Rock, Pebbles and Sand - Important Things in Life !

Welcome to 100^th Monday Musings:

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A philosophy professor stood before his class with some items on the table in front of him.

When the class began, wordlessly he picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with rocks, about 2 inch in diameter.

He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.

So the professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar.

He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles, of course, rolled into the open areas between the rocks.

He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.

The professor picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar.

Of course, the sand filled up everything else.

He then asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with a unanimous "Yes."

Then the professor took a cup of coffee and poured it into the ‘filled’ jar. Of course, it filled every little gap.

"Now," said the professor, I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The rocks are the important things - your family, your partner, your health, your children - things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full.

The pebbles are the other things that matter - like your job, your house, your car.

The sand is everything else. The small stuff.

Moral of the story :

"If you put the sand into the jar first," he continued "there is no room for the pebbles or the rocks.

The same goes for your life, If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are important to you.

·       Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness.

·       Play with your children. Take your partner out dancing.

·       There will always be time to go to work, clean the house, give a dinner party and fix the disposal.

Take care of the rocks first - the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.

Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans, so make sure to choose the right priorities to live life at it’s best.

Before the students left, one shouted out. ”You never mentioned what the Coffee represents!”

The professor smiled and said, ”Well I'm glad you asked. The Coffee just shows you that no matter how full your life may seem, there's always room to have a Coffee with a friend.”

Make it a great Week !

Shailesh

Know Your Value !

Welcome to 99^th Monday Musings:

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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 20 dollar note up.

He then asked. "Who still wants it?" Still the hands were up in the air.

"Well," he replied, "what if I do this?"

He dropped it on the ground and started to grind it into the floor with his shoe. He picked it up, now 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.

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 happened or what will happen, you will never lose your value.

Dirty or clean, crumpled or finely creased, you are still priceless to those who love you. The worth of our lives comes, not in what we do or who we know, but by ...WHO WE ARE.

Moral of the story :

You are special. Don't ever forget it! Never let yesterday's disappointments overshadow tomorrow's dreams. "Value has a value only if its value is valued.

Learn to value yourself, which means: to fight for your happiness. ~Ayn Rand

Make it a great Week !

Shailesh

Dedication !

Welcome to 98^th Monday Musings:

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There was a young boy who lived with his elderly mother.

His mother wanted him to learn how to play the piano because she longed to hear her son play for her.

She sent her son to a piano teacher who took Robby in under her guidance.

However, there was one small problem because Robby was not musically inclined and therefore was very slow in learning.

The teacher did not have much faith in the boy because of his weakness. The mother was very enthusiastic and every week she would send Robby to the teacher.

One day Robby stopped attending the piano lessons. The teacher thought that he had given up and in fact she was quite pleased since she did not give much hope to Robby.

Not long after, the piano teacher was given the task to organize a piano concert in town.

She sent out circulars to invite the students and public to attend the event.

Suddenly, she received a call from Robby who offered to take part in the concert.

The teacher told Robby that he was not good enough and that he was no longer a student since he had stopped coming for lessons.

Robby begged her to give him a chance and promised that he would not let her down.

Finally, she gave in and she put him to play last, hoping that he will change his mind at the last minute.

When the big day came, the hall was packed and the children gave their best performance.

Finally, it was Robby's turn to play and as his name was announced, he walked in. He was not in proper attire and his hair was not properly groomed.

The teacher was really nervous since Robby's performance could spoil the whole evening's brilliant performance.

As Robby started playing the crowd became silent and was amazed at the skill of this little boy. In fact, he gave the best performance of the evening.

At the end of his presentation the crowd and the piano teacher gave him a standing ovation.

The crowd asked Robby how he managed to play so brilliantly.

With a microphone in front of him, he said, "I was notable to attend the weekly piano lessons as there was no one to send me because my mother was sick with cancer. She just passed away this morning and I wanted her to hear me play”

He further added  “You see, this is the first time she is able to hear me play because when she was alive she was deaf and now I know she is listening to me. I have to play my best for her!"

Moral of the story :

Dedication is the only Success Principles:

This is indeed a touching story of love and excellence, but When you have a passion and a reason to do something, you will surely excel. You may not be talented or gifted but if you have a strong enough reason to do something, you will be able to tap into your inner God given potential.

There are people out there who tell you, that you can't. What you've got to do is turn around and say 'watch me’.

Make it a great Week !

Shailesh

Listen to Understand !

Welcome to 97^th Monday Musings:

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A teacher teaching Mathematics to seven-year-old Emily

and asked her, "If I give you one apple and one apple and one apple, how many apples will you have?

"Within a few seconds Emily replied confidently, "Four!"

The dismayed teacher was expecting an effortless correct answer (three).

She was disappointed. "Maybe the child did not listen properly," she thought.

She repeated, "Emily, listen carefully. If I give you one apple and one apple and one apple, how many apples will you have?"

Emily had seen the disappointment on her teacher's face.

She calculated again on her fingers. But within her, she was also searching for the answer that will make the teacher happy.

Her search for the answer was not for the correct one, but the one that will make her teacher happy.

This time hesitatingly she replied, "Four!"

The disappointment stayed on the teacher's face. She remembered that Emily liked strawberries.

She thought maybe She doesn't like apples and that is making her lose focus.

This time with an exaggerated excitement and twinkling in her eyes she asked, "If I give you one strawberry and one strawberry and one strawberry, then how many you will have?"

Seeing the teacher happy, young Emily calculated on her fingers again.

There was no pressure on her, but a little on the teacher. She wanted her new approach to succeed.

With a hesitating smile young Emily enquired, "Three?"

The teacher now had a victorious smile. Her approach had succeeded. She wanted to congratulate herself.

But one last thing remained.

Once again she asked her, "Now if I give you one apple and one apple and one more apple how many will you have?"

Promptly Emily answered, "Four!"

The teacher was aghast. "How Emily, how?" she demanded in a little stern and irritated voice.

In a voice that was low and hesitating young Emily replied, "Because I already have one apple in my bag."

Moral of the story :

When someone gives you an answer that is different from what you expect don't think they are wrong.

There may be an perspective that you have not understood at all. You will have to listen and understand, but never listen with a predetermined notion.

Most people do not listen with the intent to understand. Most people listen with the intent to reply.

Listen to the sound

Understand the situation

Act after making use of the intuition and the brain

Make it a great Week !

Shailesh

Every success story is also a story of great failure !

Welcome to 96^th Monday Musings:

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Failure is the highway to success !

Tom Watson Sr. said, "If you want to succeed, double your failure rate."

If you study history, you will find that all stories of success are also stories of great failures. But people don't see the failures.

They only see one side of the picture and they say that person got lucky: "He must have been at the right place at the right time."

Let me share someone's life history with you.

This was a man

·         Who failed in business at the age of 21 ,

·         He was defeated in a legislative race at age 22;

·         failed again in business at age 24;

·         overcame the death of his sweetheart at age 26;

·         Had a nervous breakdown at age 27;

·         lost a congressional race at age 34;

·         lost a senatorial race at age 45;

·         Failed in an effort to become vice-president at age 47;

·         lost a senatorial race at age 49;

…and was elected president of the United States at age 52.This man was “Abraham Lincoln”.

Would you call him a failure? He could have quit. But to Abraham Lincoln, defeat was a detour and not a dead end.

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In 1913, Lee De Forest, inventor of the triodes tube, was charged by the district attorney for using fraudulent means to mislead the public into buying stocks of his company by claiming that he could transmit the human voice across the Atlantic. He was publicly humiliated. Can you imagine where we would be without his invention?

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As a young cartoonist, Walt Disney faced many rejections from newspaper editors, who said he had no talent. One day a minister at a church hired him to draw some cartoons. Disney was working out of a small mouse­ infested shed near the church. After seeing a small mouse, he was inspired. That was the start of Mickey Mouse.

Successful people don't do great things, they only do small things in a great way.

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One day a partially deaf four year old kid came home with a note in his pocket from his teacher, "Your Tommy is too stupid to learn, get him out of the school." His mother read the note and answered, "My Tommy is not stupid to learn, I will teach him myself." And that Tommy grew up to be the great Thomas Edison. Thomas Edison had only three months of formal schooling and he was partially deaf.

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Henry Ford forgot to put the reverse gear in the first car he made.

Moral of the story :

Do you consider these people failures? They succeeded in spite of problems, not in the absence of them. But to the outside world, it appears as though they just got lucky.

The list goes on

Steven Spielberg: He applied and was denied two times to the prestigious University of Southern California film school. Instead he went to Cal State University in Long Beach.

Michael Jordan: He’s famous for being cut from his high school basketball team. He turned out to be the greatest basketball player but never let failure deter him. I love this quote

"I have missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I have lost almost 300 games.

On 26 occasions I have been entrusted to take the game winning shot, and I missed.

I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed."

J.K Rowling, the author of Harry Potter, The author didn't magically become richer than the Queen of England overnight, Twelve publishers rejected the manuscript! A year later she was given the green light by Barry Cunningham from Bloomsbury, who agreed to publish the book but insisted she get a day job cause there was no money in children’s books.

What if she stopped at the first rejection? The fifth? Or the tenth?

All success stories are stories of great failures. The only difference is that every time they failed, they bounced back. This is called failing forward, rather than backward. You learn and move forward. Learn from your failure and keep moving.

In 1914, Thomas Edison, at age 67, lost his factory, which was worth a few million dollars, to fire. It had very little insurance. No longer a young man, Edison watched his lifetime effort go up in smoke and said, "There is great value in disaster. All our mistakes are burnt up. Thank God we can start anew."  In spite of disaster, three weeks later, he invented the phonograph. What an attitude !

If you think

if you think you are beaten, you are.

If you think you dare not, you don't!

If you like to win, but think you can't,

It's almost a cinch you won't.

you think you'll lose, you're lost;

For out in the world we find

Success begins with a fellow's will;

It's all in the state of mind.

If you think you are outclassed, you are,

You've got to think high to rise,

You've got to be sure of yourself before

You can ever win a prize.

Life's battles don't always go

To the stronger and faster man,

But sooner or later the man who wins

Is the man who thinks he can

Whenever you face tough time don’t let it distract you from your success, just don’t give up,  because “Tough Times Don't Last Tough People Do”

Make it a great Week !

Shailesh

Life is meaningless without a friend !

Welcome to 95^th Monday Musings and Wish you a Happy Friendship Week:

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This is a story of Two inseparable friends, Sam and Jason.

One day they met with an accident on their way to Boston City.

The following morning, Jason woke up blind and Sam was still unconscious.

Dr. Berkeley was standing at his bedside looking at his health chart and medications with a thoughtful expression on his face.

When he saw Sam awake, he beamed at him and asked." How are you feeling today Sam?"

Sam tried to put up a brave face and smiled back saying, "absolutely wonderful Doctor.

I am very grateful for all that you have done for me. Sam Said

"Dr. Berkeley was moved at Sam's deed. All that he could say was, "You are a very brave man Sam and God will make it up to you in one way or another".

While he was moving on to the next patient, Sam called back at him almost pleading, "promise me you won't tell Jason anything".

"You know I won't do that. Trust me." and walked away.

"Thank you " whispered Sam. He smiled and looked up in prayer " I hope I live up to your ideas...please give me the strength to be able to go through this……………..Amen"

Months later

When Jason had recuperated considerably, he stopped hanging around with Sam. He felt discouraged and embarrassed to spend time with a disabled person like Sam.

Sam was lonely and disheartened ,since he didn't have anybody else other than Jason to count on.

Things went from bad to worse.

And one day Sam died in despair.

When Jason was called on his burial, he found a letter waiting for him.

Dr. Berkeley gave it to him with an expressionless face and said "This is for you Jason. Sam had asked me to give it to you when he was gone".

In the letter he had said:

"Dear Jason,

I have kept my promise in the end to lend you my eyes if anything had happened to them.

Now there is nothing more than I can ask from God, than the fact ,that will see the world through my eyes.

You will always be my best friend........

Sam".

When he had finished reading Dr. Berkeley said " I had promised Sam to keep his sacrifice he made a secret from you. But now I wish I didn't stick it Because I don't think It was worthy it" .

All that was left for Jason while he stood there was tears of regret and memories of Sam for the rest of his life .

Moral of the story :

No matter what If we make a friend, we should stick by him till the end. Life is meaningless without a friend.

Millions of people but only few are made to be the real friends....

and if you found them keep them

unless you were just playing nice....

friendship does not have a contract

to breach but memories of laughter

and moments of sharing should diminish

one single mistake....

friendship goes through thick and thin

as they said....

unless again you are not real and just playing nice ...

life's too short to be so difficult

with the people who took you as one of the best buddy ever met....

just to lose them just like that....

treasure them like they treasure you....

I know above story is a little sad story ! so just on humor side ! another story J

Moral: We should have friends everywhere for not only sharing joyful moments but for support in rainy days also .

Make it a great & Friendship filled Week!

Shailesh

Two Brothers !

Welcome to 94^th Monday Musings:

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This is a story of two brothers.

One was a drug addict and a drunkard 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 you beat 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 is not what I wanted to be."

Both were deriving their strength and motivation from the same source, but one was using it negatively and the other positively....

Moral of the story :

Negative motivation brings the desire to take the easier way which ends up being the tougher way.

Remember: The greatest motivator is belief. We have to inculcate in ourselves the belief that we are responsible for our actions and behavior. When people accept responsibility, everything improves: quality, productivity, relationships and teamwork

In our life we see many things every day and we can draw either positive motivation or negative motivation from it,  we need to decide wisely and choose what is right !

Make it a great Week !

Shailesh