A Puppy

A boy went to the pet store to buy a puppy. Four of them were sitting together, priced at $50 each. Then there was one sitting alone in a corner. The boy asked if that was from the same litter, if it was for sale, and why it was sitting alone. The store owner replied that it was from the litter, it was a deformed one, and not for sale.

The boy asked what the deformity was. The store owner replied that the puppy was born without a hip socket without a hip socket and had a leg missing. The boy asked, "What will you do with this one?" The reply was it would be a put to sleep. The boy asked if he could play with that puppy. The store owner said, "Sure". The boy picked the puppy up and the puppy licked him on the ear. Instantly the boy decided that was the puppy he wanted to buy. The store owner said "That is not for sale!" The boy insisted.
The store owner agreed. The boy pulled out $2 from his pocket and ran to get $48 from his mother. As he reached the door the store owner shouted after him, " I don't understand why you would pay full money for this one whrn you could buy a good one for the same price." The boy didn't say a word. He just lifted his left trouser leg and he was wearing a brace. The pet store owner said, "I understand. Go ahead, take this one." This is empathy.

Motivation - Positive Or Negative?

Its a story of two brothers. One was a drug addict and a drunk who frequently beat up his family. The other one was a very successful businessman who was respected in society and had a wonderful family. Some people wanted to find out why two brothers from the same parents, brought up in the same environment could be so different.

The first one was asked, "How come you do what you do? You are a drug addict, a drunk and beat up your family. What motivates you?" He said, "My father." They asked, " What about your father?" The reply was, "My father was a drug addict, a drunk and he beat his family. What do you expect me to be? That is what i am."

They went to the brother who was doing everything right and asked him the same question. "How come you are doing everything right? What is your source of motivation?" and guess what he said? "My father. When i was a little boy, i used to see my dad drunk and doing all the wrong things. I made up my mind that that is not what i wanted to be." Both were deriving their strength and motivation from the same source, but one was using it positively and the other negatively.

We Are All Motivated - Either Positively Or Negatively.

A Singing Lark

Once there was a lark singing in the forest. A man came by with a box full of worms. The lark stopped him and asked, "What do you have in the box and where are you going?" The farmer replied that he had worms and that he was going to the market to trade them for some feathers. The lark said, "I have many feathers. I will pluck one and give it to you and that will save me looking for worms." The farmer gave the worms to the lark and the lark plucked a feather and gave it in return. The next day the same thing happened and the day after and on and on until a day came that the lark had no more feathers. Now it couldn't fly and hunt for worms. It started looking ugly and stopped singing and very soon it died.

The moral is quite clear - what the lark thought was an easy way to get food turned out to be the tougher way after all. Many times we look for the easier way, which really ends up being the tougher way.The Easier Way May Actually Be The Tougher Way.

A Pound Of Butter

There was a farmer who sold a pound of butter to the baker. One day the baker decided to weigh the butter to see if he is getting a pound and he found that he was not. This angered him and he took the farmer to court. The judge asked the farmer if he was using any measure. The farmer replied, "Your Honor, i am primitive. I don't have a proper measure, but i do have a scale." The judge asked, "Then how do you weigh the butter?" The farmer replied "Your Honor, long before the baker started buying butter from me, i have been buying a pound loaf of bread from him. Every day when the baker brings the bread, i put it on the scale and give him the same weight in butter. If anyone is to be blamed, it is the baker." This gives the moral - We get back in life what we give to others.

How Would You Like To Be Remembered?

About a hundred years ago, a man looked at the morning newspaper and to his surprise and horror, read his name in the obituary column. The newspapers had reported the death of the wrong person by mistake. His first response was shock. Am i here or there? When he regained his composure, his second thought was to find out what people had said about him. The obituary read, "Dynamite King Dies." And also "He was the merchant of death." This man was the inventor of dynamite and when he read the words "merchant of death," he asked himself a question, "Is this how i am going to be remembered?" He got in touch with his feelings and decided that this was not the way he wanted to be remembered. From that day on, he started working toward peace. His name was Alfred Nobel and he is remembered today by the great Nobel Prize.

Just as Alfred Nobel got in touch with his feelings and redefined his values, We should step back and do the same.

What is your legacy? How would you like to be remembered? Will you be spoken well of? Will you be remembered with love and respect? Will you be missed?

Secret To Success

A young man asked Socrates the secret to success. Socrates told the young man to meet him near the river the next morning. They met. Socrates asked the young man to walk with him toward the river. When the water got up their neck, Socrates took the young man by surprise and ducked him into the water. The boy struggled to get out but Socrates was strong and kept him there until the boy started turning blue. Socrates pulled his head out of the water and the first thing the young man did was to gasp and take a deep breath of air. Socrates asked, "What did you want the most when you were there?" The boy replied, "Air". Socrates said, "That is the secret to success. When you want success as badly as you wanted the air, then you will get it." There is no other secret. The motivation to succeed comes from the burning desire to achieve a purpose. A burning desire is the starting point of all accomplishment.

Struggle

A biology teacher was teaching his students how a caterpillar turns into a butterfly. He told the students that in the next couple of hours, the butterfly would struggle to come out of the cocoon, but no one should help the butterfly. Then he left.

The students were waiting and it happened. the butterfly struggled to get out of the cocoon, and one of the students took pity on it and decided to help the butterfly out of the cocoon against the advice of his teacher. He broke the cocoon to help the butterfly so it didn't have to struggle anymore. But shortly afterwards the butterfly died.

When the teacher returned, he was told what happened. He explained to this student that by helping the butterfly, he had actually killed it because it is a law of nature that the struggle to come out of the cocoon actually helps develop and strengthen its wings. The boy had deprived the butterfly of its struggle and the butterfly died.

The same principle is applicable to our lives. Nothing worthwhile in life comes without a struggle. As parents we tend to hurt the ones we love most because we don't allow them to struggle to gain strength.

Life Is A Boomerang

There is a legend about a wise man who was sitting outside his village. A traveller came up and asked him, "What kind of people live in this village, because i am looking to move from my present one?" The wise man asked, "What kind of people live where you want to move from?" The man said, "They are mean,cruel,rude." The wise man replied, "The same kind of people live in this village too." After some time another traveller came by and asked the same question and the wise man asked him, "What kind of people live where you want to move from?" And the traveler replied, "The people are very kind,courteous,polite and good." The wise man said, "You will find the same kind of people here too." We see things not the way they are but the way we are.Other people's behaviour is a reaction to our own.

Don't Be A Pessimist

There was a hunter who bought a bird dog, the only one of its kind in the world, that could walk on water. He couldn't believe his eyes when he saw this miracle. At the same time, he was very pleased that he could show off his new acquisition to his friends. He decided to invite a friend,the eternal pessimist who refused to be impressed with anything. This, surely, would impress him. He invited him to hunt with him and his new dog. After some time, they shot a few ducks and the man ordered his dog to run and fetch the birds. All day-long, the dog ran on water and kept fetching the birds. The owner was expecting a comment or a compliment about this amazing dog, but never got one. As they were returning home, he asked his friend if he had noticed anything unusual about his dog. The friend replied, "yes, in fact, i did notice something unusual. Your dog can't swim." SOME PEOPLE ALWAYS LOOK FOR THE NEGATIVE. DON'T BE A PESSIMIST. BE AN OPTIMIST.

Luck

A flood was threatening a small town and everyone was leaving for safety except one man who said, "GOD will save me. I have faith." As the water level rose a jeep came to rescue him,the man refused,saying " GOD will save me. I have faith." As the water level rose further, he went up to the second storey, and a boat came to help him. Again he refused to go, saying, "GOD will save me. I have faith." The water kept rising and the man climbed on to the roof. A helicopter came to rescue him, but he said, "GOD will save me. I have faith." Well, finally he drowned. When he reached his Maker he angrily questioned, "I had complete faith in you. Why did you ignore my prayers and let me drown?" The Lord replied, "Who do you think sent you the jeep, the boat and the helicopter?"
Luck Favours Those Who Help Themselves.

Consideration

One day, a ten-year-old boy went to an ice cream shop, sat at a table and asked the waitress, "How much is an ice cream cone?" She said, "seventy-five cents." The boy started counting the coins he had in his hand. Then he asked how much a cup of ice cream was. The waitress impatiently replied, "sixty-five cents." The boy said, "I will have the small ice cream cup." He had his ice cream, paid the bill and left. When the waitress came to pick up the empty plate, she was touched. Underneath were ten one-cent coins as tip. The little boy had consideration for the waitress before he ordered his ice cream. He showed sensitivity and caring. He thought of others before himself. Have Consideration For Others.