The Elephants and the trainer

As a man was passing the elephants, he suddenly stopped, confused by the fact that these huge creatures were being held by only a small rope tied to their front leg. No chains, no cages. It was obvious that the elephants could, at any time, break away from their bonds but for some reason, they did not. He saw a trainer nearby and asked why these animals just stood there and made no attempt to get away. “Well,” trainer said, “when they are very young and much smaller we use the same size rope to tie them and, at that age, it’s enough to hold them. As they grow up, they are conditioned to believe they cannot break away. They believe the rope can still hold them, so they never try to break free.” The man was amazed. These animals could at any time break free from their bonds but because they believed they couldn’t, they were stuck right where they were. Like the elephants, how many of us go through life hanging onto a belief that we cannot do something, simply because we failed at it once before?

Failure is part of learning; we should never give up the struggle in life.

The Millionaire

There was a millionaire who was bothered by severe eye pain. He consulted many physicians and was getting his treatment done. He did not stop consulting a galaxy of medical experts; he consumed  loads of drugs and underwent hundreds of injections. But the ache persisted more than before. At last a monk who was 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 should not have been looking at 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 see should be painted in green colour just as the monk had directed. When the monk came to visit him after a few days, the millionaire's servants ran with buckets of green paints and poured it 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 dollars, you could have saved these walls , the pots and all other articles and also could have saved a large share of his fortune. You cannot paint the world green.

Solutions to most of the life’s complex problems are simple!

Adjust the height!

An engineer in a car manufacturing company designs a world class car.

While trying to bring out the car from the manufacturing area to the showroom, they realized that the car is few inches taller than the entrance.

The engineer felt bad that he didn't notice this one before creating the car.

The painter said that they can bring out the car and there will be a few scratches on top of the car which could be touched up later.

The engineer said that they can break the entrance, take the car out, and later re-do it.

A Watchman was observing & remarked "The car is only a few inches taller than the entrance so,

Simply release the air in the tyre, the height of the car will sink and can be easily taken out.
  
Don't see problems from an expert's point of view.

There is always a layman's outlook that gives an alternate solution.

Life issues are also same.  Adjust the height (Ego).

Think Simple. Live Humble.

Things can change!

Once upon a time in a village lived an old farmer who used to work very hard. He had a horse. 

One day his horse ran away. After hearing this his neighbor came to him and said, “Such bad Luck”. Farmer replied, “Maybe.” 

Very Next morning the horse returned with three other wild horses with him. Again after hearing this neighbor came and exclaimed, “How wonderful.” Again Old farmer replied, “Maybe.” 

Following day, his son tried to ride one of the wild horse and broke his legs. Again neighbors came to offer sympathy to him. Farmer answered, “Maybe.” 

Next day, Military officials came to village to draft young men into army. Seeing old man’s son broken leg, they didn’t draft him. Seeing this neighbor came again and congratulated farmer on how well things turned out. Even at this farmer replied, “May be.”

We can see that the farmer is practicing non-judgement. He understands the true nature of life, that we can’t judge any event as the “end”.

There is always tomorrow, there are always million effects which can arise from one event. Things can change in an instant.

How Much Do You Make An Hour?

With a timid voice and idolizing eyes, the little boy greeted his father as he returned from work, “Daddy, how much do you make an hour? “Greatly surprised but giving his boy a glaring look, the father said: “Look son, not even your mother knows that. Don’t bother me now, I’m tired.” “But Daddy, just tell me please! How much do you make an hour,” the boy insisted.

The father finally giving up replied: ” Twenty dollars per hour.” “Okay, Daddy? Could you loan me ten dollars?” the boy asked. Showing restlessness and positively disturbed, the father yelled: “So that was the reason you asked how much I earn, right?? Go to sleep and don’t bother me anymore!”

It was already dark and the father was meditating on what he had said and was feeling guilty. Maybe he thought, his son wanted to buy something. Finally, trying to ease his mind, the father went to his son’s room.

“Are you asleep son?” asked the father. “No, Daddy. Why?” replied the boy partially asleep. “Here’s the money you asked for earlier,” the father said. “Thanks, Daddy!” rejoiced the son, while putting his hand under his pillow and removing some money. “Now I have enough! Now I have twenty dollars!” the boy said to his father, who was gazing at his son, confused at what his son just said.

“Daddy could you sell me one hour of your time?”

‘Time is precious in the busy life we live, but are we giving time to the people who are precious in our life too?’