After many days of heavy rains, a village which was known for its good swimmers became flooded when the river burst its banks. When the rain ceased, five or six friends in the village decided to take a boat to the opposite bank. Just as they were in the middle of the river, the boat started to fall apart. Since all of them could swim very well, they jumped into the river and started swimming across to the other bank. One of the friends was found to be swimming very slowly despite using all his strength.
"Hey, why are you falling behind?" his friends shouted. "You used to sweim better than the rest of us."
"I have a thousand coins tied round my waist and they are very heavy!"
"The water is swift and the current is strong. Take the coins off and throw them away!" they admonished him. Despite his exhaustion, he shook his head because he could not bear to part with his money.
Some of his friends who climbed onto the far shore saw that he was sinking fast. "Throw away the money!" they shouted again. "Why must you be so stupid? You are about to sink!" But he still hung on to the money, and was swept away by the swift river and drowned.
Moral of the Story:
No one can reach the state of perfect happiness unless he or she brings the covetous heart and mind under complete control. So long as we seek happiness in the satisfaction of desire for material gains, we will never find it. It will be just and elusive dream. It is humanly impossible to obtain everything we wish, since insatiability is the very nature of craving.
Source: Why Worry! by K. Sri Dhammananda
Sunday, June 24, 2007
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Focus On Your Desire
Focus on What You Want
You are about to make a speech in front of two hundred people. You tell yourself, "Don't be nervous! Don't forget your lines! Don't embarrass yourself!"
You get onstage and what happens? You screw it up! You even forget your wife's name!
Why does this happen when you told yourself NOT to be an idiot?
It's because of the way our mind works. There is an important principle operating here - and it is rarely explained ...
Your mind operates on pictures. To do anything you need a picture. To touch your nose, you need a picture in your mind of your finger on your nose. With this correct picture, your subconscious mind can tell the muscles to do it.
To give a confident speech, you need a picture in your head of you giving a confident speech before you even stand up. Only then can your mind instruct your body to act it out.
And here's the crunch - you cannot give your mind a message NOT to do something. Your subconscious mind must have a picture of WHAT YOU WANT.
So when you tell yourself, "Don't be nervous!" you necessarily fill your subconscious mind with pictures of you shaking and stammering - and that becomes your performance! It's the law of the mind.
What happens when you are on the golf course, at the water hazard, and you tell yourself, "DON'T HIT THE WATER!"? Even though you tell yourself, "Don't hit the water!" your subconscious mind still has only one picture - of your ball taking a swim. And what you see in your mind is what you get. (Tiger Woods doesn't even see the water hazard!)
This explains why confidence is so critical in anything you do. When you are confident, you have only positive pictures in your mind - of a good speech, of a relaxed job interview, of a successful driving test, of a great piano recital.
When you are confident, you don't play disaster movies, you play success movies - so you regularly succeed. You're not perfect, but you always give yourself the best possible chance.
This is why positive thinking works! Positive thinkers have the habit of picturing what they want, not what they fear!
And what you think is what you get.
The Law Of Attraction
Today I watched a documentary called The Secret. The secret they reveal in this movie is what they call "The Law of Attraction." This says that you attract whatever you think about. If you think about what you don't want, then the things you don't want to happen will happen. If you think about what you do want, you will attract those things, so you will get what you want.
It may or may not be true that there is a real "Law of Attraction" that runs the universe. Regardless, this is good advice. Positive thinking has a great power to help you achieve the things you want in your life. The speakers in the film gave various methods for thinking positively. Here are a few suggestions:
It may or may not be true that there is a real "Law of Attraction" that runs the universe. Regardless, this is good advice. Positive thinking has a great power to help you achieve the things you want in your life. The speakers in the film gave various methods for thinking positively. Here are a few suggestions:
- Create something that you will look at every day, to remind yourself of your goal. If your goal is to be a millionaire, create a million dollar bill and tape it to your fridge.
- Create a list of things you are grateful for. This will put your mind in a good mood, putting you in the right mind frame for positive thinking.
- Visualize what you want so intensely that you can feel it.
Sunday, June 10, 2007
Finding Love Again Painlessly
Have you ever been hurt in love? Ignored? Rejected? Well, eventually all of us experience this eventually. When we find a great person who we really adore and enjoy being with, we want the feeling to last forever. We never want to let the person go. The more fiercely you are attached to somebody, the deeper the pain stabs into your heart when they are gone from your life.
Luckily, this unhappy state of affairs does not last forever. We learn to move on. Some people throw themselves into love head first again and again, crashing on the rocks every time. Other people learn to grow more cautious: don't give your heart away completely until you know if the other person is being true to you. We all can benefit from a good mixture of caution and risk-taking.
Maybe you've given up on love. You've been hurt so many times that you are bitter to the whole concept. Maybe every relationship or marriage you've seen has ended in bitterness and meanness of spirit. We are surrounded by stories and rumors about cheating, fighting, breaking up.
But this is only one side of the story. Look around some more and you will find people who will love each other until the end. Who have stuck with each other through thick and thin. Who never gave up on each other. You may not have found somebody who is willing to do this for you yet, but keep looking and you certainly will.
When looking for love, stick to the following guidelines:
Luckily, this unhappy state of affairs does not last forever. We learn to move on. Some people throw themselves into love head first again and again, crashing on the rocks every time. Other people learn to grow more cautious: don't give your heart away completely until you know if the other person is being true to you. We all can benefit from a good mixture of caution and risk-taking.
Maybe you've given up on love. You've been hurt so many times that you are bitter to the whole concept. Maybe every relationship or marriage you've seen has ended in bitterness and meanness of spirit. We are surrounded by stories and rumors about cheating, fighting, breaking up.
But this is only one side of the story. Look around some more and you will find people who will love each other until the end. Who have stuck with each other through thick and thin. Who never gave up on each other. You may not have found somebody who is willing to do this for you yet, but keep looking and you certainly will.
When looking for love, stick to the following guidelines:
- Stay optimistic. You'll find somebody eventually!
- Be happy single. If you're happy with your single life, you won't feel a great need or pressure to find somebody. But if somebody good comes along, that's great! You'll be more attractive when you are independent, happy, and self-assured, than if you are needy, groping, and unhappy.
- Test the waters. Rather than leaping straight into a relationship, test the person first. Gauge their interest. See if they are the right kind of person for you.
- Get over it. If they reject you or don't show enough interest, they probably aren't meant for you. Move on to greener pastures.
- Work at a relationship. Don't give up at the first sign of hardship. Every relationship has troubles, and everyone who stays together has to learn how to work through them.
Nice Fact Of Life
A blind boy sat on the steps of a building with a hat by his feet. He held up a sign which said: "I am blind, please help." There were only a few coins in the hat.
A man was walking by. He took a few coins from his pocket and dropped them into the hat. He then took the sign, turned it around, and wrote some words. He put the sign back so that everyone who walked by would see the new words.
Soon the hat began to fill up. A lot more people were giving money to the blind boy. That afternoon the man who had changed the sign came to see how things were. The boy recognized his footsteps and asked, "Were u the one who changed my sign this morning? What did u write?"
The man said, "I only wrote the truth. I said what u said but in a different way."
What he had written was: "Today is a beautiful day & I cannot see it."
Do u think the first sign & the second sign were saying the same thing? Of course both signs told people the boy was blind. But the first sign simply said the boy was blind. The second sign told people they were so lucky that they were not blind. Should we be surprised that the second sign was more effective?
Moral of the Story:
Be thankful for what you have.
Be creative. Be innovative. Think differently and positively.
Invite the people towards good with wisdom.
A man was walking by. He took a few coins from his pocket and dropped them into the hat. He then took the sign, turned it around, and wrote some words. He put the sign back so that everyone who walked by would see the new words.
Soon the hat began to fill up. A lot more people were giving money to the blind boy. That afternoon the man who had changed the sign came to see how things were. The boy recognized his footsteps and asked, "Were u the one who changed my sign this morning? What did u write?"
The man said, "I only wrote the truth. I said what u said but in a different way."
What he had written was: "Today is a beautiful day & I cannot see it."
Do u think the first sign & the second sign were saying the same thing? Of course both signs told people the boy was blind. But the first sign simply said the boy was blind. The second sign told people they were so lucky that they were not blind. Should we be surprised that the second sign was more effective?
Moral of the Story:
Be thankful for what you have.
Be creative. Be innovative. Think differently and positively.
Invite the people towards good with wisdom.
Saturday, June 9, 2007
Dog and His Bone
A hound dog found a bone and held it tightly in his mouth. He growled and scowled at anyone who attempted to take it away. Off into the woods he went to bury his prize.
When he came to a stream, he trotted over the footbridge and happened to glance into the water. He saw his own reflection. Thinking it was another dog with a bigger bone, he growled and scowled at it. The reflection growled and scowled back.
"I'll get THAT bone too," thought the greedy dog, and he snapped his sharp teeth at the image in the water.
Alas, his own big bone fell with a splash, out of sight, the moment he opened his mouth to bite!
When he came to a stream, he trotted over the footbridge and happened to glance into the water. He saw his own reflection. Thinking it was another dog with a bigger bone, he growled and scowled at it. The reflection growled and scowled back.
"I'll get THAT bone too," thought the greedy dog, and he snapped his sharp teeth at the image in the water.
Alas, his own big bone fell with a splash, out of sight, the moment he opened his mouth to bite!
Tortoise and The Hare
There once was a speedy hare who bragged about how fast he could run. Tired of hearing him boast, Slow and Steady, the tortoise, challenged him to a race. All the animals in the forest gathered to watch.
Hare ran down the road for a while and then and paused to rest. He looked back at Slow and Steady and cried out, "How do you expect to win this race when you are walking along at your slow, slow pace?"
Hare stretched himself out alongside the road and fell asleep, thinking, "There is plenty of time to relax."
Slow and Steady walked and walked. He never, ever stopped until he came to the finish line.
The animals who were watching cheered so loudly for Tortoise, they woke up Hare.
Hare stretched and yawned and began to run again, but it was too late. Tortoise was over the line.
After that, Hare always reminded himself, "Don't brag about your lightning pace, for Slow and Steady won the race!"
Hare ran down the road for a while and then and paused to rest. He looked back at Slow and Steady and cried out, "How do you expect to win this race when you are walking along at your slow, slow pace?"
Hare stretched himself out alongside the road and fell asleep, thinking, "There is plenty of time to relax."
Slow and Steady walked and walked. He never, ever stopped until he came to the finish line.
The animals who were watching cheered so loudly for Tortoise, they woke up Hare.
Hare stretched and yawned and began to run again, but it was too late. Tortoise was over the line.
After that, Hare always reminded himself, "Don't brag about your lightning pace, for Slow and Steady won the race!"
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