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To all the wonderful moms:

We tend to care a lot and hence want to decide everything for our family members. Sometimes it stresses us too. This mom teaches us how to overcome it.

LESSON FOR LIFE💝

My mom felt exhausted. She was irritable and grumpy, until one day, suddenly, she changed.

One day my dad said to her:  I'm going to have a few beers with friends.

My mom replied:  Okay.

My brother said to her:  I'm doing poorly in all subjects in college.

My mom replied:  Okay, you will recover, and if you don't, you repeat the semester, but you pay the tuition.

My sister said to her:  I smashed the car.

My mom replied:  Okay, take it to the car shop & get it fixed.

All of us were worried to see these reactions coming from mom. We suspected that she had gone to the doctor and was prescribed some pills called "I don't give a damn”.

We then proposed to do an "intervention" with my mother to remove her from any possible addiction she had towards some anti-tantrum medication.

But then mom gathered us around her and explained:

"It took me a long time to realize that each person is responsible for their life. It took me years to discover that my anguish, anxiety, my depression, my courage, my insomnia & my stress, does not solve your problems but aggravates mine.

I am not responsible for the actions of anyone and it’s not my job to provide happiness.

Therefore, I came to the conclusion that my duty to myself is to remain calm and let each one of you solve what corresponds to you.

I have taken courses in yoga, meditation, miracles, human development, mental hygiene, vibration and neuro linguistic programming and in all of them, I found a common denominator.

I can only control myself, you have all the necessary resources to solve your own problems despite how hard they may be. My job is to PRAY for you, LOVE you, ENCOURAGE you, but it’s up to YOU to solve them and find your happiness.

I can only give you my advice if you ask me and it depends on you to follow it or not. There are consequences, good or bad, to your decisions and YOU have to live with them.”

Everyone at home was speechless.

From that day on, the family began to function better because everyone in the house knew exactly what it is that they needed to do.

A Son teaches a lesson to all

A son took his old father to a restaurant for an evening dinner. 

His father, being very old and weak, while eating, dropped food on his shirt and pants. The mess that he made disgusted the other diners in the restaurant while his son remained calm.

After they were finished eating, the son, who was not embarrassed at all, quietly took him to the wash room, wiped off the food particles, removed the stains, combed his hair and fitted his glasses firmly, When they came out, the entire restaurant was watching them in dead silence, not able to grasp how someone could embarrass themselves publicly like that.

The son settled the bill and started to leave the eatery with his father.

At that time, an old man amongst the diners called out to the son and asked him, “Don’t you think you left something behind?”

The son replied, “No sir, I haven’t.”

The old man retorted, “Yes, you have! You have left a lesson for every son and hope for every father.”

The restaurant went silent.

It is said old age is another childhood. Parents take extreme care of their off springs, love them with all their heart and stand with them even when they start a family of their own. All one can do is to love them and take care of them in their second innings.   

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.

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.

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.

We do not become poor by giving

The Universe is in an eternal state of cycles. Day & night, cycle of seasons, water cycle, seed to tree to seed….. Nature's attempt to convey to us that giving and receiving are two different forms of the same energy.

We keep the copiousness of this energy circulating in our lives in our readiness to follow this principle. When we try to cut or stop this flow of energy, we find ourselves blocked to receive the abundance that the Universe has to offer us. The act of fulfilling our desires is directly proportionate to the act of our willingness to make others happy.

When we understand that what we give comes flowing back to us in multitudes, we open the door to this flood of energy and would never make any attempt close it again. Because we begin to appreciate what Anne Frank says, “No one has ever become poor by giving.”

What are the ways in which we can give? Here's what Rhonda Byrne of Secret Scroll has to say:

From The Daily Teachings of the Secret Scroll

Giving opens up the door to receiving. You have so many opportunities to give every day.

Give kind words.
Give a smile.
Give appreciation and love.
Give compliments.
You can give courtesy to other motorists while you are driving.
You can give a smile to the car parking attendant.
You can give a warm greeting to the newspaper stand person or the person who makes your coffee.
You can give by allowing a stranger to go ahead of you into an elevator, and you can give by asking which floor they are going to and pressing the button for them.
If someone drops something you can give a helping hand and pick it up for them.
You can give warm embraces to those you love.
And you can give appreciation and encouragement to everyone.

There are so many opportunities for you to give and thereby open the door to receiving.

May the joy be with you,
Rhonda Byrne

The world is like a mirror

Three different stories pointing fingers in the same direction--The world we see is a reflection of our own inner selves.

Story 1

One day a class teacher asked her students to write on a piece of paper the name of the person whom they disliked most.
The students got busy. One student asked the teacher, “Ma’am when I don’t dislike anybody, whose name would I write?”
By that time other students finished writing and the teacher started checking the names.
She checked all the names and to her surprise could not find the name of this student in any of the chits she checked!

Story 2

One day, Lord Krishna told Yudhishtra to take a census of all evil people in the kingdom and told Duryodhana to take census of all good people in the kingdom.
Duryodhana came back and reported that there is no single good person in the kingdom. According to him, there was so much evil in the so called sages, hermits and other good Samaritans.
Yudhishtra came back and reported that there is not a single evil person in the kingdom. According to him all were good including the murderers and robbers.

Story 3:

A wise woman who was traveling in the mountains found a precious stone in a stream. One look at it and she realised the monetary worth of the stone
The next day she met another traveler who was hungry, and the wise woman opened her bag to share her food. The hungry traveler saw the precious stone & asked the woman to give it to him. She did so without hesitation.
The traveler left, rejoicing his good fortune. He knew the stone was worth enough to give him security for a lifetime. But a few days later he came back to return the stone to the wise woman.
“I’ve been thinking,” He said, “I know how valuable the stone is, but I give it back in the hope that you can give me something even more precious: Give me what you have within you that enabled you to give me the stone.”

If we are good to others, they would respond in the same manner. 

 

There can be no place for violence when there is love

Two friends were walking through the desert. At some point of the journey they had an argument, and the first friend slapped the other one in the face. The second one who got slapped was hurt, but without saying anything, he wrote in the sand:

TODAY MY BEST FRIEND SLAPPED ME IN THE FACE.

They kept on walking until they found an oasis, where they decided to take a bath. The second friend who had been slapped got stuck in the mire and started drowning, but the first friend saved him. This time his friend wrote on a stone: 

TODAY MY BEST FRIEND SAVED MY LIFE.

The first friend who had slapped and saved his best friend asked him, “When I hurt you, you wrote in the sand and now when I saved you, you write on a stone. Why?” 

The second friend replied, “When someone hurts us we should write it down in sand because winds of forgiveness can erase it completely. But, when someone does something good for us, we must engrave it in stone where nothing can ever erase it.”

“When someone does something wrong, don’t forget all the things they did right.”

To love is to share and serve

A farmer used to win the contest for producing best corn year after year. A reporter once asked him if he could reveal the secret of this feat. The farmer confessed that it was because he shared his seed with his neighbours.

The puzzled reporter asked, "Why do you share your best corn seed with your neighbors, since they also enter the same contest year after year?”

"You see, Sir," said the farmer, "The wind carries the pollen of the ripe maize, from one crop to the other. If my neighbors cultivate an inferior quality corn, the crossed pollination would constantly degrade the quality of mine. If I am going to sow good corn I should help my neighbor to do it so too."


We live in a diverse community where the welfare of one is coupled with the welfare of the other. The law of attraction operates here in an overwhelming magnitude. When we give love, the world around will give that love back to us in multitudes.

"Love expects no reward. Love knows no fear. Love Divine gives - does not demand. Love thinks no evil; imputes no motive. To Love is to share and serve.” ~ Swami Sivananda

YOU MAKE A DIFFERENCE

Dedicated to all teachers on this Teachers day in India, 5th Sept, 2014


Just when she was about to give up teaching profession because she thought her teaching wasn't even changing or helping even one child, her mind was completely changed one day.

When she went to school the next day, one of her first grader's parent came to her and just fell into her arms and cried out, "THANK YOU."

The mother explained that her child had ADHD (the teacher had already discovered that) and no one had the patience to teach or just love her for who she was. She told the teacher that she made a difference in her daughter's life, just by showing that she cared and for having patience with her. The child showed interest in studies when she was with her, but her other teachers constantly condemned her because they couldn't control her.

What a compliment!

Needless to say she is still continuing on with her teaching profession.

Dear teachers, sometimes it may seem like people have forgotten how important you really are.

For every child that says, “I’m not smart enough”, “I don’t get it”, “I can’t”…… there’s a teacher who says, “You can!”

For every child who needs basic skills, knowledge, someone to believe in him……….. there’s a teacher who will do whatever it takes to encourage, to motivate, to challenge, to engage, to inspire and instill a love for learning.

So for every teacher who works with the children building a better future for us, even when it feels like no one is watching or that people have forgotten just how special you teachers really are, I SALUTE YOU!

AND I THANK YOU for teaching each child to become the next great author, artist, scientist, architect, musician, doctor, engineer or teacher.

Never give up, if you teach from the heart, you may not realize it at that precise moment..........
BUT YOU ARE MAKING A DIFFERENCE IN SOMEONE.

God's Family

By Steve Goodier www.LifeSupportSystem.com

An old story is told of two men who went fishing in a small boat. The day was uneventful until one of them hooked a huge fish, which, in the struggle, pulled him overboard. He couldn't swim and began to panic.

"Help!" he yelled. "Save me!"

The friend reached over and grabbed the man by the hair to pull him closer to the boat. But when he tugged, the man's toupee came off and he slipped down under the water again.

He came up shouting, "Hey, help me! I can't swim!"

So the friend reached down again and this time latched onto the struggling man's arm. But when he pulled, the arm came off! It was an artificial limb.

The drowning man continued to kick and thrash around and his friend reached out a third time. This time he grabbed a leg and pulled. You guessed it -- a wooden leg.

The man continued splashing and sputtering and calling out, "Help me!" until his friend finally called back in disgust, "How can I help you if you won't stick together?"

And that is a metaphor for each of us.

How can people in marriages and families stand a chance when they won't stick together?
How can religious communities, civic groups, schools and businesses get anywhere when they won't stick together?
And how can a nation or even our global village function well when it won't stick together?

Archbishop Desmond Tutu put it this way:
“We are made for goodness.
We are made for love.
We are made for friendliness.
We are made for togetherness.
We are made for all of the beautiful things that you and I know.
We are made to tell the world that there are no outsiders.
All are welcome: black, white, red, yellow,
rich, poor, educated, not educated,
male, female, all, all, all.
We all belong to this family, this human family, God's family.”

Power of Prayer

There was no timetable nor a room designated for PRAYERS in the School. The School was ‘secular,’ hence prayers were not supposed to be allowed.

After being interviewed and accepted by the school administration, the eager teaching prospect said in protest:

“Let me see if I’ve got this right. You want me to go into that room with all those kids and fill their every waking moment with a love for learning.

And I’m supposed to instill a sense of pride in their ethnicity, modify their disruptive behavior, observe them for signs of abuse and even censor their T-shirt messages and dress habits.

You want me to wage a war on drugs and sexually transmitted diseases, check their backpacks for weapons of mass destruction, and raise their self-esteem.

You want me to teach them patriotism, good citizenship, sportsmanship, and fair play, how and where to register to vote, how to balance a checkbook, & how to apply for a job.

I am to check their heads for lice, maintain a safe environment, recognize signs of antisocial behavior, offer advice, write letters of recommendation for student employment and scholarships, and encourage respect for their elders and future employers.

And I am to communicate regularly with the parents by letter, telephone, newsletter, & report card.

All of this I am to do with just a piece of chalk, a blackboard, a few books, a bulletin board, and a big smile AND on a starting salary that qualifies my family for food stamps!

You want me to do all of this, and you expect me NOT TO PRAY?

You want me to do all of this and you expect me not to pray when SUCCESS of every one depends on Prayers?

Dear sir, since I am sure that I will not be able to fulfill your expectations, nor I will be successful in my career WITHOUT prayers, and so I resign willingly from the post.”

The Administrator looked down for a while then suddenly declared: “Young man, go ahead with your job. You have taught me a very important lesson today: Without prayers and help from God, no work is a success. We shall make special arrangements for prayers from today.”

Hearts of living

Once a saint saw a man with a bandage tied round his head. “Why have you tied the bandage?” he asked.
“Because my head aches,” the man replied.
“How old are you?” he demanded.
“Thirty,” he replied.
“Have you been in pain and anguish the greater part of your life?” he enquired.
“No,” the man answered.
“For thirty years you have enjoyed good health,” he remarked, “and you never tied
the bandage of thankfulness. Now because of this one night head ache, that you have, you tie the bandage of complaint!”

_________________________________________________________________

A wise woman who was traveling in the mountains found a precious stone in a stream. The next day she met another traveler who was hungry, and the wise woman opened her bag to share her food. The hungry traveler saw the precious stone & asked the woman to give it to him. She did so without hesitation.

The traveler left, rejoicing his good fortune. He knew the stone was worth enough to give him security for a lifetime. But a few days later he came back to return the stone to the wise woman.

“I’ve been thinking,” He said, “I know how valuable the stone is, but I give it back in the hope that you can give me something even more precious: Give me what you have within you that enabled you to give me the stone.”

_________________________________________________________________


A person once heard a pious man say that “For the last thirty years I am repenting for a sin and I don’t know how God will deal with me regarding it?”

The listener asked: “What was your sin?”

The man said: “I used to have a shop in the Bazaar. One day I heard that the whole Bazaar was burning so I rushed to see my shop. When I reached there I saw that all the shops except my shop were razed to the ground. I said ‘Thank God!”, but immediately I realized my mistake. How can I call myself pious when I couldn’t feel the loss of my neighbors? That is why I am repenting for that lapse on my part for the last thirty years.”

_

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..

Farmer, the Caretaker

A boy crossed the desert and finally arrived at an ashram in a village. He was told that the guru was delivering a discourse in the evening and the boy was given permission to attend it.

That evening, the Guru spoke of the importance of farming and their work in the fields.

At the end of the talk, the boy said to one of the other inmates: 'I was really shocked. I expected to hear an enlightened speech on sin and virtue, but the Guru talked only about tomatoes and irrigation and things like that. Where I come from we all believe that God is mercy and that all we have to do is pray.'

The inmate smiled and said: ‘Here we believe that God has done His part and now it is up to us to continue the process.'

To forget how to dig the earth and to tend the soil is to forget our Source. Once in our life, we need a doctor, a lawyer, a policeman…….but everyday, three times a day, we need a farmer. It isn’t the Farm that makes the farmer. Its Love, Hard work and Character, which in the end contribute to real wealth, good morals and above all, Happiness.

Earn God's Grace

Sathya Sai Baba 'My Dear Students', Vol 3, Ch 3, June 30, 1996.

In this world, to receive one thing, you need to give up another. When you want a simple handkerchief, you need to pay rupees ten, only then will the shopkeeper sell it to you.

God is a very kind merchant. If you offer even a small amount of devotion, the Merciful Lord will, in return, shower infinite amount of Grace on you.

The poor devotee, Kuchela offered a handful of beaten rice to Lord Krishna and received His blessings in abundance.

Queen Draupadi, during a distressful moment, prayed with a pure heart. Because of the little sacrifice she made earlier, Lord Krishna rushed to respond to her call and showered His infinite Grace to protect her.

The fruits of action are inevitable and no one can escape them.

However you can nullify or modify the consequences to a certain extent, if you become worthy and deserve His Grace.