A little Monkey and Man

Once upon a time, a man was passing through a jungle. He saw a monkey and was attracted to it. 

He called the monkey and to his surprise, the monkey came near him.

The man told the monkey that it was his ancestor and so they should cultivate friendship. With different kinds of gestures, 

he was able to establish friendship with it.

The man was just trying to kill time using the monkey as company while crossing the jungle.

Suddenly unexpectedly, a lion roared fiercely and pounced in front of them. They scarcely had time to escape. 

The monkey ran and the man followed suit. They found a very huge tree and soon climbed it. Though they were breathless, 

they did not stop until they climbed to a safe height.

The lion continued to prowl here and there, hoping to catch them when they climbed down. The lion was angry and hungry 

and awaiting his prey finally sat down under the tree.

The man was clinging to one of the strong branches, while the monkey was sitting on a branch with ease, as if nothing had 

happened. After a prolonged wait, the lion lost patience and proposed to let one of them go scot-free if the other was offered 

to him as 'food'.

The man and the monkey consulted each other. They even offered to sacrifice their lives for each other, but ultimately concluded 

that they would live and die together.

The lion was disappointed, but not dissuaded. He continued his vigil. Nevertheless, the wait on the tree proved a testing time for 

both the monkey and the man.

They were feeling drowsy. They were both faced with the danger of falling down while dozing on the tree. Ultimately they decided 

to take turns to sleep.

The monkey would sit wide-awake while the man slept and the man would keep vigil while the monkey had his share of sleep.

As decided, it was the man's turn to sleep first, while the monkey kept guard. The monkey slept in the other half of the night, while 

the man held fort.

When the monkey was fast asleep, the man started contemplating. He thought that if he pushed away the sleeping monkey, the lion, 

as promised, would allow him to go scot-free.

Immediately, he translated his thoughts into action. The monkey was in deep slumber. The man pushed him down.

As the monkey was accustomed to such things, he immediately caught hold of the branches halfway and was back to his place 

in a moment. Without uttering a single word, he went back to sleep as if nothing had happened. In the morning, the monkey led 

the man to safety. The lion was still on prowl under the tree.

When they reached at the safer place, the monkey made a special request to the man. 

"Please do not allege that monkeys are ancestors of mankind."

 

Conclusion:

Man without humanity is inferior to animals.

The Cockroach Theory

The Cockroach Theory for Self-development Response Vs Reaction.   At a restaurant, a cockroach suddenly flew from somewhere and sat on a lady. She started screaming out of fear. With a 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 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 and observed the behaviour of the cockroach on his shirt. When he was confident enough, he grabbed it with his fingers and threw it out of the restaurant. Sipping my coffee and watching the amusement, the antenna of my mind picked up a few thoughts and started wondering, was the cockroach responsible for their histrionic behaviour? 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 the ladies 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 disturbances 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 learned 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, just and right to save a situation from going out of hand, to avoid cracks in relationship, to avoid taking decisions in anger, anxiety, stress or hurry.

-- 

Guide to a Better Life

This is amazing, Randy died of pancreatic cancer in 2008, but wrote a book

"The last lecture” before then, one of the bestsellers in 2007. What a

legacy to leave behind…

In a letter to his wife Jai and his children, Dylan, Logan, and Chloe, he wrote this beautiful "guide to a better life" for his wife and children to

follow. May you be blessed by his insight.





POINTS ON HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR LIFE



Personality:

1. Don't compare your life to others'. You have no idea what their journey

is all about.

2. Don't have negative thoughts of things you cannot control. Instead

invest your energy in the positive present moment

3. Don't overdo; keep your limits

4. Don't take yourself so seriously; no one else does

5. Don't waste your precious energy on gossip

6. Dream more while you are awake

7. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need..

8. Forget issues of the past. Don't remind your partner of his/her

mistakes of the past. That will ruin your present happiness.

9. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone. Don't hate others.

10. Make peace with your past so it won't spoil the present

11. No one is in charge of your happiness except you

12. Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn.

Problems are simply part of the curriculum that appear and fade away like

algebra class but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime.

13. Smile and laugh more

14. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.



Community:

15. Call your family often

16. Each day give something good to others

17. Forgive everyone for everything

18. Spend time with people over the age of 70 & under the age of 6

19. Try to make at least three people smile each day

20. What other people think of you is none of your business

21. Your job will not take care of you when you are sick. Your family and

friends will. Stay in touch.



Life:

22. Put GOD first in anything and everything that you think, say and do.

23. GOD heals everything

24. Do the right things

25. However good or bad a situation is, it will change

26. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up

27. The best is yet to come

28. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful

29. When you awake alive in the morning, thank GOD for it

30. If you know GOD you will always be happy. So, be happy.



While you practice all of the above, share this knowledge with the people

you love, people you school with,

people you play with, people you work with and people you live with.

Not only will it enrich YOUR life, but also that of those around you.

Follow our dream.

I have a friend named Monty Roberts who owns a horse ranch in San Ysidro. He has let me use his house to put on fund-raising events to raise money for youth at risk programs. The last time I was there he introduced me by saying, “I want to tell you why I let Jack use my house. It all goes back to a story about a young man who was the son of an itinerant horse trainer who would go from stable to stable, race track to race track, farm to farm and ranch to ranch, training horses. As a result, the boy’s high school career was continually interrupted. When he was a senior, he was asked to write a paper about what he wanted to be and do when he grew up.

“That night he wrote a seven-page paper describing his goal of someday owning a horse ranch. He wrote about his dream in great detail and he even drew a diagram of a 200-acre ranch, showing the location of all the buildings, the stables and the track. Then he drew a detailed floor plan for a 4,000-square-foot house that would sit on a 200-acre dream ranch.

“He put a great deal of his heart into the project and the next day he handed it in to his teacher. Two days later he received his paper back.

On the front page was a large red F with a note that read, ‘See me after class.’ “The boy with the dream went to see the teacher after class and asked, ‘Why did I receive an F?’ “The teacher said, ‘This is an unrealistic dream for a young boy like you. You have no money. You come from an intinerant family. You have no resources. Owning a horse ranch requires a lot of money. You have to buy the land. You have to pay for the original breeding stock and later you’ll have to pay large stud fees. There’s no way you could ever do it.’ Then the teacher added, ‘If you will rewrite this paper with a more realistic goal, I will reconsider your grade.’ “

The boy went home and thought about it long and hard. He asked his father what he should do. His father said, ‘Look, son, you have to make up your own mind on this. However, I think it is a very important decision for you.’ “Finally, after sitting with it for a week, the boy turned in the same paper, making no changes at all.

 He stated, ‘You can keep the F and I’ll keep my dream.’” Monty then turned to the assembled group and said, “I tell you this story because you are sitting in my 4,000-square-foot house in the middle of my 200-acre horse ranch. I still have that school paper framed over the fireplace.” He added, “The best part of the story is that two summers ago that same schoolteacher brought 30 kids to camp out on my ranch for a week.” When the teacher was leaving, he said, ‘Look, Monty, I can tell you this now. When I was your teacher, I was something of a dreamstealer. During those years I stole a lot of kid’s dreams. Fortunately you had enough gumption not to give up on your.’” Don’t let anyone steal your dreams. Follow your heart, no matter wha

A peaceful mind

There once was a farmer who discovered that he had lost his watch in the barn. It was no ordinary watch because it had sentimental value for him. After searching high and low among the hay for a long while; he gave up and enlisted the help of a group of children playing outside the barn.




He promised them that the person who found it would be rewarded.



Hearing this, the children hurried inside the barn, went through and around the entire stack of hay but still could not find the watch. Just when the farmer was about to give up looking for his watch, a little boy went up to him and asked to be given another chance.



The farmer looked at him and thought, "Why not? After all, this kid looks sincere enough."



So the farmer sent the little boy back in the barn. After a while the little boy came out with the watch in his hand! The farmer was both happy and surprised and so he asked the boy how he succeeded where the rest had failed.



The boy replied, "I did nothing but sit on the ground and listen. In the silence, I heard the ticking of the watch and just looked for it in that direction."





Moral:A peaceful mind can think better than a worked up mind. Allow a few minutes of silence to your mind every day, and see, how sharply it helps you to set your life the way you expect it to be...!