Elephant Rope

As a man was passing the elephants, he suddenly stopped, confused by the fact that these huge creatures were being held by only a small rope tied to their front leg. No chains, no cages. It was obvious that the elephants could, at anytime, break away from their bonds but for some reason, they did not.

He saw a trainer nearby and asked why these animals just stood there and made no attempt to get away. “Well,” trainer said, “when they are very young and much smaller we use the same size rope to tie them and, at that age, it’s enough to hold them. As they grow up, they are conditioned to believe they cannot break away. They believe the rope can still hold them, so they never try to break free.”

The man was amazed. These animals could at any time break free from their bonds but because they believed they couldn’t, they were stuck right where they were.

Like the elephants, how many of us go through life hanging onto a belief that we cannot do something, simply because we failed at it once before?

Failure is part of learning; we should never give up the struggle in life.

Lessons:  Like the elephants, how many of us go through life hanging onto a belief that we cannot do something, simply because we failed at it once before?

Failure is part of learning; we should never give up the struggle in life.

Value

A well known speaker started off his seminar by holding up a $20 bill. In the room of 200, he asked, "Who would like this $20 bill?"

Hands started going up.

He said, "I am going to give this $20 to one of you but first, let me do this." He proceeded to crumple the dollar bill up.

He then asked, "Who still wants it?"

Still the hands were up in the air.

"Well," he replied, "What if I do this?" And he dropped it on the ground and started to grind it into the floor with his shoe.

He picked it up, now all crumpled and dirty. "Now who still wants it?" Still the hands went into the air.

"My friends, you have all learned a very valuable lesson. No matter what I did to the money, you still wanted it because it did not decrease in value. It was still worth $20.  

Lessons:  Many times in our lives, we are dropped, crumpled, and ground into the dirt by the decisions we make and the circumstances that come our way.

We feel as though we are worthless. But no matter what has happened or what will happen, you will never lose your value. You are special - Don't ever forget it!

Mind

Once Buddha was travelling with few of his followers, while passing a lake he asked one of his disciples to get some water from the lake for drinking. The disciple walked upto the lake. At that moment a bullock
cart crossed through the lake and the water became very muddy and turbid. the disciple thought, "How can i give this muddy water to my master?" So he came back and told Buddha. "The water is very muddy. I
dont think it is fit to drink",

After about an half an hour, Buddha asked same disciple to go back to the lake and get some water. the disciple went back and found the water was still muddy. He returned and informed the same. After some time, again Buddha asked the same disciple to go back. This time disciple found the mud has settled down and water was clean and clear. So he collected some water in a pot and brought it to Buddha. Buddha looked at the water and said to his disciple. "See what you did to make water clear. you let it be and the mud settled down on its own and you have clear water. Your mind is like that too. When it is  disturbed or when you are angry, just let it be. Give it a little time. It will settle down on its own. You don't have to put in any effort to calm it down. It will happen. It is effortless."

Having "Peace of Mind" is not a strenous job; it is an effortless process.

Lesson:  Having "Peace of Mind" is not a strenous job; it is an effortless process.

The one who helped

Charles Plumb was a U.S. Navy jet pilot in Vietnam. After 75 combat missions, his plane was destroyed by a surface-to-air missile. Plumb ejected and parachuted into enemy hands. He was captured and spent 6 years in a communist Vietnamese prison. He survived the ordeal and now lectures on lessons learned from that experience.

One day, when Plumb and his wife were sitting in a restaurant, a man at another table came up and said, "You're Plumb! You flew jet fighters in Vietnam from the aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk. You were shot down!"

"How in the world did you know that?" asked Plumb.

"I packed your parachute," the man replied.

Plumb gasped in surprise and gratitude.

The man pumped his hand and said, "I guess it worked!" Plumb assured him, "It sure did. If your chute hadn't worked, I wouldn't be here today."

Plumb couldn't sleep that night, thinking about that man. Plumb says, "I kept wondering what he might have looked like in a Navy uniform: a white hat, a bib in the back, and bell-bottom trousers. I wonder how many times I might have seen him and not even said 'Good morning, how are you?' or anything because, you see, I was a fighter pilot and he was just a sailor."

Plumb thought of the many hours the sailor had spent on a long wooden table in the bowels of the ship, carefully weaving the shrouds and folding the silks of each chute, holding in his hands each time the fate of someone he didn't know.

Now, Plumb asks his audience, "Who's packing your parachute?" Everyone has someone who provides what they need to make it through the day. Plumb also points out that he needed many kinds of parachutes when his plane was shot down over enemy territory-he needed his physical parachute, his mental parachute, his emotional parachute, and his spiritual parachute. He called on all these supports before reaching safety.

Lesson : Sometimes in the daily challenges that life gives us, we miss what is really important. We may fail to say hello, please, or thank you, congratulate someone on something wonderful that has happened to them, give a compliment, or just do something nice for no reason.
 
As you go through this week, this month, this year, recognize people who pack your parachute.

THE OTHER SIDE

A father was reading a magazine and his little daughter every now and then distracted him.

Trying to keep her busy, he tore out one page on which was printed the map of the world. He then tore the page into pieces and asked her to go to her room and put them together to make the map again.

He was sure she would take the whole day to get it done. But the little one came back within minutes with the perfect map…

When he asked how she could do it so quickly, she said, “Oh… Dad, there is a man’s face on the other side of the paper… I made the face perfect to get the map right.” She ran outside to play leaving the father surprised.

Moral of the story: There is always the other side to whatever you experience in this world. This story indirectly teaches a lesson. i.e. whenever we come across a challenge or a puzzling situation, look at the other side. You will be surprised to see an easy way to tackle the problem.

The Fastest Horse

In ancient times there was a king who wished to own a fast horse. He sent many men to inquire about such horse and offered to pay up to a thousand gold pieces for the horse. Three years passed, and the men who were sent out to buy those horses came back. But there was no horse bought. The king was worried and didn't know what to do. This time the king's lesser official said, "Let me go and search for one of these fleet footed horses."

When he finally found one, it had just died. The lesser official still paid five hundred gold pieces for the head of the horse. He took it back to the king. The king was furious. "I wanted a live one! What is the use of the head of a dead horse? You waste my five hundred gold pieces."

The official calmly answered, "Dead or alive even though it cost five hundred gold pieces. Now the whole world knows that you sincerely are looking for a horse of this quality." So before long a real fleet footed horse was brought to the palace and offered for sale and then after less than one year, three more had been reached to the palace.

Learning : The wisdom behind this tale is if you want to reach or find or gain something that you need help from others to achieve it, sometimes it's not enough just to let others know about our desires. We need to make them feel that we desperately want it, if they can feel in their hearts that we sincerely and earnestly pursuit those things, they'll be moved by our sincerity and persistence and begin to sincerely help us. Sometimes we want to help someone but when we see that he doesn't show a strong will to help himself that's very discouraging. This wisdom is very applicable in many areas of our lives.

The blind man

An old blind man was sitting on a busy street corner in the rush-hour begging for money. On a cardboard sign, next to an empty tin cup, he had written: 'Blind - Please help'.

No-one was giving him any money.

A young advertising writer walked past and saw the blind man with his sign and empty cup, and also saw the many people passing by completely unmoved, let alone stopping to give money.

The advertising writer took a thick marker-pen from her pocket, turned the cardboard sheet back-to-front, and re-wrote the sign, then went on her way.

Immediately, people began putting money into the tin cup.

After a while, when the cup was overflowing, the blind man asked a stranger to tell him what the sign now said.

"It says," said the stranger, " 'It's a beautiful day. You can see it. I cannot.' "

Learning : Effective communication makes task easy and achieves results. It makes a difference.