Positives in Negatives

A woman was sitting at her dining table, worried about taxes to be paid, house-work to be done and to top it all, her family was coming over for Thanksgiving the next day. 

Worried and Tired as she was, she was not feeling very thankful at that time.

As she turned her gaze sideways, she noticed her young daughter scribbling furiously into her notebook. She asked her, “What are you writing?”

“My teacher asked us to write a paragraph on “Negative Thanksgiving” for homework today,” said the daughter. “She asked us to write down things that we are thankful for, things that make us feel not so good in the beginning, but turn out to be good after all.”

With curiosity, the mother peeked into the book. This is what her daughter had written:
“I’m thankful for Final Exams, because that means school is almost over.
I’m thankful for bad-tasting medicine, because it helps me feel better.
I’m thankful for waking up to alarm clocks, because it means I’m still alive”.

It then dawned on the mother, that she had a lot of things to be thankful for!

She thought again…
She had to pay taxes but that meant she was fortunate to be employed.

She had house-work to do but that meant she had her own home to live in.
She had to cook for her family for Thanksgiving but that meant she had a family with whom she could celebrate.

My thoughts:

Learning to stay positive in life is vital. Looking for the positives in a negative situation can completely change your perspective on the situation at hand. Not that they will allow you to be happy in life but they will no doubt give you strength to deal with any challenges in life. Accepting a situation and finding a solution and by being thankful to what you have are sure ways of looking at a negative situation with positivity. 

Surrender unto God

Author Unknown

There was a King who looked after his subjects very well and there was no problem what so ever in his land. As time passed trivial problem started pouring in every day and the King had to resolve them.

He was getting old and felt his son was too young to find solutions to those problems. This thought was posing trouble; he was tense and lost sleep.

He always thought what would happen after him. In search of a solution to this problem he went to his Kulguru and said, “I am getting weaker day by day and am unable to rule the kingdom, my son is just a kid to take over what should I do, Gurudev.”

Kulguru said, “If you are unable to find person who can rule the land, then I suggest you to hand over the kingdom to me, I will handle it.”

King was very much pleased he said, “By all means I am ready.”

At that very instant taking the water from the kamandalu, the King poured the water from his hand to the hands of the Kulguru symbolizing the exchange of the power.

King stood up to leave. “Where are you going?” asked Kulguru.
“I will go far away from this kingdom and live a life of a commoner.” said the King.

“What are you going to do for a living?” Kulguru asked.

“I am ready to accept any job that come my way.” said the King.

Kulguru told, “If you are ready to do any job, come and work for me. I have a huge kingdom and I cannot run it, I need a person who has a good experience and I find you very suitable for the job.”

King said, “Oh Yes! I am for it, I accept the job.”

Kulguru said, “Good, start you work from this moment rule the kingdom on my behalf. Do not forget that nothing is yours and you are on payroll.”

King accepted the job and started ruling the kingdom on behalf of his KulguruA. After some months Kulguru came to the palace and asked the King, “How are you now? Do you still have tensions? How is your life going on?”

Gleefully the King replied, “Very happy Gurudev, I resolve the problem the whole day and have a peaceful sleep at. Nothing is mine. I only do my duty.”

Simply consider Him as the sole proprietor and do your work. All the tension will just vanish..

The Tea-cup

Found at http://www.inspirationalarchive.com/1692/the-tea-cup/#ixzz20kxOcdOY

There was a couple who used to go England to shop in the beautiful store. This was their 25th wedding anniversary. They both liked antiques and pottery and especially tea-cups. They said,”May we see that? We’ve never seen one quite so beautiful.”

As the lady handed it to them,suddenly the tea-cup spoke, “You don’t understand.” It said, “I have not always been a tea-cup.There was a time when I was red clay. My master took me and rolled me and patted me over and over and I yelled out, “Let me alone,” but he only smiled, “Not yet!!”

“Then I was placed on a spinning wheel and suddenly I was spun around and around and around. ‘Stop it !! I’m getting dizzy!’ I screamed. But the master only nodded and said, ‘Not yet.’

Then he put me in the oven. I never felt such heat. I yelled and knocked at the door. I could see him through the opening and I could read his lips as he shook hid head, ‘Not yet’.

“Finally, the door opened, he put me on the shelf, and I began to cool. And he brushed and painted me all over. The fumes were horrible. I thought I would gag. ‘Stop it, Stop it!!’ I cried. He only nodded, ‘Not yet!’.

Then suddenly he put me back in to the oven, not like the first one. This was twice as hot and I knew I would suffocate. I begged. I pleaded. I screamed. I cried. I would never make it. I was ready to give up. But the door opened and he took me out and placed me on the shelf.

An hour later he handed me a mirror and said ‘Look at yourself.’ And I did. I said, ‘That’s not me; that couldn’t be me. It’s beautiful. I’m beautiful.’

“I want you to remember, then,’ he said, ‘I know it hurts to be rolled and patted, but if I just had left you alone, you’d have dried up. I know it made you dizzy to spin around on the wheel, but if I had stopped, you would have crumbled. I know it hurts and it was hot and disagreeable in the oven, but if I hadn’t put you there, you would have cracked. I know the fumes were bad when I brushed and painted you all over, but if I hadn’t done that, you never would have hardened. You would not have had any colour in your life, and if I hadn’t put you back in that second oven, you wouldn’t survive for long because the hardness would not have held. Now you are a finished product. You are what I had in mind when I first began with you.” God knows what He’s doing [ for all of us ]. He is the potter, and we are His clay. He will mould us and make us, so that we may be made into a flawless piece of work to fulfill His good, pleasing and perfect will.

You are part of the Ocean

A short story by Mitch Albom in “Tuesdays with Morrie“

A little wave, bobbing along in the ocean is having a grand old time.

He’s enjoying the wind and the fresh air – until he notices the other waves in front of him, crashing against the shore. “My God, this is terrible”, the wave says. “Look what’s going to happen to me!”

Then along comes another wave. It sees the first wave, looking grim, and it says to him: “Why do you look so sad?”

The first wave says: “You don’t understand! We’re all going to crash! All of us waves are going to be nothing! Isn’t it terrible?”

The second wave says: “No, you don’t understand. You’re not a wave, you’re part of the ocean.”

Complete Surrender

A husband and wife were traveling in a boat. There was a big cyclone and the boat started trembling....

Wife started shouting, "Do some thing, do something, we are going to die........"

Husband was very calm and quiet. The cyclone was becoming worse and worse and the wife started shouting more.

Husband immediately took a knife in the hand and held the knife close to his wife throat.

Wife said to the husband, "Honey, This is not the time to play, we need to rescue ourselves from this cyclone. Don't play now"

Husband said, "When I hold your knife against you..... you say don't play and this is not the time. You have a total faith that I am playing with you. When GOD does such an activity in our life why don't we have the full faith in him and take this one as his play.........?"

Immediately the wife responded, "But what if we die"

Husband said, "My dear, We will try to do whatever it takes to save our self but in spite of all these things if the will of My GOD is to attain eternity (DIE), I would be very happy to take it. Do a complete surrender of yourself to your LORD".

"Sometimes our plans in LIFE fail so that GOD can execute his plans and remember his plans are always right for us."

Allow God to work through you

Author Unknown (Received in mailbox)

For several weeks strange sounds had drifted over the mountains from the neighboring valley. There was much talk in the village about what these noises could be, but no one could make sense of them. Even the village elders had never heard anything like them. 

Finally one young man of the village was chosen to cross the mountains and see what was going on.

After two days of hiking he reached the mountaintop and saw in the valley far below a hive of activity with dozens of people working. As he drew closer, he saw a line of people, each with a huge stone in front of them that they were hammering and chiseling.

When he finally reached the valley floor he approached a young man at one end of the line and asked, “What are you doing?”

“Huh!” grunted the young man. “I’m killing time until I get off work.”

Puzzled, the hiker turned to the second person in the line, a young woman, and asked, “Excuse me, but what are you doing?”

“I’m earning a living to support my family,” she responded.

Scratching his head, the hiker moved on to the third person and asked again, “What are you doing?”

“I’m creating a beautiful statue,” came the reply.

Turning to the fourth person, the hiker repeated his question.

“I’m helping to build a cathedral,” came the answer.

“Ah!” said the hiker. “I think I’m beginning to understand.”

Approaching the woman who was fifth in line he asked, “And what are you doing?

“I am helping the people in this town and generations that follow them, by helping to build this cathedral.”

“Wonderful,” exclaimed the hiker. “And you, sir? He called to the sixth man beside her.

“I am helping to build this cathedral in order to serve all those who use it and to awaken myself in the process. I am seeking my salvation through service to others.”

Finally the hiker turned to the last stone worker, an old, lively person whose eyes twinkled and whose mouth formed a perpetual smile. “And what are you doing?” he inquired.

“Me?” smiled the elder. “Doing?” The elder roared with laughter. “This ego dissolved into God many years ago. There is no ‘I’ left to ‘do’ anything. God works through this body to help and awaken all people and draw them to Him.”