartened that hecommitted suicide.

Back home, the person who had brought his farm was wateringthe cattle at a stream that ran through the farm. Across the stream,the rays of the morning sun hit a stone good on the mantle piece.He picked up the stone and put it in the living room. That afternoonthe wise man came and saw the stone sparkling. He asked, “Isthe farmer back?” The new owner of the farm said, “No, why doyou ask?” The wise man said, “Because that is a diamond. Irecognize one when I see one”. The man said “No that’s just astone I picked up from the stream. Come I will show you. Thereare many more”. They went and picked some samples and sentthem for analysis. Sure enough the stones were diamonds. Theyfound that the farm was indeed covered with acres and acres ofdiamonds.

Moral of the Story: When we are eying the grass on theother side, there are others who are eying the grass on ourside. They would be happy to trade places with us. Wecannot be happy if we expect to live all the time at thehighest peak of intensity. Happiness is not a matter ofintensity, but of contentment, balance, order, rhythm andharmony

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b A SELFLESS EFFORT a

One day a man walked towards the mountain range, whichwas close to his village. As he reached the mountain range heremoved a chisel from the bag that he was carrying and startedhammering the chisel into the mountain. A passerby seeing thiswent up to him and curiously asked him what he was doing. Theman with the chisel said that he was trying to make a pathwaythrough this mountain for which the passerby answered that therealready existed a road around the mountain, which would takeanybody two days to reach the other side.

The man continued to chisel his way into the mountain and repliedthat he was trying to chisel his way through the Mountain andwanted to create a road by which people could reach the otherside in two hours. The passerby said you may not live to see theroad that you are creating and that his efforts would be futile.

The man with the chisel immediately replied that it was not for hisbenefit that he was creating the road but for the future generationsto follow.

Moral of the Story: This is the attitude that all of us shouldhave to be selfless in our efforts and set examples for othersto follow. Until man extends his circle of compassion toall living things, man will not himself find peace. — AlbertSchweitzer

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b CONFIDENCE a

Once upon a time there was a young man who after winningseveral archery contests, the young and rather boastful championchallenged a Zen master who was renowned for his skill as anarcher. The young man demonstrated remarkable technicalproficiency when he hit a distant bull’s eye on his first try, andthen split that arrow with his second shot.

“There, “he said to the old man, “see if you can match that!“Undisturbed, the master did not draw his bow, but rathermotioned for the young archer to follow him up the mountain.Curious about the old fellow’s intentions, the champion followedhim high into the mountain until they reached a deep chasmspanned by a rather flimsy and shaky log.

Calmly stepping out onto the middle of the unsteady and certainlyperilous bridge, the old master picked a far away tree as a target,drew his bow, and fired a clean, direct hit. “Now it is your turn,“he said as he gracefully stepped back on to the safe ground.Staring with terror into the seemingly bottomless and beckoningabyss, the young man could not force himself to step out onto thelog, no less shoot at a target.

“You must have much skill with your bow”, the master said,sensing his challenger’s predicament, “but you have little skill withthe mind that lets loose the shot.”

Moral of the Story: The real talent is being able to applyyour skills even in the most adverse situation without fear,hesitation, or doubt. Such confidence in yourself and yourdecisions can arise only when they are taken after duediligence and much hard work or persistence.

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b PUPPIES FOR SALE a

A farmer had some puppies he needed to sell. He painted asign advertising the pups and set about nailing it to a post on theedge of his yard. As he was driving the last nail into the post, hefelt a tug on his overalls. He looked down into the Eyes of a littleboy.

Mister,” he said, “I want to buy one of your puppies.”

“Well,” said the farmer, as he rubbed the sweat off the back ofhis neck, “these puppies come from fine parents and cost a gooddeal of money.”

The boy dropped his head for a moment. Then reaching deepinto his pocket, he pulled out a handful of change and held it upto the farmer. “Is that enough to take a look?”

“Sure,” said the farmer.

And with that he let out a whistle,” Here, Dolly!” He called.

Out from the doghouse and down the ramp ran Dolly followedby four little balls of fur. The little boy pressed his face againstthe chain link fence. His eyes danced with delight.

As the dogs made their way to the fence, the little boy noticedsomething else stirring inside the doghouse. Slowly another littleball appeared; this One noticeably smaller. Down the ramp itslid. Then in a somewhat awkward manner the little pup beganhobbling toward the others, doing its best to catch up....

“I want that one,” the little boy said, pointing to the runt.

The farmer knelt down at the boy’s side and said, “Son, youdon’t want that puppy. He will never be able to run and play withyou like these other dogs would.”

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With that the little boy stepped back from the fence, reacheddown, and began rolling up one leg of his trousers. In doing sohe revealed a steel brace running down both sides of his legattaching itself to a specially made shoe. Looking back up at thefarmer, he said, “You see sir, I don’t run too well myself, and hewill need someone who understands.”

Moral of the Story: The world is full of people who needsomeone who understands. I think the purpose of life is tobe useful, to be responsible, to be honorable, to becompassionate. It is, after all, to matter: to count, to standfor something, to have made some difference that you livedat all. — Leo C. Rosten

b GENEROSITY a

Mahatma Gandhi went from city to city, village-to-villagecollecting funds for the Charkha Sangh. During one of his tourshe addressed a meeting in Orissa. After his speech a poor oldwoman got up. She was bent with age, her hair was gray and herclothes were in tatters. The volunteers tried to stop her, but shefought her way to the place where Gandhiji was sitting. “I mustsee him,” she insisted and going up to Gandhiji touched his feet.Then from the folds of her sari she brought out a copper coin andplaced it at his feet. Gandhiji picked up the copper coin and putit away carefully. The Charkha Sangh funds were under the chargeof Jamnalal Bajaj. He asked Gandhiji for the coin but Gandhijirefused. “I keep cheques worth thousands of rupees for theCharkha Sangh,” Jamnalal Bajaj said laughingly “yet you won’ttrust me with a copper coin.” “This copper coin is worth muchmore than those thousands,” Gandhiji said. “If a man has severallakhs and he gives away a thousand or two, it doesn’t mean much.

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But this coin was perhaps all that the poor woman possessed.She gave me all she had. That was very generous of her. What agreat sacrifice she made. That is why I value this copper coinmore than a crore of rupees.”

Moral of the Story: The smallest good deed is better thanthe grandest intention. You cannot hope to build a betterworld without improving individuals. We all must workfor our own improvement, and at the same time-share ageneral responsibility for all living beings.

b CUP OF COFFEE a

A professor stood before his philosophy class and had someitems in front of him. When the class began, wordlessly, he pickedup a very large and empty jar and proceeded to fill it with golfballs. He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreedthat it was. So the professor then picked up a box of pebblesand poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebblesrolled into the open areas between the golf balls. He then askedthe students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was. Theprofessor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into thejar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. He asked oncemore if the jar was full. The students responded with a unanimous“yes.” The professor then produced two cups of coffee fromunder the table and poured the entire contents into the jar,effectively filling the empty space between the sand. The studentslaughed.

“Now,” said the professor, as the laughter subsided, “I want youto recognize that this jar represents your life. The golf balls arethe important things — your God, your family, your children, yourhealth, your friends, and your favorite passions — things that if

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everything else was lost and only they remained, your life wouldstill be full.

The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, yourhouse, and your car. The sand is everything else-the small stuff.“If you put the sand into the jar first,”

He continued, “There is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls.

The same goes for life. If you spend all your time and energy onthe small stuff, you will never have room for the things that areimportant to you. Pay attention to the things that are critical toyour happiness. Play with your children.

Take time to get medical checkups. Take your partner out todinner. There will always be time to clean the house and fix thedisposal.” Take care of the golf balls first, the things that reallymatter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.”

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the coffeerepresented. The professor smiled. “I’m glad you asked. It justgoes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem,there’s always room for a couple of cups of coffee with a friend.”

Moral of the Story: Living is a gift and we must make thebest out of it, every day and every movement of our lives.We make a living by what we get, but we make a life bywhat we give.

b THE MAKING OF A MOTHER a

By the time the Lord made mothers, He was into the sixth dayworking overtime. An Angel appeared and said, “Why are youspending so much time on this one?”

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And the Lord answered and said, “Have you read the specksheet on her? She has to be completely washable, but not elastic;have 200 movable parts, all replaceable; run on black coffeeand leftovers; have a lap that can hold three children at one timeand that disappears when she stands up; have a kiss that cancure anything from a scraped knee to a broken heart; and havesix pairs of hands.”

The Angel was astounded at the requirements for this one. “Sixpairs of hands! No way!” Said the Angel.

The Lord replied, “Oh, it’s not the hands that are the problem.It’s the three pairs of eyes that mothers must have!”

“And that’s on the standard model?” The Angel asked.

The Lord nodded in agreement, “Yes, one pair of eyes are to seethrough the closed door as she asks her children what they aredoing even though she already knows. Another pair in the backof her head is to see what she needs to know even though no onethinks she can. And the third pair is here in the front of her head.They are for looking at an errant child and saying that sheunderstands and loves him or her without even saying a singleword.”

The Angel tried to stop the Lord “This is too much work for oneday. Wait until tomorrow to finish.”

“But I can’t!” The Lord protested, “I am so close to finishing thiscreation that is so close to my own heart. She already heals herselfwhen she is sick .

The Angel moved closer and touched the woman, “But you havemade her so soft, Lord.”

“She is soft,” the Lord agreed, “but I have also made her tough.You have no idea what she can endure or accomplish.”

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“Will she be able to think?” Asked the Angel.

The Lord replied, “Not only will she be able to think, she will beable to reason, and negotiate.”

The Angel then noticed something and reached out and touchedthe woman’s cheek. “Oops, it looks like you have a leak withthis model. I told you that you were trying to put too much intothis one.”

“That’s not a leak.” The Lord objected. “That’s a tear!”

“What’s the tear for?” The Angel asked.

The Lord said, “The tear is her way of expressing her joy, hersorrow, her disappointment, her pain, her loneliness, her grief,and her pride.”

The Angel was impressed. “You are a genius, Lord. You thoughtof everything for this one. You even created the tear!”

The Lord looked at the Angel and smiled and said, “I’m afraidyou are wrong again. I created the woman, but she created thetear!”Moral of the Story: God wanted to be with everyone that’swhy he created mother and shared unconditional love.

b KING AND HIS FOUR WIVES a

Once upon a time there was a rich King who had 4 wives. Heloved the 4th wife the most and adorned her with rich robes andtreated her to the finest of delicacies. He gave her nothing but thebest.

He also loved the 3rd wife very much and was always showingher off to neighboring kingdoms. However, he feared that one-

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day She would leave him for another.

He also loved his 2nd wife. She was his confidante and wasalways kind, considerate and patient with him. Whenever the Kingfaced a problem, he could confide in her to help him get throughthe difficult times.

The King’s 1st wife was a very loyal partner and had made greatcontributions in maintaining his wealth and kingdom. However,he did not love the first wife and although she loved him deeply,he hardly took notice of her.

One day, the King fell ill and he knew his time was short.

He thought of his luxurious life and pondered, “I now have 4wives with me, but when I die, I’ll be all alone.

Thus, he asked the 4th wife, “I have loved you the most,endowed you with the finest clothing and showered great careover you. Now that I’m dying, will you follow me and keep mecompany?”

“No way!” Replied the 4th wife and she walked away withoutanother word. Her answer cut like a sharp knife right into hisheart.

The sad King then asked the 3rd wife, “I have loved you all mylife. Now that I’m dying, will you follow me and keep mecompany?” “No!” Replied the 3rd wife. “Life is too good!

When you die, I’m going to remarry!”

His heart sank and turned cold.

He then asked the 2nd wife, “I have always turned to you forhelp and you’ve always been there for me. When I die, will youfollow me? And keep me company?” “I’m sorry, I can’t help youout this time!” Replied the 2nd wife. “At the very most, I can

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only send you to your grave.”

Her answer came like a bolt of thunder and the King wasdevastated.

Then a voice called out:

“I’ll leave with you and follow you no matter where you go.” TheKing looked up and there was his first wife. She was so skinnyshe suffered from malnutrition.

Greatly grieved, the King said, “I should have taken much bettercare of you when I had the chance!”

In Reality, we all have 4 wives in our lives ...

Our 4th wife is our body. No matter how much time and effortwe lavish in making it look good, it’ll leave us when we die.

Our 3rd wife is our possessions, status and wealth.

When we die, it will all go to others.

Our 2nd wife is our family and friends. No matter how much theyhave been there for us, the furthest they can stay by us is up tothe grave.

And our 1st wife is our Soul, Often neglected in pursuit of wealth,power and pleasures of the ego. However, our Soul is the onlything that will follow us wherever we go.

Moral of the Story: To make the right choices in life, youhave to get in touch with your soul. To do this, you need toexperience solitude, which most people are afraid of,because in the silence you hear the truth and know thesolutions. So lets cultivate, strengthen and cherish it now!It is your greatest gift to offer the world.

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b TREES THAT WOOD a

Once there were three trees on a hill in the woods. They werediscussing their hopes and dreams when the first tree said,“Someday I hope to be a treasure chest. I could be filled withgold, silver and precious gems. I could be decorated with intricatecarving and everyone would see the beauty.”

Then the second tree said, “Someday I will be a mighty ship. Iwill take kings and queens across the waters and sail to the cornersof the world. Everyone will feel safe in me because of the strengthof my hull.”

Finally the third tree said, “I want to grow to be the tallest andstraightest tree in the forest. People will see me on top of the hilland look up to my branches, and think of the heavens and Godand how close to them I am reaching. I will be the greatest treeof all time and people will always remember me.”

After a few years of praying that their dreams would come true,a group of woodsmen came upon the trees. When one came tothe first tree he said, “This looks like a strong tree, I think I shouldbe able to sell the wood to a carpenter” ... and he began cuttingit down. The tree was happy, because he knew that the carpenterwould make him into a treasure chest.

At the second tree a woodsman said, “This looks like a strongtree, I should be able to sell it to the shipyard.” The second treewas happy because he knew he was on his way to becoming amighty ship.

When the woodsmen came upon the third tree, the tree wasfrightened because he knew that if they cut him down his dreamswould not come true. One of the woodsmen said, “I don’t needanything special from my tree so I’ll take this one”, and he cut it

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down.

When the first tree arrived at the carpenters, he was made into afeed box for animals. He was then placed in a barn and filledwith hay. This was not at all what he had prayed for. The secondtree was cut and made into a small fishing boat. His dreams ofbeing a mighty ship and carrying kings had come to an end. Thethird tree was cut into large pieces and left alone in the dark. Theyears went by, and the trees forgot about their dreams.

Then one day, a man and woman came to the barn. She gavebirth and they placed the baby in the hay in the feed box that wasmade from the first tree. The man wished that he could havemade a crib for the baby, but this manger would have to do. Thetree could feel the importance of this event and knew that it hadheld the greatest treasure of all time. Years later, a group of mengot in the fishing boat made from the second tree. One of themwas tired and went to sleep. While they were out on the water, agreat storm arose and the tree didn’t think it was strong enoughto keep the men safe. The men woke the sleeping man, and hestood and said “Peace” and the storm stopped. At this time, thetree knew that it had carried the King of Kings in its boat.

Finally, someone came and got the third tree. It was carried throughthe streets as the people mocked the man who was carrying it.When they came to a stop, the man was nailed to the tree andraised in the air to die at the top of a hill. When Sunday came, thetree came to realize that it was strong enough to stand at the topof the hill and be as close to God as was possible, because Jesushad been crucified on it.

Moral of the Story: When things don’t seem to be goingyour way, always know that God has a plan for you. If youplace your trust in Him, He will give you great gifts. Eachof the trees got what they wanted, just not in the way they

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had imagined. We don’t always know what God’s plans arefor us. We just know that His ways are not our ways, butHis ways are always best.

b SPOKEN WORDS a

Once upon a time there was a peasant. There was a brawlwith his brother for some petty cause. Later he realized his mistakeand repented. He went to a holy man and described the eventand asked for forgiveness. The holy man asked the peasant tobring a bag of feathers and drop them in the center of the village.The peasant did it as he was told and met the holy man on thenext day morning. The holy man asked the peasant to collect thefeathers and put them back in the bag. The peasant tried butcouldn’t collect the feathers. When he returned with empty bag,the holy man said, “The same thing is true about your words. Youdropped them rather easily but you cannot retrieve them, so bevery careful in choosing your words.

Moral of the Story: Sticks and Stones break bones but oftenwords break relationships.

b MOUNTAIN a

A son and his father were walking on the mountains.

Suddenly, his son falls, hurts himself and screams:“AAAhhhhhhhhhhh!!!”

To his surprise, he hears the voice repeating, somewhere in themountain: “AAAhhhhhhhhhhh!!!”

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Curious, he yells: “Who are you?”

He receives the answer: “Who are you?”

And then he screams to the mountain: “I admire you!”

The voice answers: “I admire you!”

Angered at the response, he screams: “Coward!”

He receives the answer: “Coward!”

He looks to his father and asks: “What’s going on?”

The father smiles and says: “My son, pay attention.”

Again the man screams: “You are a champion!”

The voice answers: “You are a champion!”

The boy is surprised, but does not understand.

Then the father explains: “People call this ECHO, but really thisis LIFE.

It gives you back everything you say or do.

Our life is simply a reflection of our actions.

If you want more love in the world, create more love in yourheart.

If you want more competence in your team, improve yourcompetence.

This relationship applies to everything, in all aspects of life;

Life will give you back everything you have given to it.”

Moral of the Story: Your Life Is Not A Coincidence. It’s AReflection Of You!”

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b THE BUZZARD , THE BAT AND

THE BUMBLEBEE a

If you put a buzzard in a pen six or eight feet square and entirelyopen at the top, the bird, in spite of his ability to fly, will be anabsolute prisoner. The reason is that a buzzard always begins aflight from the ground with a run of ten or twelve feet. Withoutspace to run, as is his habit, he will not even attempt to fly, butwill remain a prisoner for life in a small jail with no top.

The ordinary bat that flies around at night, a remarkable nimblecreature in the air, cannot take off from a level place. If it is placedon the floor or flat ground, all it can do is shuffle about helplesslyand, no doubt, painfully, until it reaches some slight elevation fromwhich it can throw itself into the air. Then, at once, it takes offlike a flash.

A Bumblebee if dropped into an open tumbler will be there untilit dies, unless it is taken out. It never sees the means of escape atthe top, but persists in trying to find some way out through thesides near the bottom. It will seek a way where none exists, untilit completely destroys itself.

Moral of the Story: In many ways, there are lots of peoplelike the buzzard, the bat and the bee. They are strugglingabout with all their problems and frustrations, not realizingthat the answer is right there above them.

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b DETERMINATION a

In 1883, a creative engineer named John Roebling was inspiredby an idea to build a spectacular bridge connecting New Yorkwith the Long Island. However bridge building experts throughoutthe world thought that this was an impossible feat and toldRoebling to forget the idea. It just could not be done. It was notpractical. It had never been done before.

Roebling could not ignore the vision he had in his mind of thisbridge. He thought about it all the time and he knew deep in hisheart that it could be done. He just had to share the dream withsomeone else. After much discussion and persuasion he managedto convince his son Washington, an upcoming engineer, that thebridge in fact could be built.

Working together for the first time, the father and son developedconcepts of how it could be accomplished and how the obstaclescould be overcome. With great excitement and inspiration, andthe headiness of a wild challenge before them, they hired theircrew and began to build their dream bridge.

The project started well, but when it was only a few monthsunderway a tragic accident on the site took the life of JohnRoebling. Washington was injured and left with a certain amountof brain damage, which resulted in him not being able to walk ortalk or even move.

“We told them so.”

“Crazy men and their crazy dreams.”

“It’s foolish to chase wild visions.”

Everyone had a negative comment to make and felt that the projectshould be scrapped since the Roeblings were the only ones who

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knew how the bridge could be built. In spite of his handicapWashington was never discouraged and still had a burning desireto complete the bridge and his mind was still as sharp as ever.

He tried to inspire and pass on his enthusiasm to some of hisfriends, but they were too daunted by the task. As he lay on hisbed in his hospital room, with the sunlight streaming through thewindows, a gentle breeze blew the flimsy white curtains apartand he was able to see the sky and the tops of the trees outsidefor just a moment.

It seemed that there was a message for him not to give up.Suddenly an idea hit him. All he could do was move one fingerand he decided to make the best use of it. By moving this, heslowly developed a code of communication with his wife.

He touched his wife’s arm with that finger, indicating to her thathe wanted her to call the engineers again. Then he used the samemethod of tapping her arm to tell the engineers what to do. Itseemed foolish but the project was under way again.

For 13 years Washington tapped out his instructions with his fingeron his wife’s arm, until the bridge was finally completed. Todaythe spectacular Brooklyn Bridge stands in all its glory as a tributeto the triumph of one man’s indomitable spirit and hisdetermination not to be defeated by circumstances. It is also atribute to the engineers and their teamwork, and to their faith in aman who was considered mad by half the world. It stands too asa tangible monument to the love and devotion of his wife who for13 long years patiently decoded the messages of her husbandand told the engineers what to do.

Perhaps this is one of the best examples of a never-say-dieattitude that overcomes a terrible physical handicap and achievesan impossible goal.

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Moral of the Story: Often when we face obstacles in ourday-to-day life, our hurdles seem very small in comparisonto what many others have to face. The Brooklyn Bridgeshows us that dreams that seem impossible can be realizedwith determination and persistence, no matter what theodds are. Even the most distant dream can be realized withdetermination and persistence.

b OLYMPIC DIVER a

There was an Olympic diver, an aspirant for a gold medal inOlympics. He had a friend who was a strong believer in God andwas always telling him how miracles do happen, when onesurrenders to God. Though a nonbeliever the diver had noreservations, what so ever to give a patient hearing to his friendwho constantly was giving sermons to him about the Almighty.

The Olympics was nearing and it was time for the diver to practice.The diver went to the swimming pool in the night where he alwayspracticed and climbed to the highest point.

As he stretched his hand before his dive he saw his shadow inthe form of a cross. Though a nonbeliever in God he felt at thatmoment that he should kneel down and pray for his success inthe Olympics this time. So he knelt down and prayed.

As he knelt down to pray, the caretaker switched on the lights ofthe swimming pool and alas! To his surprise the swimming poolwas empty. The water had been removed for maintenance workand if he had not spent that brief moment to pray he would havejumped to his death.

Moral of the Story: No sooner you kneel down in prayer toGod, GOD SAVES YOU.

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b GREED a

Once upon a time there was a wealthy farmer, King offeredhim all the land he could walk on in a day. But the condition washe must come back by before sunset to the point where hestarted. The farmer was excited and he had not slept in the night.To get a head start, farmer started covering ground quicklybecause he wanted to get as much land as he could. He did nothave break fast or lunch. Even though he was tired, he kept goingall afternoon because he didn’t want to miss this once a lifetimeopportunity to gain more wealth.

Late in the afternoon he realized the condition he had to fulfill toget the land was to get back to the starting point by sundown.His greed had gotten him far enough. He started his return journey,keeping an eye on how close he was to sundown. The closer itgot to sundown the faster he ran. He was exhausted, out of breathand pushed himself beyond the point of endurance. He collapsedupon reaching the starting point and died. He did make it beforesundown. He was buried and all the land he needed was a smallplot.

Moral of the Story: Greed never pays.

b THE PRAYING HANDS a

Back in the fifteenth century, in a tiny village near Nuremberg,lived a family with eighteen children. Eighteen! In order merelyto keep food on the table for this mob, the father and head of thehousehold, a goldsmith by profession, worked almost eighteenhours a day at his trade and any other paying chore he could findin the neighborhood. Despite their seemingly hopeless condition,

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two of Albrecht Durer the Elder’s children had a dream. Theyboth wanted to pursue their talent for art, but they knew full wellthat their father would never be financially able to send either ofthem to Nuremberg to study at the Academy.

After many long discussions at night in their crowded bed, thetwo boys finally worked out a pact. They would toss a coin. Theloser would go down into the nearby mines and, with his earnings,support his brother while he attended the academy. Then, whenthat brother who won the toss completed his studies, in four years,he would support the other brother at the academy, either withsales of his artwork or, if necessary, also by laboring in the mines.

They tossed a coin on a Sunday morning after church. AlbrechtDurer won the toss and went off to Nuremberg. Albert wentdown into the dangerous mines and, for the next four years,financed his brother, whose work at the academy was almost animmediate sensation. Albrecht’s etchings, his woodcuts, and hisoils were far better than those of most of his professors, and bythe time he graduated, he was beginning to earn considerablefees for his commissioned works.

When the young artist returned to his village, the Durer familyheld a festive dinner on their lawn to celebrate Albrecht’striumphant homecoming. After a long and memorable meal,punctuated with music and laughter, Albrecht rose from hishonored position at the head of the table to drink a toast to hisbeloved brother for the years of sacrifice that had enabledAlbrecht to fulfill his ambition. His closing words were, “Andnow, Albert, blessed brother of mine, now it is your turn. Nowyou can go to Nuremberg to pursue your dream, and I will takecare of you.”

All heads turned in eager expectation to the far end of the tablewhere Albert sat, tears streaming down his pale face, shaking his

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lowered head from side to side while he sobbed and repeated,over and over, “No ...no ...no ...no.”

Finally, Albert rose and wiped the tears from his cheeks. Heglanced down the long table at the faces he loved, and then,holding his hands close to his right cheek, he said softly, “No,brother. I cannot go to Nuremberg. It is too late for me. Look ...look what four years in the mines have done to my hands! Thebones in every finger have been smashed at least once, and latelyI have been suffering from arthritis so badly in my right hand thatI cannot even hold a glass to return your toast, much less makedelicate lines on parchment or canvas with a pen or a brush. No,brother...for me it is too late.”

More than 450 years have passed. By now, Albrecht Durer’shundreds of masterful portraits, pen and silver-point sketches,watercolors, charcoals, woodcuts, and copper engravings hangin every great museum in the world, but the odds are great thatyou, like most people, are familiar with only one of AlbrechtDurer’s works. More than merely being familiar with it, you verywell may have a reproduction hanging in your home or office.

One day, to pay homage to Albert for all that he had sacrificed,Albrecht Durer painstakingly drew his brother’s abused handswith palms together and thin fingers stretched skyward. He calledhis powerful drawing simply “Hands,” but the entire world almostimmediately opened their hearts to his great masterpiece andrenamed his tribute of love “The Praying Hands.”

Moral of the Story: The next time you see a copy of thattouching creation take a second look. Let it be yourreminder, if you still need one, that no one - no one - - evermakes it alone!

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b LILLIPUT a

Once upon a time there was a country of Lilliput’s. A giantharassed them. One day a Lilliput visitor came to visit the villageand came to know about the problem created by the giant. Heasked the villagers “why don’t you stand up and fight the giant?”The villagers were terrified and replied “Don’t you see he is toobig to hit? But the wise Lilliput (visitor) replied, “No, he is nottoo big to hit, he is too big to miss.” He motivated the villagersand killed the giant. Here the problem is the same but theperception we see it is the different.

Moral of the Story: Our attitude determines how we lookat a setback. To a positive thinker, it can be a stepping-stone to success. To a negative thinker, it can be astumbling block.

b TRY SOMETHING DIFFERENT a

There’s a small fly burning out the last of its short life’s energiesin a futile attempt to fly through the glass of the windowpane.The whining wings tell the poignant story of the fly’s strategy: Tryharder. But it’s not working. The frenzied effort offers no hopefor survival. Ironically, the struggle is part of the trap. It isimpossible for the fly to try hard enough to succeed at breakingthrough the glass. Nevertheless, this little insect has staked its lifeon reaching its goal through raw effort and determination.

This fly is doomed. It will die there on the windowsill. Acrossthe room, ten steps away, the door is open. Ten seconds of flyingtime and this small creature could reach the outside world it seeks.With only a fraction of the effort now being wasted, it could be

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free of this self-imposed trap. The breakthrough possibility isthere. It would be so easy.

Why doesn’t the fly try another approach, somethingdramatically different? How did it get so locked in on the ideathat this particular route and determined effort offer the mostpromise for success? What logic is there in continuing until deathto seek a breakthrough with more of the same?

No doubt this approach makes sense to the fly. Regrettably, it’san idea that will kill.

Moral of the Story: Trying harder isn’t necessarily thesolution to achieving more. It may not offer any real promisefor getting what you want out of life. Sometimes, in fact,it’s a big part of the problem. If you stake your hopes for abreakthrough on trying harder than ever, you may kill yourchances for success.

b CHEAT a

There was a farmer who sold a pound of butter to the baker.One day the baker decided to weigh the butter to see if he wasgetting a pound and he found that he was not. This angered himand he took the farmer to court. The judge asked the farmer if hewas using any measure. The farmer replied, “Your Honor, I amprimitive. I don’t have a proper measure, but I do have a scale.”The Judge asked, “Then how do you weigh the butter?” Thefarmer replied “Your Honor, long before the baker started buyingbutter from me, I have been buying a pound of loaf of breadfrom him. Every day when the baker brings the bread, I put it onthe scale and give him the same weight in butter. If any one is to

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be blamed, it is the baker

Moral of the Story: We get back in life what we give toothers.

b THE LORD OF LOVE a

Once upon a time in Village there lived a very pious old manby name Swami, who was a great devotee and lover of God andmen. He served all with love in the name of God. All overneighboring villages his name became renowned for piety andhospitality.

One night when all the servants had gone to sleep and the wholefamily was fast asleep, someone knocked at the door. Swamiwas awakened by the loud knocks and opened the door. At thedoor stood an old unkempt man looking very exhausted andfamished. He beseeched, “Can you give me some food, sir? Ihave been starving for past one week.”

Swami’s heart melted at the plight of the old man. He invited himin with great love, gave him a seat and went inside. The servantsand his family members were working till late in the evening andwere all tired. Swami did not want to disturb them at that latehour to prepare food for the new guest. Instead he himself wentinto the kitchen, prepared some food quickly and brought it tothe hall. He placed it before the old man and said, “Sir, pleaseaccept my hospitality in the name of the Lord and bless me. Maythe Lord’s name be praised!”

The hungry man dragged the plate nearer and at once commencedeating the food, rudely saying, “Thank you for the food. But whyin God’s name? Which God is there to be worshipped? It is all

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nonsense.”

Swami was stunned. He could not imagine that there could everbe a man who denied God. “Don’t you see sir, how the kindGod provided food for you at this late hour from a stranger’shouse? Could you have survived had not the loving God sustainedyou throughout your life?

The old man was busy eating. He replied while greedily swallowingthe food, “My dear Sir, why do you speak of God? Did you eversee him? It is your good nature that made you give me this food.I am grateful to you. I am not so silly as to waste my time thinkingof a nonexisting God.”

This was too much for Swami. He could no longer contain himself.He burst out in anger, “So you do not believe in God. You feelthat you can look after yourself without depending on God. If itis so, get out of my house. There is no place here for atheists.” Inanger he took away the plate of food from the old man and pushedhim out of the house and closed his door. Burning with indignation,he went to bed, prayed to the Lord and fell asleep.

Then the Lord appeared to the Swami in dream and asked, “Son,why did you push away the poor man before he had his meal?He was very hungry. Why did you not allow him to eat the foodin full?

Swami trembled before the Almighty Lord and said, “Lord, Iwas prepared to give him more food also if he wanted. But whenhe denied you again and again it was too much for me to tolerate.”

The Lord smiled and said, “Son, he had been denying me for thelast ninety years. Even then I gave him food twice a day all theseyears. Could you not tolerate him for one day for my sake?”

Swami hung his head in shame. Shedding tears from his eyes, heprostrated to the Lord and said, “You are the Lord of Love. I

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now know how kind you are in tolerating our mistakes and stillgiving us what we need. My God, in future let me have the samelove for all the beings in the world. Let me not be angry with anyone for any reason. Please pardon me for this lapse.

Moral of the Story: Every person is different when everothers don’t agree your point of view simply think that it istheir way of thinking. Before you criticize a man, you mustwalk a mile in the man’s shoes. If he is still bothered bywhat you say, it is okay, because you will be a mile awayand you will have his shoes.

b THINK TWICE a

In a small village there lived a family consisting of 5 members(both parents, Two elder sons and a younger daughter). Due totheir poverty and misery their elder son called Ravi ran awayfrom the village and reached to a near by town. There he workedfor small hotels and grocery shops. He was intelligent and a goodmannered boy. A businessman was observing Ravi and liked him.He asked Ravi to assist him in his business. Ravi had acceptedthe offer. They roamed all over the country promoting theirproducts. They worked hard and made a good fortune. Aftersome time the old businessman was sick and he was childless.He had given all the money to Ravi and died peacefully. Ravi wasnow rich and happy. He wanted to see his parents and his siblings.He went in search of their parents carrying a lot of money withhim. He wanted to provide every facility to them. Unfortunatelytheir parents left the village in search of livelihood. After a hecticsearch Ravi got the whereabouts of their parents.

He came to know that their parents are in a situation where they

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cannot afford a meal for a day and live in the outskirts of a village.Ravi felt very sad and taken money full of a briefcase and hurriedto reach them. Mean while in the journey his car had a breakdown.He wanted to reach their parents immediately. Ravi asked thedriver to get repaired the vehicle and reach him at the address oftheir parents. He reached his parents house in the evening andsaw his parents and siblings. Ravi was thrilled and wanted togive them a surprise. So he said that “he was a businessman andgoing to another town, he was tired and wanted to rest for theday”. The old man (Ravi’s father) invited him and asked to havea bath and rest on the cot. When Ravi came after taking bath thefamily members are murmuring what to provide for dinner. Raviunderstood the situation and opened his briefcase and taken outsome money and gave it to cook some thing. The family had notseen so much of money in their lifetime. They had a deliciousdinner and everyone is happy. Ravi is full of joy and gone to bed.After having a good meal after a long time the family sat outsideof the hut and relaxing. The younger son (Ravi’s brother) wasmad with such an amount of money. He talked about the moneythe businessman brought with him. He wanted to own the moneyand lead a happy life. He expressed that to own that money theyhad to kill the businessman and no one can find out the crime.Initially others rejected his opinion but after elaborate arguments,to eradicate the poverty they had to do it. So everyone preparedthemselves and strangulated Ravi. Ravi was shocked, tried toscream but his mouth was tied up with a cloth and expressed hisfeelings with his face that he was his own brother. But no oneheeded to his gestures. Alas, Ravi died. The family members hadsecretly dumped him in a grave. The next day Ravi’s driver arrivedwith the car and asked about Ravi. They said that they don’tknow any such person. Then he revealed that the businessman isnone other than their own son and he inherited a lot of wealth.

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Ravi’s parents broke down and they committed suicide. Ravi’ssister became mad. Ravi’s brother spent his whole life in the prisonrepenting for the crime; he never spoke with anyone in his life.

Moral of the Story: What ever you want to do, do it afterthinking that if the same were done to you how would youfeel? Do not become cause of another’s grief. None willbecome cause of your’s grief.

b BEGGAR a

An old man lived in a city and he would wake up every morningand go to the market and sit at the street corner and beg. Hewould do this every single day of his life. He sat at the samestreet corner and begged for almost 20 years.

His house was filthy, and a stench came out of the house and itsmelled horribly. The neighbors could not stand the smellanymore, so they summoned the police officers to clear the place.The officers knocked down the door and cleaned the house. Therewere small bags of money all over the house that he had collectedover the years.

The police counted the money, and they soon realized that theold man was a millionaire. They waited outside his house inanticipation to share the good news with him. When he arrivedhome that evening, he was met by one the officers who told himthat there was no need for him to beg any more as he was a richman now, a millionaire.

He said nothing at all; he went into his house and locked thedoor. The next morning he woke up as usual, went to the market

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and sat at the street corner and continued to beg.

Obviously, this old man had no great plans, dreams or anythingsignificant for his life. We learn nothing from this story other thanstaying focused on the things we enjoy doing, commitment.

We should remain true to our course; which may mean committingyourselves to things that people around you would normallydisapprove. Let nothing distract us from being happy; let nothingelse determine our fate, but ourselves.

Moral of the Story: What makes us happy is what mattersin the end, not what we acquire.

b GLASS OF WATER a

Professor began his class by holding up a glass with some waterin it. He held it up for all to see & asked the students,’ How muchdo you think this glass weighs?’

’50gms!’.... ‘100gms!’.....125gms’ .....The students answered.

‘I really don’t know unless I weigh it, ‘said the professor,’ butmy question is: What would happen if I held it up like this for afew minutes?’

‘Nothing’ the students said.

‘OK what would happen if I held it up like this for an hour?’ The

Professor asked.

‘Your arm would begin to ache’ said one of the students.

‘You’re right, now what would happen if I held it for a day?’

‘Your arm could go numb, you might have severe muscle stress

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& paralysis & have to go to hospital for sure!’ Ventured anotherstudent & all the students laughed. ‘Very good. But during allthis, did the weight of the glass change?’ Asked the professor.

‘No’

‘Then what caused the arm ache & the muscle stress?’ Thestudents were puzzled.

“ Holding the glass too long”, ‘ So, Put the glass down!’ Saidone of the students.

‘Exactly!’ Said the professor.’ Life’s problems are something likethis.

Hold it for a few minutes in your head & they seem OK. Think ofthem for a long time & they begin to ache. Hold it even longer &they begin to paralyze you. You will not be able to do anything.Moral of the Story: It’s important to think of the challenges(problems) in your life, but EVEN MORE IMPORTANTto ‘put them down’ at the end of every day before you go tosleep. That way, you are not stressed, you wake up everydayfresh & strong & can handle any issue, any challenge thatcomes your way! So, as it becomes time for you to leaveoffice today, Remember To ‘ PUT THE GLASS DOWNTODAY!

b THE CHICKEN a

Once upon a time, there was a large mountainside, where aneagle’s nest rested. The eagle’s nest contained four large eagleeggs. One day an earthquake rocked the mountain causing oneof the eggs to roll down the mountain, to a chicken farm, locatedin the valley below. The chickens knew that they must protect

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and care for the eagle’s egg, so an old hen volunteered to nurtureand raise the large egg. One day, the egg hatched and a beautifuleagle was born. Sadly, however, the eagle was raised to be achicken. Soon, the eagle believed he was nothing more than achicken. The eagle loved his home and family, but his spirit criedout for more. While playing a game, on the farm one day, theeagle looked to the skies above and noticed a group of mightyeagles soaring in the skies.

“Oh”, the eagle cried,

“I wish I could soar like those birds”.

The chickens roared with laughter,

“You can not soar with those birds! You are a chicken andchickens do not soar”.

The eagle continued staring, at his real family up above, dreamingthat he could be with them. Each time, the eagle would let hisdreams be known, he was told it couldn’t be done and that iswhat the eagle learned to believe. The eagle, after time, stoppeddreaming and continued to live his life like a chicken. Finally,after a long life as a chicken, the eagle passed away.

Moral of the Story: Don’t let negative thoughts drag youdown. You know your strengths and weaknesses. Assess yourself and use your potential energy to reach your ambitions.You become what you believe you are, so if you ever dreamto become an eagle follow your dreams not the words of achicken.

Quote: “Birds of a feather flock together. If you’re an eagle,don’t hang around chickens:

Chickens can’t fly!”

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b THE BRICK a

About ten years ago, a young and very successful executivenamed Josh was traveling down a Chicago neighborhood street.He was going a bit too fast in his sleek, black, 12 cylinder JaguarXKE, which was only two months old.

He was watching for kids darting out from between parked carsand slowed down when he thought he saw something. As his carpassed, no child darted out, but a brick sailed out and - WHUMP!- It smashed Into the Jag’s shiny black side door! SCREECH..!!!!Brakes slammed! Gears ground into reverse, and tires madly spunthe Jaguar back to the spot from where the brick had been thrown.Josh jumped out of the car, grabbed the kid and pushed him upagainst a parked car. He shouted at the kid, “What was that allabout and who are you? Just what the heck are you doing?!”Building up a head of steam, he went on. “That’s my new Jag,that brick you threw is going to cost you a lot of money. Why didyou throw it?”

“Please, mister, please . . . I’m sorry! I didn’t know what else todo!” Pleaded the youngster. “I threw the brick because no oneelse would stop!” Tears were dripping down the boy’s chin as hepointed around the parked car. “It’s my brother, mister,” he said.“He rolled off the curb and fell out of his wheelchair and I can’tlift him up.” Sobbing, the boy asked the executive, “Would youplease help me get him back into his wheelchair? He’s hurt andhe’s too heavy for me.”

Moved beyond words, the young executive tried desperately toswallow the rapidly swelling lump in his throat. Straining, he liftedthe young man back into the wheelchair and took out hishandkerchief and wiped the scrapes and cuts, checking to seethat everything was going to be OK. He then watched the younger

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brother push him down the sidewalk toward their home.

It was a long walk back to the sleek, black, shining, 12 cylinderJaguar XKE -a long and slow walk. Josh never did fix the sidedoor of his Jaguar. He kept the dent to remind him not to gothrough life so fast that someone has to throw a brick at him toget his attention. . . Some bricks are softer than others. Feel forthe bricks of life coming at to you. For all the negative things wehave to say to ourselves, God has positive answers.

Moral of the Story: God Whispers in our Souls. Sometimeswhen we don’t have time to listen, He has to throw a brickat us.

b TEACHER a

Her name was Mrs. Thompson. As she stood in front of her5th grade class on the very first day of school, she told the childrena lie. Like most teachers, she looked at her students and saidthat she loved them all the same. But that was impossible, becausethere in the front row, slumped in his seat, was a little boy namedTeddy Stoddard.

Mrs. Thompson had watched Teddy the year before and noticedthat he didn’t play well with the other children, that his clotheswere messy and that he constantly needed a bath. And Teddycould be unpleasant. It got to the point where Mrs. Thompsonwould actually take delight in marking his papers with a broadred pen, making bold X’s and then putting a big “F” at the top ofhis papers. At the school where Mrs. Thompson taught, she wasrequired to review each child’s past records and she put Teddy’soff until last. However, when she reviewed his file, she was in fora surprise.

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Teddy’s first grade teacher wrote, “Teddy is a bright child with aready laugh. He does his work neatly and has good manners...heis a joy to be around.”

His second grade teacher wrote, “Teddy is an excellent student,well liked by his classmates, but he is troubled because his motherhas a terminal illness and life at home must be a struggle.”

His third grade teacher wrote, “His mother’s death had beenhard on him. He tries to do his best, but his father doesn’t showmuch interest and his home life will soon affect him if some stepsaren’t taken.”

Teddy’s fourth grade teacher wrote, “Teddy is withdrawn anddoesn’t show much interest in school. He doesn’t have manyfriends and he sometimes sleeps in class.”

By now, Mrs. Thompson realized the problem and she wasashamed of herself. She felt even worse when her students broughther Christmas presents, wrapped in beautiful ribbons and brightpaper, except for Teddy’s. His present was clumsily wrapped inthe heavy, brown paper that he got from a grocery bag.

Mrs. Thompson took pains to open it in the middle of the otherpresents. Some of the children started to laugh when she found arhinestone bracelet with some of the stones missing, and a bottlethat was one quarter full of perfume. But she stifled the children’slaughter when she exclaimed how pretty the bracelet was, puttingit on, and dabbing some of the perfume on her wrist.

Teddy Stoddard stayed after school that day just long enough tosay, “Mrs. Thompson, today you smelled just like my Mom usedto”. After the children left she cried for at least an hour.

Mrs. Thompson paid particular attention to Teddy. As she workedwith him, his mind seemed to come alive. The more she encouragedhim, the faster he responded.

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By the end of the year, Teddy had become one of smartest childrenin the class and, despite her lie that she would love all the childrenthe same, Teddy became one of her “teacher’s pets.”

A year later, she found a note under her door, from Teddy, tellingher that she was the best teacher he ever had in his whole life.

Six years went by before she got another note from Teddy. Hethen wrote that he had finished high school, third in his class, andshe was still the best teacher he ever had in his whole life.

Four years after that, she got another letter, saying that whilethings had been tough at times, he’d stayed in school, had stuckwith it, and would soon graduate from college with the highest ofhonors. He assured Mrs. Thompson that she was still the bestand favorite teacher he ever had in his whole life. Then four moreyears passed and yet another letter came. This time he explainedthat after he got his bachelor’s degree, he decided to go a littlefurther. The letter explained that she was still the best and favoriteteacher he ever had. But now his name was little longer the letterwas signed, Theodore F.Stoddard, MD.

The story doesn’t end there. You see, there was yet another letterthat spring. Teddy said he’d met this girl and was going to bemarried. He explained that his father had died a couple of yearsago and he was wondering if Mrs. Thompson might agree to sitin the place at the wedding that was usually reserved for themother of the groom. Of course, Mrs. Thompson did. And guesswhat? She wore that bracelet, the one with several rhinestonesmissing. And she made sure she was wearing the perfume thatTeddy remembered his mother wearing on their last Christmastogether.

They hugged each other, and Dr. Stoddard whispered in Mrs.Thompson’s ear, “Thank you Mrs. Thompson for believing in

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me. Thank you so much for making me feel important and showingme that I could make a difference.”

Mrs. Thompson, with tears in her eyes, whispered back. Shesaid, “Teddy, you have it all wrong. You were the one who taughtme that I could make a difference. I didn’t know how to teachuntil I met you.”

Moral of the Story: Please remember that wherever you go,and whatever you do, you will have the opportunity to touchor change a person’s outlook. Please try to do it in a positiveway.

b A SIMPLE GESTURE a

Mark was walking home from school one day when he noticedthat the boy ahead of him had tripped and dropped all the bookshe was carrying, along with two sweaters, a baseball bat, a gloveand a small tape recorder. Mark knelt down and helped the boypick up the scattered articles. Since they were going the sameway, he helped to carry part of the burden. As they walked,Mark discovered the boy’s name was Bill, that he loved videogames, baseball and history, that he was having a lot of troublewith his other subjects.

Mark went home after dropping Bill at his house. They continuedto see each other around school, had lunch together once ortwice, then both graduated from junior high school. They endedup in the same high school, where they had brief contacts overthe years. Finally the long-awaited senior year came. Three weeksbefore graduation, Bill asked Mark if they could talk.

Bill reminded him of the day years ago when they had first met.

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“Do you ever wonder why I was carrying so many things homethat day?” Asked Bill. “You see, I cleaned out my locker becauseI didn’t want to leave a mess for anyone else. I had stored awaysome of my mother’s sleeping pills and I was going home tocommit suicide. But after we spent some time together talkingand laughing, I realized that if I had killed myself, I would havemissed that time and so many others that might follow. So yousee, Mark, when you picked up my books that day, you did a lotmore. You saved my life.”

Moral of the Story: Treat people as if they were what theyought to be and help them become what they are capableof being.

b VANILLA ICE CREAM a

The Pontiac Division of General Motors received a complaint‘This is the second time I have written to you, and I don’t blameyou for not answering me, because I sounded crazy, but it is afact that we have a tradition in our family of Ice-Cream for dessertafter dinner each night, but the kind of ice cream varies so, everynight, after we’ve eaten, the whole family votes on which kind ofice cream we should have and I drive down to the store to get it.It’s also a fact that I recently purchased a new Pontiac and sincethen my trips to the store have created a problem...

You see, every time I buy a vanilla ice cream, when I start backfrom the store my car won’t start. If I get any other kind of icecream, the car starts just fine. I want you to know I’m seriousabout this question, no matter how silly it sounds “What is there

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about a Pontiac that makes it not start when I get vanilla icecream, and easy to start whenever I get any other kind?” ThePontiac President was understandably skeptical about the letter,but sent an Engineer to check it out anyway.

The latter was surprised to be greeted by a successful, obviouslywell educated man in a fine neighborhood. He had arranged tomeet the man just after dinner time, so the two hopped into thecar and drove to the ice cream store. It was vanilla ice creamthat night and, sure enough, after they came back to the car, itwouldn’t start.

The Engineer returned for three more nights. The first night, theygot chocolate. The car started. The second night, he gotstrawberry. The car started. The third night he ordered vanilla.The car failed to start.

Now the engineer, being a logical man, refused to believe thatthis man’s car was allergic to vanilla ice cream. He arranged,therefore, to continue his visits for as long as it took to solve theproblem. And toward this end he began to take notes: He jotteddown all sorts of data: time of day, type of gas uses, time to driveback and forth etc.

In a short time, he had a clue: the man took less time to buyvanilla than any other flavor. Why? The answer was in the layoutof the store. Vanilla, being the most popular flavor, was in aseparate case at the front of the store for quick pickup. All theother flavors were kept in the back of the store at a differentcounter where it took considerably longer to check out the flavor.

Now, the question for the Engineer was why the car wouldn’tstart when it took less time. Eureka - Time was now the problem- not the vanilla ice cream!!!! The engineer quickly came up withthe answer: “vapor lock”.

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It was happening every night; but the extra time taken to get theother flavors allowed the engine to cool down sufficiently to start.When the man got vanilla, the engine was still too hot for thevapor lock to dissipate.

Moral of the Story: Even crazy looking problems aresometimes real and all problems seem to be simple onlywhen we find the solution, with cool thinking. What reallymatters is your attitude and your perception.

b THE FARMER AND THE STORK a

Finding that cranes were destroying his newly sown corn, afarmer one evening set a net in his field to catch the destructivebirds. When he went to examine the net next morning he found anumber of cranes and also a stork.

“Release me, I beseech you,” cried the stork, “for I have eatennone of your corn, nor have I done you any harm. I am a poorinnocent stork, as you may see - a most dutiful bird, I honor myfather and mother. I...”

But the farmer cut him short. “All this may be true enough, I daresay, but I have caught you with those were destroying my crops,and you must suffer with the company in which you are found.”

Moral of the Story: Often people are judged by the companythey keep.

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b THE SCULPTOR’S ATTITUDE a

I woke up early today, excited over all I get to do before theclock strikes midnight. I have responsibilities to fulfill today. I amimportant. My job is to choose what kind of day I am going tohave.

Today I can complain because the weather is rainy or ... I can bethankful that the grass is getting watered for free.

Today I can feel sad that I don’t have more money or ... I can beglad that my finances encourage me to plan my purchases wiselyand guide me away from waste.

Today I can grumble about my health or… I can rejoice that Iam alive.

Today I can lament over all that my parents didn’t give me whenI was growing up or ...I can feel grateful that they allowed me tobe born.

Today I can cry because roses have thorns or ... I can celebratethat thorns have roses.

Today I can mourn my lack of friends or ... I can excitedly embarkupon a quest to discover new relationships.

Today I can whine because I have to go to work or ... I canshout for joy because I have a job to do.

Today I can complain because I have to go to school or ...

Eagerly open my mind and fill it with rich new tidbits ofknowledge.

Today I can murmur dejectedly because I have to do houseworkor

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I can feel honored because the Lord has provided shelter for mymind, body and soul.

Moral of the Story: Today stretches ahead of me, waitingto be shaped. And here I am, the sculptor who gets to dothe shaping. What today will be like is up to me. I get tochoose what kind of day I will have!

b THE TRAVELLERS AND THE

PLAIN TREE a

Two men were walking along one summer day. Soon it becametoo hot to go any further and, seeing a large plain tree nearby,they threw themselves on the ground to rest in its shade.

Gazing up into the branches one man said to the other: “What auseless tree this is. It does not have fruit or nuts that we can eatand we cannot even use its wood for anything.”

“Don’t be so ungrateful,” rustled the tree in reply. “I am beingextremely useful to you at this very moment, shielding you fromthe hot sun. And you call me a good-for-nothing!”

Moral of the Story: All of God’s creations have a goodpurpose. Learn to get in touch with silence within yourself,and know that everything in this life has purpose. Thereare no mistakes, No coincidences, all events are blessingsgiven to us to learn from.

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b RUN, PATTI , RUN a

At a young and tender age, Patti Wilson was told by her doctorthat she was an epileptic. Her father, Jim Wilson, is a morningjogger. One day she smiled through her teenage braces and said,“Daddy what I’d really love to do is run with you every day, butI’m afraid I’ll have a seizure.” Her father told her, “If you do, Iknow how to handle it so let’s start running!”

That’s just what they did every day. It was a wonderfulexperience for them to share and there were no seizures at allwhile she was running. After a few weeks, she told her father,“Daddy, what I’d really love to do is break the world’s long-distance running record for women.”

Her father checked the Guinness Book of World Records andfound that the farthest any woman had run was 80 miles. As afreshman in high school, Patti announced, “I’m going to run fromOrange County up to San Francisco.” (A distance of 400 miles.)

“As a sophomore,” she went on, “I’m going to run to Portland,Oregon.” (Over 1,500 miles.) “As a junior I’ll run to St. Louis.(About 2,000 miles.) “As a senior I’ll run to the White House.”(More than 3,000 miles away.)

In view of her handicap, Patti was as ambitious as she wasenthusiastic, but she said she looked at the handicap of being anepileptic as simply “an inconvenience.” She focused not on whatshe had lost, but on what she had left.

That year she completed her run to San Francisco wearing a T-shirt that read, “I love Epileptics.” Her dad ran every mile at herside, and her mom, a nurse, followed in a motor home behindthem in case anything went wrong.

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In her sophomore year Patti’s classmates got behind her.

They built a giant poster that read, “Run, Patti, Run!” (This hassince become her motto and the title of a book she has written.)On her second marathon, en route to Portland, she fractured abone in her foot. A doctor told her she had to stop her run. Hesaid, “I’ve got to put a cast on your ankle so that you don’tsustain permanent damage.”

“Doc, you don’t understand,” she said. “This isn’t just a whim ofmine, it’s a magnificent obsession! I’m not just doing it for me,I’m doing it to break the chains on the brains that limit so manyothers. Isn’t there a way I can keep running?” He gave her oneoption. He could wrap it in adhesive instead of putting it in acast. He warned her that it would be incredibly painful, and toldher, “It will blister.” She told the doctor to wrap it up.

She finished the run to Portland, completing her last mile with thegovernor of Oregon.

After four months of almost continuous running from West Coastto the East Coast, Patti arrived in Washington and shook thehand of the President of the United States. She told him, “I wantedpeople to know that epileptics are normal human beings withnormal lives.”

Moral of the Story: If Patti Wilson can do so much with solittle, what can you do to outperform yourself in a state oftotal wellness? Great works are performed not by strengthbut by perseverance. – Samuel Johnson

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b A SLAVE TO HIS DESTINY a

One morning a sixteen-year-old boy was kidnapped from hishouse by a band of knife-wielding thugs and taken to anothercountry to be sold as a slave. The year was 401 AD.

He was made a shepherd. Slaves were not allowed to wearclothes, so he was often dangerously cold and frequently on theverge of starvation. He spent months at a time without seeinganother human being — a severe psychological torture.

But this greatest of difficulties was transformed into the greatestof blessings because it gave him an opportunity not many get in alifetime. Long lengths of solitude have been used by people allthrough history to meditate, to learn to control the mind and toexplore the depths of feeling and thought to a degree impossiblein the hubbub of normal life.

He wasn’t looking for such an “opportunity,” but he got it anyway.He had never been a religious person, but to hold himself togetherand take his mind off the pain, he began to pray, so much that“...in one day,” he wrote later, “I would say as many as a hundredprayers and after dark nearly as many again...I would wake andpray before daybreak — through snow, frost, and rain....”

This young man, at the onset of his manhood, got a ‘raw deal.’But therein lies the lesson. Nobody gets a perfect life. The questionis not “What could I have done if I’d gotten a better life?” Butrather “What can I do with the life I’ve got?”

How can you take your personality, your circumstances, yourupbringing, the time and place you live in, and make somethingextraordinary out of it? What can you do with what you’ve got?The young slave prayed. He didn’t have much else available to

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do, so he did what he could with all his might. And after six yearsof praying, he heard a voice in his sleep say that his prayers wouldbe answered: He was going home. He sat bolt upright and thevoice said, “Look, your ship is ready.”

It was a long way from the ocean, but he started walking. Aftertwo hundred miles, he came to the ocean and there was a ship,preparing to leave for Britain, his homeland. Somehow he gotaboard the ship and went home to reunite with his family.

But he had changed. The sixteen-year-old boy had become aholy man. He had visions. He heard the voices of the peoplefrom the island he had left — Ireland — calling him back. Thevoices were persistent, and he eventually left his family to becomeordained as a priest and a bishop with the intention of returningto Ireland and converting the Irish to Christianity.

He was named a saint, the famous Saint Patrick. You can readthe full and fascinating story if you like in the excellent book Howthe Irish Saved Civilization by Thomas Cahill.

“Very interesting,” you might say, “but what does that have to dowith me?”

Well...you are also in some circumstances or other, and it’s notall peaches and cream, is it? There’s some stuff you don’t like —maybe something about your circumstances, perhaps, or maybesome events that occurred in your childhood.

But here you are, with that past, with these circumstances, withthe things you consider less than ideal. What are you going to dowith them? If those circumstances have made you uniquelyqualified for some contribution, what would it be?

Moral of the Story: You may not know the answer to thatquestion right now, but keep in mind that the circumstances

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you think only spell misery may contain the seeds ofsomething profoundly good. Assume that’s true, and theassumption will begin to gather evidence until your miseryis transformed, as Saint Patrick’s suffering was, from a rawdeal to the perfect preparation for something better.

Ask yourself and keep asking, “Given my upbringing andcircumstances, what Good am I especially qualified to do?”

b THE CAB DRIVER a

I was in Mumbai the other day and rode with a friend in a taxi.When we got out, my friend said to the driver, “Thank you forthe ride. You did a superb job of driving.”

The taxi driver was stunned for a second. Then he said, “Areyou a wise guy or something?”

“No, my dear man, and I’m not putting you on. I admire the wayyou keep cool in heavy traffic.”

“Yeah,” the driver said and drove off.

“What was that all about?” I asked.

I am trying to bring love back to city,” he said. “I believe it’s theonly thing that can save the city.”

“How can one man save the city?”

“It’s not one man. I believe I have made that taxi driver’s day.Suppose he has 20 fares. He’s going to be nice to those 20 faresbecause someone was nice to him. Those fares in turn will bekinder to their employees or shopkeepers or waiters or eventheir own families. Eventually the goodwill could spread to at

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least 1,000 people. Now that isn’t bad, is it?”

“But you’re depending on that taxi driver to pass your goodwillto others.”

“I’m not depending on it,” my friend said. “I’m aware that thesystem isn’t foolproof so I might deal with ten different peopletoday. If out of ten I can make three happy, then eventually I canindirectly influence the attitudes of 3,000 more.”

“It sounds good on paper,” I admitted, “but I’m not sure it worksin practice.”

“Nothing is lost if it doesn’t. It didn’t take any of my time to tellthat man he was doing a good job. He neither received a largertip nor a smaller tip. If it fell on deaf ears, so what? Tomorrowthere will be another taxi driver I can try to make happy.”

“You’re some kind of a nut,” I said.

“That shows how cynical you have become. I have made a studyof this. The thing that seems to be lacking, besides money ofcourse, for our postal employees, is that no one tells people whowork for the post office what a good job they’re doing.” “Butthey’re not doing a good job.”

“They’re not doing a good job because they feel no one cares ifthey do or not. Why shouldn’t someone say a kind word to them?”

We were walking past a structure in the process of being builtand passed five workmen having their tea. My friend stopped.“That’s a magnificent job you men have done. It must be difficultand dangerous work.”

The workmen eyed my friend suspiciously. “When will it befinished?”

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“June, a man grunted. “Ah. That really is impressive. You mustall be very proud.”

We walked away. I said to him, “I haven’t seen anyone like you.

“When those men digest my words, they will feel better for it.Somehow the city will benefit from their happiness.”

“But you can’t do this all alone!” I protested. “You’re just oneman.”

“The most important thing is not to get discouraged. Makingpeople in the city become kind again is not an easy job, but if Ican enlist other people in my campaign. . .”

You just winked at a very plain-looking woman,” I said.

“Yes, I know,” he replied. “And if she’s a schoolteacher, herclass will be in for a fantastic day.”

Moral of the Story: The deepest principle in human natureis the craving to be appreciated. When you see some oneliving the values your culture stands for make them a publichero. Behavior that gets rewarded is behavior that getsrepeated. Catch people doing good and honor them.

b SENSE OF A GOOSE a

When you see geese flying along in “V” formation, you mightconsider what science has discovered as to why they fly thatway. As each bird flaps its wings, it creates uplift for the birdimmediately following. By flying in “V” formation, the whole flockadds at least 71 percent greater flying range than if each birdflew on its own.

People who share a common direction and sense of community

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can get where they are going more quickly and easily becausethey are traveling on the thrust of one another.

When a goose falls out of formation, it suddenly feels the dragand resistance of trying to go it alone - and quickly gets backinto formation to take advantage of the lifting power of the birdin front.

If we have as much sense as a goose, we will stay in formationwith those people who are headed the same way we are.

When the head goose gets tired, it rotates back in the wing andanother goose flies point.

It is sensible to take turns doing demanding jobs, whether withpeople or with geese flying south.

Geese honk from behind to encourage those up front to keep uptheir speed.

What messages do we give when we honk from behind?

Finally - and this is important - when a goose gets sick or iswounded by gunshot, and falls out of formation, two other geesefall out with that goose and follow it down to lend help andprotection. They stay with the fallen goose until it is able to fly oruntil it dies, and only then do they launch out on their own, orwith another formation to catch up with their group.

Moral of the Story: If we have the sense of a goose, we willstand by each other like that. United we stand Divided wefall. It is our special duty, that if anyone needs our help,we should give him such help to our utmost powers. —Cicero

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b FATHER’S EYES a

A teenager lived alone with his father, and the two of themhad a very special relationship. The father believed inencouragement. Even though the son was always on the bench,his father was always in the stands cheering. He never missed agame.

This young man was the smallest of the class when he enteredhigh school.

His father continued to encourage him but also made it very clearthat he did not have to play football if he didn’t want to.

But the young man loved football and decided to hang in there.He was determined to try his best at every practice, and perhapshe’d get to play when he became a senior.

All through high school he never missed a practice or a game,but remained a bench warmer all four years. His faithful fatherwas always in the stands, always with words of encouragementfor him. When the young man went to college, he decided to tryout for the football team as a “walk-on.”

Everyone was sure he could never make the cut, but he did. Thecoach admitted that he kept him on the roster because he alwaysputs his heart and soul to every practice, and at the same time,provided the other members with the spirit and hustle they badlyneeded. The news that he had survived the cut thrilled him somuch that he rushed to the nearest phone and called his father.

His father shared his excitement and was sent season tickets forall the college games. This persistent young athlete never missedpractice during his four years at college, but he never got to playin the game.

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It was the end of his senior football season, and as he trottedonto the practice field shortly before the big play off game, thecoach met him with a telegram. The young man read the telegramand he became deathly silent.

Swallowing hard, he mumbled to the coach, “My father died thismorning. Is it all right if I miss practice today?”

The coach put his arm gently around his shoulder and said, “Takethe rest of the week off, son. And don’t even plan to come backto the game on Saturday.” Saturday arrived, and the game wasnot going well.

In the third quarter, when the team was ten points behind, a silentyoung man quietly slipped into the empty locker room and puton his football gear. As he ran onto the sidelines, the coach andhis players were astounded to see their faithful teammate backso soon.

“Coach, please let me play. I’ve just got to play today,” said theyoung man.

The coach pretended not to hear him. There was no way hewanted his worst player in this close playoff game. But the youngman persisted, and finally feeling sorry for the kid, the coachgave in. “All right,” he said. “You can go in.” Before long, thecoach, the players and everyone in the stands could not believetheir eyes. This little unknown, who had never played before,was doing everything right. The opposing team could not stophim. He ran, he passed, blocked and tackled like a star. His teambegan to triumph.

The score was soon tied. In the closing seconds of the game, thiskid intercepted a pass and ran all the way for the winningtouchdown. The fans broke loose. His teammates hoisted himonto their shoulders. Such cheering you’ve never heard!

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Finally, after the stands had emptied and the team had showeredand left the locker room, the coach noticed that the young manwas sitting quietly in the corner all alone. The coach came to himand said, “Kid, I can’t believe it. You were fantastic!

Tell me what got into you? How did you do it?” He looked at thecoach, with tears in his eyes, and said, “Well, you knew my daddied, but did you know that my dad was blind?” The young manswallowed hard and forced a smile, “Dad came to all my games,but today was the first time he could see me play, and I wantedto show him I could do it!”

Moral of the Story: People’s belief can emulate greatinspiration and achieve tasks miraculously.

b WORDS AND ACTIONS SHOULD

BE THE SAME a

There once was a boy who loved eating sweets. He alwaysasked for sweets from his father. His father was a poor man. Hecould not always afford sweets for his son. But the little boy didnot understand this, and demanded sweets all the time.

The boy’s father thought hard about how to stop the child askingfor so many sweets. There was a holy man living nearby at thattime. The boy’s father had an idea. He decided to take the boyto the great man who might be able to persuade the child to stopasking for sweets all the time.

The boy and his father went along to the great man. The fathersaid to him, “Oh great saint, could you ask my son to stop askingfor sweets which I cannot afford?” The great man was in difficulty,

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because he liked sweets himself. How could he ask the boy togive up asking for sweets? The holy man told the father to bringhis son back after one month.

During that month, the holy man gave up eating sweets, and whenthe boy and his father returned after a month, the holy man saidto the boy “My dear child, will you stop asking for sweets whichyour father cannot afford to give you?”

From then on, the boy stopped asking for sweets.

The boy’s father asked the saint, “Why did you not ask my sonto give up asking for sweets when we came to you a month ago?”The saint replied, “How could I ask a boy to give up sweetswhen I loved sweets myself. In the last month I gave up eatingsweets.”

Moral of the Story: A person’s example is much morepowerful than just his words. When we ask someone to dosomething, we must do it ourselves also. We should not askothers to do what we do not do ourselves. Always makesure that your actions and your words are same.

b THE MOST

BEAUTIFUL HEART a

One day a young man was standing in the middle of the townproclaiming that he had the most beautiful heart in the whole valley.

A large crowd gathered and they all admired his heart for it wasperfect.

There was not a mark or a flaw in it.

Yes, they all agreed it truly was the most beautiful heart they had

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ever seen.

The young man was very proud and boasted more loudly abouthis beautiful heart.

Suddenly, an old man appeared at the front of the crowd andsaid, “Why your heart is not nearly as beautiful as mine.”

The crowd and the young man looked at the old man’s heart. Itwas beating strongly ... but full of scars. It had places wherepieces had been removed and other pieces put in ... but theydidn’t fit quite right and there were several jagged edges.

In fact, in some places there were deep gouges where wholepieces were missing.

The people starred ... how could he say his heart is more beautiful,they thought?

The young man looked at the old man’s heart and saw its stateand laughed. “You must be joking,” he said. “Compare your heartwith mine ... mine is perfect and yours is a mess of scars andtears.”

“Yes,” said the old man, “Yours is perfect looking ... but I wouldnever trade with you. You see, every scar represents a person towhom I have given my love..... I tear out a piece of my heart andgive it to them ... and often they give me a piece of their heartwhich fits into the empty place in my heart ... but because thepieces aren’t exact, I have some rough edges, which I cherish,because they remind me of the love we shared.

Sometimes I have given pieces of my heart away ... and the otherperson hasn’t returned a piece of his heart to me. These are theempty gouges ... giving love is taking a chance. Although thesegouges are painful, they stay open, reminding me of the love Ihave for these people too ... and I hope someday they may return

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and fill the space I have waiting. So now do you see what truebeauty is?”

The young man stood silently with tears running down his cheeks.He walked up to the old man, reached into his perfect young andbeautiful heart, and ripped a piece out. He offered it to the oldman with trembling hands.

The old man took his offering, placed it in his heart and then tooka piece from his old scarred heart and placed it in the wound inthe young man’s heart.

It fit.... but not perfectly, as there were some jagged edges.

The young man looked at his heart, not perfect anymore but morebeautiful than ever, since love from the old man’s heart flowedinto his.

They embraced and walked away side by side.

Moral of the Story: Share your heart and shower your lovewherever you go. If you begin the day with love in yourheart, Peace in your nerves, And truth in your mind, Younot only benefit by their presence But also bring them toothers, To your family and friends, and to all those Whosedestiny draws across your path that day.

b SPECIAL ORDERS a

Horror gripped the heart of the World War I soldier as he sawhis lifelong friend fall in battle. Caught in a trench with continuousgunfire whizzing over his head, the soldier asked his lieutenant ifhe might go out into the “No Man’s Land” between the trenchesto bring his fallen comrade back.

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“You can go,” said the Lieutenant, “but I don’t think it will beworth it. Your friend is probably dead and you may throw yourown life away.” The Lieutenant’s words didn’t matter, and thesoldier went anyway.

Miraculously he managed to reach his friend, hoist him onto hisshoulder, and bring him back to their company’s trench. As thetwo of them tumbled in together to the bottom of the trench, theofficer checked the wounded soldier, then looked kindly at hisfriend. “I told you it wouldn’t be worth it,” he said. “Your friendis dead, and you are mortally wounded.”

“It was worth it, sir,” the soldier said.

“How do you mean, ̀ worth it?’ “Responded the Lieutenant. “Yourfriend is dead!”

“Yes sir,” the private answered. “But it was worth it becausewhen I got to him, he was still alive, and I had the satisfaction ofhearing him say, ̀ Jim, I knew you’d come.”

Moral of the Story: True courage is not the brutal force ofvulgar heroes, but the firm resolves of virtue and reason.Physical courage, which despises all danger, will make aman brave in one way; and moral courage, which despisesall opinion, will make a man brave in another.

b GOD’S REPRESENTATIVES a

An 80 year old man was sitting on the sofa in his house alongwith his 45 years old highly educated son. Suddenly a crowperched on their window. The Father asked his Son, “What isthis?” The Son replied, “It is a crow.” After a few minutes, the

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Father asked his Son the 2nd time, “What is this?”

The Son said, “Father, I have just now told you “It’s a crow.”

After a little while, the old Father again asked his Son the 3rdtime, “What is this?”

At this time some _expression of irritation was felt in the Son’stone when he said to his Father with a rebuff. “It’s a crow, acrow”.

A little after, the Father again asked his Son the 4th time, “Whatis this?”

This time the Son shouted at his Father, “Why do you keep askingme the same question again and again, although I have told youso many times ‘IT IS A CROW’. Are you not able to understandthis?” A little later the Father went to his room and came backwith an old tattered diary, which he had maintained since his Sonwas born. On opening a page, he asked his Son to read thatpage. When the son read it, the following words were written inthe diary: - “Today my little son aged three was sitting with me onthe sofa, when a crow was sitting on the window. My Son askedme 23 times what it was, and I replied to him all 23 times that itwas a Crow. I hugged him lovingly each time he asked me thesame question again and again for 23 times. I did not at all feelirritated. I rather felt affection for my innocent child”. While thelittle child asked him 23 times “What is this”, the Father had feltno irritation in replying to the same question all 23 times andwhen today the Father asked his Son the same question just 4times, the Son felt irritated and annoyed.

Moral of the Story: If your parents attain old age, do notrepulse them or look at them as a burden, but speak to thema gracious word, be cool, obedient, humble and kind tothem.

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b THE WINDOW a

Two men, both seriously ill, occupied the same hospital room.One man was allowed to sit up in his bed for an hour a day todrain the fluids from his lungs. His bed was next to the room’sonly window. The other man had to spend all his time flat on hisback.

The men talked for hours on end. They spoke of their wives andfamilies, their homes, their jobs, their involvement in the militaryservice, where they had been on vacation. And every afternoonwhen the man in the bed next to the window could sit up, hewould pass the time by describing to his roommate all the thingshe could see outside the window.

The man in the other bed would live for those one-hour periodswhere his world would be broadened and enlivened by all theactivity and color of the outside world. The window overlookeda park with a lovely lake, the man had said. Ducks and swansplayed on the water while children sailed their model boats. Loverswalked arm in arm amid flowers of every color of the rainbow.Grand old trees graced the landscape, and a fine view of the cityskyline could be seen in the distance. As the man by the windowdescribed all this in exquisite detail, the man on the other side ofthe room would close his eyes and imagine the picturesque scene.

One warm afternoon the man by the window described a paradepassing by. Although the other man could not hear the band, hecould see it in his mind’s eye as the gentleman by the windowportrayed it with descriptive words. Unexpectedly, an alienthought entered his head: Why should he have all the pleasure ofseeing everything while I never get to see anything? It didn’t seemfair. As the thought fermented, the man felt ashamed at first. Butas the days passed and he missed seeing more sights, his envy

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eroded into resentment and soon turned him sour. He began tobrood and found himself unable to sleep. He should be by thatwindow - and that thought now controlled his life.

Late one night, as he lay staring at the ceiling, the man by thewindow began to cough. He was choking on the fluid in his lungs.The other man watched in the dimly lit room as the strugglingman by the window groped for the button to call for help.Listening from across the room, he never moved, never pushedhis own button, which would have brought the nurse running. Inless than five minutes, the coughing and choking stopped, alongwith the sound of breathing. Now, there was only silence—deathlysilence.

The following morning, the day nurse arrived to bring water fortheir baths. When she found the lifeless body of the man by thewindow, she was saddened and called the hospital attendant totake it away—no words, no fuss. As soon as it seemedappropriate, the man asked if he could be moved next to thewindow. The nurse was happy to make the switch and aftermaking sure he was comfortable, she left him alone.

Slowly, painfully, he propped himself up on one elbow to take hisfirst look. Finally, he would have the joy of seeing it all himself.He strained to slowly turn to look out the window beside thebed. It faced a blank wall.

Moral of the Story: The pursuit of happiness is a matter ofchoice...it is a positive attitude we consciously choose toexpress. It is not a gift that gets delivered to our doorstepeach morning, nor does it come through the window. And Iam certain that our circumstances are just a small part ofwhat makes us joyful. If we wait for them to get just right,we will never find lasting joy.

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The pursuit of happiness is an inward journey. Our mindsare like programs, awaiting the code that will determinebehaviors, like bank vaults awaiting our deposits. If weregularly deposit positive, encouraging, and upliftingthoughts, if we continue to bite our lips just before we beginto grumble and complain, if we shoot down that seeminglyharmless negative thought as it germinates, we will findthat there is much to rejoice about.

b GOD EXISTS a

A man went to a barbershop to have his hair and his beardcut as always. He started to have a good conversation with thebarber who attended him. They talked about so many things onvarious subjects.

Suddenly, they touched the subject of God. The barber said:“Look man, I don’t believe that God exists as you say so.” “Whydo you say that?”

Asked the client. Well, it’s so easy; you just have to go out in thestreet to realize that God does not exist. Oh, tell me, if Godexisted, would there be so many sick people? Would there beabandoned children? If God existed, there would be neithersuffering nor pain. “I can’t think of a God who permits all ofthese things.” The client stopped for a moment thinking but hedidn’t want to respond so as to prevent an argument.

The barber finished his job and the client went out of the shop.Just after he left the barbershop, he saw a man in the street witha long hair and beard (it seems that it had been a long time sincehe had his cut and he looked so untidy). Then the client again

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entered the barbershop and he said to the barber: know what?Barbers do not exist.”

“How come they don’t exist?” Asked the barber. “Well I amhere and I am a barber.” “No!” - the client exclaimed. “Theydon’t exist because if they did there would be no people withlong hair and beard like that man who walks in the street.”

“Ah, barbers do exist, what happens is that people do not cometo me.” “Exactly!”- Affirmed the client. “That’s the point. Goddoes exist, what happens is people don’t go to Him and do notlook for Him that’s why there’s so much pain and suffering in theworld.”

Moral of the Story: We can see only when our eyes are open.The quest for God can be done with open mind.

b JUST P.U.S.H! a

A man was sleeping at night in his cabin when suddenly hisroom filled with light, and the Lord told the man he had work forhim to do, and showed him a large rock in front of his cabin. TheLord explained that the man was to push against the rock with allhis might. So, this the man did, day after day. For many years hetoiled from sun up to sun down; his shoulders set squarely againstthe cold, massive surface of the unmoving rock, pushing with allof his might. Each night the man returned to his cabin sore andworn out, feeling that his whole day had been spent in vain.

Since the man was showing discouragement and negative thoughtscrept in. Thus, giving the man the impression that the task wasimpossible and that he was a failure. These thoughts discouragedand disheartened the man.

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“Lord,” he said, “I have labored long and hard in your service,putting all my strength to do that which you have asked. Yet,after all this time, I have not even budged that rock by half amillimeter. What is wrong? Why am I failing?”

The Lord responded compassionately, “My son, when I askedyou to serve me and you accepted, I told you that your task wasto push against the rock with all of your strength, which you havedone. Never once did I mention to you that I expected you tomove it. Your task was to push. And now you come to me withyour strength spent, thinking that you have failed. But, is thatreally so? Look at yourself. Your arms are strong and muscled,your back sinewy and brown, your hands are callused fromconstant pressure, your legs have become massive and hard.

Through opposition you have grown much, and your abilities nowsurpass that which you used to have. Yet you haven’t moved therock. But your calling was to be obedient and to push and toexercise your faith and trust in my wisdom. This you have done.Now I, my son, will move the rock.”Moral of the Story: At times, when we hear a word fromGod, we tend to use our own intellect to decipher what Hewants, when actually what God wants is just a simpleobedience and faith in Him. By all means, exercise the faiththat moves mountains, but know that it is still God whomoves mountains.When everything seems to go wrong ... just P.U.S.H!When the job gets you down ... just P.U.S.H!When people don’t react the way you think they should ...just P.U.S.H!When your money is “gone” and the bills are due ... justP.U.S.H!When people just don’t understand you ... just P.U.S.H!P + U + S + H = Pray + Until + Something + Happens

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b DON’T WE ALL a

I was parked in front of the mall wiping off my car. I had justcome from the car wash and was waiting for my wife to get outof work. Coming my way from across the parking lot was whatsociety would consider a bum.

From the looks of him, he had no car, no home, no clean clothes,and no money. There are times when you feel generous but thereare other times that you just don’t want to be bothered. This wasone of those “don’t want to be bothered times.”

“I hope he doesn’t ask me for any money,” I thought.

He didn’t.

He came and sat on the curb in front of the bus stop but he didn’tlook like he could have enough money to even ride the bus.

After a few minutes he spoke.

“That’s a very pretty car,” he said.

He was ragged but he had an air of dignity around him. Hisscraggly blond beard keep more than his face warm.

I said, “thanks,” and continued wiping off my car.

He sat there quietly as I worked. The expected plea for moneynever came.

As the silence between us widened something inside said, “askhim if he needs any help.” I was sure that he would say “yes” butI held true to the inner voice.

“Do you need any help?” I asked.

He answered in three simple but profound words that I shall neverforget. We often look for wisdom in great men and women. We

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expect it from those of higher learning and accomplishments.

I expected nothing but an outstretched grimy hand. He spokethe three words that shook me.

“Don’t we all?” He said.

I was feeling high and mighty, successful and important, above abum in the street, until those three words hit me like a twelvegauge shotgun.

Don’t we all?

I needed help. Maybe not for bus fare or a place to sleep, but Ineeded help. I reached in my wallet and gave him not only enoughfor bus fare, but enough to get a warm meal and shelter for theday. Those three little words still ring true. No matter how muchyou have, no matter how much you have accomplished, you needhelp too. No matter how little you have, no matter how loadedyou are with problems, even without money or a place to sleep,you can give help.

Even if it’s just a compliment, you can give that. You never knowwhen you may see someone that appears to have it all. They arewaiting on you to give them what they don’t have. A differentperspective on life, a glimpse at something beautiful, a respitefrom daily chaos, that only you through a torn world can see.

Maybe the man was just a homeless stranger wandering thestreets. Maybe he was more than that. Maybe he was sent by apower that is great and wise, to minister to a soul too comfortablein themselves.

Maybe God looked down, called an Angel, dressed him like abum, then said, “go minister to that man cleaning the car, thatman needs help.”

Moral of the Story: Don’t we all need help?

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