Live in reality

2011-02-01T16:20:00.000+05:30

“A Very Common Human tendency is to enlarge all the problem by unnecessary worry, without considering it logically”
~Imm
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1. Story
A logical Hit of the mind’s hammer
A giant ship engine failed. The ship's owners tried one expert after another, but none of them could figure but how to fix the engine. Then they brought in an old man who had been fixing ships since he was a young. He carried a large bag of tools with him, and when he arrived, he immediately went to work. He inspected the engine very carefully, top to bottom. Two of the ship's owners were there, watching this man, hoping he would know what to do.
After looking things over, the old man reached into his bag and pulled out a small hammer. He gently tapped something. Instantly, the engine lurched into life. He carefully put his hammer away.
The engine was fixed! A week later, the owners received a bill from the old man for ten thousand dollars. "What?!" the owners exclaimed. "He hardly did anything!" So they wrote the old man a note saying, "Please send us an itemized bill."

The man sent a bill that read:

Tapping with a hammer....................... $ 2.00

Knowing where to tap.......................... $ 9,998.00
~ Send by Ruchi Tendulkar

2. Story
An alternative
When ‘A’ country began the launch of astronauts into space, they found out that the pens would not work at zero gravity (ink won’t flow down to the writing surface). To solve this problem, it took them one decade and $12 million. They developed a pen that worked at zero gravity, upside down, underwater, in practically any surface including crystal and in a temperature range from below freezing to over 300 degrees C.
And what did the ‘B’ country do…? They used…..
A pencil
~ Vijay Krishna

Moral: Effort is important, But where... That is what really matters.

***

2011-01-01T19:22:00.000+05:30

“Happiness is the state of acceptance, Happiness doesn’t come ONLY by winning or earning the things, but it exists where you satisfy yourself with the things you win”
~ Imm

Enjoy your tea

A group of alumni (graduate students), highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old university professor. Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life. Offering his guests tea: the professor went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of tea and an assortment of cups - porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite - telling them to help themselves to the tea. All the students had a cup of tea in hand, the professor said: "If you noticed, all the nice looking expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is but normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress. Be assured that the cup itself adds no quality to the tea in most cases, just more expensive and in some cases even hides what we drink. What all of you really wanted was tea, not the cup, but you consciously went for the best cups...and then began eyeing each other's cups.

Now consider this:
“Life is the tea, and the jobs, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain Life, and the type of cup we have does not define, nor change the quality of Life we live. Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the tea God has provided us."

God brews the tea, not the cups..........enjoy your tea.

***

2010-12-30T18:40:00.000+05:30

बीते हुए वर्ष की, दिल में उठे हर्ष की,

चिर पुराने बंधुओं की, खट्टे-मींठे अनुभवों की,

अविष्मरणीय यादों की, नव मिले आगंतुकों की,

पूरे वर्ष मन में न जाने, जन्मीं कितनी भावनाएं?

आपको नव-वर्ष की शुभकामनायें.

गत सर्दियों की ठिठुरन की,

शर्माते सूरज और ठंडी हवाओं की,

गर्म-गर्म चाय और कॉफी के बुलबुलों की,

धूप और बादलों में मची होड़ की,

खिचड़ी में पतंगों के आपस के दौड़ की,

सुनसान सड़कों और खामोश रातों की,

कितनी ऐसी यादें हैं जो भूली न जाए.

आपको नव-वर्ष की शुभकामनायें.

जाड़े के संग-संग आये ऋतुराज की,

मदमाते मंज़र और सुलगते पलाश की,

मलयांचल से मदमाती बहती-बहती हवाओं की,

मदहोश नव-यौवन और होली के रंगों की,

मत्त हुए महुओं और पीपल के पल्लव की,

कोयल की कूह्कों और कौवों के वाचन की,

कवियों की, जिन्होंने रची ऐसी कवितायें.

आपको नव-वर्ष की शुभकामनायें.

रंगों को करके फीका, आये ग्रीष्म की,

क्रोधित हुए सूरज और गरमाती हवाओं की,

दहकते हुए शहर और तपते हुए गावों की,

पिघलता हुआ आसमान और पेड़ों के छाँव की,

बढ़ते हुए दिन और छोटी हुई रातों की,

झुलसती हुई धरती और सूखते हुए तालों की,

ठन्डे कोल्ड्रिंक्स और लस्सी के मिठास की,

ग्रीष्म अवकाश की, जिसमें जहाँ चाहें घूम आयें.

आपको नव-वर्ष की शुभकामनायें.

ग्रीष्म की विदाई पर आई वर्षा रानी की,

सावन के झूले संग झूलती नवयवना की,

कड़कती हुई बिजलियाँ, गरजते हुए मेघों की,

चमकते हुए इन्द्रधनुष, छमकती हुई बूंदों की,

टर्राते मेंढक और कूदते हुए मोरों की,

झूमते किसान और धान के खेतों की,

भीगते हुए पेड़ और टपकते हुए छप्पर की,

हरे-भरे मन की, जो लगता है अभी झूमें गाये.

आपको नव-वर्ष की शुभकामनाएं.

~ नवनीत नीरव

My wishes for you in year 2011
Great start for Jan,
Love for Feb,
Peace for march,
No worries for April
Fun for May,
Joy for June to Nov,
Happiness for Dec,
Have a lucky and wonderful 2011.

WISH U A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR

***

2010-11-27T17:56:00.001+05:30

We can't help everyone, but everyone can help someone.

One night, at 11:30 PM, an older African American woman was standing on the side of an Alabama highway trying to endure a lashing rain storm

Her car had broken down and she desperately needed a ride. Soaking wet, she decided to flag down the next car. A young white man stopped to help her - generally unheard of in those conflict-filled 1960s. The man took her to safety, helped her get assistance and put her into a taxi cab. She seemed to be in a big hurry! She wrote down his address, thanked him and drove away.

Seven days went by and a knock came on the man's door. To his surprise, a giant console color TV was delivered to his home. A special note was attached. It read: "Thank you so much for assisting me on the highway the other night. The rain drenched not only my clothes but my spirits. Then you came along. Because of you, I was able to make it to my dying husband's bedside just before he passed away. God bless you for helping me and unselfishly serving others."

“Other people may be there to help us, teach us, guide us along our path, but the lesson to be learned is always ours.”

***

2010-10-25T11:26:00.002+05:30

There's no such thing as too late. That's why they invented death.

~From a movie

When Are You Too Old?

When asked how it was that she has lived so long, one 91-year-old woman replied, "I think God is testing the patience of my relatives."

When is "too old"? At what age do we give up? At 100, Grandma Moses was still painting, and Titian painted "Battle of Lepants" when he was 98.

At 93, George Bernard Shaw wrote "Farfetched Fables."

At 91, Eamon de Valera served as president of Ireland.

At 90, Pablo Picasso still drew and engraved.

At 89, Arthur Rubinstein gave one of his greatest recitals in New York's Carnegie Hall, and Pablo Casals, at 88, still performed cello concerts.

At 82, Winston Churchill wrote the four-volume work, "A History of the English-Speaking Peoples," Leo Tolstoy completed "I Cannot Be Silent," and Goethe, at the same age, finished "Faust."

At 81, Benjamin Franklin engineered the diplomacy, which led to the adoption of the U.S. Constitution.

When are you "too old"? Only on the day when you truly have nothing left to give. And the good news is this: that day never has to arrive!

***

2010-09-30T10:45:00.004+05:30

“Without a sense of urgency, desire loses its value”

Jim Rohn quotes

Time offers opportunity:

The problem with waiting until tomorrow is that when it finally arrives, it is called today. Today is yesterday's tomorrow. The question is what did we do with its opportunity? All too often we will waste tomorrow as we wasted yesterday, and as we are wasting today. All that could have been accomplished can easily elude us, despite our intentions, until we inevitably discover that the things that might have been have slipped from our embrace a single, unused day at a time.

…Time offers opportunity but demands a sense of urgency.

Regardless of a person's current age, there is a sense of urgency that should drive them into action now—this very moment. We should be constantly aware of the value of each and every moment of our lives—moments that seem so insignificant that their loss often goes unnoticed.

…For most of us, there will be a tomorrow, a next week, a next month, and a next year. But unless we develop a sense of urgency, those brief windows of time will be sadly wasted, as were the weeks and months and years before them. There isn't an endless supply!

~Jim Rohn

***

think differently - you still have a way to go...

2010-08-27T08:44:00.003+05:30

Most complex problems do have a solution, just need to think in a different way.

Thinking "Out Of The Box"

Many hundreds of years ago in a small Italian town, a merchant had the misfortune of owing a large sum of money to the moneylender. The moneylender, who was old and ugly, fancied the merchant's beautiful daughter so he proposed a bargain. He said he would forgo the merchant's debt if he could marry the daughter. Both the merchant and his daughter were horrified by the proposal.

The moneylender told them that he would put a black pebble and a white pebble into an empty bag. The girl would then have to pick one pebble from the bag. If she picked the black pebble, she would become the moneylender's wife and her father's debt would be forgiven. If she picked the white pebble, she need not marry him and her father's debt would still be forgiven. But if she refused to pick a pebble, her father would be thrown into jail.

They were standing on a pebble-strewn path in the merchant's garden. As they talked, the moneylender bent over to pick up two pebbles. As he picked them up, the sharp-eyed girl noticed that he had picked up two black pebbles and put them into the bag. He then asked the girl to pick her pebble from the bag.

What would you have done if you were the girl? If you had to advise her, what would you have told her? Careful analysis would produce three possibilities:

The girl should refuse to take a pebble.
The girl should show that there were two black pebbles in the bag and expose the moneylender as a cheat.
The girl should pick a black pebble and sacrifice herself in order to save her father from his debt and imprisonment.

The above story is used with the hope that it will make us appreciate the difference between lateral and logical thinking.
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Read on...

The girl put her hand into the moneybag and drew out a pebble. Without looking at it, she fumbled and let it fall onto the pebble-strewn path where it immediately became lost among all the other pebbles. "Oh, how clumsy of me," she said. "But never mind, if you look into the bag for the one that is left, you will be able to tell which pebble I picked."

Since the remaining pebble is black, it must be assumed that she had picked the white one. And since the moneylender dared not admit his dishonesty, the girl changed what seemed an impossible situation into an advantageous one.

***

2010-07-15T18:24:00.008+05:30

If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change the way you think about it.

~ Maya Angelou

Don't Change The World!

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Once upon a time, there was a king who ruled a prosperous country. One day, he went for a trip to some distant areas of his country. When he was back to his palace, he complained that his feet were very painful, because it was the first time that he went for such a long trip, and the road that he went through was very rough and stony. He then ordered his people to cover every road of the entire country with leather. Definitely, this would need thousands of cows' skin, and would cost a huge amount of money.

Then one of his wise servant dared himself to tell the king, "Why do you have to spend that unnecessary amount of money ? Why don't you just cut a little piece of leather to cover your feet ?"

The king was surprised, but he later agreed to his suggestion, to make a "shoe" for himself.

There is actually a valuable lesson of life in this story : to make this world a happy place to live, you better change yourself - your heart; and not the world.
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***

2010-06-11T11:59:00.000+05:30

I'm a great believer in LUCK and I find the harder I WORK, the more I have of it.

~ Thomas Jefferson

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One day, a train was approaching the small town of Cheekyville. On the train was a strange guy with a big suitcase. He was called William Warbler - the man, not the suitcase - and he looked very common indeed. What made him most unusual, though, was the fact that whenever he needed to communicate he did it by singing opera. It didn't matter to William whether it was simply a matter of answering a brief greeting, like 'good day'. He would clear his voice and respond,
"Gooood dayyy to youuuuuuuu..... tooOOOO!"
It wouldn't be unfair to say that almost everyone considered William Warbler a massive pain in the neck. No one could get a normal, spoken, word out of him. And, as no one knew how he made his living - and he lived quite simply, always wearing his same old second-hand suit - they often treated him with disdain.
They made fun of his singing, calling him 'Don No One', 'Poor-Rotti', and 'Lazy Miserables'. William had been in Cheekyville for some years, when, one day, a rumour spread round town like wildfire: William had secured a role in a very important opera in the nation's capital, and there were posters everywhere advertising the event. Everyone in the capital went to see it, and it was a great success. At the end of its run - to everyone in Cheekyville's surprise - when William was being interviewed by reporters, he answered their questions by speaking rather than singing. And he did it with great courtesy, and with a clears and pleasant voice.
From that day, William gave up singing at all hours. Now he did it only during his stage appearances and world tours. Some people suspected why he had changed, but others still had no idea, and continued believing him to be somewhat mad. They wouldn't have thought so if they had seen what William kept in his big suitcase. It was a large stone, with a hand-carved message on it.

The message said:

"Practice, my boy. Practice every second, for you never know when your chance will come."

Little did people realise that he only got the role in the opera because the director had heard William singing while out buying a newspaper.

~Pedro Pablo Sacristan

***

Have patience... and take time to judge…

2010-05-21T08:49:00.002+05:30

“I know that you believe you understand what you think I said, but I'm not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant.”

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“Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.”

~Elbert Einstein

The Faithful Dog

There is a legend of a woman who had a faithful dog. This dog was so faithful that the woman could leave her baby with it and go out to attend other matters. She always returned to find the child soundly asleep with the dog faithfully watching over him.

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One day, something tragic happened. The woman as usual, left the baby in the "hands" of this faithful dog and went out shopping. When she returned, she discovered a rather nasty scene. There was a total mess. The baby's cot was dismantled. His nappies and clothes torn to shreds, with bloodstains all over the bedroom where she had left the child and the dog. Shocked, the woman wailed as she began looking for the baby.

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Presently, she saw the faithful dog emerging from the under the bed. It was covered with blood and licking its mouth as if it had just finished a delicious meal. The woman went berserk and assumed that the dog had devoured her baby. Without much thought, she clubbed the dog to death.

But as she continued searching for the "remains" of her child, she beheld another scene. Close to the bed was her baby who, although lying on the bare floor, was safe. And under the bed, the carcass of a jackal torn to pieces in what must have been a fierce battle between it and the dog which was now dead.

Then reality hit the woman, who now began to understand what took place in her absence. The dog fought to protect the baby from the ravenous jackal. It was too late for her now to make amends because in her impatience and anger, she had killed the faithful dog.

How often have we misjudged people and torn them to shreds with harsh words and even with serious fight before we have had time to evaluate the situation? A little patience can drastically reduce major life long errors.

***

Somthing about Creativity....

2010-05-01T11:18:00.002+05:30

Intelligence is something we are born with. Creative thinking is a skill that must be learned.
~ Edward de Bono

Creativity works on a very deep level, and is a more automatic process than you may think. Deep analysis of situations is good when faced with problems that require an analytical solution, but often this mode of thinking can block the creative process. When faced with a problem that has a unique solution, some people find it difficult to just let go and let the ideas flow from them.

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There's a reason all of your greatest ideas happen just before you go to bed or right after you wake up. During these times you are at your most creative, because you are more in tune with your spiritual mind. During this phase, ideas are numerous. So numerous, in fact, that we forget most of them. Unfortunately, the conscious mind doesn't focus the thought patterns in specific directions. Can you imagine what you would be capable of if you focused the power of your most creative dreams, and could wield it with your conscious mind? What would you be able to create if your true mind were unlocked Writer's block would become a thing of the past. Acting would become a breeze. Every idea your mind is screaming to let out would be possible to share with the world.

"The most brilliant thinker of all time from artists to scientists were able to think up incredible things because they were able to tap into this part of their brain"

If it sounds incredible, let me explain the way the creative process works. The left brain is often associated with mathematical prowess, logic, language, and the hard sciences. Meanwhile, the right brain is more of a free roaming explorer that likes to explore different places at random, picking up ideas and connecting them to other ideas and tossing ones that don't quite work right over its shoulder. When we dream we are almost entirely focused on the right brain, which is why many images in our dreams don't quite seem to make sense. The left brain is not as active, and rarely fleeces out these illogical ideas. As a result our brains are immersed entirely in the creative process.

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Our creativity takes the potential of the right brain, and quiets the left brain's activity so that ideas can flow freely and become conscious without automatically being shut down before the conscious mind gets a chance to look at them. The free flow of ideas while in a meditative state is also advantageous, as ideas will not be forgotten like dreams are. The transition between consciousness and sleep is a very drastic process that causes us to forget many great ideas.

“Remember we are a creator. We owe it to the world to share this creativity to better humanity”

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B’cos

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Life is "trying things to see if they work".

***

Astrophysics...

2010-04-24T13:50:00.004+05:30

20th Anniversary of ‘Hubble Telescope Launch'

From the dawn of humankind to a mere 400 years ago, all that we knew about our universe came through observations with the naked eye. Then Galileo turned his telescope toward the heavens in 1610. The world was in for an awakening.

Saturn, we learned, had rings. Jupiter had moons. That nebulous patch across the center of the sky called the Milky Way was not a cloud but a collection of countless stars. Within but a few years, our notion of the natural world would be forever changed. A scientific and societal revolution quickly ensued.

In the centuries that followed, telescopes grew in size and complexity and, of course, power. They were placed far from city lights and as far above the haze of the atmosphere as possible. Edwin Hubble, for whom the Hubble Telescope is named, used the largest telescope of his day in the 1920's at the Mt. Wilson Observatory near Pasadena, California, to discover galaxies beyond our own.

Hubble, the observatory, is the first major optical telescope to be placed in space, the ultimate mountaintop. Above the distortion of the atmosphere, far far above rain clouds and light pollution, Hubble has an unobstructed view of the universe. Scientists have used Hubble to observe the most distant stars and galaxies as well as the planets in our solar system.

From far to near, from the earliest moments in the universe to current sandstorms on the surface of Mars... Hubble's launching in 1990 marks the most significant advance in astronomy since Galileo's telescope. Our view of the universe and our place within it has never been the same.

Hubble's top five scientific achievements:

Continued...http://mystery-of-the-universe.blogspot.com/2010/04/hubbles-top-five-scientific.html

happens for a reason...that is unknown to us.

2010-04-22T20:34:00.004+05:30

"When things are at their worst I find something always happens"

A Story

The only survivor of a shipwreck was washed up on a small, uninhabited island. He prayed feverishly for GOD to rescue him. Every day he scanned the horizon for help, but none seemed forthcoming. Exhausted, he eventually managed to build a little hut out of driftwood to protect himself from the elements, and to store his few possessions.

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One day, after scavenging for food, he arrived home to find his little hut in flames, with smoke rolling up to the sky. He felt the worst had happened, and everything was lost. He was stunned with disbelief, grief, and anger. He cried out, "GOD! How could you do this to me?"

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Early the next day, he was awakened by the sound of a ship approaching the island! It had come to rescue him! "How did you know I was here?" asked the weary man of his rescuers. "We saw your smoke signal," they replied.

“Someone is there with….. Only for whom who believes…." ~Imm

***

2010-04-01T18:37:00.002+05:30

Whatever you do, you need courage. Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising that tempt you to believe your critics are right. Criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary. It fulfills the same function as pain in the human body. It calls attention to an unhealthy state of things.

~Ralph Waldo Emerson / Winston Churchill

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Criticism

By Peter Shepherd

In the first stage of this series we have been looking at the factors that can cause fragmentation of our identity: invalidation (feeling put-down by someone), co-dependence (where we put aside our own feelings), suppression (the opposition to one's goals and purposes by another), and in today's lesson we look more at how criticism can affect us, and how best to handle it.

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A person tends to defend himself and protest, when confronted by another's criticism or complaint. Nevertheless he may afterward start to introspect - "Is it really true, what was said?" - causing him to fixate his attention inwardly on himself. Compulsive introspection is caused by a false criticism being accepted, which causes the person to look inwardly and worry about the mystery caused by this error. In a normal person this can cause diminished activity and unhappiness or illness. With a neurotic person it can push him over the edge into psychosis.

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This may begin early in childhood with the 'overcautious-parent' syndrome - "What are you doing?", "Careful, careful, careful!" when you're climbing up a ladder, and such things that interfere with the natural flow of simple actions, so the person arrives at a point in life where he is inhibited from handling the world around him. Such a person has to think about everything he does, rather that just do it.

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Another's criticism or complaint is rarely specific and accurate enough to be helpful. Often it is a generality or exaggeration, i.e. more than the truth ("You're always moaning" whereas I only moan sometimes); or it may be not quite true ("You don't give clear instructions" whereas I have normally been giving clear instructions but I didn't in this particular person's case).

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If the criticism is completely off the mark it is less likely to cause confusion and introspection. The trouble is, criticism often has an element of truth in it, and if the criticism is rejected off-hand, the truth of things remains uninspected and unhandled.

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Even if the criticism is accurate, having behaved in a certain way for some time, often all his life, a person asserts the rightness of it - he IS the behavior! - and becomes resistive to inspecting and handling the condition objectively. Further criticism just makes this worse. But unless a person is able to evaluate his own behavior objectively, which includes learning from other peoples' point of view, he will not be able to break free from the shackles of a limited personal identity and realize his actual unbounded Higher Self.

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For each person that you know, consider if there is something which that person has suggested is wrong with your behavior or attitude?
For each criticism that you find, consider whether it's an over-generalization or exaggeration, and whether the criticism was made from a viewpoint of intolerance or negative thinking.

Was the criticism based on a false assumption?

Is the criticism partly true or is it true of just a specific instance?

Have you ever criticized someone of the same thing?

***

2010-03-31T11:15:00.002+05:30

The hardest struggle of all is to be something different from what the average man is.

~Robert H. Schuller

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सच हम नहीं, सच तुम नहीं
सच है सतत संघर्ष ही ।
संघर्ष से हटकर जिये तो क्‍या जिये हम या कि तुम,
जो नत हुआ वह मृत हुआ,ज्‍यो वृन्‍त से झरकर कुसुम ।
जो पंथ भूल कर रूका नहीं,
जो हार देख झुका नहीं,
जिसने मरण को भी लिया हो जीत, है जीवन वही।
सच हम नहीं, सच तुम नहीं।

ऐसा करो जिससे न प्राणों में कहीं जड़ता रहे,
जो है जहां चुपचाप अपने आप से लड़ता रहे।
जो भी परिस्थितियां मिलें,
कांटे चुभें, कलियां खिलें,
टूटे नहीं इंसान बस संदेश जीवन का यही।
सच हम नहीं, सच तुम नहीं।

हमने रचा, आओ हमीं अब तोड़ दें इस प्‍यार को
यह क्‍या मिलन, मिलना वही जो मोड़ दे मंझधार को।
जो साथ फूलों के चले,
जो ढाल पाते ही ढले,
यह जिंदगी क्‍या जिंदगी जो सिर्फ पानी-सी बही।
सच हम नहीं, सच तुम नहीं।

अपने हृदय का सत्‍य अपने आप हमको खोजना
अपने नयन का नीर अपने आप हमको पोंछना।
आकाश सुख देगा नहीं,
धरती पसीजी है कहीं,
हर एक राही को भटक कर ही दिशा मिलती रही।
सच हम नहीं, सच तुम नहीं।

बेकार है मुस्‍कान से ढकना हृदय की खिन्‍नता
आदर्श हो सकती नहीं तन और मन की भिन्‍नता।
जब तक बंधी है चेतना,
जब तक प्रणय दुख से घना,
तब न मानूंगा कभी इस राह को ही मैं नहीं।
सच हम नहीं, सच तुम नहीं।
~ Jagdish Gupt

***

2010-03-11T08:28:00.004+05:30

Once all struggle is grasped, miracles are possible.

Mao Tse-Tung

Lessons of the Square Watermelon :

Japanese grocery stores had a problem. They are much smaller than shops in the USA and therefore don't have room to waste. Watermelons, big and round, wasted a lot of space. Most people would simply tell the grocery stores that watermelons grow round and there is nothing that can be done about it.
That is how majority of people would respond. But some Japanese farmers took a different approach. If the supermarkets wanted a square watermelon, they asked themselves, 'How can we provide one?' It wasn't long before they invented the square watermelon.

The solution to the problem of round watermelons was not to solve as the farmers did not assume it was impossible and simply asked how it could be done.
They found out that if you put the watermelon in a square box when they are growing, the watermelon will take on the shape of the box - and grow into a square fruit.

This made the grocery stores happy and had the added benefit that it was much easier and cost effective to ship the watermelons. Consumers also loved them because they took less space in their refrigerators which are much smaller than those in the US meaning that the growers could charge a premium price for them.

Few Lessons from this story which may help us :

Don't Assume: The major problem was that most people had always seen round watermelons so they automatically assumed that square watermelons were impossible before even thinking about the question.. Things that we have been doing a certain way our entire life have taken on the aura of the round watermelon and we likely don't even take the time to consider if there is another way to do it. Breaking ourselves from assuming this way can greatly improve our overall life as we are constantly looking for new and better ways to do things.

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Question habits: The best way to tackle these assumptions is to question our habits. If we can make an effort to question the way we do things on a consistent basis, we will find that we can continually improve the way that we work. Forming habits when they have been well thought out is usually a POSITIVE THING, but most of us have adopted our habits from various people and places without even thinking about them.

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Be creative: When faced with a problem, be POSITIVE AND CREATIVE in looking for a solution. This often requires thinking outside the box. Most people who viewed this question likely thought they were being asked how they could genetically alter water melons to grow square which would be a much more difficult process to accomplish. By looking at the question from an alternative perspective, however, the solution was quite simple. Being creative and looking at things in different ways in all portions of our live will help us find solutions to many problems where others can't see them.

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Look for a POSITIVE WAY: The square watermelon question was simply seeking a better and more convenient way to do something. The stores had flagged a problem they were having and asked if a solution was possible. It's impossible to find a better way if we are never asking the question in the first place. Get into the habit of asking our self, 'Is there a better way we could be doing this?' and we will find there often is.

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Impossibilities often aren’t: If we begin with the notion that something is impossible, then it obviously will be for us. If, on the other hand, we decide to see if something is possible or not, we will find out through trial and error. Take away the lessons and apply them to all areas in our life. We will find that by consistently applying them, we will constantly be improving all aspects of our life.

***

2010-02-06T18:59:00.003+05:30

"Though I am not naturally honest, I am so sometimes by chance"

~William Shakespeare

Honesty Is Still The Best Policy

Once a general manager wanted to test his people, who had come from all over India, about their values of life. He announced that in their seminar folder, there was a PVC pouch and in it a seed. When they return, they must put the seed in a pot with good soil and look after it very well. He would hold a competition at the next year's seminar and that the best plants would be awarded suitably.

Everyone did what was told to him. A year passed quickly. And next year in a big hall, a great scene! There were hundreds of pots and a great variety of plants - all except one. In this one pot was soil, but no plant! The owner of the pot was standing quietly and seemingly ashamed of himself.

The general manager called him on the stage. He asked him what happened and he told him the truth. He planted the seed, which he was given, and did what was to be done - but nothing happened.

The general manager declared him the winner!

Everyone was shocked.

It was announced, "Gentlemen! The seeds I gave you were boiled seeds. You planted them and nothing happened! You acted smartly and used some other seeds. This man was honest to his work and therefore, he did not cheat me or himself!"

***

2010-01-04T11:18:00.006+05:30

“No Great Discovery Was Ever Made Without A Bold Guess”

~Sir Isaac Newton

" A scientific guess is itself an undiscovered logical POSITIVE LOOK which leads to the first step towards upcoming discoveries."

~Imm

Newton was also a man of versatile quality. He was physicist, mathematician, astronomer, alchemist, and natural philosopher in a row. His contribution in the development of science is a special one. He I best known for his explanation of Universal Gravitation and three laws of motion, and he was able to prove that the reason of both the motion of objects on Earth and of celestial bodies are controlled by the same Neutral laws. These findings could make a revolutionary change in the development of science. In mechanical science his great contribution was in optics. He could make a reflecting telescope. He also made some research on light and stars. His research on General binomial Theorem helped to be introduced today’s Calculus.

Newton was born to a farmer family but before three months of his birth his father died and then he was brought up to his maternal grandmother as her mother remarried. Newton could show his talent from his early life in The King’s School in Grantham and later he joined to the Cambridge University where he took his higher degrees.

Happy Sir Isaac Newton's Birthday!

2009-12-31T15:48:00.006+05:30

The thing always happens that one really believes in; and the belief in a thing makes it happen. In the province of the mind, what one believes to be true either is true or becomes true.
~Frank Lloyd Wright/John Lilly
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It is all about ‘I’. Consider the letter ‘I’ in the following article.
The Best Day of My Life

Today, when I awoke, I suddenly realized that this is the best day of my life, ever!

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There were times when I wondered if I would make it to today; but I did! And because I did I'm going to celebrate! Today, I'm going to celebrate what an unbelievable life I have had so far: the accomplishments, the many blessings, and, yes, even the hardships because they have served to make me stronger.

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I will go through this day with my head held high, and a happy heart. I will marvel at God's seemingly simple gifts: the morning dew, the sun, the clouds, the trees, the flowers, the birds. Today, none of these miraculous creations will escape my notice. Today, I will share my excitement for life with other people. I'll make someone smile. I'll go out of my way to perform an unexpected act of kindness for someone I don't even know. Today, I'll give a sincere compliment to someone who seems down. I'll tell a child how special he is, and I'll tell someone I love just how deeply I care for her and how much she means to me.

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Today is the day I quit worrying about what I don't have and start being grateful for all the wonderful things God has already given me. I'll remember that to worry is just a waste of time because my faith in God and his Divine Plan ensures everything will be just fine. And tonight, before I go to bed, I'll go outside and Praise my eyes to the heavens. I will stand in awe at the beauty of the stars and the moon, and I will praise God for these magnificent treasures.

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As the day ends and I lay my head down on my pillow, I will thank the Almighty for the best day of my life. And I will sleep the sleep of a contented child, excited with expectation because I know tomorrow is going to be the best day of my life, ever!

~ By: G.M. Lousignont, Ph.D.

Fill your life with Happiness & Bright Cheer,

Bring to u Joy and Prosperity for the whole Year,

And it’s my New Year wish 4u all my Dears,

Wishing u a

VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR.

2010

***

2009-12-15T09:13:00.006+05:30

What difference are we making? Big or small, it does not matter. If everyone made a small difference, we'd end up with a big difference, wouldn't we?

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IT IS THE LITTLE THINGS THAT MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE

There was a man taking a morning walk at or the beach. He saw that along with the morning tide came hundreds of starfish and when the tide receded, they were left behind and with the morning sun rays and they would die. The tide was fresh and the starfish were alive.

The man took a few steps, picked one and threw it into the water. He did that repeatedly. Right behind him there was another person who couldn't understand what this man was doing. He caught up with him and asked:

"What are you doing?

There are hundreds of starfish. How many can you help?

What difference does it make?"

This man did not reply, took two more steps, picked up another one, threw it into the water, and said:

"It makes a difference to this one."

***

2009-11-23T16:04:00.003+05:30

It is true that everything in life happens for a purpose, and always for our own good. If you think about it, all our past experiences actually happened to bring us to where we are today, and it is always for the good. All the past experiences makes us a better person. So, whatever challenges that we may face today, consider it happening to bring us to the next level.

~From a Famous Book

Everything Happens For the Good

There was once a King who had a wise advisor. The advisor followed the King everywhere, and his favorite advice was, “Everything happens for the good”. One day the King went hunting and had a little accident. He shot an arrow at his own foot and was injured. He asked the advisor what he thought about the accident, to which the advisor replied, “Everything happens for the good”. This time the King was really upset and ordered for his advisor to be put in prison. The King asked his advisor, “Now, what do you think?” The advisor again replied, “Everything happens for the good”. So the advisor remained in prison.

The King later went on a hunting trip, this time without the advisor. The King was then captured by some cannibals. He was taken to the cannibals' camp where he was to be the evening meal for the cannibals. Before putting him into the cooking pot he was thoroughly inspected. The cannibals saw the wound on the King’s foot and decided to throw him back into the jungle. According to the cannibals' tradition, they would not eat anything that was imperfect. As a result the King was spared. The King suddenly realized what his advisor said was true. The advisor also escaped death because had he not been in prison, he would have followed the King on the hunting trip, and would have ended up in the cooking pot.

***

2009-10-16T12:15:00.002+05:30

**शुभकामनाएं**

मोती सा त्‍यौहार दिवाली
ज्‍योति का त्‍यौहार दिवाली

दीप जलें ,जगमग जगमग
रोशन हर घर में खुशहाली

बांटें खुशियां मिलकर सब
तमिल ,मराठी हों बंगाली

यही कामना सच हों सपने
रहे न कोई पुलाव ख्‍याली

चकाचौंध में, भूल न जाना
रातें कुछ हैं, अब भी काली

खाएं छककर आप मिठाई
याद करें, उत्‍साही भोपाली
~राजेश उत्‍साही

*****

2009-10-14T09:59:00.001+05:30

More than 90% of the people that we face everyday are negative. They choose to look at the hole in the middle rather than the doughnut. Do not expect compliments or encouragement from them. These are the people who cannot pull you out of your present situation. They can only push you down. So be aware of them, spend less time with them, and do not let them steal your dreams away from you.

My Dog Can Walk On Water

There was a hunter who came into the possession of a special bird dog. The dog was the only one of its kind, because it can walk on water. One day he invited a friend to go hunting with him so that he could show off his prized possession. After some time, they shot a few ducks, which fell into the river. The man ordered his dog to run and fetch the birds. The dog ran on water to fetch the birds. The man was expecting a compliment about the amazing dog, but did not receive it. Being curious, he asked his friend if the friend had noticed anything unusual about the dog.

The friend replied,

“Yes, I did see something unusual about your dog. Your dog can’t swim!”

***

2009-09-11T15:25:00.004+05:30

“Sometimes, struggles are exactly what we need in our life. If we were to go through our life without any obstacles, we would be crippled. We would not be as strong as what we could have been. Give every opportunity a chance, leave no room for regrets.”

“When I Asked God for Strength
He Gave Me Difficult Situations to Face

When I Asked God for Brain & Brown
He Gave Me Puzzles in Life to Solve

When I Asked God for Happiness
He Showed Me Some Unhappy People

When I Asked God for Wealth
He Showed Me How to Work Hard

When I Asked God for Favors
He Showed Me Opportunities to Work Hard

When I Asked God for Peace
He Showed Me How to Help Others

God Gave Me Nothing I Wanted
He Gave Me Everything I Needed.”

~Swami Vivekananda

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2009-08-22T18:08:00.001+05:30

" If we're still expecting others to think the way we're thinking, to live the way we're living or to believe the way we do, then peace will never appear.

~Johni

Most of us were born and/or grew up in different cultures and traditions. Many have faiths different than our own. It's just very wrong if we think our way is the right one and expect others to follow. Why don't we respect each other and accept each other for who we are and share the world together?

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