The Triple Filter Test

In ancient Greece, Socrates was reputed to hold knowledge in high esteem. One day an acquaintance met the great philosopher and said, "Do you know what I just heard about your friend?"

"Hold on a minute," Socrates replied. "Before you talk to me about my friend, it might be good idea to take a moment and filter what you’re going to say. That’s why I call it the triple filter test. The first filter is Truth. Have you made absolutely sure that what you are about to tell me is true?"

"Well, no," the man said, "actually I just heard about it and…"

"All right," said Socrates. "So you don’t really know if it’s true or not. Now, let’s try the second filter, the filter of Goodness. Is what you are about to tell me about my friend something good?"

"Umm, no, on the contrary…"

"So," Socrates continued, "you want to tell me something bad about my friend, but you’re not certain it’s true. You may still pass the test though, because there’s one filter left—the filter of Usefulness. Is what you want to tell me about my friend going to be useful to me?"

"No, not really."

"Well," concluded Socrates, "if what you want to tell me is neither true, nor good, nor even useful, why tell it to me at all?"

Use this triple filter each time you hear loose talk about any of your near and dear ones. Something really useful to stay on friendships so long. It is worth applying in everyone's life.

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80 years of man’s life explained !

On the first day, God created the dog and said: ‘Sit all day by the door of your house and bark at anyone who comes in or walks past. For this, I will give you a life span of twenty years.’ The dog said: ‘That’s a long time to be barking. How about only ten years and I’ll give you back the other ten?’ So God agreed.

On the second day, God created the monkey and said: ‘Entertain people, do tricks, and make them laugh. For this, I’ll give you a twenty-year life span.’ The monkey said: ‘Monkey tricks for twenty years? That’s a pretty long time to perform. How about I give you back ten like the Dog did?’ And God agreed.

On the third day, God created the cow and said: ‘You must go into the field with the farmer all day long and suffer under the sun, have calves and give milk to support the farmer’s family. For this, I will give you a life span of sixty years.’ The cow said: ‘That’s kind of a tough life you want me to live for sixty years. How about twenty and I’ll give back the other forty?’ And God agreed again.

On the fourth day, God created man and said: ‘Eat, sleep,  play, marry and enjoy your life. For this, I’ll give you twenty years.’ But man said: ‘Only twenty years? Could you possibly give me my twenty, the forty the cow gave back, the ten the monkey gave back, and the ten the dog gave back; that makes eighty, okay?’ ‘Okay,’ said God, ‘You asked for it.’

So that is why for our first twenty years we eat, sleep, play and enjoy ourselves. For the next forty years we slave in the sun to support our family. For the next ten years we do monkey tricks to entertain the grandchildren. And for the last ten years we sit on the front porch and bark at everyone.

Life has now been explained to you now.

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Life Is Short, Share Your Time With All!

This message is beyond all relationships, read this poem in all it's touching reality!

When I'll be dead..,

Your tears will flow,..

But I won 't know...

Cry for me now instead!

You will send flowers,.

But I won't see...

Send them now instead!

You'll say words of praise,.

But I won't hear..

Praise me now instead!

You'll forget my faults,

But I won't know..

Forget them now, instead!

You'll miss me then,...

But I won't feel...

Miss me now, instead!

You'll wish..

You could have spent More time with me,..

Spend it now instead!

Moral....

"Spend time with every person around you, your families, friends, lover, acquainted.
Make them feel special, because you never know when time will take them away from you forever".

Life is too short.

Love all and Forgive all.

Strength grows when we dare.

Unity grows when we pair.

Love grows when we share.

Relationships grow when we care!

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Thought Matters, Not Presence!

An old man lived alone in a village. He wanted to spade his potato garden, but it was very hard work. His only son, who would have helped him, was in prison. The old man wrote a letter to his son and mentioned his situation:

Dear Son,

I am feeling pretty bad because it looks like I won’t be able to plant my potato garden this year. I hate to miss doing the garden, because your mother always loved planting time. I’m just getting too old to be digging up a garden plot. If you were here, all my troubles would be over. I know you would dig the plot for me, if you weren’t in prison.

Love,
Dad

Shortly, the old man received this telegram: “For Heaven’s sake, Dad, don’t dig up the garden!! That’s where I buried the GUNS!!”

At 4 a.m. the next morning, a dozen FBI agents and local police officers showed up and dug up the entire garden without finding any guns. Confused, the old man wrote another note to his son
telling him what happened, and asked him what to do next.

His son’s reply was: “Go ahead and plant your potatoes, Dad. It’s the best I could do for you from here.”

Moral: No matter where you are in the world, if you have decided to do something deep from your heart you can do it. It is the thought that matters not where you are or where the person is.

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Go not to the temple

By Rabindranath Tagore

Go not to the temple to put flowers upon the feet of God,

First fill your own house with the Fragrance of love..

Go not to the temple to light candles before the altar of God,

First remove the darkness of sin from your heart...

Go not to the temple to bow down your head in prayer,

First learn to bow in humility before your fellowmen...

Go not to the temple to pray on bended knees,

First bend down to lift someone who is down-trodden.

Go not to the temple to ask for forgiveness for your sins,

First forgive from your heart those who have sinned against you!

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Believe in Work

Bill gates never did Laxmi pooja but he is the richest man. Einstein never did Sarswati pooja but he was very intelligent. Believe in WORK Not in LUCK. Trust in God but don't be depended on him. Alexander's last words: Bury my body and keep my hands outside, so that the world knows "The Man who won the world had nothing in hands when he left". The Best "om" is home!! The Best "age" is courage!! The Best "mile" is smile!! The Best "stand" is understood!! The Best "end" is friend!! The Best "day" is today!! So enjoy to its fullest.

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Leave the "Legacy" behind!

Alexander, after conquering many kingdoms, was returning home. On the way, he fell ill and it took him to his death bed. With death staring him in his face, Alexander realized how his conquests, his great army, his sharp sword and all his wealth were of no consequence.

He now longed to reach home to see his mother’s face and bid her his last adieu. But, he had to accept the fact that his sinking health  would not permit him to reach his distant homeland.

So, the mighty conqueror lay prostrate and pale, helplessly waiting to breathe his last. He called his generals and said, “I will depart from this world soon, I have three wishes, please carry them out without fail.”

With tears flowing down their cheeks, the generals agreed to abide by their king’s last wishes

1) “My first desire is that”, said Alexander, “My physicians alone must” carry my coffin.”

2) After a pause, he continued, “Secondly, I desire that when my coffin is being carried to the grave, the path leading to the graveyard be strewn with gold, silver and precious stones which I have collected in my treasury”.

3) The king felt exhausted after saying this. He took a minute’s rest & continued. “My third and last wish is that both my hands be kept dangling out of my coffin”.

The people who had gathered there wondered at the king’s strange wishes. But no one dared bring the question to their lips.

Alexander’s favourite general kissed his hand and pressed them to his heart. “O king, we assure you that all your wishes will be fulfilled. But tell us why do you make such strange wishes?”

At this Alexander took a deep breath and said: “I would like the world to know of the three lessons I have just learnt.

Lessons to be learnt from last 3 wishes of King Alexander......

I want my physicians to carry my coffin because people should realize that no doctor on this earth can really cure anybody. They are powerless and cannot save a person from the clutches of death. So let not people take life for granted.

The second wish of strewing gold, silver and other riches on the path to the graveyard is to tell People that not even a fraction of gold will come with me. I spent all my life in Greed of Power, earning riches but cannot take anything with me.

Let people realize that it is a sheer waste of time to chase wealth.

And about my third wish of having my hands dangling out of the coffin, I wish people to know that I came empty handed into this world and empty handed I go out of this world”.

With these words, the king closed his eyes. Soon he let death conquer him & breathed his last. .

LESSON TO LEARN:

Remember, your Health is in your own hands, look after it.

Wealth is only meaningful if you can share and also enjoy while you are still alive, kicking and healthy.

What you do for yourself, dies with you.

But what you do for others will live forever. Leave the “Legacy” behind.

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Why He Loves Us!

Lady: Why do you love me? 

Man: I can't tell the reason but I really like you.

Lady: You can't even tell me the reason then how can you say you love me? 

Man: I really don't know the reason, but I can prove that I love you. 

Lady: Proof? No! I want you to tell me the reason. My friend's boyfriend can tell her why he loves her but not you! 

Man: Ok..ok! Because you are beautiful. Because your voice is sweet. Because you are caring. Because you are loving. Because you are thoughtful. Because of your smile. Because of your every movement. 

The lady felt very satisfied with the man's answer. Unfortunately, a few days later, the Lady met with an accident and went into the coma stage. The Guy then placed a letter by her side and here is the content: 

Darling, because of your sweet voice that I love you. Now can you talk? Therefore I cannot love you.

Because of your care & concern that I love you. Now that you cannot show them, therefore I cannot love you.

Because of your smile, because of your every movements that I love you. Now can you smile? Now can you move? No, therefore, I cannot love you. If love needs a reason, like now, there is no reason for me to love you anymore. 

Does love need a reason?  NO! Therefore, I still love you. And love doesn't need a reason.

With love always, 

Forever yours. 

"Sometimes the best and the most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen, cannot be touched, but can be felt in the heart ".

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Jump Before You Lose strength !

Put a frog in a vessel of water and start heating the water. As the temperature of the water rises, the frog is able to adjust its body temperature accordingly. The frog keeps on adjusting with increase in temperature. Just when the water is about to reach boiling point, the frog is not able to adjust anymore.

At that point the frog decides to jump out. The frog tries to jump but is unable to do so, because it has lost all its strength in adjusting with the rising water temperature. And the very soon the frog dies.

What killed the frog?

Many of us would say the boiling water. But the truth is what killed the frog was its own inability to decide when it had to jump out.

We all need to adjust with people and situations, but we need to be sure when we need to adjust and when we need to confront/face.

There are times when we need to face the situation and take the appropriate action.

If we allow people to exploit us physically, mentally, emotionally or financially, they will continue to do so.We have to decide when to jump.

Let us jump while we still have the strength.

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Always Remember Those Who Serve You !

In the days when an ice cream sundae cost much less, a 10 year old boy entered a hotel coffee shop and sat at a table.

 

A waitress put a glass of water in front of him. “How much is an ice cream sundae?” he asked. “Fifty cents,” replied the waitress.

The little boy pulled his hand out of his pocket and studied the coins in it. “Well, how much is a plain dish of ice cream?” he inquired.

By now more people were waiting for a table and the waitress was growing impatient. “Thirty-five cents,” she brusquely replied. The little boy again counted his coins. “I’ll have the plain ice cream,” he said.

The waitress brought the ice cream, put the bill on the table and walked away. The boy finished the ice cream, paid the cashier and left.

When the waitress came back, she began to cry as she wiped down the table. There, placed neatly beside the empty dish, were two nickels and five pennies.

You see, he couldn’t have the sundae, because he had to have enough left to leave her a tip.

Always Remember Those Who Serve You.

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Enjoy your life at every moment.....

Once a fisherman was sitting near seashore, under the shadow of a tree smoking his beedi. Suddenly a rich businessman passing by approached him and inquired as to why he was sitting under a tree smoking and not working. To this the poor fisherman replied that he had caught enough fishes for the day.

Hearing this the rich man got angry and said: Why don’t you catch more fishes instead of sitting in shadow wasting your time?

Fisherman asked: What would I do by catching more fishes?

Businessman: You could catch more fishes, sell them and earn more money, and buy a bigger boat.

Fisherman: What would I do then?

Businessman: You could go fishing in deep waters and catch even more fishes and earn even more money.

Fisherman: What would I do then?

Businessman: You could buy many boats and employ many people to work for you and earn even more money.

Fisherman: What would I do then?

Businessman: You could become a rich businessman like me.

Fisherman: What would I do then?

Businessman: You could then enjoy your life peacefully.

Fisherman: What do you think I’m doing right now?

MORAL – You don’t need to wait for tomorrow to be happy and enjoy your life. You don’t even need to be more rich, more powerful to enjoy life. LIFE is at this moment, enjoy it fully.

As some great men have said, “My riches consist not in extent of my possessions but in the fewness of my wants."

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Live for Creator !

As soon as we die, our identity becomes a "Body". People use phrases like "Bring the Body",  "Lower the Body in the Grave", "Take the Body to the Graveyard"  etc. People don't even call us by our name.

Whom are we trying to impress in life? Stop bragging!, Swallow our pride!! Stop looking down on others!! Remember:-

Our job = vanity!

Our money = vanity

Our iphone = vanity

Our house = vanity

Our cars = vanity

Our education = vanity

Our beauty = vanity

Our riches = vanity

Our certificates = vanity!

Our degrees = vanity!

Our cuddling=vanity, etc.

Moral:- Live a Life to Impress the Creator not the Creation!!

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Always Look On The Inside !

I remember reading a story once about a man who was exploring some caves by the seashore. In one of the caves he found a canvas bag with a bunch of hardened clay balls. It was like someone had rolled up some clay and left them out in the sun to bake. They didn’t look like much, but they intrigued the man so he took the bag out of the cave with him.

 

As he strolled along the beach, to pass the time, he would throw the clay balls one at a time out into the ocean as far as he could throw.

He thought little about it until he dropped one of the balls and it cracked open on a rock. Inside was a beautiful, precious stone. Excited, the man started breaking open the remaining clay balls. Each contained a similar treasure. He found thousands of dollars’ worth of jewels in the 20 or so clay balls he had left, then it struck him.

He had been on the beach a long time. He had thrown maybe 50 or 60 of the clay balls with their hidden treasure into the ocean waves. Instead of thousands of dollars in treasure, he could have had tens of thousands, but he just threw it all away.

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You know sometimes, it’s like that with people. We look at someone, maybe even ourselves, and we see the external clay vessel. It doesn’t look like much from the outside. It isn’t always beautiful or sparkling, so we discount it; we see that person as less important than someone more beautiful or stylish or well known or wealthy.

But we have not taken the time to find the treasure hidden inside that person. There is a treasure hidden in every one of us. We are wonderfully made. Not just our physical bodies, our spiritual selves, which are sometimes hidden from others by the ‘earthen vessel’.

But if you take the time to get to know that person, and if you ask the Spirit to show you that person the way He sees them, then the clay begins to peel away and the brilliant gem begins to shine forth.

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You are special-don’t ever forget it!

A well-known speaker started his seminar by holding up a 1000 Rupee Indian Currency in his hand in the room of 200 participants. He asked who would like to have this1000Rs?

Hands started going up. He said, I am going to give this 1000Rs to one of you but first let me do this. He proceeded to crumple the 1000 Rs currency. He then asked who still wants it.

Still the hands were up in the air. Well, he replied, what if I do this? And then 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 is still worth Rs1000.

Many times in our lives, we are crumpled and dropped on the ground, and thrown into the dirt by the decisions we make or by the decisions others make for us, 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: 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.

You are very special–Don’t ever forget it.

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The Cobra in you!

As a carpenter went home after shutting down his workshop, a black poisonous cobra entered his workshop.The cobra was hungry and hoped to find its supper lurking somewhere within. It slithered from one end to another and accidentally bumped into a double-edged metal axe and got slightly injured.

*In anger and seeking revenge, the snake bit the axe with full force. What could a bite do to a metallic axe? Instead the cobra's mouth started bleeding.*

Out of fury and arrogance, the cobra tried its best to strangle and kill the object that was causing it pain by wrapping itself very tightly around the blades.

*The next day when the carpenter opened the workshop, he found a seriously cut, dead cobra wrapped around the axe blades.*

The cobra died not because of someone Else's fault but faced these consequences merely because of its own anger and wrath.

*Sometimes when angry, we try to cause harm to others but as time passes by, we realise that we have caused more harm to ourselves.*

For a happy life, it's best we should learn to ignore and overlook some things, people, incidents, affairs and matters.

*It is not necessary that we show reaction to everything. Step back and ask ourselves if the matter is really worth responding or reacting to.*

Let us treat people with kindness even if they hurt us.

People that show no inclination to change, are best handled with silence and prayer.

Do remember:

*Stay away from Anger. It hurts only You!

*If you are right then there is no need to get angry,

*And if you are wrong then you don't have any right to get angry.

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Keep my Shirt Clean !

Two guys were drinking in a bar. As they were drinking, they started arguing, one guy pounced on his friend and started beating him.

After a long beating he realized that his friend was no longer breathing, he already died instantly. Then the guy started running with his shirt full of blood.Those who were watching the fight started chasing him.

He ran to the house of a man, knocked and said, "Can u please hide me, i have killed a person and people are chasing me."

The man replied , "Where am i going to hide you in my one room apartment?" The murderer said "There is no time to waste here, just think of anywhere you can hide me."

After a long thinking, the man said to the murderer, "Give me your shirt and take my shirt but remember to keep my shirt clean". They exchanged their shirts.Then as soon as the man opened the door, people started beating him and was badly injured that he was taken to the police station. From police station, the case was taken to court and the man was found guilty of murder and was sentenced to death.

The real murderer was safe at home but was feeling so guilty that he ran to the Court and said, "Can you please release that innocent man, am the real murderer". The judge replied "unfortunately it's too late, the man is already hanged ". He ran to the police  grounds where the man was hanged and for sure he found him dead hanging.

He knelt down and cried his eyes out and said to himself, " You paid for my crime". He remembered that man's last words: "KEEP MY SHIRT CLEAN !" He cried and cried from heart and repented and became a new man.

This is what Jesus did for us. He died for the crime he did not commit on the cross of Calvary. I was arrested for you .. I was whipped for you .. I was spit on for you .. I was slain for you ..I was humiliated for you ..I was nailed to the cross for you .. died and resurrected by the power of God.

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Acceptance

When we don't accept an undesired event, it becomes

*Anger;

When we accept it, it becomes

*Tolerance.

When we don't accept uncertainty, it becomes

*Fear.

When we accept it, it becomes

*Adventure.

When we don't accept other's bad behaviour towards us, it becomes

*Hatred.

When we accept it, it becomes *Forgiveness.

When we don't accept other's Success, it becomes

*Jealousy

When we accept it, it becomes

*Inspiration.

Acceptance is the key to handling life well !

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Lets change our vision!!

There was a millionaire who was bothered by severe eye pain. He consulted so many physicians and was getting his treatment done. He did not stop consulting galaxy of medical experts; he consumed heavy loads of drugs and underwent hundreds of injections.

But the ache persisted with great vigour than before. At last a monk who has supposed to be an expert  in treating  such patients was called for by the millionaire. The monk understood his problem and said that for sometime he should concentrate only on green colours  and not to fall his eyes on any other colours.

The millionaire got together a group of painters and purchased barrels of green colour and directed that every object his eye was likely to fall to be painted in green colour just as the monk had directed.

When the monk came to visit him  after few days, the millionaire's  servants ran with buckets of green paints and poured on him since he was in red dress, lest their master not see any other colour and his eye ache would come back.  

Hearing this monk laughed said "If only you had purchased a pair of green spectacles, worth just a few rupees, you could have saved these walls and trees and pots and all other articles and also could have saved a large share of his fortune. You cannot paint the  world green." 

Let us change our vision and the world will appear accordingly. It is  foolish to shape the world, let us  shape ourselves first.   Lets change our vision!!

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My Neighbour is a Thief!

Once an old man spread rumours that his neighbour was a thief. As a result, the young man was arrested. Days later the young man was proven innocent.

After being released he sued the old man for wrongly accusing him. 

In the court, the old man told the Judge: "They were just comments, didn't harm anyone."

The judge told the old man: "Write all the things you said about him on a piece of paper. Cut them up and on the way home, throw the pieces of paper out. Tomorrow, come back to hear the sentence."

Next day, the judge told the old man: "Before the hearing starts, go out and gather all the pieces of paper that you threw out yesterday."

The old man said: "I can't do that! The wind spread them and I won't know where to find them."

The judge then replied: "The same way, simple comments may destroy the honour of a man to such an extent that one is not able to fix it. If you can't speak well of someone, rather don't say anything."

Giving comments about others have several disadvantages:

1- We become slaves of our words what we have uttered.

2- We lose our own respect in society/colleagues because of doing consistent character assassination.

3- Most of time, we are not sure whether we are right or wrong because being human our judgment can be wrong. So we fall in the category of liars. 

4- Negative trait of our personality becomes prominent which becomes of character in the long run.

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Fix Jesus In Your Heart First !!

A pastor was struggling to prepare his sermon and didn't want to be disturbed by his five year old daughter, so he removed a map of the world from his study room, tore it into pieces and gave it to her daughter to assemble with the promise that he would answer all her questions and play with her when she was done.

He knew she would never be able to fix it. To his amazement, in less than five minutes, she returned to him in his study room with the map in perfect shape, every continent and every country in its place.

The surprised father asked, ''Honey, you don't know anything about geography, so how did you fix the world so easily and quickly ?

The five year old girl smiled sweetly and replied, ''The picture of JESUS was at the back of the map and I knew that if I have JESUS in the right place, the whole world would be in perfect shape.''

That was just the right inspiration he needed for his sermon. He thanked his daughter and prepared a powerful sermon on the subject Fix your world by placing JESUS at the right place. Just place JESUS in his rightful place and your life will be in order.

I hope you understand this just like I do. Spread it to the world, let them know that THEIR WORLD CANNOT BE COMPLETELY FIXED WITHOUT JESUS. We are nothing without Jesus.

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A Little Boy's Temper !

There once was a little boy who had a bad temper. His father gave him a bag of nails and told him that every time he lost his temper, he must hammer a nail into the fence.

The first day the boy had driven 37 nails into the fence. Over the next few weeks as he learned to control his anger, the number of nails hammered daily, gradually dwindled down. He discovered it was easier to hold his temper than to drive those nails into the fence. Finally the day came when the boy didn't lose his temper at all. He told his father about it and the father suggested that the boy now pull out one nail for each day that he was able to hold his temper.

The days passed and the young boy was finally able to tell his father that all the nails were gone. The father took his son by the hand and led him to the fence. He said "you have done well, my son, but look at the holes in the fence. The fence will never be the same. When you say things in anger, they leave a scar just like this one."

You can put a knife in a man and draw it out. It won't matter how many times you say I'm sorry, the wound is still there.

Make sure you control your temper the next time you are tempted to say something you will regret later.

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The cockroach theory for self development

 by Sundar Pichai-an IIT-MIT Alumnus

   

At a restaurant, a cockroach suddenly flew from somewhere & sat on a lady. She started screaming out of fear. With a panic stricken face & trembling voice, she started jumping, with both her hands desperately trying to get rid of the cockroach. Her reaction was contagious, as everyone in her group also got panicky. The lady finally managed to push the cockroach away but it landed on another lady in the group.

Now, it was the turn of the other lady in the group to continue the drama. The waiter rushed forward to their rescue. In the relay of throwing, the cockroach next fell upon the waiter. The waiter stood firm composed himself & observed the behavior of the cockroach on his shirt. When he was confident enough, he grabbed it with his fingers & threw it out of the restaurant.

Sipping my coffee & watching the amusement, the antenna of my mind picked up a few thoughts & started wondering, was the cockroach responsible for their histrionic behavior? If so, then why was the waiter not disturbed? He handled it near to perfection, without any chaos. It is not the cockroach, but the inability of those people to handle the disturbance caused by the cockroach, that disturbed the ladies.

I realized that, it is not the shouting of my father or my boss or my wife that disturbs me, but it's my inability to handle the disturbance caused by their shouting that disturbs me.

It's not the traffic jams on the road that disturbs me, but my inability to handle the disturbance caused by the traffic jam that disturbs me. More than the problem, it's my reaction to the problem that creates chaos in my life.

Lessons learnt from the story:

I understood, I should not react in life. I should always respond. The women reacted, whereas the waiter responded. Reactions are always instinctive whereas responses are always well thought of.

A beautiful way to understand LIFE. Person who is HAPPY is not because Everything is RIGHT in his Life. He is HAPPY because his Attitude towards Everything in his Life is Right.!

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Change Your Ways not Creator !

Buffalo's kill 7 people every year.

Lions kill 500 people every year.

Hippos kill 800 people every year.

Spiders kill 5000  people every year.

Scorpions kill 7000 people every year.

Snakes kill 10000 people every year.

Now guess what? Mosquitoes kill 2.7 million people every year. The smallest are the deadliest.

Small 'sins', hardly noticed by many, are the most deadly to your spiritual life.Avoid excuses for not praying ans allotting few moments of your day to your creator. Sins of omission are just as deadly as sins of commission.

White lies, gossiping, small lies, rumours, hate, jealously, etc.are committed more frequently and are deadly. Mind those little compromises that you do daily. They are the ones that will bring your downfall. Successful people have only two things on their lips, "Smile and Silence".

Smile can solve problems, while Silence can avoid problems. Sugar and Salt may be mixed together but ants reject the salt and carry away only the sugar.

Select the right people in your life and make your life better and sweeter. If you fail to achieve your dreams then change your ways and not Creator.

Remember, trees change their leaves, not their roots.

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Timely Help, Timely Reward !

A man was asked to paint a boat. He brought with him paint & brushes & began to paint the boat a bright red, as the owner asked him.

While painting, he realized there was a hole in the hull & decided to repair it.

When finished painting, he received his money & left.

The next day, the owner of the boat came to the painter & presented him with a nice cheque, much higher than the payment for painting.

The painter was surprised: You have already paid me for painting the boat, he said. But this is not for the painting job.

It is for having repaired the hole in the boat. Ah! but it was such a small service, certainly it is not worth paying me such a high amount for something so insignificant!

My dear friend, you do not understand. Let me tell you what happened.

When I asked you to paint the boat, I forgot to mention about the hole.

When the boat dried, my kids took the boat & went on a fishing trip.

They did not know that there was a hole.I was not at home at that time.

When I returned & noticed they had taken the boat, I was desperate because I remembered that the boat had a hole.

Imagine my relief & joy when I saw them returning from fishing.

Then, I examined the boat & found that you had repaired the hole! You see, now, what you did? You saved the life of my children! I do not have enough money to pay your "small" good deed.

So, no matter who, when or how, just continue to help, sustain, wipe tears, listen attentively & carefully repair all the "leaks" you find, because you never know when one is in need of us or when God holds a pleasant surprise for us to be helpful & important to someone.

You may have repaired numerous "boat holes" along the way, of several people without realizing how many lives you have saved.

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