THOUGHT OF THE DAY

                       MOTHER

“No man is poor who has a Godly mother.”
                                                                                     ― Abraham Lincoln

“A mother is the truest friend we have, when trials heavy and sudden fall upon us; when adversity takes the place of prosperity; when friends desert us; when trouble thickens around us, still will she cling to us, and endeavour  by her kind precepts and counsels to dissipate the clouds of darkness, and cause peace to return to our hearts

The young mother set her foot on the path of life.

"Is this the long way?" she asked.

And the guide said "Yes, and the way is hard. And you will be old before you reach the end of it. But the end will be better than the beginning."

But the young mother was happy, and she would not believe that anything could be better than these years. So she played with her children, and gathered flowers for them along the way, and bathed them in the clear streams; and the sun shone on them, and the young Mother cried, "Nothing will ever be lovelier than this."

Then the night came, and the storm, and the path was dark, and the children shook with fear and cold, and the mother drew them close and covered them with her mantle, and the children said, "Mother, we are not afraid, for you are near, and no harm can come."

And the morning came, and there was a hill ahead, and the children climbed and grew weary, and the mother was weary. But at all times she said to the children," A little patience and we are there."

So the children climbed, and when they reached the top they said, "Mother, we would not have done it without you."

And the mother, when she lay down at night looked up at the stars and said, "This is a better day than the last, for my children have learned fortitude in the face of hardness. Yesterday I gave them courage. Today, I have given them strength."

And the days went on, and the weeks and the months and the years, and the mother grew old and she was little and bent. But her children were tall and strong, and walked with courage. And when the way was rough, they lifted her, for she was as light as a feather; and at last they came to a hill, and beyond they could see a shining road and golden gates flung wide.

And mother said: "I have reached the end of my journey. And now I know the end is better than the beginning, for my children can walk alone, and their children after them."

And the children said, " You will always walk with us, Mother, even when you have gone through the gates." And they stood and watched her as she went on alone, and the gates closed after her. And they said: "We cannot see her, but she is with us still. A Mother like ours is more than a memory. She is a living presence."

Your Mother is always with you. She's the whisper of the leaves as you walk down the street; she's the smell of bleach in your freshly laundered socks; she's the cool hand on your brow when you're not well.

Your Mother lives inside your laughter. And she's crystallized in every tear drop. She's the place you came from, your first home; and she's the map you follow with every step you take. She's your first love and your first heartbreak, and nothing on earth can separate you. Not time, not space...not even death!

                           

THOUGHT OF THE DAY

'KEEP YOUR FACE TOWARDS THE SUN, YOU WILL NEVER SEE THE SHADOWS'
                                                                                                         HELEN KELER


                                                               Story

 A group of students were asked to list what they thought were the present "Seven Wonders of the World." 

Though there were some disagreements, the following received the most votes:

1. Egypt's Great Pyramids
2. Taj Mahal
3. Grand Canyon
4. Panama Canal
5. Empire State Building
6. St. Peter's Basilica
7. China's Great Wall

While gathering the votes, the teacher noted that one student had not finished her paper yet. So she asked the girl if she was having trouble with her list. The girl replied, "Yes, a little. I couldn't quite make up my mind because there were so many."

The teacher said, "Well, tell us what you have, and maybe we can help." The girl hesitated, then read, "I think the 'Seven Wonders of the World' are:

1. to see
2. to hear
3. to touch
4. to taste
5. to feel
6. to laugh
7. and to love."

The room was so quiet you could have heard a pin drop. The things we overlook as simple and ordinary and that we take for granted are truly wondrous!

A gentle reminder -- that the most precious things in life cannot be built by hand or bought by man.
                                                  
“Whatever you are, be a good one.”
― Abraham Lincoln

 

THOUGHT OF THE DAY

Stop complaining

Story

 He was waiting in line for a ride at the airport.

When a cab pulled up, the first thing Harvey noticed was that the taxi was polished to a bright shine.

Smartly dressed in a white shirt, black tie, and freshly pressed black slacks, the cab driver jumped out and rounded the car to open the back passenger door for Harvey .

He handed my friend a laminated card and said: 'I'm Wally, your driver. While I'm loading your bags in the trunk I'd like you to read my mission statement.'
Taken aback, Harvey read the card. It said: Wally's Mission Statement: To get my customers to their destination in the quickest, safest and cheapest way possible in a friendly environment.

This blew Harvey away. Especially when he noticed that the inside of the cab matched the outside. Spotlessly clean!

As he slid behind the wheel, Wally said, 'Would you like a cup of coffee? I have a thermos of regular and one of decaf.'

My friend said jokingly, 'No, I'd prefer a soft drink.' Wally smiled and said, 'No problem. I have a cooler up front with regular and Diet Coke, water and orange juice.'

Almost stuttering, Harvey said, 'I'll take a Diet Coke.'

Handing him his drink, Wally said, 'If you'd like something to read, I have The Wall Street Journal, Time, Sports Illustrated and USA Today.'

As they were pulling away, Wally handed my friend another laminated card. 'These are the stations I get and the music they play, if you'd like to listen to the radio.'

And as if that weren't enough, Wally told Harvey that he had the air conditioning on and asked if the temperature was comfortable for him. Then he advised Harvey of the best route to his destination for that time of day. He also let him know that he'd be happy to chat and tell him about some of the sights or, if Harvey preferred, to leave him with his own thoughts.

'Tell me, Wally,' my amazed friend asked the driver, 'have you always served customers like this?'

Wally smiled into the rear view mirror. 'No, not always. In fact, it's only been in the last two years. My first five years driving, I spent most of my time complaining like all the rest of the cabbies do. Then I heard the personal growth individual, Wayne Dyer, on the radio one day.

He had just written a book called You'll See It When You Believe It. Dyer said that if you get up in the morning expecting to have a bad day, you'll rarely disappoint yourself. He said, 'Stop complaining!

Differentiate yourself from your competition. Don't be a duck. Be an eagle. Ducks quack and complain. Eagles soar above the crowd.'''

That hit me right between the eyes,' said Wally.

'Dyer was really talking about me. I was always quacking and complaining, so I decided to change my attitude and become an eagle. I looked around at the other cabs and their drivers. The cabs were dirty, the drivers were unfriendly, and the customers were unhappy. So I decided to make some changes. I put in a few at a time. When my customers responded well, I did more.'

'I take it that has paid off for you,' Harvey said.

'It sure has,' Wally replied. 'My first year as an eagle, I doubled my income from the previous year.

This year I'll probably quadruple it. You were lucky to get me today. I don't sit at cabstands anymore. My customers call me for appointments on my cell phone or leave a message on my answering machine. If I can't pick them up myself, I get a reliable cabbie friend to do it and I take a piece of the action.'

Wally was phenomenal. He was running a limo service out of a Yellow Cab. I've probably told that story to more than fifty cab drivers over the years, and only two took the idea and ran with it.

Whenever I go to their cities, I give them a call. The rest of the drivers quacked like ducks and told me all the reasons they couldn't do any of what I was suggesting.

Wally the Cab Driver made a different choice. He decided to stop quacking like ducks and start soaring like eagles.
What kind of choices are YOU making in life? Are you complaining like the duck, or soaring like an eagle? Complaining might make you feel good about your decision not yo move forward, but it will also help you do just that; FAIL TO MOVE FORWARD

Stop quack ...quack.......quack.....

Stop criticizing

Stop complaining

Stop comparing

Stop competing

Stop contending

Stop contending

Stop cynicism

These all are like cancers.........

 

THOUGHT OF THE DAY

How to tackle defeat?

‘Defeat comes only when you give up – and don’t bounce back’

Defeats come at every stage in your life or your career but you need to bounce back

5 Ways to Handle Defeat Gracefully

Defeat can suck. However, if you adopt the right attitude, that defeat will only impact you for a moment before you move forward with action. It is often said that you can judge one’s character by the way they accept defeat. Therefore, we’ll provide 5 ways to confront defeat with grace:

1. Accept it: It happened. So what? You have the power to let it impact you for days or for a few hours or not at all. It happens to everyone hundreds of times throughout their life.

2. Learn from it: Instead of looking at losing as a failure, accept it as a challenge to better your craft. Competition should not be about others but yourself. You can opt to use the defeat to better or lose yourself. It’s your choice.

3. Moving forward: Set your sights on a new goal. As rapper Jay Z would say, move “on to the next”. Create new challenges for yourself. If you experienced a big defeat, set your sights on smaller goals until you complete the bigger picture. However, any accomplished journey comes from small steps, so keep moving.

4. Emulate: How have your role models/ idols dealt with defeat? There are many successful ways to cope with it. Discover the ways in which someone that you admire chose to handle their defeat. It’s likely that their solution could work for you too.

5. Distraction: Instead of letting self-doubt and negativity occupy your mind, put your attention somewhere else. Volunteer or spend time helping someone else get over their problems. These activities can additionally do wonders for your self-esteem.

THOUGHT OF THE DAY

                                Life

Life is not just party and pleasure, it is also pain and despair. Unthinkable things happen. Sometimes everything turns upside down. Bad things happen to good people. Some things are beyond  control, such as physical disability and birth defects. If the ball bounced the wrong way for you.What do you do from that point on-

                        Cry or take the ball and run?

                                               

                                            STORY

                                          The Present...

     Two men, both seriously ill, occupied the same hospital room. One man was allowed to sit up in his bed for an hour each afternoon to help drain the fluid from his lungs. His bed was next to the room's only window. The other man had to spend all his time flat on his back. The men talked for hours on end. They spoke of their wives and families, their homes, their jobs, their involvement in the military service, where they had been on vacation. Every afternoon when the man in the bed by the window could sit up, he would pass the time by describing the scenes and sounds of the world outside.

     The man in the other bed began to live, for those one-hour periods where his world would be broadened and enlivened by all the activity and colour of the world outside. The window overlooked a park with a lovely lake. Ducks and swans played on the water while children sailed their model boats. Grand old trees graced the landscape, and a fine view of the city skyline could be seen in the distance.

     As the man by the window described all this in exquisite detail, the man on the other side of the room would close his eyes and imagine the picturesque scene. Days and weeks passed. One morning, the day nurse arrived to bring water for their baths only to find the lifeless body of the man by the window, who had died peacefully in his sleep.

     As soons as it seemed appropriate, the other man asked if he could be moved next to the window. The nurse was happy to make the switch. Slowly, painfully, he propped himself up to take his first look at the world outside. It faced a blank wall. The man asked the nurse what could have compelled his deceased roommate to describe such wonderful things outside this window. The nurse responded that the man was blind and could not even see the wall. She said, "Perhaps he just wanted to make you happy."

     The richest person in the world is one who knows how to make each moment happy for the self and others. Today is a gift, that's why it is called the present.

THOUGHT OF THE DAY

Live by your values

 we pride ourselves on our heritage and deep routed values which guide us through the life’s major challenges and quandaries and help us lead a meaningful life. But these values not magically pass on from one generation to another. Building and living by our values needs lot of conscious efforts such as:

1)      Read a lot: Be it religious texts ,true life stories, text books or fiction work, reading brings us face to face with the outside world .It exposes us to new ideas, to the triumphs and tribulations of others ,and different ways of looking at the world.    

2)      Spend time with grand-parents: Our values are not passed on to us by parents, but rather from our grandparents. Their simple stories can bring complex morals and values alive; their experiences can teach us more than text books .

3)      Think about others: Our values turn into actions when we go beyond ourselves and think about others as well. Consider about the feeling of others before acting. Think of how would you have felt if the same had been done to you.

4)      Become responsible: There is no better way to learn than from our experiences .Our lives are fraught with moments when we question our ethics and values. Take responsibilities of your actions and decisions.

5)      Be open: Values are not just some sentences meant to be blindly imbibed or accepted. Instead, discuss concerns and dilemmas with your parents and teachers and ask pertinent questions.

6)      Have meaningful discussions with your peers: Our peers are individual who are similar to us in many ways and different – with diverse families and backgrounds. Engaging in meaningful discussions with them can open you up to newer ideas and perspectives.

7)      Become involve in something that appeals to you and helps others: There is great satisfaction in helping others. Think of an activity that you enjoy that can still help someone else- be it community service, assisting a classmate in maths, giving music classes with limited means.

8)      Be honest to yourself: Our values are not rules imposed on us by our parents, teachers or priests. They are what we hold to be most important in ourselves. We all make mistakes, but accepting them and being honest with ourselves is the only way to become better human beings.

9)   Think for yourself: Don’t do things under pressure simply because others ask you to or you see others around you do it. Think critically and think for yourself. Do what your conscience tell you to do.

10)   Value the means, not just the end: There are times when we are tempted to compromise on the means to reach the end. But winning may not always justify the costs. Life is not just about what we achieve, but rather how we achieved it.
                                                   
                                                        STORY
       A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, wordlessly, he picked up a very large and empty jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was. So the professor then picked up a box of small pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.
      The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with a unanimous "Yes." The professor then produced two cans of beer from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar, effectively filling the empty space between the sand. The students laughed.
       "Now", said the professor, as the laughter subsided, "I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The golf balls are the important things - your family, your children, your health, your friends, your favorite passions - things that, if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full. The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house, your car.
      The sand is everything else - the small stuff. If you put the sand into the jar first" he continued, "there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are important to you. Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Play with your children. Take time to get medical checkups. Take your partner out to dinner. There will always be time to clean the house, and fix the rubbish. Take care of the golf balls first, the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand".

 

                                

THOUGHT OF THE DAY

SUCCESS AND HAPPINESS GO HAND IN HAND

“Success is not the key to happiness.Happiness is the key to success.If you love what you are doing, you will be successful”

                                                                                       - Herman Cain

Do you agree with Herman? How do you define success and happiness? Do they go hand in hand? How can people be successful and unhappy, or unsuccessful and happy on that matter. Success brings  a lot to us and happiness is one out of those. There are several routes to happiness. Some are quick and bring immediate positive feelings, and others take more time and bring lasting and repeated of happiness feeling .

Success means different things to different people. To some people, success might mean wealth. To others, it is happiness, good health, peace of mind, good family ,good health, satisfaction, excellent job. Success is getting what you want.

 Success means to freely bloom. Success is a journey not a destination. So keep your journey continue and get as much as happiness as you can. As before setting off for  the journey we do arrangements and make sure that every thing has been at proper place to avoid the inconvenience. Same thing is required for the journey of success.

1) Identify your area of Interest

2)Set your goal

3)Make action plan

4) Be persistent and work hard

5)Take action

6)Never stop learning

7)Beware of negative environment

8)Think success,not failure

9)Ask for feedback

10)Learn to analyze details

11)Focus your time ,money and mind

12)Be dedicated

13)Be honest

14)Take responsibility

15)Take care.

People who take care don’t go anywhere

Take care ,

Take chance,

Take control.

Story of two frogs in the milk

This is the story of two frogs. One frog was fat and the other skinny. One day, while searching for food, they inadvertently jumped into a vat of milk. They couldn't get out, as the sides were too slippery, so they were just swimming around.

The fat frog said to the skinny frog, "Brother frog, there's no use paddling any longer. We're just going to drown, so we might as well give up." The skinny frog replied, "Hold on brother, keep paddling. Somebody will get us out." And they continued paddling for hours.

After a while, the fat frog said, "Brother frog, there's no use. I'm becoming very tired now. I'm just going to stop paddling and drown. It's Sunday and nobody's working. We're doomed. There's no possible way out of here." But the skinny frog said, "Keep trying. Keep paddling. Something will happen, keep paddling." Another couple of hours passed.

The fat frog said, "I can't go on any longer. There's no sense in doing it because we're going to drown anyway. What's the use?" And the fat frog stopped. He gave up. And he drowned in the milk. But the skinny frog kept on paddling.

Ten minutes later, the skinny frog felt something solid beneath his feet. He had churned the milk into butter and he hopped out of the vat.

“ All who would win joy must share it; happiness was born a twin."

Let’s work together to change your surroundings at work. My job is to get you on a better path to happiness, and therefore…success.

Happiness and Wellness to you,Sushma