Speak Positive

A man joined a monastery in which the monks were allowed to speak only two words every seven years. After the first seven years had passed, the new initiate met with the abbot, who asked him, "Well, what are your two words?"

"Food's bad", replied the man, who then went back to his silence.

Seven years later the clergyman asked, "What are your two words now?"

"Bed's hard", the man responded.

Seven years later - twenty-one years after his initial entry into the monastery - the man met with the abbot for the third and final time. "And what are your two words this time?" the abbot asked.

"I quit."

"Well, I'm not surprised," the cleric answered disgustedly. "All you've done since you got here is complain!"

Contrary to what you may have heard, talk is not cheap. Talk is powerful ! What we say is important. Our vocabulary should be filled with words of hope and dreams. Be known as someone who speaks positively and these words in turn bring positivity to your life.

Two words for all of us today “Speak Positive”.

The Candy Shop...

A kid walked into a candy shop with his dad and was bedazzled by the array of treats on offer. “What should I choose?  What should I choose?  What should I choose?”  He asked himself.

“Come on son, we don’t have all day,” his dad said.

“These are my favorites.  No wait, these are my favorites.” He walked along the aisles, picking up bags and putting them back. He just couldn’t make up his mind.

“Quick son, make up your mind, we have to go,”  His impatient dad said.

Frantically, the boy ran around the store, his eyes moving from one shelf to another, but all of the options looked so good and he couldn’t make a decision.

Eventually, the dad had enough, grabbed his son by the hand and they walked out of the store empty-handed.  The young boy had tears in his eyes.  He wanted them all, but ended up with nothing because he couldn’t choose just one.

We all are decision makers.

The world is that candy store. We have a myriad of options available to us, but if we don’t choose to decide on anything that’s in front of us – be it our career, education, relationships, investments, or other important issues, we will choose to end up empty-handed.

Sometimes we worry about making the wrong choice. What if we regret the direction that we take and it’s too late to go back?

The bigger danger is when we make no decision at all ,ending up going nowhere than to take a decision and stick to it with all our heart to make it work for us .

Next time you are presented with options in our life and your mind flutters , just remember this “ You empower the decisions you take and there are no good or bad choices.” Choose one and back it with your actions further, you will end up with making it the right choice.

Poisonous Herbs

A newly wed girl named Li-Li found that she couldn't get along with her mother-in-law .Their personalities were very different and she criticized Li-Li constantly. All the anger and tension was causing great distress.

Weeks passed. Li-Li couldn’t tolerate her mother-in-law' any longer. She went to see an old man Huang, who sold herbs. She asked him for some poisonous herbs so that she could solve the problem once and for all. Huang thought for a while and gave her a package of herbs saying,” These herbs  will act as a slow poison. Add these herbs in her serving every day. To make sure that nobody suspects you, be very careful and remain friendly towards her.Don't argue with her. Obey her wishes and treat her like a queen!"

Months went by. Li-Li served the specially treated food to her mother-in-law every day. She controlled her temper, obeyed her mother-in-law, and pretended to treat her like her own mother. Six months had passed, the whole scenario had changed. Li-Li found that her mother-in-law had become much kinder and easier to get along with. The mother-in-law' s attitude towards Li-Li also changed and she began to love Li-Li like her own daughter.

Li-Li went back to Huang and begged, "Please help me to keep the poison from killing my mother-in-law. She's changed into such a nice woman and I love her. I do not want her to die. Huang smiled and said "Li-Li, there's nothing to worry about. I never gave you any poison. The herbs I gave you were vitamins to improve her health. The only poison was in your mind and your attitude towards her, but that has been all washed away by the love which you gave to her.

We do come across people with whom we have trouble  getting along with. But in reality HAVE YOU REALIZED how you feel about others is exactly how they will feel about you? . Next time you come across such thoughts  ,remember “the poison is in your mind and your attitude”.

“It’s true that “Love Begets Love “

Never Give up...

There was a cricket batsman  making his debut in Test cricket at the international level . He scored a duck in his first innings and again, in his second innings.

They dropped him. So he went back to the nets for more practice. More first-class cricket. More runs. Waiting for that elusive call to play for his nation. After twenty-one months, he got a second chance.

This time, he tried harder. His scores: 0 in the first innings, 1 in the second. Dropped again. He went back to the grind and scored tonnes of runs in first-class cricket. Runs that seemed inadequate to erase the painful memories of the Test failures. Well, seventeen months later, opportunity knocked yet again. He got to bat in both innings of the Test. His scores: 0 and 0. Phew!

Back to the grind. Would the selectors ever give him another chance? They said he lacked big-match temperament. His technique wasn’t good enough at the highest level. Undaunted, he kept trying.

Three years later, he got another chance. This time, he made runs. He came good and in an illustrious career thereafter, he went on to score over 5000 runs for his nation. That included sixteen centuries and six double hundreds. And he went on to captain his country. All this despite taking over six years to score his second run in Test cricket. Wow! What a guy! This is none other than Marvan Attapattu- one of the Sri Lankan cricketing legends .

How many of us can handle failure as well as he did? Six years of trying, and failing!! He must have been tempted to pursue another career. Change his sport perhaps. Play county cricket. Or, oh well, just give up. But he didn’t and that made the difference.

We all hear stories of talented people who gave up before their potential was realized. People who changed jobs and careers when success seemed elusive.

The next time you are staring at possible failure or rejection, think of Marvan. Remember this: If you don’t give up, if you believe in yourself, if you stay the course, the run will eventually come. What more, you could even become a captain someday and excel in your respective field.

NEVER GIVE UP !