Dandelions in life

Traditional Sufi Story

A young man named Nasruddin planted a flower garden, but when the flowers came up so did a great crop of dandelions among them. Wishing to eliminate the unwanted guests, Nasruddin consulted with gardeners near and far, but none of their solutions worked.

Finally, Nasruddin traveled to the palace of the sheikh to seek the wisdom of the royal gardener himself. 

But alas, Nasruddin had already tried all the methods the kind old man recommended to him for eradicating such troublesome weeds.

Silently they sat together for a good long time. 

At last, the royal gardener looked at Nasruddin and said, "Well, then, the only thing I can suggest is that you learn to love them."

We live in a society with the presence of both desirable and undesirable elements. These undesirable elements are like those Dandelions, a stubborn weed that never seems to leave your lawn or garden. Wisdom lies in embracing the fact that we need to coexist with them. The least we can do is to love them and accept them.

Never, Never, Never Be Late

A WhatsApp Forward

A Pastor was being honoured at his retirement dinner after 25 years in the parish.

The leading local legislator was chosen to make the presentation and to give a little speech at the dinner.

However, he was late, so the Pastor decided to say his own few words while they waited.

He commenced. “Thank Goodness we have a wonderful sense of humour!”

“I got my first impression of this parish from the very first confession I ever heard here. The very first person who entered my confessional told me he had stolen a television set and, when questioned by the police, was able to lie his way out of it.  He had stolen money from his parents; misappropriated his employer’s funds; had an affair with his boss’s wife; taken illegal drugs; was arrested several times.  I was appalled that one person could do so many awful things. I thought I had been assigned to a terrible place.”

Just as the Pastor finished his talk, the legislator arrived full of apologies at being late.

He immediately began his speech. “I’ll never forget the first day our Priest arrived,” said the legislator. “In fact, I had the honour of being the first person to go to him for confession.”

Life literally abounds in comedy if you just look around you.

😄😅😜😜

 ....

Love & Respect your Parents

Author Unknown     

A frail old man lived with his son, his daughter-in-law, and his four-year-old grandson. His eyes were blurry, his hands trembled, and his step faltered.

The family would eat together every night at the dinner table. But the elderly grandfather's shaky hands and failing sight made eating rather difficult. Peas rolled off his spoon, drooping to the floor. When he grasped his glass of milk, it often spilled clumsily at the tablecloth.

With this happening almost every night, the son and daughter-in-law became irritated with the mess.

"We must do something about father," said the son.

"I've had enough of his milk spilling, noisy eating and food on the floor," the daughter-in-law agreed.

So the couple set a small table at the corner.

There, grandfather ate alone while the rest of the family enjoyed their dinner at the dinner table. Since grandfather had broken a dish or two, his food was served in wooden bowls. Sometimes when the family glanced in grandfather's direction, he had a tear in his eye as he ate alone. Still, the only words the couple had for him were sharp admonitions when he dropped a fork or spilled food. The four-year-old watched it all in silence.

One evening, before supper, the father noticed his son playing with wood scraps on the floor. 

He asked the child sweetly: "What are you making?" 

Just as sweetly, the boy replied, "Oh, I'm making a little bowl for you and mama to eat your food from when I grow up." The four-year-old smiled and went back to work.

These words so struck the parents that they were speechless. Then tears streamed down their cheeks. Though no words were spoken, both knew what must be done. That evening, the husband took father's hand and gently led him back to the family table.

For the remainder of his days, grandfather ate every meal with the family. And for some reason, neither husband nor wife seemed to care any longer when a fork was dropped, milk was spilled or the table cloth was soiled.

Parents are the most precious gift of God for humans. They play an important role in our mental, physical, social, financial and career development. We took our first steps by holding their fingers.  All parents keep their children’s happiness and needs above their own. We may feel that our parents need us, but the reality is, we need them and we will not be able to make it without them. They are the pillars of support in the mansion of our lives. Let us remind ourselves that only if we love & respect our parents, our kids will reciprocate the same feeling to us.

Conquering The World

Author Unknown

There once lived a powerful king who undertook an expedition to conquer foreign lands. 

His wise counselor asked him, "Great king, to what purpose do you set out on this endeavor?" 

"To become master of Asia", the king replied. 

"And then what?" asked the counselor. 

"I shall invade Arabia", said the king. 

"And after that?" 

"I shall conquer Europe and Africa; and finally, when the whole world is under me, I shall rest and live at ease." 

To this the wise counselor retorted, "But what keeps you from resting and living at ease here and now, if that is all you want? You could settle down this very day without the trouble and risks."

This suggests that earlier Kings used to fight wars because they enjoyed doing so. In the modern world, countries may argue that they are fighting in a purely defensive capacity. Motivation for war differs throughout history, but the impacts a war can have on a nation is just as enormous as it always has been.

Let us remember that wars occur because we fail to recognize that we are one beautiful family and each of us needs to respect the right of others from other parts of the world. We need to coexist in this beautiful planet irrespective of race, religion, geographical locations, cultural connotations & personal principles. The moment we start living by this basic Truth, Global Peace will descend on this earth.

Leave your Heartprints

Author Unknown (If you know the author, pl let me know)

Whatever our hands touch -
We leave fingerprints!
On walls, on furniture
On doorknobs, dishes, books.
There's no escape.

As we touch we leave our identity.

Wherever I go today
Help me leave heartprints!
Heartprints of compassion
Of understanding and love.
Heartprints of kindness
And genuine concern.

May my heart touch a lonely neighbor
Or a runaway daughter
Or an anxious mother
Or perhaps an aged grandfather.

Send me out today
To leave heartprints.
And if someone should say,
'I felt your touch,'
May they also sense the love
that is deep within my heart.

Pushers & Pullers

Educator Booker T. Washington observed, "There are two ways of exerting one's strength; one is pushing down, the other is pulling up." 

Pushers and pullers are the two types of people that we need to deal with on a daily basis in this world. 

Formers are the types who push you down, suck the energy from you and demotivate you. The negative type. 

Latters are those who pull you up, inspire you and motivate you to achieve your goals and dreams. The positive type.

Undeniably, we all love pullers and need more of them in our lives. They are like a cup of cool water for a dry and parched throat. Dealing with this type is the easiest. We can relate to them effortlessly. They ooze out positivity which is infectious.

We avoid and detest those who push us down. It’s this variety, the negative ones, that cause the concern. It can be really tough to get back up once someone has knocked us down. Self-confidence gets heavily beaten up. Self-doubt and insecurities get triggered and are hard to put aside. 

Let’s face it. In reality, life doesn't consist only of pullers. It is a concoction of both types. It takes all sorts to make the world go around. We are compelled to deal with both.

How to deal with these pushers?

 

One way of dealing is “ignore” or “accept”.

"Ignore" when we understand that the pushing down is caused by plain jealousy. Admit that it’s the way these pushers are made. It’s not our task to change them. Our focus should only be on changing ourselves and our insights for the better. Best is to keep a distance from these pushers. Leave them behind and move on. They are not worth walking along with.

"Accept" when we find that the criticism is true, based on fact and not biased. After all, let’s give the benefit of doubt to the offender. Let’s work on the conjecture that not always do people have an agenda in their minds. We might’ve committed a blunder inadvertently and hence we have to deal with it. Hence let’s ‘accept’ the pushing down.

And last comes the most elevated way. Send them your love! I know it’s THE MOST difficult task on earth. If all of us had achieved the echelon of this elevation, we wouldn't be discussing this topic here. Right? And why should we send them, the offenders our love? Because it’s what we expect from them. Since they are lacking in it, let’s provide them with some quotient of it.

But the silver lining in the cloud is this. Life is not so cruel. It makes sure that when someone pushes us down, there is someone else who would pull us up. Life gives us an opportunity to become a much better person stronger in heart and mind. If we stop to think about it, we’ll end up thanking both.

Stop being a glass. Become a lake

(Parable)

Once a lady was disturbed, feeling insulted and finding it difficult to cope up with her difficult situations in life. She had heard of a great old man who is the best teacher. She decided to go to him and ask him to teach her how to manage life. 

After hearing her problems, the old man instructed the unhappy lady to put a handful of salt in a glass of water and then to drink it. 

"How does it taste?" he asked. 

"Very bad and salty," replied the lady.

Then the old man asked the lady to walk with him to a nearby lake. Then he asked her to take another handful of salt and put it in the lake. When the lady swirled handful of salt into the lake, the old man said, "Now go get a glass of water from the lake and drink it"

After she drank the lake water the old man asked, "How does it taste?" 

"Good!" replied the lady. 

"Did you taste the salt?" asked the Master. 

"No, not at all " said the lady.

The Old man said, "The problems, and the pain you feel are just like handful of pure salt, no more, no less. The amount of pain and problems in life remains exactly the same. But the amount we learn to tolerate the 'pain' depends on the container we put it into. So when you are in pain, the only thing you can do is to accept it with patience and learn to solve the problems. Stop being a glass. Become a lake!"

Let go or Hang on?

These are 2 stories on the same concept but with a different ending.

Story no 1:

http://serenityhelp.com/addiction-information/understanding-monkey-traps/

In South Africa a young girl watched her mother weave a simple basket. She asked her mother, “What are you making?” The wise mother replied, “We are short on money and need to buy coal for our stove. So, I am making a monkey trap.”

“But, momma that basket is far too small for a monkey to fit into. I know it won’t work.”

“Well, the trap is quite small child. But, the trap needs to only fit the hand of the monkey, not his body to work.”

“Mmm, I don’t understand.”

“You see we chain this basket to a strong tree and put inside a delicious piece of fruit. When the monkey notices the fruit inside the basket, he grabs the fruit quickly and tries to pull it out. Surprise, our trap is not wide enough for him to remove his clenched fist with the bait. So, he is stuck, trapped, and we can sell him alive to the Afrikaners.”

“Why doesn’t the monkey just let go of the fruit and escape?”

“Because the monkey is greedy, single minded, and obsessed with the fruit. He will not let go because he is afraid someone else may get it or he will have to find something else to eat that he cannot see.”

“Momma’ I’m very glad I am not as dumb as a monkey!”

Story 2:
Tales & Parables of Sri Ramakrishna

In a certain place the fishermen were catching fish.

A kite swooped down and snatched a fish. At the sight of the fish, about a thousand crows chased the kite and made a great noise with their cawing.

The kite flew to the south and the crows followed it there. The kite flew to the north and still the crows followed after it. 

The kite went east and west, but with the same result. Whichever way the kite flew with the fish, the crows followed it.

As the kite began to fly about in confusion, lo, the fish dropped from its mouth. The crows at once let the kite alone and flew after the fish.

Thus relieved of its worries, the kite sat on the branch of a tree and thought: 'That wretched fish was at the root of all my troubles. I have now got rid of it and therefore I am at peace.'

Learning?

If the monkeys just surrendered what they were holding on to, they could have been free. They are stubborn, hoping that they will be able to have their food and their freedom at the same time. 

As long as the kite was holding on to the fish, it was under lot of pressure from the crows to release it. The moment he released it he was at peace.

Worldly desires put a lot of pressure on us. The pursuit of those desires force worries, anxieties and restlessness on us. These desires are the Nuts that we are hanging on to which deny us the Peace. We do not rest till those desires are fulfilled. When one desire is fulfilled, another one crops up creating more and more pressure. 

let us introspect: What are we holding on to? What can we let go to be free? Is living life like a roller coaster ride is what we want or a peaceful life?

Of course, it is hard to let go but not impossible. One should be mentally strong to control those desires. But no sooner do we renounce these desires than we start enjoying peace of soul.

Do you want to be the monkey or the kite? 

Where does God reside?

Author Unknown

Once upon a time, when God had finished making the world, he wanted to leave behind a piece of His own divinity, a spark of His essence, a promise to man of what he could become, with effort. He looked for a place to hide this precious gift because, He explained, what man could find too easily would never be valued by him.

"Then you must hide this gift on the highest mountain peak on earth," said one of his counselors.

God shook His head, "No, for man is an adventuresome creature and he will soon enough learn to climb the highest mountain peaks."

"Hide it then, O Great One, in the depths of the earth."

"I think not," said God. "for man will one day discover that he can dig into the deepest parts of the earth."

"In the middle of the ocean then, Master?"

God shook His head. "I've given man a brain, you see, and one day he'll learn to build ships and cross the mightiest oceans."

"Where then, Master?" cried His counselors.

God smiled, "I'll hide it where every man and woman will be able to find it if they look sincerely and deeply enough. I'll hide it in their heart."

This explains why our Heart is always equated to compassion. The Almighty, embodiment of compassion, resides there. He is Love incarnate and so Heart is a symbol for love. Heart represents the feeling-based wisdom while head represents reason-based wisdom. That’s why it is always said, whenever in doubt, listen to the heart. After all it is God who guides us from there.

Know your worth

Author Unknown     

A well known speaker started off his seminar by holding up a 2000 Re note. In the room of 200, he asked. "Who would like this note?"

Many hands started going up. He said, "I am going to give this to one of you - but first, let me do this."

He proceeded to crumple the note up. He then asked. "Who still wants it?" Still the hands were up in the air.

"Well," he replied, "what if I do this?" He dropped it on the ground and started to grind it into the floor with his shoe. He picked it up, now crumpled and dirty. "Now, who still wants it?"

Still the hands went into the air.

"My friends, you have all 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 was still worth Rs 2000. Many times in our lives, we are dropped, crumpled, and ground into the dirt by the decisions we make and the circumstances that come our way. We feel as though we are worthless; but no matter what happened or what will happen, you will never lose your value.”

Remember: Those who love you do not care what you do, how you do, when you do or why you do but love you for WHO YOU ARE. That is your worth.