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.

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. 

Do not Quit

Author Unknown

A dramatic ballad singer studied under a strict teacher who insisted that he rehearse day after day, month after month the same passage from the same song, without being permitted to go any further.

Finally, overwhelmed by frustration and despair, the young man ran off to find another profession.

One night, stopping at an inn, he stumbled upon a recitation contest. Having nothing to lose, he entered the competition and, of course, sang the one passage that he knew so well.

When he had finished, the sponsor of the contest highly praised his performance. Despite the student’s embarrassed objections, the sponsor refused to believe that he had just heard a beginner perform.

“Tell me,” the sponsor said, “who is your instructor? He must be a great master.” 

The student later became known as the great performer Koshiji.

Story Courtesy: https://academictips.org/blogs/practice-makes-perfect-dont-quit/

All are equal

Story contributed by Preeti Ramakrishnan

Once there was a fight in Anita's kitchen. Salt and sugar were fighting for superiority. 

"I am simply the best creation of God," said salt. 

"I make food so tasty that man can't do without me."

Sugar got angry with salt. It felt that it was the best. 

"I am much better than you," said sugar. 

"What sweetness I bring to every dish," it said with pride.

Sugar and Salt were so boastful that all the other ingredients in Anita's kitchen were now fed up. 

"What do they  think?" asked tamarind to pepper. 

"Just because I am sour, does it make me less special?"

Pepper felt that salt could not do without it. Coffee powder was angry at sugar for not giving it any importance.

All the spices in Anita's kitchen were very agitated too. 

But there was one spice, Turmeric which was very quiet. 

"Please don't fight dear Salt and Sugar," requested Turmeric. "Each ingredient in the shelf is important in it's own way," said Turmeric with a smile.

Sugar and Salt looked at Turmeric and mockingly laughed at it. "So you are going to tell us what to do and how to behave,"  they asked very angrily. Turmeric calmly replied that all ingredients were useful and nothing was superior or inferior.

Suddenly Anita's son Rohan entered the house crying. Anita was worried. 

"What happened?" asked Anita. 

"I was playing football when suddenly I fell down. My wound is bleeding profusely," cried Rohan.

"Who will help him now?" wondered the ingredients. 

Anita then reached out for Turmeric powder and said, "Don't worry my son. Turmeric will stop the bleeding immediately."  

Soon Turmeric stopped the bleeding and Rohan was happy again. 

But now there was silence in Anita's shelf. Salt and sugar realized what Turmeric had said earlier. They became aware of the fact that everything has value and good qualities and that everything was the same in nature's eyes. 

They thanked Turmeric as it was not only a great healer but also a wonderful Teacher.

Loving oneself is not selfishness

"To love oneself is the beginning of a life-long romance," says Oscar Wilde. 

Taking laws of attraction to another level is self-love. Loving ourselves attracts more love. As simple as that. But why is it that we don't practice it often? Because most of us confuse self-love with selfishness. Unfortunately we have been conditioned from childhood to think that to put oneself first amounts to self-centredness. What is the thin line that divides both? "Self love" spreads by including others too in the process while "selfishness" is loving one's own self at the exclusion of others. 

Ignoring the conditioned mind, let's start listening to our heart. Without procrastinating anymore, let's start practicing to love ourselves right now. Healthy self-love means doing things which adds quality to our lives.

Having confidence in ourselves, being kind to ourselves by binging on that chocolate once in a while, not feeling guilty when we take a much needed break to watch a movie occasionally, treating ourselves with a health spa when required, patting our own back on a success, taking responsibility for failures without remorse, be willing to accept help when offered, accepting and honoring our emotions when we feel like crying, accepting compliments gracefully, forgiving ourselves whenever we commit a mistake, being gentle and compassionate to ourselves. These are only small beginnings. 

One word of caution though about this life-long romance. Knowing where to draw the line. Else we would end up like this woman who loved herself a little too much.

A woman was lamenting that she had gained weight. She'd made her family's favorite cake over the weekend, she reported, and they'd eaten half of it at dinner.
The next day, she said, she kept staring at the other half, until finally she cut a thin slice for herself. One slice led to another, and soon the whole cake was gone. The woman went on to tell her friends how upset she was with her lack of willpower, and how she knew her husband would be disappointed.
Everyone sympathized, until someone asked what her husband said when he found out.
She smiled. "He never did. I baked another cake and ate half!"

Redrawing gender roles

Shared from a Facebook page “Upworthy” (via inspiringthefuture.org)

It is a classroom with children between the ages of 5 & 7

One day three guest women come to the class.

One woman tells the children, “this afternoon we are going to draw pictures of people doing jobs. And the first we will draw is that of a firefighter.

All the children happily settle down to draw. “Mine is firefighter Gary," says one, “This is firefighter Stan"; "This is Simon. He is very strong,” say others. And it goes on.

“Next we are going to draw a surgeon,” says the second woman. Again a happy and hectic activity.

“What is the name of this surgeon?” asks the woman to one child. “This is Jim Bob. He is a brain surgeon,” says one. “He gives medicines,” says another.

“Next we are going to draw Fighter Pilot,” says the third woman.

One child draws a fighter plane and says, “This is Mr X. He rescues people.” And so on.

“Now we would meet these people for real,” says the women. There’s a cheerful “YES!” from all.

The three women go and come back as Firefighter, Surgeon and Fighter Pilot.

There’s an incredible gasp. Jaws wide open, faces with diverse expressions, the children look at all the three. They still don’t believe. “Fake, they are all dressed up,” they shout.

The first woman introduces herself as a surgeon.

The second introduces herself as a fighter pilot.

And the third, as a fire fighter.

There’s an unbelievable silence. The three women make the children don their caps and the children happily do so.

What is special about this incident?

61 pictures drawn were that of men and 5 as women!!!!!

Obviously, gender stereotypes are defined between the ages of 5 & 7.

When a real-life firefighter, surgeon, and fighter pilot drop in on a classroom, these kids have their assumptions turned around.

Watch this video https://www.facebook.com/Upworthy/videos/1309607832413405/

To remove this stereotyping, parents, teachers and other social agencies can teach their children to be androgynous, a person who may at will engage in both masculine or feminine behaviors & tasks as seen by the society; a person who focuses less on culturally built behaviours for males and females and rather focus more on a behaviour that is more operative under the given situations.

Isn’t it time we redrew the balance?

Adopting positive attitude as a way of life

Everyone wants to be happy in life. But no one believes that happiness is a choice. People blame all outside forces for being unhappy —relationships, fate, workplace experiences, … anything that they are not happy with.

Remember, you can either be a prey or a producer. The choice is yours. Making the choice empowers you to shift from prey mode to producer mode. Adopting positive attitude as a way of life, brings constructive changes in the way we live. We are in control of our happiness quotient by being so.

True, it’s easy said than done. If and when we really work hard on it, we can easily find something good about a situation that looked bad a while ago. Practice makes it perfect.

A little boy was heard talking to himself as he walked through the playground, carrying his cricket bat and ball: “I’m the greatest batsman in the world.”

Then he tossed the cricket ball in the air, swung at it with the bat and missed.

Undaunted, he picked up the ball, threw it into the air again, swung the bat at it, and missed again for the second time.

He did this four more times and missed all four times.

After missing the ball for the sixth time, he yelled out: “I’m the greatest bowler in the world!”

Life can be tough at times, painful at other times and testing at more times. But turning a situation to your advantage, like the little boy did, is the key. It’s certainly a state of mind well worth developing.

Happiness comes from within

We often see inequalities in societal life. Some do mean tasks and the others do white collared jobs. Although this inequality exists everywhere, there are many questions about it that makes us wonder.

Where did inequality come from?
Why does it continue?
Do we justify inequality?
Can we eliminate inequality?
Can we make a society in which people are equal?

Here is a short story; which gives a clear message of why we need this differentiation, not only from the spiritual point of view but also for the functioning of society at the secular level.

There once was a king ruling his kingdom peacefully and happily. But he was extremely sensitive to the inequalities that existed in his kingdom. He said, “I want to pray to God to make everybody like me. Why should all of them not be like kings?”

So, he went to the forest and meditated for a long time. Finally, God appeared and asked him what he wants.

The king said, “God, why are there so many troubles and difficulties? Why are some rich and the rest poor? Why can’t all be the same?”

God asked, “Are you sure you want this?”

The king said, “Yes, God. This is the type of kingdom I want.”
God said, “Ok, if this is really what you want I grant you your wish.”

The king was really happy and as he moved back to his city after crossing the forest, he suddenly found that the whole picture had changed.

The roads were dirty; all clothes were lying on the roadsides, unwashed; the drains were overflowing; and the king wondered what had happened in the few days that he was away.

He entered the palace and there too, he noticed that everything was tattered.

Then it dawned on him that all the people in his kingdom had become wealthy and had risen up the ladder like him. All his subjects were now potential kings. So, nobody wanted to wash clothes or clean the roads.

It then struck him about the mistake he had made by asking for a wrong wish because this sort of equality does not allow the society to function in a balanced manner.

Of course, the king went back to the forest and apologised to God. God appeared again in all His mercy and said, “Ok, now that you have understood the truth, things will come back to their normal shape.”

My thoughts: There are plenty of people who have all the luxuries in life but are unhappy, and plenty of people who have very little but are happy. The difference lies solely in the quality of their perception. Happiness comes from within, not from the outside. To live a harmonious community, it is important that inequality remains but not marginalized to the extent that one side is above the other.

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.