A Lesson on Gratitude

A blind old man sat on the steps of a building with a hat by his feet. He held up a sign which read, "I am blind, please help." There were only a few coins in the hat. A girl was walking by and she took a few coins from her pocket and dropped them into the hat. She then took the sign, turned it around, and wrote some words. Then she put the sign back in the old man's hand 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 man. That afternoon, the lady who had changed the sign returned to see how things were. The old man recognized his footsteps and asked, "Were you the one who changed my sign this morning? What did you write?" she said, "I only wrote the truth. I said what you said but in a different way."

I wrote, "Today is a beautiful day, but I cannot see it." Both signs spoke the truth. But the first sign simply said the man was blind, while the second sign conveyed to everyone walking by how grateful they should be to see...

 

When your life seems to be full of troubles, it seems difficult to maintain an attitude of gratitude, doesn't it? All we see are our problems, like a blackened storm cloud casting a dark shadow over our lives. And the times when everything seems to be going smoothly? We often take these precious moments for granted too, don't we? Caught up in the bliss, comfort, and familiarity of it all, we can simply forget to be thankful. So, what, then, is gratitude? Simply put, gratitude is a habit. It's a way of looking at the world and all the good things in it with a feeling of appreciation, regardless of whether or not your current situation is to your liking. Gratitude is a heart-centred approach to being at peace with yourself and with all you have.

Miles to go before You sleep

"Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" is a highly inspirational poem written by Robert Frost, in 1922 and published in 1923. The gist of the poem goes like this. Once, the poet was returning to his farm house in the evening, passing through the woods. He got down from his horse and was fascinated by the jungle beauty on the snowy evening.

Since he was a man with a poetic temperament, he thoroughly enjoyed the beauty of nature. But his horse gave his harness bell a shake and brought him back from his reverie to the world of reality. He realized that even though the jungle was lovely, dark and deep, he couldn't afford to stay there permanently because he had many promises to keep. He realized that he had to fulfil a lot of promises before death. Therefore, he left the place.

Whenever the 'New Year' comes, most people take many new resolutions and make many new promises. Promises to God, to others and to our own selves! However, many of them are taken lightly and easily forgotten. All of us know very well how difficult it is for us to stick to them. No wonder, why we fail to make much progress as human beings, despite our best of resolutions and promises.

"Never make promises if you can't keep them... Because when you break a promise, you break a heart... Maybe someone lived because of you!!! So, either keep your promises or don't make them!!! Mind it, when you say, I promise! You should mean it!!!"

 

 

TUNING-UP

 

There was a music band, all of them were expert guitarists. They used to give mega-concerts to hundreds of guitar fans. In a little room they kept their guitars when not in use. One day, before one of their concerts, they called on an expert tuner to tune and fix up their guitars. The tuner began his job right in earnest. He picked one of the guitars and began pulling, testing and tensing the strings...The guitar cried with pain.

Ouch! Ouch! You beast! Can't you see, you hurt me?

When the other guitars saw what was going on, they got frightened and began trembling with fear...One of them said:

Guitar: Look at this brute! He is heartless... He seems to enjoy making our comrade suffer...do you think he is going to treat us in the same way?...

With that all the guitars started crying... The tuner, however, went on with his work with pitiless unconcern... He took on a guitar, one after another. At the end, all the guitars were weeping and wailing. They cursed that barbarous and sadistic tuner in a remote corner of the room, there was a guitar half-hidden from the sight of the tuner. It  slightly moved behind a chair and prayed to God from the depths of her heart:

Guitar: Oh God! I beseech you, spare me that torment. I do not want to be tuned! Keep me away from the hands of this torturer, from this beast! Please, please...

To her good luck she went unnoticed... She was spared the agony of being tuned. She was so glad... She cried for joy. She prayed:

Guitar: Thank you, God! How fortunate I am! You spared me that torment. I am so happy! Thank you, God!

In the evening the guitarists came to the room to pick up their guitars. There and then, they began trying out their guitars. All were giving the sweetest and most harmonious sounds ever. The guitarists were very pleased with the guitars. One of them remarked: Guitarist: Oh! How lovely these guitars sound! Our tuner has done a perfect job! They give the sweetest, clearest and most mellifluous notes I have ever heard!

Needless to say, the guitars felt very flattered and proud of themselves... Then, one of the boys took the guitar that was half-concealed behind the chair... He picked it up and struck the strings. Gosh, what a rancorous sound it gave! Then, one of the guitarists jokingly said:

What a lousy guitar! It sounds like a frog! Croak... croak croak! Ha! Ha! Ha! Who will ever like to play with it? It's useless!

 The boys had a hearty laugh at the guitar...it felt highly insulted and began to cry... it felt humiliated... no good...not wanted. By now the players having picked their guitars, except the croaking one... left the room and went to the concert. That guitar was left all alone in that dark room... She wept and wept. She wailed:

Guitar: I am useless...I am not good... Nobody likes me. Nobody wants me! 

 

   

Answer the following questions

1.Why were the guitars crying while they were tuned?

2.Why were they happy in the evening when the guitarists took then into the concert?

3.Why was the untuned  guitar happy in the morning and sad at night?

4.What does the tuning represent here?

5. Does it convey any life lesson ?

Theme: Nothing great can be accomplished without suffering discipline and efforts. Most of our failures are due to our fear and aversion to pain and discipline. We have to accept responsibility for our failures and short comings.

No success is possible without effort and sacrifice.

 

There is no easy way to accomplish great things.

 

We should be grateful to those who help us, even when they cause us pain.

 

Those who sincerely love us may make us suffer sometimes.

 

We learn and improve through suffering.

 

We must be courageous to face anything in the life.

 

If winter comes can spring be far behind.

Habits of unsuccessful people who never move forward in life

1.They resist change.

2. They procrastinate regularly.

3. They lack a clear vision.

4. They don’t value self-improvement.

5. They avoid taking risks.

6. They blame others for their failures.

7. They surround themselves with negativity.

8. They focus on the problems, not the solutions.

9. They fear criticism.

10. They lack discipline.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cracked Pots

 

A water-bearer carried two large pots, one hung on each end of a pole which he carried across his neck. One pot was perfect, but the other had a crack in it. Naturally, by the time the bearer reached his master's house from the stream, the cracked pot would be half empty. After several months, perceiving its imperfection, the cracked pot spoke to the bearer one day, just before he could lower it in the stream.

"I am ashamed of myself, and want to apologize to you. You have been kind enough to keep me all this while, but on my part I have not been able to give full value for your efforts," said the pot miserably”.

"I am sorry that you're feeling that way, but you have no reason to be disheartened," said the bearer reassuringly. "When we walk back to the master's house, I want you to pay special attention to the pathway."

The cracked pot did, and when they arrived at the gate of the master's house, the bearer asked if it had noticed anything. "I saw the pathway lined with a variety of flowers" said the observant pot.

"You're right. And it is you who are responsible for them," said the bearer. "I had sowed seeds along the path, and while we walked back, thanks for the water dripping from your crack, you provided them nourishment. The master is delighted with the flowers that I pluck for his table."

Then the pot understood that even a crack can be put to good use and it felt happy at being of service in the condition it was. It is easy to see who we are in the story. We all have cracks. In some way or the other we are all cracks. But some of us do not realize this. We are carried away by delusions and grandeur. We think we are 'great' because of our positions or power, money or wealth, our intelligence or gifts. We forget that we are fundamentally cracked, simply because we are humans.

The House of 1000 Mirrors

Long ago in a small, far away village, there was a place known as the House of 1000 Mirrors. A small, happy little dog learned of this place and decided to visit. When he arrived, he bounced happily up the stairs to the doorway of the house. He looked through the doorway with his ears lifted high and his tail wagging as fast as it could. To his great surprise, he found himself staring at 1000 other happy little dogs with their tails wagging just as fast as his. He smiled a great smile, and was answered with 1000 great smiles just as warm and friendly.

As he left the House, he thought to himself, 'This is a wonderful place. I will come back and visit it often."

In this same village, another little dog, who was not quite as happy as the first one, decided to visit the house. He slowly climbed the stairs and hung his head low as he looked into the door. When he saw the 1000 unfriendly looking dogs staring back at him, he growled at them and was horrified to see 1000 little dogs growling back at him.

As he left, he thought to himself, 'That is a horrible place, and I will never go back there again."

 

All the faces in the world are mirrors. What kind of reflections do you see in the faces of the people you meet?

Life is an echo. What you send out comes back to you. Give a smile to someone you meet and you'll receive a smile and you will know the satisfaction of bringing joy to the world around you. Speak a kind word or two and you will have kind words spoken to you; show appreciation and you will be appreciated.