The Water Bearer

A water bearer in China had two large pots, each hung on the ends of a pole which he carried across his neck. One of the pots had a crack in it, while the other pot was perfect and always Delivered a full portion of water. At the end of the long walk from the stream to the House, the cracked pot arrived only half full. For a full two years this went on daily, with the bearer delivering only one and a half pots full of water to his house. Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments, Perfect for which it was made. But the poor cracked pot was Ashamed of its own imperfection. And miserable that it was able to accomplish only half of what it had been made to do.

After two years of what it perceived to be a bitter failure, it spoke to the water bearer one day by the stream. "I am ashamed of myself, and I want to apologize to you. I have been able to deliver only half my load because this crack in my side causes Water to leak out all the way back to your house. Because of my Flaws, you have to do all of this work, and you don't get full value from your efforts," the pot said.

The bearer said to the pot, "Did you notice that there were flowers only on your side of the path, but not on the other pot's side? That's because I have always known about your flaw. So I Planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we walk back, you've watered them. For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate the table. Without you being just the way you are, there would not be this beauty to grace the house?

Moral: Each of us has our own unique flaws. We're all cracked pots. But it's the cracks and flaws we each have that make our lives together so very interesting and rewarding. You've just got to take each person for what they are, and look for the good in them. Blessed are the flexible, for they shall not be bent out of shape. Remember to appreciate all the different people in your life.

Very Touching Stories

God's Wife

LOOK OUT FOR THE LAST STORY....
IT WILL KNOCK YOUR SOCKS OFF
Author and lecturer Leo Buscaglia once Talked about a contest he was asked to judge. The purpose of the Contest was to find the most caring child.

The winner was:

A four-year-old child, whose next door neighbour was an elderly gentleman, who had recently lost his wife. Upon seeing the man cry, the little boy went into the old Gentleman's yard, climbed onto his lap, and just sat there.

When his mother asked him what he had said to the neighbour, the little boy just said, 'Nothing, I just Helped him cry.'


******************************************************************************************

Teacher Debbie Moon's first graders were discussing a picture of a family. One little boy in the picture had a different hair colour than the other members. One of her students suggested that he was adopted.

A little girl said, 'I know all about Adoption, I was adopted..'

'What does it mean to be adopted?', asked another child.

'It means', said the girl, 'that you grew in your mommy's heart instead of her tummy!'


******************************************************************************************

On my way home one day, I stopped to watch a Little League base ball game that was being played in a park near my home. As I sat down behind the bench on the first-base line, I asked one of the boys what the score was 'We're behind 14 to nothing,' he answered With a smile.

'Really,' I said. 'I have to say you don't look very discouraged.'

'Discouraged?', the boy asked with a Puzzled look on his face...

'Why should we be discouraged? We haven't Been up to bat yet.'

******************************************************************************************

Whenever I'm disappointed with my spot in life, I stop and think about little Jamie Scott.

Jamie was trying out for a part in the school play. His mother told me that he'd set his heart on being in it, though she feared he would not be chosen.

On the day the parts were awarded, I went with her to collect him after school. Jamie rushed up to her, eyes shining with pride and excitement.. 'Guess what, Mom,' he shouted, and then said those words that will remain a lesson to me....'I've been chosen to clap and cheer.'
(All politicians should learn from this story. -- A comment)

******************************************************************************************
 
An eye witness account from New York City , on a cold day in December, some years ago: A little boy, about 10-years-old, was standing before a shoe store on the roadway, barefooted, peering through the window, and shivering With cold.

A lady approached the young boy and said, 'My, but you're in such deep thought staring in that window!'

'I was asking God to give me a pair of Shoes,'was the boy's reply.

The lady took him by the hand, went into the store, and asked the clerk to get half a dozen pairs of socks for the boy. She then asked if he could give her a basin of water and a towel. He quickly brought them to her.

She took the little fellow to the back part of the store and, removing her gloves, knelt down, washed his little feet, and dried them with the towel.

By this time, the clerk had returned with the socks... Placing a pair upon the boy's feet, she purchased him a pair of shoes..

She tied up the remaining pairs of socks and gave them to him... She patted him on the head and said, 'No doubt, you will be more comfortable now.'

As she turned to go, the astonished kid caught her by the hand, and looking up into her face, with tears in his eyes, asked her.

'Are you God's wife?'

******************************************************************************************

Hope this put a smile on your face it.

Kamala's Corner: Ladies Finger (Vendaikai) Fry

Kamala's Corner: Ladies Finger (Vendaikai) Fry

Nice Thought!!!

While I was in a Restaurant, suddenly a cockroach flew from somewhere and sat on a lady standing a little away from me.


She started screaming out of fear. With panic stricken face and 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 got cranky to what was happening. The lady finally managed to push the cockroach to 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 and observed the behaviour of the cockroach on his shirt.
When he was confident enough, he grabbed and threw it out with his fingers.


Sipping my coffee and watching the amusement, my mind picked up a few thoughts and started wondering:
- Was the cockroach responsible for the ladies' histrionic behaviour?
- If so, then why was the waiter not disturbed? He handled it near to perfection - without any chaos or drama.
- So, it was not the cockroach, but the inability of the ladies to handle the disturbance caused by the cockroach that disturbed them.


I also realized even in my case then, it is not the shouting of my father or scolding of my boss that disturbs me, but it's my own inability to handle the disturbances caused by their shouting that disturb me.


Similarly, it's not the traffic jams on the road that disturbs me, but my inability to handle the disturbance caused in my mind by the traffic jam that disturbs me.


More than the problem, it's my own reaction to the problem that hurts me!


The Take-Away:
- The women reacted but the waiter responded.
- We must not react in life; we should always respond.
- Reactions are instinctive; responses are intellectual.

Good manager

This is very powerful & useful message to all of us. Kindly go through it and enjoy yourself.

This is a powerful message in our modern society. We seemed to have lost our bearing & our sense of direction.

One young academically excellent person went to apply for a managerial position in a big company.

He passed the first interview, the director did the last interview, made the last decision.

The director discovered from the CV that the youth's academic achievements were excellent all the way, from the secondary school until the postgraduate research, never had a year when he did not score.

The director asked, "Did you obtain any scholarships in school?" the youth answered "none".

The director asked, "Was it your father who paid for your school fees?" The youth answered, "My father passed away when I was one year old, it was my mother who paid for my school fees.

The director asked, "Where did your mother work?" The youth answered, "My mother worked as clothes cleaner. The director requested the youth to show his hands. The youth showed a pair of hands that were smooth and perfect.

The director asked, "Have you ever helped your mother wash the clothes before?" The youth answered, "Never, my mother always wanted me to study and read more books. Furthermore, my mother can wash clothes faster than me."

The director said, "I have a request. When you go back today, go and clean your mother's hands, and then see me tomorrow morning."

The youth felt that his chance of landing the job was high. When he went back, he happily requested his mother to let him clean her hands. His mother felt strange, happy but with mixed feelings, she showed her hands to the kid.

The youth cleaned his mother's hands slowly. His tear fell as he did that. It was the first time he noticed that his mother's hands were so wrinkled, and there were so many bruises in her hands. Some bruises were so painful that his mother shivered when they were cleaned with water.

This was the first time the youth realized that it was this pair of hands that washed the clothes everyday to enable him to pay the school fee. The bruises in the mother's hands were the price that the mother had to pay for his graduation, academic excellence and his future.

After finishing the cleaning of his mother hands, the youth quietly washed all the remaining clothes for his mother. That night, mother and son talked for a very long time.

Next morning, the youth went to the director's office.The Director noticed the tears in the youth's eyes, asked: " Can you tell me what have you done and learned yesterday in your house?"

The youth answered, " I cleaned my mother's hand, and also finished cleaning all the remaining clothes'

The Director asked, " please tell me your feelings."

The youth said, Number 1, I know now what is appreciation. Without my mother, there would not the successful me today. Number 2, by working together and helping my mother, only I now realize how difficult and tough it is to get something done. Number 3, I have come to appreciate the importance and value of family relationship.

The director said, " This is what I am looking for to be my manager.

I want to recruit a person who can appreciate the help of others, a person who knows the sufferings of others to get things done, and a person who would not put money as his only goal in life. You are hired.

Later on, this young person worked very hard, and received the respect of his subordinates. Every employee worked diligently and as a team. The company's performance improved tremendously.

***************************************************************************************************A child, who has been protected and habitually given whatever he wanted, would develop "entitlement mentality" and would always put himself first. He would be ignorant of his parent's efforts. When he starts work, he assumes that every person must listen to him, and when he becomes a manager, he would never know the sufferings of his employees and would always blame others. For this kind of people, who may be good academically, may be successful for a while, but eventually would not feel sense of achievement. He will grumble and be full of hatred and fight for more. If we are this kind of protective parents, are we really showing love or are we destroying the kid instead?

You can let your kid live in a big house, eat a good meal, learn piano, watch a big screen TV. But when you are cutting grass, please let them experience it. After a meal, let them wash their plates and bowls together with their brothers and sisters. It is not because you do not have money to hire a maid, but it is because you want to love them in a right way. You want them to understand, no matter how rich their parents are, one day their hair will grow gray, same as the mother of that young person. The most important thing is your kid learns how to appreciate the effort and experience the difficulty and learns the ability to work with others to get things done.

You would have forwarded many mails to many and many of them would have back mailed you too...but try and forward this story to as many as possible...this may change somebody's fate...

Let us learn to respect what others do to us without asking for it !

A Nice Story!!

A young and successful executive was traveling down a neighborhood street, going a bit too fast in his new Jaguar. He was watching for kids darting out from between parked cars and slowed down when he thought he saw something. As his car passed, no children appeared. Instead, a brick smashed into the Jag's side door!
He slammed on the brakes and backed the Jag back to the spot where the brick had been thrown. The angry driver then jumped out of the car, grabbed the nearest kid and pushed him up against a parked car shouting, 'What was that all about and who are you? What the heck are you doing? That's a new car and that brick you threw is going to cost a lot of money. Why did you do it?'

The young boy was apologetic. 'Please, mister...please, I'm sorry but I didn't know what else to do,' He pleaded. 'I threw the brick because no one else would stop...' With tears dripping down his face and off his chin, the youth pointed to a spot just around a parked car. 'It's my brother, 'he said 'He rolled off the curb and fell out of his wheelchair and I can't lift him up.'
Now sobbing, the boy asked the stunned executive, 'Would you please help me get him back into his wheelchair? He's hurt and he's too heavy for me.'

Moved beyond words, the driver tried to swallow the rapidly swelling lump in his throat. He hurriedly lifted the handicapped boy back into the wheelchair, then took out a linen handkerchief and dabbed at the fresh scrapes and cuts. A quick look told him everything was going to be okay. 'Thank you and God bless you,' the grateful child told the stranger. Too shook up for words, the man simply watched the boy push his wheelchair-bound brother down the sidewalk toward their home.

It was a long, slow walk back to the Jaguar. The damage was very noticeable, but the driver never bothered to repair the dented side door. He kept the dent there to remind him of this message:

'Don't go through life so fast that someone has to throw a brick at you to get your attention!'

My FAMILY

F A M I L Y

I ran into a stranger as he passed by,
'Oh excuse me please' was my reply.


He said, 'Please excuse me too;
I wasn't watching for you.'


We were very polite, this stranger and I.
We went on our way and we said goodbye.


But at home a different story is told,
How we treat our loved ones, young and old.


Later that day, cooking the evening meal,
My son stood beside me very still.


When I turned, I nearly knocked him down.
'Move out of the way,' I said with a frown.


He walked away, his little heart broken.
I didn't realize how harshly I'd spoken.


While I lay awake in bed,

small voice came to me and said,


'While dealing with a stranger,
common courtesy you use,
but the family you love, you seem to abuse.


Go and look on the kitchen floor,
You'll find some flowers there by the door.


Those are the flowers he brought for you.
He picked them himself: pink, yellow and blue.


He stood very quietly not to spoil the surprise,
you never saw the tears that filled his little eyes.'


By this time, I felt very small,
And now my tears began to fall.


I quietly went and knelt by his bed;
'Wake up, little one, wake up,' I said.


'Are these the flowers you picked for me?'
He smiled, 'I found 'em, out by the tree.


I picked 'em because they're pretty like you.
I knew you'd like 'em, especially the blue.'


I said, 'Son, I'm very sorry for the way I acted today;
I shouldn't have yelled at you that way.'
He said, 'Oh, Mom, that's okay.
I love you anyway.'

I said, 'Son, I love you too,
and I do like the flowers, especially the blue.'


FAMILY
Are you aware that if we died tomorrow, the company
that we are working for could easily replace us in
a matter of days,
but the family we left behind will feel the loss
for the rest of their lives.


And come to think of it, we pour ourselves more
into work than into our own family,
an unwise investment indeed,
don't you think?

Learning to Get Lucky!!

Why do some people get all the luck while others never get the breaks they deserve?

By Professor Richard Wiseman, University of Hertfordshire


A psychologist says he has discovered the answer:

Ten years ago, I set out to examine luck. I wanted to know why some people are always in the right place at the right time, while others consistently experience ill fortune. I placed advertisements in national newspapers asking for people who felt consistently lucky or unlucky to contact me.

Hundreds of extraordinary men and women volunteered for my research and over the years, I have interviewed them, monitored their lives and had them take part in experiments. The results reveal that although these people have almost no insight into the causes of their luck, their thoughts and behaviour are responsible for much of their good and bad fortune. Take the case of seemingly chance opportunities. Lucky people consistently encounter such opportunities, whereas unlucky people do not.

I carried out a simple experiment to discover whether this was due to differences in their ability to spot such opportunities. I gave both lucky and unlucky people a newspaper, and asked them to look through it and tell me how many photographs were inside. I had secretly placed a large message halfway through the newspaper saying: "Tell the experimenter you have seen this and win £250." This message took up half of the page and was written in type that was more than two inches high. It was staring everyone straight in the face, but the unlucky people tended to miss it and the lucky people tended to spot it.

Unlucky people are generally more tensed than lucky people, and this anxiety disrupts their ability to notice the unexpected. As a result, they miss opportunities because they are too focused on looking for something else. They go to parties intent on finding their perfect partner and so miss opportunities to make good friends. They look through newspapers determined to find certain types of job advertisements and miss other types of jobs.

Lucky people are more relaxed and open, and therefore see what is there rather than just what they are looking for. My research eventually revealed that lucky people generate good fortune via four principles. They are skilled at creating and noticing chance opportunities, make lucky decisions by listening to their intuition, create self-fulfilling prophesies via positive expectations, and adopt a resilient attitude that transforms bad luck into good.

Towards the end of the work, I wondered whether these principles could be used to create good luck. I asked a group of volunteers to spend a month carrying out exercises designed to help them think and behave like a lucky person.

Dramatic results. These exercises helped them spot chance opportunities, listen to their intuition, expect to be lucky, and be more resilient to bad luck. One month later, the volunteers returned and described what had happened. The results were dramatic: 80% of people were now happier, more satisfied with their lives and, perhaps most important of all, luckier.

The lucky people had become even luckier and the unlucky had become lucky. Finally, I had found the elusive "luck factors Here are Professor Wiseman's four top tips for becoming lucky:

1) Listen to your gut instincts - they are normally right

2) Be open to new experiences and breaking your normal routine

3) Spend a few moments each day remembering things that went well

4) Visualize yourself being lucky before an important meeting or
telephone call.

Luck is very often a self- fulfilling prophecy.

Experience!! Money!!!

Money has no memory. Experience has.

We will never know what the total cost of our education was, but for a lifetime we will recall and relive the memories of schools and colleges.

Money has no memory. Experience has.

Few years from now, we will forget the amount we paid to settle the hospitalization bill, but will ever cherish having saved our mother' s life or the life you get to live with the just born.

Money has no memory. Experience has.

We won' t remember the cost of our honeymoon, but to the last breath remember the experiences of the bliss of togetherness.

Money has no memory. Experience has.

Good times and bad times,

Times of prosperity and Times of poverty,

Times when the future looked so secure

and

Times when you didn' t know from

Where the tomorrow will come…

Life has been in one way or the other

A roller-coaster ride for everyone.

Beyond all that abundance

and

Beyond all that deprivation,

What remains is the memory of experiences.

Sometimes the wallet was full…

Sometimes even the pocket was empty.

There was enough and you still had reasons to frown.

There wasn' t enough and you still had reasons to smile.

Today,

You can look back with

Tears of gratitude

For all the times you had

Laughed together,

And also look back with a smile

At all the times you cried alone.

All in all,

Life filled you with experiences

To create a history of your own self,

And you alone can remember them all.

The first time you balanced

Yourself on your cycle without support…

The first cry…

The first steps… The first word…

The first kiss of your child…

The first gift you bought for your parents

And the first gift your daughter gave you…

The first award…

The first public appreciation…

The first stage performance…

And the list is endless…

Experiences, with timeless memory…

No denying that anything

That's material cost money,

But the fact remains

The cost of the experience will be forgotten,

But the experience never.

So, what if it ' s economic recession?

Let it be, but let there not be a recession to the quality of our life. We can still take our parents, if not on a pilgrimage, at least to the local temple. You can still play with your children, if not on an international holiday, at least in the local park. It doesn ' t cost money to lie down or to take a loved one onto our lap. Nice time to train the employees, create leadership availability and be ready for the wonderful times when they arrive.

Hey! Aspects like your health, knowledge development and spiritual growth are not economy dependent.

Time will pass… economy will revive… currency will soon be in current… and in all this, lets don't look back and realize that we did nothing but stayed in gloom. Recession can make us lose out on money. Let it not make us lose out on experiences… If we are not happy with what we have, no matter how much more we have, we will still not be happy.

We can Make a statement with the way we live our life: How I feel has nothing to do with how much I have.

The Woman In Your Life!!!

To all the guys who read this…..please read it completely and understand…………..

To all the girls who read this……….. An excellent forward……please read completely..... and forward to the boys you know……….

This is a beautiful article:

The woman in your life...

very well expressed...

Tomorrow you may get a working woman,

but you should marry her with these facts as well.

Here is a girl, who is as much educated as you are;

Who is earning almost as much as you do;

One, who has dreams and aspirations

just as you have because she is as human as you are;

One, who has never entered the kitchen in her life

just like you or your Sister haven't, as she was busy

in studies and competing in a system that gives no special concession to girls

for their culinary achievements

One, who has lived and loved her parents & brothers & sisters, almost as
much as you do for 20-25 years of her life;

One, who has bravely agreed to leave behind all that, her home, people

who love her, to adopt your home, your family, your ways

and even your family ,name

One, who is somehow expected to be a master-chef from day #1

while you sleep oblivious to her predicament in her new circumstances,

environment and that kitchen

One, who is expected to make the tea, first thing in the morning and

cook food at the end of the day, even if she is as tired as you are,

maybe more, and yet never ever expected to complain;

to be a servant, a cook, a mother, a wife, even if she doesn't want to;

and is learning just like you are as to what you want from her;

and is clumsy and sloppy at times and knows that you won't like it

if she is too demanding, or if she learns faster than you;

One, who has her own set of friends, and that includes boys

and even men at her workplace too, those, who she knows from

school days and yet is willing to put all that on the back-burners

to avoid your irrational jealousy, unnecessary competition

and your inherent insecurities;

Yes, she can drink and dance just as well as you can,

but won't, simply Because you won't like it,

even though you say otherwise

One, who can be late from work once in a while when deadlines,

just like yours, are to be met;

One, who is doing her level best and wants to make this

most important, relationship in her entire life a grand success,

if you just help her some and trust her;

One, who just wants one thing from you, as you are the only one

she knows in your entire house

- your unstinted support, your sensitivities and

most importantly - your understanding, or love, if you may call it.

But not many guys understand this......

Please appreciate "HER" I hope you will do.... Respect Her.

Forward this to as many women as possible... they'll love you for it!
Forward this to as many men as you can so that they'll know why women are so special :-)