Boil the frog

Years ago some scientists did a simple experiment on a bullfrog. They threw a bullfrog into a container of boiling water, and the bullfrog instantly popped out of the boiling water.

Next they put the bullfrog into a container of cold water. The bullfrog liked it and stayed in the container. The scientists then turned on the heat at the bottom of the container. As the water got warmer, the bullfrog relaxed and took a nap. The bullfrog was so comfortable that it stayed in the container and was “cooked”.

Success Principles
Most of us are in the “comfort zone”. We have a house to go home to, a nice bed to sleep on, food in the fridge, a group of friends to mingle with, along with some basic necessities of life. We have worked hard to get to where we are now.

So why should we change this? The truth is most of us are like the bullfrog, because we feel warm and comfortable, we refuse to get out of our comfort zone, and prefer to stay where we are. In life we are either creating or disintegrating. There is no such thing as “staying where we are”, because there is always movement.

So if we are not moving ahead in life, we must by nature, be moving in the opposite direction.

Life changing experience.

We touch the lives of others in ways we often never know. People sometimes come into our personal world for fleeting moments and can leave us forever changed.

We have more power to create or to destroy than we can imagine. We can leave things or individuals better or worse than we found them.

A look, a word, a gesture has tremendous impact and frequently we blither along through our existence unaware of the mighty power that our communication wields. Here's an example:

It was a rainy, humid day: the mother of all bad hair days. I was riding on a bus downtown to go to work. The windows on the bus were covered in condensation so thick you couldn't see outside. Everyone was wilting.

I was sitting next to a man in a business suit and didn't pay much attention until we both got off at the same stop and walked to the same newsstand to get a morning paper.

The man running the stand was obviously having a bad day. He was rude, abrupt and unsmiling as we purchased our papers, which served to only add more gloom to my day. The businessman caught my eye and smiled. He then proceeded to smile brightly, thank the newsstand proprietor for the paper and for being open on such a morning to make sure we were able to get our papers. In short, he expressed his appreciation for something most of us would take for granted.

The man running the newsstand responded only with a grunt and a sour expression. The businessman then pleasantly wished him a pleasant day. As we turned away, I asked this man why he had continued to be pleasant to the newsman when he obviously didn't care about and didn't respond to his expression of appreciation and friendliness. The businessman grinned at me and said, "Why would I let someone else control what I say and what I feel or what kind of day I'm going to have?"

We then separated to go to our respective work places. To this day, I don't know who that business man was, where he worked, or anything else about him. I never saw him again, even though I looked for him on the bus on other days. He appeared briefly in my life and disappeared just as quickly. I don't even remember what he looked like. But I've never forgotten the words he said or the way his smile seemed like a shaft of light on a gloomy day.

That was a good 25 years ago, but the impact this had on my life has lasted. I never had a chance to thank him personally, but the way in which I try to choose to look at life as a result of those words is his legacy to me and my thanks to him.

Our interactions with the people we encounter can impact at least the next five people that person encounters. A smile and words of simple appreciation multiply themselves geometrically. We cannot control people and situations that come to us, but we can always control our response to them. And in such positive decisions lie our control and personal power to make a positive difference. And it's something anyone and everyone can do. It is a real legacy that can impact both the present and the future.

 

Growing Apples

One day I stopped to think about growing apples. I was munching a delicious, juicy apple and took a big bite. As a result I got an apple seed into my mouth. I spat it out into my hand, with the intention of throwing it away. But instead I looked at the apple seed. Really looked. It was very dark brown, almost black. Its shape reminded me of a candle flame. A little dark brown candle flame…

I realized I was holding an apple tree in the palm of my hand. A little seed with the potential to become a beautiful big tree - a tree that could grow thousands of apples in its lifetime. Thousands of apples, each containing several seeds, each capable of growing a new tree which again could produce thousands of apples. Why then the world wasn't filled with apple trees?

It is a rule of nature that only a few of these seeds grow. Most never do or are destroyed early on in their growth.

And it came to my mind it's quite often so with people's dreams also. Wonderful ideas come to our minds but they die too soon - we don't tend to the little saplings, we don't protect them as we should. And then one day we wonder what happened to our dreams - why did they never come true?

I put the apple seed on the table, and bent down to see how the light was reflected from it, this nature's tiny wonder. I wondered when someone was seriously growing apples, how many times they had to try to get a seed to germinate? How much work did it require?

Maybe it was like with our dreams: the seeds of your dreams did not automatically grow. Like planting an apple tree It might take many trys: like a hundred job applications to get that good job. You might send your manuscript out two hundred times before it was accepted. You might meet dozens of people until you met the true friend.

But if you kept on sowing the seeds of your dream, one day you would succeed. And after that others would comment you were lucky to be successful - when in fact you probably failed more often than you would like to count. But you were good at failing - you learned, you adapted, and then with your new knowlegde you tried again. And again. And again. And one day success was yours.

I picked up the apple seed again - but instead of throwing it away I took an empty flower pot, poured some earth into it and planted the seed. Maybe one day it would grown into a proud tree. I'd never knew if I didn't try. 

One customer at a time

It was one of those days I did not wish to live again. I had been working for weeks to secure a deal that would give me a nice provision. Everything seemed to go perfectly and I had already been joking with co-workers what would I do with the extra income.

I picked up the phone and called to the customer to get the deal finalized, only to hear that the depression had hit the company. My customer told half the staff had been let go and that all purchases were put on hold.

I had so concentrated on this deal I had not worked much on my other customers and knew that instead of getting a big fat check I´d be having one of the smallest ones I had ever received.

I just couldn´t stay at my desk but got up and went to get some coffee.

The cleaning lady was just washing the vending machine. I slumped to a chair and felt awful.

Bad day? she asked ?

I startled and looked up. The cleaning lady was looking at me.

You could say that again… I sighed.

What is the matter? she asked.

She was a motherly type of a woman with kind eyes. I had seen her around for years but never said a word to her really. And yet I suddenly found myself telling the whole pitiful story to her. She listened intently, finished cleaning the vending machine and nodded.

Your situation brings to mind my own father. He was also a salesman, but not lucky enough to be able to sit in one office. He was a travelling salesman. You know big suitcases and all. Vanished for weeks sometimes and came back with an empty bag, pay check and a big hug for us kids and mother.

I looked at her, not knowing where she was going with this.

There was a time when he also lost a big sale. It was just before Christmas and he had to tell us children that there would be very few presents. We were disappointed, but he gathered us around him and told a story. I shall always remember those inspirational words.

First he asked us which animals we liked best. My answer was cats. My older brother liked dogs and my younger one loved ponies. Then he asked if we wanted to know which animals he admired the most and of course we did. The bees, the ants and the spiders, he told us.

I lifted my eyebrows. The cleaning lady smiled.

Now we of course did not agree with him, but asked why ever would he like such nuisances. Didn´t they bite or sting or just look plain ugly? He explained us and these inspirational words have been my guideline ever since.

He said he liked the bees because if a bear breaks their nest and steals their honey, they keep on building their honeycombs, making more honey. And he liked the ants because if the same bear destroys their nest, they also immediately start building their nest anew, working together for a common goal. And the spiders he liked because if their webs are destroyed, they start repairing the damage right away - or building a whole new, better one.

He said the lesson he had learned from these little insects was that the world may surprise us sometimes by destroying even our most carefully built plans, but if we choose to be ready to start all over again no matter what, eventually we shall achieve great results. We shall just have to start again, one step at a time.

At that the cleaning lady nodded to me and pushed her cart out of the room.

I sat there for a while, thinking of what she had said. Then I got up, walked back to my desk and started to build my next pay check, one customer at a time.

In the line of fire.

Vivek Pradhan was not a happy man. Even the plush comfort of the air-conditioned compartment of the Shatabdi express could not cool his frayed nerves. He was the Project Manager and still not entitled to air travel. It was not the prestige he sought, he had tried to reason with the admin person, it was the savings in time. As PM, he had so manythings to do. He opened his case and took out the laptop, determined to put the time to some good use.

Are you from the software industry sir," the man beside him was staring appreciatively at the laptop.

Vivek glanced briefly and mumbled in affirmation, handling the laptop now with exaggerated care and importance as if it were an expensive car.

"You people have brought so much advancement to the country sir. Today everything is getting computerized. "

"Thanks," smiled Vivek, turning around to give the man a look.

He always found it difficult to resist appreciation. The man was young and stocky like a sportsman. He looked simple and strangely out of place in that little lap of luxury like a small town boy in a prep school. He probably was a railway sportsman making the most of his free traveling pass.

"You people always amaze me," the man continued, "You sit in an office and write something on a computer and it does so many big things outside."

Vivek smiled deprecatingly. Naivety demanded reasoning not anger. "It is not as simple as that my friend. It is not just a question of writing a few lines. There is a lot of process that goes behind it." For a moment, he was tempted to explain the entire Software Development Lifecycle but restrained himself to a single statement. "It is complex, very complex."

"It has to be. No wonder you people are so highly paid," came the reply.

This was not turning out as Vivek had thought. A hint of belligerence came into his so far affable, persuasive tone.

"Everyone just sees the money. No one sees the amount of hard work we have to put in. Indians have such a narrow concept of hard work.. Just because we sit in an air-conditioned office does not mean our brows do not sweat. You exercise the muscle; we exercise the mind and believe me that is no less taxing."

He had the man where he wanted him and it was time to drive home the point.

"Let me give you an example. Take this train. The entire railway reservation system is computerized. You can book a train ticket between any two stations from any of the hundreds of computerized booking centres across the country. Thousands of transactions accessing a single database, at a time concurrency; data integrity, locking, data security. Do you understand the complexity in designing and coding such a system?"

The man was stuck with amazement, like a child at a planetarium. This was something big and beyond his imagination. "You design and code such things."

"I used to," Vivek paused for effect, "But now I am the Project Manager,"

"Oh!" sighed the man, as if the storm had passed over, "so your life is easy now."

It was like being told the fire was better than the frying pan. The man had to be given a feel of the heat.

"Oh come on, does life ever get easy as you go up the ladder. Responsibility only brings more work. Design and coding! That is the easier part. Now I do not do it, but I am responsible for it and believe me, that is far more stressful. My job is to get the work done in time and with the highest quality. To tell you about the pressures, there is the customer at one end always changing his requirements, the user wanting something else and your boss always expecting you to have finished it yesterday."

Vivek paused in his diatribe, his belligerence fading with self-realisation. What he had said, was not merely the outburst of a wronged man, it was the truth. And one need not get angry while defending the truth. "My friend," he concluded triumphantly, "you don't know what it is to be in the line of fire."

The man sat back in his chair, his eyes closed as if in realization. When he spoke after sometime, it was with a calm certainty that surprised Vivek.

"I know sir, I know what it is to be in the line of fire," He was staring blankly as if no passenger, no train existed, just a vast expanse of time.

"There were 30 of us when we were ordered to capture Point 4875 in the cover of the night. The enemy was firing from the top. There was no knowing where the next bullet was going to come from and for whom. In the morning when we finally hoisted the tricolour at the top only 4 of us were alive."

"You are a..."

"I am Subedar Sushant from the 13 J&K Rifles on duty at Peak 4875 in Kargil. They tell me I have completed my term and can opt for a land assignment. But tell me sir, can one give up duty just because it makes life easier. On the dawn of that capture, one of my colleagues lay injured in the snow, open to enemy fire while we were hiding behind a bunker. It was my job to go and fetch that soldier to safety. But my captain refused me permission and went ahead himself. He said that the first pledge he had taken as a Gentleman Cadet was to put the safety and welfare of the nation foremost followed by the safety and welfare of the men he commanded. His own personal safety came last, always and every time. He was killed as he shielded that soldier into the bunker. Every morning now, as I stand guard I can see him taking all those bullets, which were actually meant for me. I know sir, I know what it is to be in the line of fire."

Vivek looked at him in disbelief not sure of his reply. Abruptly he switched off the laptop. It seemed trivial, even insulting to edit a word document in the presence of a man for whom valour and duty was a daily part of life; a valour and sense of duty which he had so far attributed only to epical heroes.

The train slowed down as it pulled into the station and Subedar Sushant picked up his bags to alight.

"It was nice meeting you sir."

Vivek fumbled with the handshake. This hand had climbed mountains, pressed the trigger, and hoisted the Tri-colour. Suddenly as if by impulse, he stood at attention and his right hand went up in an impromptu salute. It was the least he felt he could do for the country.

Live humbly, there are great people around us, let us learn!

If I were any better.

Jerry is the kind of guy you love to hate. He is always in a good mood and always has something positive to say. When someone would ask him how he was doing, he would reply, "If I were any better, I would be twins!" He was a unique manager because he had several waiters who had followed him around from restaurant to restaurant.

The reason the waiters followed Jerry was because of his attitude. He was a natural motivator. If an employee was having a bad day, Jerry was there telling the employee how to look on the positive side of the situation.

Seeing this style really made me curious, so one day I went up to Jerry and asked him, I don't get it! You can't be a positive person all of the time. How do you do it?" Jerry replied, "Each morning I wake up and say to myself, Jerry, you have two choices today. You can choose to be in a good mood or you can choose to be in a bad mood.

I choose to be in a good mood. Each time something bad happens, I can choose to be a victim or I can choose to learn from it. I choose to learn from it. Every time someone comes to me complaining, I can choose to accept their complaining or I can point out the positive side of life. I choose the positive side of life.

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

I reflected on what Jerry said. Soon thereafter, I left the restaurant industry to start my own business. We lost touch, but I often thought about him when I made a choice about life instead of reacting to it.

Several years later, I heard that Jerry did something you are never supposed to do in a restaurant business: he left the back door open one morning and was held up at gun point by three armed robbers. While trying to open the safe, his hand, shaking from nervousness, slipped off the combination. The robbers panicked and shot him. Luckily, Jerry was found relatively quickly and rushed to the local trauma center. After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, Jerry was released from the hospital with fragments of the bullets still in his body.

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

"Weren't you scared? Did you lose consciousness?" I asked. Jerry continued,

"...the paramedics were great. They kept telling me I was going to be fine. But when they wheeled me into the ER and I saw the expressions on the faces of the doctors and nurses, I got really scared. In their eyes, I read 'he's a dead man.'

I knew I needed to take action." " What did you do?" I asked. "Well, there was a big burly nurse shouting questions at me," said Jerry. "She asked if I was allergic to anything. 'Yes,' I replied. The doctors and nurses stopped working as they waited for my reply. I took a deep breath and yelled, 'Bullets!' Over their laughter, I told them, 'I am choosing to live. Operate on me as if I am alive, not dead.'"

Jerry lived thanks to the skill of his doctors, but also because of his amazing attitude. I learned from him that every day we have the choice to live fully. Attitude, after all, is everything.
 

Positive thinking the the first step towards a happy life.

Attitude is everything

If everyone  applies  just these, the whole world will live in happiness.

Digging for Gold

When I was a young boy in Santa Cruz, California I used to help my Grandfather in the fields by his home. This was not his land but back in those days it was not unusual to barter with the neighbours to work it for them so he could grow the vegetables that he loved. He would then share them with the neighbour for payment. He grew corn, beans, peas, zucchini, cucumbers and garlic. And nobody could grow bigger dahlias than my Grandfather.

As I worked along side him he used to love to tell this story of a man named Giuseppe (Joe) and his wife who moved to a new farm with their three sons. They were settling into the new community when a nearby farmer told Joe that there was gold in the dirt of his new property. Joe took that statement as that there was actual gold in the land. He thought to himself, 'I have three healthy sons, I’ll tell them about it'. Indeed he told his sons that there was gold to be found in their new property. Needless to say his sons actually took charge of their personal enterprise right on their own land. They had visions of what they would do when they found gold. Each son had a different vision. For as young as they were, they set up quite a professional approach in the digging for gold.

They began in one corner with a certain width and kept going until they got to the end. Once they got to the property line they would start another swath and go back the other direction. They began to realize that digging for gold was fun! This procedure went on for about six months and they still weren’t through going through the whole property.

Meanwhile Joe thought he would plant some crops in the area where the dirt had been turned thoroughly. He planted corn, tomatoes, potatoes and onions. His sons continued to dig through the soil, determined to find gold. As more dirt was available, Joe planted more crops. An interesting point here is that Joe had never farmed before but it had always been a dream of his to do so.

As each different crop became ready to be harvested Joe started to realize that there was more than he and his family could ever eat. One of Joe’s neighbours suggested that he set up a vegetable stand. Joe and his wife did that very thing. They called it Joe and Family Vegetables. Joe even had to leave some crops on the ground because he had more than enough to meet the demands at the vegetable stand.

What were Joe’s sons doing in the meantime? They were still working the land even after they had finished the entire parcel. They started once again in the original corner, working in the leftover plant material while they were still on their quest to find gold.

This process went on for years and Joe and his wife became quite wealthy from their little vegetable stand. They were even able to send their sons off to college simply because they wanted to find gold.

Remember at the beginning of the story when Joe was told by his new neighbour that there was gold in the land? Well, the truth is, Joe’s understanding of the English language was less than perfect. His new neighbour friend actually told him that his land had rich soil. So you can see where the concept of gold came in.

Did Joe’s sons become slaves to the digging? No, they were inspired because they had visions of what money could do for them and did not focus on the money itself.

Is there a way we can take this story to a higher level? Yes, the Universe provides us opportunity and sometimes dangles the carrot to inspire us. In essence, Joe’s sons were inspired with the possibility of finding gold in the soil. Some of you I’m sure will draw your own meaning, but here is one to consider. Go out and pretend that there is gold in all your challenges and setbacks so that you can be inspired to motivate yourself to allow the Universe to provide all that you need and then some.

The Universe will never give up on you, if you never give up on yourself.

Being Different

This is a story of two brothers.

One was a drug addict and a drunker who frequently beat up his family. The other one was a very successful businessman who was respected in society and had a wonderful family.

Some people wanted to find out why two brothers from the same parents, brought up in the same environment, could be so different. The first one was asked, "How come you do what you do? You are a drug addict, a drunk, and you beat your family. What motivates you?" He said, "My father." They asked, "What about your father?" The reply was, "My father was a drug addict, a drunk and he beat his family. What do you expect me to be? That is what I am."

They went to the brother who was doing everything right and asked him the same question. "How come you are doing everything right? What is your source of motivation?" And guess what he said? "My father. When I was a little boy, I used to see my dad drunk and doing all the wrong things. I made up my mind that that is not what I wanted to be."

Both were deriving their strength and motivation from the same source, but one was using it positively and the other negatively.

Negative motivation brings the desire to take the easier way which ends up being the tougher way.

Battle out unfair.

Around two weeks ago I was called to judge a talent contest at one of the city colleges.

I noticed all the participants were given slips of paper with a topic written on it and told to come up and speak for three minutes. Lots were drawn as to who would be the first speaker and the next and the next.

The first contestant I noticed looked a little disgruntled as he got onto the podium to address the others.

"My fellow students and respected judges," he said loudly, "this is an unfair contest!"

I, along with my fellow judges looked up surprised. "I have been given this paper," he continued, "to speak on a subject with just a few minutes preparation whereas those after me have more time to work on their speech.

This is unfair!" He then proceeded to leave the stage and stormed out of the hall. Nobody missed him and the contest went on smoothly.

I met him on the landing as I was being escorted out later.

"Who said life is fair?" I asked him with a smile. He looked at me startled and I asked him to walk with me to my car. "Life," I told him, "is fighting

the unfair and still winning! Do you read automobile magazines?"

"Yes," he said eagerly, "I do."

"Have you seen statistics shown when a new car is being introduced into the market? They talk about speed and torque and transmission and horse power."

"Yes," he nodded.

"But there is a line they put after all these figures. They say all this data is when there are ideal road conditions!"

"Yes," he said again.

"Show me ideal road conditions?" I asked him and he smiled. "The car that sells well," I continued is the car that will deliver power and speed and durability in the worst of roads, in potholes and mud and slush. That car is a winner!"

We had reached my car and he stood by my side as I heaved myself in. "Don't look for ideal playing conditions," I said. "Fight the unfair and come out a winner!"

I looked back in my rear view mirror as I drove away and saw him smile and wave and knew he would fight the unfair from now on.

The fight never stops. Ask all the successful people , They fight regardless whether the battle is fair or unfair. Stop telling the world about the unfair

deal you've got out of life; start battling the unfair, come out victorious..!

Old Clock & New Clock

There was a Old Church. It is more than 100 years old. As the old priest is not physically well, the Church committee decided to appoint a new priest. The young priest took charge of the church. While roaming around the Church building, he thought to do some renovation in the church to make it more attractive.

With the help of the church committee, they did many things like bought new carpets, painted the walls, put new sealing etc. As part of the renovation, the priest thought to change the old clock which is powered by key and making noise with a brand new electronic clock. But the priest decided to keep the New clock beside the old clock for the time being as many old people are so much attached to the old clock.

The new clock was very happily and smoothly jumping each second with "tick" "tick" "tick" "tick" sound. There was power and enthusiasm in his jumping. At the same time the old clock with very difficulty and with the noise of wheels also tried to move along with the new clock. In the beginning the new clock was very proud and was reluctant to speak to the Old clock. But after some time to burn the boredom, the new clock decided to talk to the old clock. During the conversation, the new clock asked the old clock "How long have you been here?" to that the old clock replied that more than 100 years.

Hearing the answer, the new clock fell into thoughts. It tried to calculate the jumps to make in order to complete the 100 years. For one minute 60 jumps, for one hour 3600 jumps, for one day 86400 jumps, for one month 2592000 jumps, for one year 31536000 jumps, for 100 years 3153600000 jumps. Shortly after the calculation, the new clock stopped jumping the seconds.

The old clock, noticing the silence of the new clock, asked the reason for the silence. To that the new clock replied "I was calculating the jumps you have competed last 100 years. You have done millions of jumps. I don't think I would be able to complete that much jumps. Thinking about all that jumps, I am stressed and cannot move. I am helpless and cannot jump one second. While thinking about it I had a heart attack."

The old clock knowing the situation, asked one question. "I know your situation, but I would like to ask you one question, Can you jump one second?" To that the new clock replied. "It is very easy, I can easily jump one second. It is very very easy."

The Old clock replied "Do that."

The old clock continued, Just think about one second at a time and jump.

Don't think about 100 years, just think about one second.

The new clock happily started to jump one second at a time.

The moral of the story is don't think about all the things to be done in a lifetime. Just think about the next moment. Just think about one day at a time. It will help us to continue our journey. Looking at the thickness of the text book, students may get depressed at the beginning of the school year. Following the advice of the old clock, one sentence at a time can complete the book in a year. Don't get depressed or discouraged. One step at a time will lead you to the destination. Don't give up!!!! Don't be a quitter!!

FROG

I was told a story about a lady in the hospital who was near death when an area chaplain came to visit her. This chaplain was a very young female with long blond hair. She listened to the lady who was ill and left her a small gift for comfort. It was a tiny ceramic frog.

The next day one of the people from the ladies church came to visit. The lady told her friend about the beautiful young chaplain who had come to visit her.

The friend was so impressed with the way the lady had improved and felt the need to talk to the young chaplain. In her search to find the young gal, she was repeatedly reassured that the chaplains are never very young and that there was never a gal that fit the description given.

Upon returning to the lady in the hospital, a visiting nurse entered the room and noticed the ceramic frog. The nurse made the comment "I see you have a guardian angel with you," as she held the little frog.

We asked why she made the comment and we were informed that the frog stood for:

F = Fully
R = Rely
O = On
G = God

Easier Way

Once there was a bird singing in the forest, while singing she saw a farmer walking in the forest with a box.

A Bird stopped him and asked, "What do you have in the box and where are you going?" The farmer replied that he had worms and that he was going to the market to trade them for some feathers.

The Bird said, "I have many feathers. I will pluck one and give it to you and that will save me looking for worms."

The farmer gave the worms to the lark and the bird plucked a feather and gave it in return. The next day the same thing happened and the day after and on and on until a day came that the bird had no more feathers. Now it couldn't fly and hunt for worms.

It started looking ugly and stopped singing and very soon it died.

What is the moral of the story?

The moral is quite clear what the bird thought was an easy way to get food turned out to be the tougher way after all.

Isn't the same thing true in our lives? Many times we look for the easier way, which really ends up being the tougher way.

Climbing 80 floors without lift.

There were once 2 brothers who lived on the 80th floor of a tall building. On coming home one day, they realized to their dismay that the lifts were not working and that they have to climb the stairs home. After struggling to the 20th level, panting and tired, they decided to abandon their bags and come back for them the next day. They left their bags then and climbed on.

When they have struggled to the 40th level by this time they had gone sufficiently mad and irritated. The younger brother started to grumble and both of them began to quarrel. They continued to climb the flights of steps, quarreling all the way to the 60th floor.

They then realized that they have only 20 levels more to climb and decided to stop quarreling and continue climbing in peace. They silently climbed on and reached their home at long last. Each stood calmly before the door and waited for the! other to open the door. And they realized that the key was in their bags which were left on the 20th floor.

THIS STORY IS A REFLECTION ON OUR LIFE AND TIMES .

All of us climb the tall building called LIFE. Some climb till all the 80 floors and some less. Many of us climb under the expectations of our companion.

Time to time these are our friends and parents till the 20th floor, then our spouse and our dear ones till the next level of the building. We seldom get to do the things that we really like and love and are under so much pressure and stress so that by the age of 20, we get tired and decided to dump this load. Being free of the stress and pressure, we work enthusiastically and dream ambitious wishes.

By the time we reach 40 years old, we start to lose our vision and dreams. We began to feel unsatisfied and start to complain and criticize. We live life as a misery as we are never satisfied.

Reaching 60, we realize that we have little left for complaining anymore, and we began to walk the final episode in peace a! nd calmness. We think that there is nothing left to disappoint us, only to realize that we could not rest in peace because we have an unfulfilled dream.

A dream we abandon 60 years ago. So what's your dream? Know your dreams and follow it so that you will not live with regrets.

* ACCEPT YOURSELF
* BELIEVE IN YOURSELF
* LIKE YOURSELF

Inside each one of us are powers so strong, treasures so rich, possibilities so endless, that to command them all into action would change the history of the world.

Toss a coin

I had been sitting deep in my thoughts. I needed to make a big decision about my job. It seemed that the more I thought about it, the more complicated the issue became in my mind. My friend had invited me over for lunch and now looked at me with a slightly bored expression. No wonder - I hadn´t talked much, thinking about my problem.

- Why don´t you try? I have a special coin just for the occasion.

She opened her bag and took out a small purse. When she opened it I saw only one coin. A genuine old silver dollar.

- This belonged to my grandfather, she said, - And he always used it to make important decisions when he did not know which way to go.

- You mean your grandfather flipped a coin and based his decisions on it?

- When ever he couldn´t decide, yes.

Now I had know her grandfather and always thought of him as one of the most down-to-earth kind of a person.

- You can´t be serious… I looked at my friend, unbelieving.

She just gave me the coin. It felt heavy in my hand.

- Quickly. Decide which answer is heads and which is tails.

Oh what the hey - why not play along. I nodded to show I had made my decision.

- Now toss it.

I did.

- Heads. That would be "Yes". But that can´t be so! I mean if I did that, it would mean… What are you smiling at?

She really was, and looked very amused.

- You see: you got your answer.

- No, I didn´t! It showed "yes" but that can´t be right…

I shut up. I got it.

- Now you see why my grandfather used to toss a coin. He did not follow the answer it showed - head or tails, yes or no. Instead he listened very carefully what was his first emotional reaction to the answer the coin gave. And THAT was the real answer. With this coin he passed his analytical mind and let the subconscious wisdom come through.

I looked at the coin in my hand.

- Wow, I never thought about it that way.

- Well - now you know. Can I have my coin back? And perhaps we could have a meaningful conversation from now on?

That we did.