THINGS TO REMEMBER

   01.      Putting a small amount of seven up in a flower vase will preserve the flowers for much longer.

   02.   At shell gas stations, press the button on the side of the air pump three times. The pump will start       without inserting the coins.

   03.  Use the bottom of an empty litre bottle to make flavoured ice for your punch bowl. It will look like     a flower.

   04.   Remove a splinter easily by applying a paste of baking soda and water, then waiting several minutes  for the splinter to pop out of the skin.

  05.   Running your bacon under cold water before cooking will reduce shrinking by 50%!

  06. Do not use chemicals to kill ants. Instead get a spray bottle and fill it up with water and salt (25%),  shake it well, spray….boom, dead!

   07.   If you peel a banana from the bottom, you 

        won’t have to pick the little stringy Things off

         of it.

   08.   Holding a banana peel over a bruise for

         10–30 minutes will remove its colour.

   09.  Baking soda Catalysis Superglue. A light 

        sprinkle shall cause even a large amount to

       set it within  seconds.

   10.  If you are in an area where you do not have a

       cell phone service, put your phone on airplane 

       mode  and then switch back. This will cause 

     your phone to register and find all the towers in your vicinity.

   11. Never eat the pot pie or BBq chicken sandwich at KFC. They use the     leftover chicken from the   night before to make it.

   12. Cannot afford Microsoft word? Get “Open Office”, it’s the same thing   except that its free and has more features.

  13. Nine foods that can get rid of an upset stomach: Bananas, Ginger,    Plain Youghurt, papaya, Apple, Sauce, Oatmeal, Whitr Rice,  Chamomile Tea and Chicken Broth.

   14. Falling air pressure causes pain in Bird’s ear, so if the birds are flying low to the ground it almost means that a thunderstorm is coming.

   15. According to the studies, smelling rubbing alcohol can relieve nausea  instantly.

  16. Never feed bread to ducks. They cannot digest it properly so it can even kill them.

  17.  Eat more marshmallows! For it relieves toothaches, asthma, sore      throat and arthritis.

  18.  When approching a door, look fo the hinges. If you see them, pull, if  not push. This will help you to avoid some embarrassing moments!

 

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The Thing of Most Importance

Once a professor of philosophy came into his class. He brought some items with him and put them on the table. When the class began, he took a large transparent empty jar and started to fill it with two inch stones. He then asked his students: “Is the jar full?” The students nodded their heads in confirmation.    

He says, “Really,” and pulls out a pile of small pebbles, adding them to the jar, shaking it slightly until they fill the spaces between the rocks. He asks again, “Is the jar full?” They agree. So next, he adds a scoop of sand to the jar, filling the space between the pebbles and asks the question again. This time, the class is divided, some feel that the jar is obviously full, but others are suspicious of another trick. So he grabs a pitcher of water and fills the jar to the brim and asks, “What am I doing?”  

The students were watching the whole exercise inquisitively, unable to understand as to what the professor was up to. The professor continued:  “If this jar is your life, what does this experiment show you?” 

 A bold student replies, “No matter how much busy you think you are, you can always take on more and more.”  

“That can be considered,” the professor nodded his head. He then looked out at the class making eye contact with everyone and spoke, “The rocks represent the BIG things in one’s life that you shall value at the end of your life i.e. your family, your partner, your health, fulfilling your hopes and dreams. The pebbles are the other things one needs in life but aren't of great importance but give life a meaning to live for example things like job, money, appointments, friendships and other necessities etc. The sand and water represent the other very minute things of no importance and are   the stressors in life like watching a television, house hold works or running errands etc.”

Looking out at the class again he asked, “Can you see what would happen if I started with the water, sand or the pebbles first?” There was pin drop silence in the class. The professor carried on, “If you put the water and sand into the jar first,” he continued, “there is no room for the pebbles or the stones. The same goes for your life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small things, you will never have room for the things that are important to you. Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. life i.e spend enough time with family, take care of your health and never forget to develop spiritually – be a kind, honest, sensitive, helpful person. Then concentrate on pebbles i.e. have a job, go to work, clean the house, give a dinner party etc. The rest is just sand and water.”  

Moral: Innovation is all about placing priorities.  Start with your big ideas first before you run out of time  Just because the BIG priorities are heavy and difficult to achieve, we shouldn’t turn our attention to smaller ones as an easy way out as they after wards turn out to be a blunder.

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Let go the Past

Once there was a free bird. She floated in the sky, catching mosquitos for lunch, swam in the summer rain and was like many other birds, but she had a habit: every time some event occurred in her life, whether good or bad, the bird picked up a stone from the ground for her memory. Every day she sorted out her stones, laughed remembering joyful events, and cried remembering the sad ones.

She always took those stones with her, whether she was flying in the sky or walking down on the earth, she was never to leave them or forget about them. The years passed by and the bird now had a lot of stones, but she still kept on sorting and collecting them, as memories of the past. It was becoming more and more difficult for her to fly with the weight of these stones and one day she was unable to do so.

The bird that was free some years ago could not even walk on the earth, let go of flying for she was unable to even move by her own. She could not catch midges anymore; only the rare rain gave her the necessary moisture to keep her surviving. But a bird bravely endured all the hardships, guarding her so called precious memories. After some time she died of the starvation and thirst. And only those bunch of worthless stones that served no purpose remained back which were later thrown away by strangers.

Moral: - Letting go helps a person to live in a more peaceful state of mind and helps in restoring our balance. It allows others to be responsible for themselves and indicates us to take our hands off situations that do not belong to us. This frees a person from unnecessary stress and tension.

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Knowledge is Power

Desire for power is inherent in man. The love of power comes from the consciousness of one’s mental and moral superiority over other created beings. It is instinctive that any person as a superior being must control and dominate others. Over again the awareness that all is not created equal gives birth to the desire to rule and dominate others who are weak; some are intelligent, others dull; some brave and daring, others shy and timid. In the same way there are those who are educated, others comparatively ignorant, some wealthy, others poor.

Power is of two kinds, physical and mental. Physical power is of the lower order as compared to the power of the mind. Uneducated class mainly understands one kind of power and that is of the body. For them, the strength of the arms decide things and they consider it to be right. However with changing times and development, mental power is now recognized as of a superior most and this power has its origin from knowledge only. Knowledge is power and education is the fundamental precondition for personal as well as political development, democracy and social justice. This can be observed with every passing day in our lives. Knowledge is something one gains throughout one’s lifetime as from the time of birth, knowledge begins. Knowledge plays an important role in all spheres of human life as it is the awareness of facts, truths and principles.  

It is a powerful factor which helps man to attain success, power and position in life. There is no doubt that physical strength and money are instruments of power. A man who is physically and economically strong commands power over others but the power of knowledge is still greater. It is knowledge that directs any person’s actions enabling one to find the difference between right and wrong, good and bad. It helps a person to overcome the weakness and faults and face dangers and difficulties with courage and confidence. It gives a mental, moral and spiritual advancement to an individual. Education empowers, and education promotes greater participation and there is no development without education.

Knowledge refers to the skills and information acquired through experience and education. Every being is extremely eager to attain power but power should not be misunderstood with physical strength only. Knowledge has given us power to win the space, to fly to the moon, to fight many deadly diseases and cure them. It is this knowledge that has taken us ahead towards development in the field of medicine, surgery, agriculture, information technology etc. Moreover it has also given us the power to communicate with the other parts of the world within a fraction of a second. If today we have reached the top of the mountain of power, i is only due to knowledge only. So we should always be careful that this special power should be suitably balanced by our conscience so that it is not indulged in evil or destructive activities.

Knowledge is like a sharpened sword that can create a bloodshed, if nurtured carelessly. It is therefore very necessary for people to learn that knowledge is essential but wrong usage can lead to formidable disaster  for it is unfortunate that today the same man has started misusing knowledge and has created unfavourable conditions for himself. Knowledge that should be used for peace, prosperity and growth is now also being misused for revenge, enmity and hatred etc. Things that make us despise and look down upon others cannot be right.

There is no doubt that knowledge is Power, but knowledge does not always come with power. This proves that education is must to gain knowledge that is very much a necessity to gain Power. Therefore education is the key to success so that every person who is knowledgeable leads a successful life. 

Knowledge has no limits and is the endless pursuit of love. World’s ninety percent of internal and external strife and riots will go away if awareness of the importance of education becomes common amongst all for discipline, order and economy form the basis of the power given by knowledge. Knowledge must mellow in wisdom which is the mark of culture and humanity as it is the quest of knowledge that leads to the realization of the Truth.

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Slice of Life

  “Living in a world where we have become too dependent upon expecting instant results, we have lessened our capacity to adjust or accommodate. Very few people have patience or fortitude to see things through with love and insight.”

The tolerance power in the people today is decreasing day by day resulting into increase in their temper. Very often we see that waiting for the traffic signal to turn green makes one grumble, angry and some even turn red with fury! Moreover even a small cause for example if a telephone does not connect to someone you are trying makes us curse the phone lines or the internet companies. When a gas stove does not ignite in one click, we tend to get heated.  

All the above stated facts are basic every day practical things. Yet what about tolerating differing ideologies and beliefs? We are very quick in judging, hating or even stooping down to the extent of killing because we cannot tolerate the other for who they are or what they represent? To be inflexible or obstinate is ego; the belief that I am right or that mine is the only way forward leads to stubbornness and miscommunication. If I am at least open and humble, I will be willing to stop, listen, and wait and shall always welcome the outcome that shall always come out to be positive. I may even learn a thing or two, but when impatience gets the better of me, I develop a short aggressiveness and the whole track is disrupted!

A deeper, more subtle aspect to this ego is when a person is impatient or intolerant in dealing with their own personality, especially the negative habits as they overrule the brain. Trying to cover up and not wanting to face the truth or manage one’s own shortcomings, a person instead strives to prove that he really does not care or doesn’t want anything or need anyone or aspire to anything in life. Because of all the inner battle within one’s heart, a person tends to shy away from the golden opportunities that come across, just for the fear of being a failure. It is that ego within that guides to not to try for it is better this ways than to fail and make a fool of oneself. But have we ever realised as to exactly who are we fooling? Our own self and no one indeed! Running away from a situation or avoidance means that we are not stretching our boundaries or limits nor are we learning or progressing in life. We are stagnant for the fear within makes us lazy, selfish and self-centered.

A growing aptitude is all about taking risks and pushing oneself to go ahead an extra mile and not just taking the easy way out by remaining firmly within our own comfort zone. This ways we can build a supernatural capability within us and can even see where it is that we have fixed the ‘blinkers’ in life that refuse to deal with certain situations. It is only then that one can progress.

Every day should pass with the feeling that I have learnt something new and grown from it. Even if my learning is just to see something in a new light or gain a new perspective, at least I have expanded my thinking. This cannot happen if I always believe that I am the one who is right and therefore no one can teach me anything.  I need to be open and engaging otherwise my capacity shrinks rather than expands. It requires a deep level of understanding and commitment to analyse the ratio of your own self-progress and well-being. Whatever situation a person is challenged with, one can definitely ask his/her inner self – what can I learn from this? Why has this situation arisen in front of me and not someone else?  And, when we really learn the lesson of humility, we should also ask what can do to inspire others from my learning?

It’s not only about others being my teachers but I can learn from observing myself and the entire performance of my lifetime itself. Instead of cursing the traffic jam etc., I should choose to use the time to slow down my racing horses. When we think that things have taken a turn for the worse then turn it around to find the benefits from that situation, it is wrong.  We should be curious instead of judgemental. It may not be comfortable at first, but having just extended your capabilities will reap benefits for you in every area of life. We cannot receive love or respect until I give it first.

It’s Time… to stretch ourselves by shedding down our ego to accommodate and adjust by being flexible and graceful because as we expand out of our comfort zone, we will truly feel that we are living not just for ourselves but for everyone around us. There is a lot life can teach … if we are willing to learn.

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