Trust in your power

We see Birds sitting on the trees, very peacefully and happily. What might be the reason? Is it because it trusts the power of the tree, or the branches, or the root of the tree, or the wind, or the rain or anything else around it? No. It trusts its wings. It trusts that whatever happens, either rain or storm it can just fly away from there on the spot.

Where is our trust? In money, fame, family, friends or the world around...Anything and everything may leave us anytime. So trust in you and in your power. If we trust in our power, we can achieve anything in this world.

Neither judge nor condemn

Imagine pure water bottled up in three transparent glass containers- a short red container, a medium blue container, and a long yellow container, all with different shapes. People who have no idea as to what is inside the bottle may refer to the contents as “short liquid”, “medium liquid”, “long liquid”, “red liquid”, “blue liquid”, “yellow liquid” etc. Due to their ignorance of the contents inside, they identify with the external qualities and develop either attachment or aversion to different types of containers depending on whether they like or dislike short bottles, medium size bottles, long bottles, red bottles, blue bottles, yellow bottles and different shapes.

On the other hand, a person who knows that the contents of what is inside all the bottles is pure water develops neither an attachment nor an aversion to either of the three bottles. If he is thirsty, he will open up any container and drink, as it contains the same pure water inside. He is not fooled by the container, as he knows that the contents of all the three containers are the same pure water in different external physical forms.

Just like the colored water bottles, people also come in different shapes, color, sizes, and temperaments. Most of us, who are ignorant of the divinity within each one of us, identify and judge others in terms of their shapes, colors, sizes, temperaments, religious views, nationality, and various other attributes. We develop attachment to some, and aversion to others, based on our own personal preferences and experiences.

Just like the colored water bottles, we should not judge or condemn or identify anyone by seeing the container, but should appreciate the contents inside. This self knowledge helps us to develop neither clinging attachment to some, nor deep aversion to others. Identified with the divinity within each one of us, we should be able to love everyone, irrespective of external differences.

Difficulties - Your stepping stones

Difficulties in life makes us stronger and makes our life more beautiful.

Once there was a potter who took some clay and started squashing it. He kept squashing the clay for a long time and the whole time the clay kept yelling “Please stop it, stop it!” Maybe he was being mean to the clay! Then the potter took the clay and put it on a wheel. He started spinning the clay. The clay said “Please stop it, I'm getting dizzy, I beg you stop!” but the potter continued spinning and spinning the clay until it came in to the shape of a cup.

Now the potter very gently took the cup. He handled it with great care and put the cup in a kiln. The cup was having a hard time understanding how the potter was being so kind and caring this moment, and just a bit ago

he was hurting him and also making him dizzy. Inside the kiln huge flames rose up from everywhere. The cup started screaming “Please stop it, let me out of here, I'm burning, I beg you stop it!!!” The potter just looked at him and smiled and said “No, no, not yet.” After the flames went out, the potter very gently took the cup out of the kiln.

Now he lovingly put the cup on a table. Then he got out his paint set. He started stroking the cup with his brush. Now the cup started laughing “Hahahaha, stop it, that tickles! Stop it, stop it!” But the potter just said “No, no, no, not yet,” and continued painting for a while longer.

 Now the potter brought the cup to the fires of the kiln again. Again the cup yelled “Stop it, please stop it, I'm burning again, I beg you, stop it!” and again the potter said “No, no, no, not yet.” After a long while the flames stopped and the potter gently took the cup out of the kiln. He placed the cup on the table in front of a mirror. When the cup saw the mirror he said “Wow that’s beautiful!!”

  

The potter said “Yes it is beautiful, it’s you. I made you beautiful.” The potter explained to the cup that if he had listened to his cries of “Stop it, that hurts,” when he was kneading the clay, the clay wouldn't be able to go on the spinning wheel. People would just see a hard clump of clay and throw it in the trash. If he had stopped when the clay said, "Stop it, I'm dizzy!", the soft clay wouldn't have ever been shaped in to a cup. People would see some unshaped clay and throw it in the trash. If he had listened when the cup said, "Stop, I'm burning!" from the fire in the kiln the first time, no one would ever be able to use the cup. He would've just been an unfinished cup with a bunch of cracks. People would just pick up the cracked cup and throw him in the trash. When the cup said, "Stop, it tickles," if the potter stopped painting him, he would have an unfinished design on him. People would see the cup with only some art on it and they would throw it away. If he had stopped from putting him in the kiln the second time, the paint wouldn't have stuck. When people would wash the cup, all the paint would come off, then they’d throw the cup with no paint in the trash. But now the cup went through everything and was finished.

Now the only thing that anyone can say is “Wow, how beautiful it is!"

Yes, dear friends, all the problems that comes on our way, are to help us grow strong and beautifull. If we take up each of our difficulties as a challenge and face it, our life will sure become perfect and meaningful. Take all your failures, disappointments, pains, problems and emptiness as a stepping stone for your success.

Rise up!

Unless a baby falls down, it never learns how to get up. Today if we know how to get up when we fall down, it is only because of our parents who allowed us to try to get up, when we fell down as kids.

So as, when we fall in life, believe that it is for our goodness, to grow, to find the ways, and to learn how rise up, from such tough times in life. We will never learn to rise in life, unless we make mistake and fall down.

"Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail", said Ralph Waldo Emerson.

There is no day, if no night.....................There is no joy, if no sorrow.

There is no gain, if no pain.....................There is no success, if no failure.

So, RISE UP each time you fall down.

You are Worth!

A well known speaker started off his seminar by holding up a $20 bill. In the room of 200, he asked, "Who would like this $20 bill?".  Hands started going up.

He said, "I am going to give this $20 to one of you but first, let me do this." He proceeded to crumple the dollar bill up. 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 the ground and started to grind it into the floor with his shoe. He picked it up again which is crumpled and dirty. "Now who still wants it?", he asked.

Still the hands went into the air.

He said: "My friends, now you all have learned a very valuable lesson. No matter what I did to the money, you still wanted it because it did not decrease in value. It still worth $20".

In our lives, we too are dropped, crumpled, crushed and ground into the dirt by the decisions/choices we make and by the circumstances that come on our way. And we feel as though we are hopeless/worthless. But no matter what has happened or happening or will happen, you will never lose your value.

Never give up. You can, if you think you can. Even a small piece of grass can serve as a sword, for the people who believe 'I CAN'. Being a Looser or Winner is not important. But how you play the game of life, by rising up again and again, is important. Don't quit.

You are Worth, Special and Unique, however and wherever you are- Keep this in mind always!

Slow down

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

He was watching for kids darting out from between parked cars and slowed down when he thought he saw something. As his car passed, no child darted out, but a brick sailed out and - Whump! - it smashed Into the Jag's shiny black side door! Screeeeech..!!!! Brakes slammed! Gears ground into reverse, and tires madly spun the Jaguar back to the spot from where the brick had been thrown. Josh jumped out of the car, grabbed the kid and pushed him up against a parked car. He shouted at the kid, "What was that all about 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 gonna cost you a lot of money. Why did you throw it?"

"Please, mister, please. . . I'm sorry! I didn't know what else to do!" Pleaded the youngster. "I threw the brick because no one else would stop!" Tears were dripping down the boy's chin as he pointed 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't lift him up." Sobbing, the boy asked the executive, "Would you please help me get him back into his wheelchair? He's hurt and he's too heavy for me."

Moved beyond words, the young executive tried desperately to swallow the rapidly swelling lump in his throat. Straining, he lifted the young boy back into the wheelchair and took out his handkerchief and wiped the scrapes and cuts, checking to see that everything was going to be ok. He then watched the younger brother push him down the sidewalk toward their home.

It was a long walk back to the sleek, black, shinning, 12 cylinder Jaguar XKE -a long and slow walk. Josh never did fix the side door of his Jaguar. He kept the dent to remind him not to go through life so fast that someone has to throw a brick at him to get his attention. . .

Be alert when bricks fall at you in life. May be it is a warning or a lesson to slow down. When being fast, you will, not only miss the beauties of life, but also fail to realise where you go in life and why and with whom. So slow down and show your kindness to the needy, for you may not travel that way again.

"...How long is the life for you? As you have come into this world, leave some mark behind. Otherwise where is the difference between you and the trees and stone? They, too, come into existence, decay and die". - Swami Vivekanand.

I'm sorry.

There once was a little boy who had a bad temper. His father gave him a bag of nails and told him that every time he lost his temper, he must hammer a nail into the fence. The first day the boy had driven 37 nails into the fence.

Over the next few weeks as he learned to control his anger, the number of nails hammered daily, gradually dwindled down. He discovered it was easier to hold his temper than to drive those nails into the fence. Finally the day came when the boy didn’t lose his temper at all. He told his father about it and the father suggested that the boy now pull out one nail for each day that he was able to hold his temper.

The days passed and the young boy was finally able to tell his father that all the nails were gone. The father took his son by the hand and led him to the fence. He said “You have done well, my son, but look at the holes in the fence. The fence will never be the same. When you say things in anger, they leave a scar just like this one.”

You can put a knife in a man and draw it out. It won’t matter how many times you say 'I’m sorry', the wound is still there. At times, 'Sorry' becomes meaningless, when it cannot give back what is lost. Though 'Sorry' can join two pieces, it cannot mend the crack/scar as it was earlier.

So make sure you control your temper the next time you are tempted to say something, for what you will regret later.

Shake it off and Step up!

This parable is told of a farmer who owned an old mule. The mule fell into the farmer’s well. The farmer heard the mule praying or whatever mules do when they fall into wells. After carefully assessing the situation, the farmer sympathized with the mule, but decided that neither the mule nor the well was worth the trouble of saving. Instead, he called his neighbors together, told them what had happened, and enlisted them to help haul dirt to bury the old mule in the well and put him out of his misery.

Initially the old mule was hysterical! But as the farmer and his neighbors continued shoveling and the dirt hit his back, a thought struck him. It suddenly dawned on him that every time a shovel load of dirt landed on his back, he would Shake it off and step up!!

This he did, blow after blow. “Shake it off and step up…shake it off and step up…shake it off and step up!”. He repeated to encourage himself. No matter how painful the blows, or how distressing the situation seemed, the old mule fought panic and just kept right on Shaking it off and stepping up!!

It wasn’t long before the old mule, battered and exhausted, stepped triumphantly over the wall of that well! What seemed like it would bury him actually helped him . All because of the manner in which he handled his adversity.

That's Life! If we face our problems and respond to them positively, by refusing to give in to panic, bitterness, or self-pity, for sure success is ours. 

A successful person is one who lays a firm foundation with the bricks that others throw at him/her. -David Brinkley

Remember: SHAKE IT OFF and STEP UP.

What do you grow in your heart?

A Native American grandfather was talking to his grandson about how he felt. He said, "I feel as if I have two wolves fighting in my heart. One wolf is the vengeful, angry, violent one. The other wolf is the loving, compassionate one."
The grandson asked him, "Which wolf will win the fight in your heart?"
The grandfather answered: "The one I feed."

Yes, dear friends, Our heart is a fertile place.
Anything planted there will grow for sure.
Doesn't matter whether it is Love or Hatred !!
It depends on us, what we grow.
And for sure : What we sow that we reap. So, sow Love in your life and reap abundance of Love.

Butterfly!

A man found a cocoon of a Butterfly. One day a small opening appeared. He sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force its body through that little hole. Then it seemed to stop making any progress. It appeared as if it had gotten as far as it could, and it could go no further.

So the man decided to help the Butterfly. He took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bit of the cocoon. The butterfly then emerged easily. But it had a swollen body and small, shriveled wings.

The man continued to watch the butterfly because he expected that, at any moment, the wings would enlarge and expand to be able to support the body, which would contract in time. Neither happened! In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around with a swollen body and shriveled wings. It never was able to fly.

What the man, in his kindness and haste, did not understand was that the restricting cocoon and the struggle required for the butterfly to get through the tiny opening were God's way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings so that it would be ready for flight once it achieved its freedom from the cocoon.

Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need, to make us learn certain things in life. Unless we fall down, we will never learn how to get up in life.