Joy and Sorrow

Value: Joy

Sub-Value: Trust, Faith

I have in my hands two boxes which God gave me to hold He said,

“Put all your sorrows in the black, and all your joys in the gold.”

I asked, “God, why give me the boxes, why the gold, and the black with the hole?”

“My child, the gold is for you to count your blessings, the black is for you to let go.”

I heeded his words, and in the two boxes both my joys and sorrows I store

But though the gold became heavier each day

The black was as light as before.

With curiosity, I opened the black, I wanted to find out why

And I saw, in the base of the box, a hole which my sorrows had fallen out by.

I showed the hole to God, and mused aloud,

“I wonder where my sorrows could be.”

He smiled a gentle smile at me.

“My child, they’re all here with me.”

Learning:

Joy and sorrow are inseparable, together they came and where one sits alone with you at the board remember that the other is asleep upon your bed,” Khalil Gibran.

Lessons from His Creations

Value: Truth

Sub-Value: Acceptance/ Unity

It was the coldest winter ever. Many animals died because of the cold.

The hedgehogs, realizing the situation, decided to group together to keep warm.

This way they covered and protected themselves; but the quills of each one wounded their closest companions.

After awhile, they decided to distance themselves one from the other and they began to die, alone and frozen. So they had to make a choice: either accept the quills of their companions or disappear from the Earth.

Wisely, they decided to go back to being together. They learned to live with the little wounds caused by the close relationship with their companions in order to receive the heat that came from the others. This way they were able to survive.

Learning

The best relationship is not the one that brings together perfect people, but when each individual learns to live with the imperfections of others and can admire the other person’s good qualities.

Stay Young

Value: Confidence, Perseverance

Sub-Value: Optimism, Determination

The story of Rose who joined University at the age of 87.

When she was introduced by the professor to others, one student asked her, “Why are you in college at such a young, innocent age?”

She jokingly replied, “I’m here to meet a rich husband, get married, have a couple of children, and then retire and travel.”

Then on a serious note, she said, “I always dreamed of having a college education and now I’m getting one!”

Over the course of the year, Rose became a campus icon and she easily made friends wherever she went. She loved to dress up and she reveled in the attention bestowed upon her from the other students.

She was living it up.

At the end of the semester, Rose was invited to speak at football banquet. Her speech says it all.

She spoke, “We do not stop playing because we are old; we grow old because we stop playing. There are only four secrets to staying young, being happy, and achieving success. You have to laugh and find humor every day. You’ve got to have a dream…

… When you lose your dreams, you die. We have so many people walking around who are dead and don’t even know it!……

…..There is a huge difference between growing older and growing up. If you are nineteen years old and lie in bed for one full year and don’t do one productive thing, you will turn twenty years old. If I am eighty-seven years old and stay in bed for a year and never do anything, I will turn eighty-eight. Anybody can grow older. That doesn’t take any talent or ability……..

…..The idea is to grow up by always finding the opportunity in change. Have no regrets. The elderly usually don’t have regrets for what we did, but rather for things we did not do. The only people who fear death are those with regrets.”

She concluded her speech by courageously singing “The Rose.” She challenged each one to study the lyrics and live them out in their daily lives.

At the year’s end, Rose finished the college degree she had begun all those years ago. One week after graduation, Rose died peacefully in her sleep.

Over two thousand college students attended her funeral in tribute to the wonderful woman who taught by example that it’s never too late to be all you can possibly be.

Learning

Growing old is a growing concern during middle age. It troubles most people. For some, aging is a dreadful thought. At what stage does one really start aging? 50, 60, 70, 80, or 90?

Michelangelo was appointed the architect of St Peters’ basilica in the Vatican to design its dome when he was 71 years old.

Harland Sanders, the founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken moved to Canada to oversee his Canadian Franchises at the age of 75. He was active till the age of 80. He apparently wrote a book on cooking at the age of 70, which was found in the archives of KFC.

John Milton wrote Paradise Regained when he was 63. The famous inventor Thomas Edison worked till the age of 83 in his laboratory.

Mark twain wrote some of his master pieces when he was 71.

The greatest discovery of Galileo was made when he was 72.

Age is just a number and this series of numbers don’t define who you are, what you have achieved, or what you can still accomplish. One can achieve anything at any age, whether old or young.

Management Lesson

Value: Truth

Sub-Value: Wisdom, Awareness

A crow was sitting on a tree, doing nothing all day.

A small rabbit saw the crow, and asked him, “Can I also sit like you and do nothing all day long?”

The crow answered, “Sure, why not?”

So, the rabbit sat on the ground below the crow and rested.

All of a sudden, a fox appeared, jumped on the rabbit and ate it.

*Management Lesson: To be sitting and doing nothing, you must be sitting very, very high up.*

Learning

People placed in higher positions have the priviledge of delegating work and to reach this level one has to work hard.

It is important to analyse situations against the background and context and make decisions; otherwise, one may land in trouble.

Hard Work Pays

Value: Truth

Sub-Value: Perseverance, Success

An unemployed man applied for a janitor’s position at a famous IT Solutions Firm. He was interviewed by the HR and successfully passed all the pre-requisite tests.

He was then asked for an email address so that the employment package could be sent through.

The man panicked and confessed to the HR manager that he didn’t have an email address.

The manager responded that if he didn’t have an email address, then he virtually didn’t exist and couldn’t possibly work for a company like them.

The man left the interview distraught and broke.

Down to his last $10 he walked into a supermarket and bought 10 pounds of strawberries . He then went from door to door selling the strawberries, doubling his money in a couple of hours. He repeated the process a few times and ended the day with $60 in his pocket.

Encouraged by his small success, he got up earlier the next day and worked hard selling strawberries, making more money every day. Over time, he was able to invest in a wheelbarrow, then a truck and after a while he had a fleet of trucks delivering produce.

As the years went on, he became the owner of a chain of stores, a terrific success story from such humble beginning.

As he was now quite wealthy, the man considered his future and his family and investigated getting some life insurance. He contacted an agent and chose a policy that met his needs.

At the conclusion of the conversation, the agent asked for his email address so that he could send him a confirmation of the policy.

The man responded, “But I don’t have an email address.”

The agent was surprised and said, “That’s amazing! You have no email, yet you were able to build this empire. Just imagine where you would be if you had an email address.”

The man thought for a moment and replied, “Yes, I would be cleaning toilets at a famous IT Solutions Firm.”

Learning

Hard work is the key to success!

There should be consistency in our efforts and consistently working hard brings success. Perseverance is the relentless attempt to achieve success and accomplish your desired goals.

God- the Photographer

Value: Truth, Peace, Right conduct

Sub-Value: Humility, Patience, Wisdom

A little girl walked daily to and from school.

Though the weather this particular morning was questionable and clouds were forming, she made her trek to the elementary school. As the afternoon progressed, the winds whipped up, along with thunder and lightning.

The child’s mother, concerned that her daughter would be frightened and possibly harmed by the storm got into her car and drove along the route to her child’s school.

As she did so, she saw her little daughter walking along happily but at each flash of lightning the child would stop, look up, and smile.

Stopping the car, the mother called to the child to get in with her. As they drove toward school, the girl continued to turn toward each lightning flash and smile.

The Mother asked, “What are you doing?”

 The child answered, “Well, I must do this, God keeps taking pictures of me.”

Learning

Life becomes easy and happier if we live in an optimistic way. Optimism is a means of realising no matter what the situation may turn today, there will always be a window of opportunity tomorrow.

It starts with accepting that life may not always be the way you want it to be, so you need to turn the odds in your favour and keep moving forward.

The Balloon Game

Value: Truth, Love

Sub-Value: Humility

A fourth grade class in which the teacher introduced a game called “balloon stomp.” A balloon was tied to every child’s leg, and the object of the game was to pop everyone else’s balloon while protecting one’s own. The last person with an intact balloon would win.

The fourth graders entered into the spirit of the game with vigor. Balloons were relentlessly targeted and destroyed. The entire battle was over in a matter of seconds, leaving only one balloon inflated.

Its owner was, of course, the most disliked kid in the class. It’s hard to really win at a game like balloon stomp. In order to complete your mission, you have to be pushy, rude and offensive.

The same game was introduced to a class of mentally challenged children. They were given the same explanation as the first class, and the signal to begin was given. But the game proceeded very differently. Perhaps the instructions were given too quickly for children with learning disabilities to grasp them. The one idea that got through was that the balloons were supposed to be popped. So it was the balloons, not the other players, that were viewed as enemies.

Instead of fighting each other, they began helping each other pop balloons. One little girl knelt down and held her balloon carefully in place, like a holder for a field goal kicker. A little boy stomped it flat. Then, he knelt down and held his balloon for her. It went on like this for several minutes until all the balloons were vanquished, and everybody cheered.

Everybody won!

Who got the game right, and who got the game wrong?

In this story, the so called mentally challenged people teach us how to live. Actually, we are the ones who are mentally challenged with vices like jealousy, ego and what not.

Learning

In our world, we tend to think of another person’s success as one less opportunity for us to succeed. Moving together and letting others win is a lovely trait. The quality of leadership is to let others learn, progress and move ahead with confidence.

Stop and Smell the Roses

Value: Truth

Sub-Value: Patience

A Zen master was resting with one of his disciples. At one point, he took a melon out of his bag and cut it in two so that both could eat it.

While they were eating, the disciple said, ‘Wise master, since everything you do has a meaning, perhaps your sharing this melon with me is a sign that you have something to teach me.’ The master continued eating in silence.

‘Your silence obviously conceals a question,’ the disciple insisted, ‘and it must be this:

‘Does the pleasure I am experiencing in eating this delicious fruit reside in the melon or in my tongue?’

The master said nothing.

The disciple went on excitedly, ‘And since everything in life has meaning, I think I am close to finding the answer to that question- the pleasure is an act of love and interdependence between us, because without the melon there would be no object of pleasure and without my tongue…’

 ‘That’s enough!’ said the master.

‘The real fools are those who think themselves terribly intelligent and spend all their time trying to interpret everything. The melon is delicious, and that’s enough, now let me eat in peace!’

Learning

Mental chatter is a big obstacle in seeing and experiencing things as they are because of continuous evaluation, judgement, and comparison.

Unless it is critical to evaluate a certain experience, it is best to live in the present moment as an observer and enjoy the taste of it- sweet or bitter.

Humility

Value: Truth

Sub-Value: Humility

A man received a promotion to the position of Vice President of the company he worked for.

The promotion went to his head, and for weeks on end he bragged to anyone and everyone that he was now VP.

His bragging came to an abrupt halt when his wife, so embarrassed by his behaviour, said, “Listen, it’s not that big a deal. These days everyone’s a vice president. Why they even have a “Vice president of peas” down at the supermarket!”

Somewhat disheartened, he rang the local supermarket to find out if this was true.

“Can I speak to the Vice President of peas please?” he asked.

“Of fresh or frozen?”, came the reply.

Learning

Humility is having a modest view of one’s importance. All our actions should be associated with being humble, because humility is the basis of our character.

Humility has nothing to do with meekness or weakness. And neither does it mean being submissive. Humility is an attitude of spiritual modesty that comes from understanding our place in the larger order of things.

‘If you are Humble nothing will touch you, neither praise nor disgrace, because you know what you are – Mother Teresa“

Covering up a Mistake

Value: Truth

Sub-Value: Admit your mistakes

A man was sitting in the living room one day when his cat dragged in a little “gift” in its mouth – a dead animal of some sort.

Taking a closer look, he was dismayed to recognize the dead animal to be a bunny that belonged to a little girl who lived next door. Her name was Bonny.

He felt terrible, believing his cat had killed Bonny’s bunny.

The quick-thinking man came up with a plan. Removing from the cat’s mouth the dead animal, which by now was a dirty mess, he put it in the kitchen sink. With a little warm water and some shampoo, he tried to clean up the dead bunny as best he could. Then, he took a hair dryer (a “hare dryer” actually) and blow-dried the bunny until it looked pretty good.

Finally, he took the dead bunny out to the neighbor’s rabbit hutch and placed it back in the cage. He kind of fluffed him up so that he looked very natural there in his little box.

The next morning, he looked out the window and noticed a crowd of people gathered around the rabbit hutch. Everyone seemed to be talking and pointing. He decided to go over and act like any normal curious neighbor and find out what was going on.

When he got there, Bonny’s mother told him, “You won’t believe what has happened! It’s a miracle! Bonny’s bunny passed away a few days ago, and we buried that little bunny right over there…how did he resurface, it’s confusing.”

Learning

Everyone makes mistakes; mistakes are a proof that we are trying and making an effort to do something.

Denying mistakes is not being truthful and we usually lose a chance to learn therefrom. Therefore, let us not hide our mistakes. We can learn a lot from our mistakes when we aren’t busy denying them. A mistake is a stepping stone to progress.