Sunday, February 26, 2012

Don't discourage me

This is something to think about when negative people are doing their best to rain on your parade. So remember this story the next time someone who knows nothing and cares less tries to make your life miserable.

A woman was at her hairdresser’s getting her hair styled for a trip to Rome with her husband.. She mentioned the trip to the hairdresser, who responded:

“ Rome ? Why would anyone want to go there? It’s crowded and dirty.. You’re crazy to go to Rome . So, how are you getting there?”

“We’re taking Continental,” was the reply. “We got a great rate!”

“Continental?” exclaimed the hairdresser.. ” That’s a terrible airline. Their planes are old, their flight attendants are ugly, and they’re always late. So, where are you staying in Rome ?”

“We’ll be at this exclusive little place over on Rome’sTiber River called Teste.”

“Don’t go any further. I know that place. Everybody thinks its gonna be something special and exclusive, but it’s really a dump.”

“We’re going to go to see the Vatican and maybe get to see the Pope.”

“That’s rich,” laughed the hairdresser. You and a million other people trying to see him. He’ll look the size of an ant.

Boy, good luck on this lousy trip of yours. You’re going to need it.”

A month later, the woman again came in for a hairdo. The hairdresser asked her about her trip to Rome .

“It was wonderful,” explained the woman, ”not only were we on time in one of Continental’s brand new planes, but it was overbooked, and they bumped us up to first class. The food and wine were wonderful, and I had a handsome 28-year-old steward who waited on me hand and foot.

And the hotel was great! They’d just finished a $5 million remodeling job, and now it’s a jewel, the finest hotel in the city. They, too, were overbooked, so they apologized and gave us their owner’s suite at no extra charge!”

“Well,” muttered the hairdresser, ”that’s all well and good, but I know you didn’t get to see the Pope.”

“Actually, we were quite lucky, because as we toured the Vatican, a Swiss Guard tapped me on the shoulder, and explained that the Pope likes to meet some of the visitors, and if I’d be so kind as to step into his private room and wait, the Pope would personally greet me.

Sure enough, five minutes later, the Pope walked through the door and shook my hand! I knelt down and he spoke a few words to me.”

“Oh, really! What’d he say ?”

He said: “Who the **** did your hair?”

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Saturday, February 25, 2012

Thirteen

Walking past the big wooden fence around the mental institution, a guy hears everyone inside chanting, "Thirteen! Thirteen! Thirteen!"

His curiosity piqued, he finds a hole in the fence and looks inside.

All of a sudden a finger shoots through the hole and pokes out his eye, and the inmates start wildly chanting....

"Fourteen! Fourteen! Fourteen!"

Moral: Don't be too inquisitive


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Thursday, February 23, 2012

Alcohol

Do you remember this story? Two men came from similar backgrounds.
They both grew up in "dysfunctional" homes. An alcohol-addicted
parent raised them both. They both endured numerous hardships as a
result of the many problems brought about by their unstable home
lives.

As adults, however, their lives looked quite different. One of the
men couldn't seem to keep a job for long. He was frequently let go
for alcohol-related problems. He was married for a while, but his
wife could not live with him any longer and eventually left. He felt
hopeless and believed himself to be a failure.

A reporter interviewed him as part of an article she was writing on
the effects of alcoholism in the home. She asked him, "To what do
you attribute your present circumstances?"

"Given my background," he replied, "what do you expect?"

The other man held a steady job. He enjoyed a stable marriage and
home life. He was involved in his children's lives. Overall, he felt
productive and useful.

"To what do you attribute your present circumstances?" the reporter
asked him, referring to his obvious success.

"Given my background," he replied, "what do you expect?"

Naturally, our past will shape our present. Our backgrounds are
crucial in determining the kinds of decisions we will make as
adults.

But in this case, both men were shaped in different ways by their
past. One slipped into those old, familiar patterns and recreated
them as an adult. The other was determined never to repeat what he
had experienced as a child. The first man felt helpless to change.
The other used his background as motivation to make needed changes.

It's true that we are products of our past. We are shaped by our
parents, by our backgrounds and by pivotal people in our lives. We
are products of our past. But we CAN make changes.

Like someone said:

"You may not go back and make a brand new start, my friend -
But you can start right now, to make a brand new end."

Psychologists now tell us that our difficult backgrounds can
actually make us more resilient. (Check Steven and Sybil Wolin's
fascinating book The Resilient Self.) Hardships can make us strong
and give us needed motivation to be different in the future. A
difficult background can actually be no less than a marvelous gift.

It comes down to one question: do I use the hard times in my past as
an excuse or as a gift?


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Friday, February 17, 2012

Aesop Fable

The Hares were so persecuted by the other beasts, they did
not know where to go. As soon as they saw a single animal
approach them, off they used to run. One day they saw a
troop of wild Horses stampeding about, and in quite a pan-
ic all the Hares scuttled off to a lake hard by, determined to
drown themselves rather than live in such a continual state
of fear. But just as they got near the bank of the lake, a troop
of Frogs, frightened in their turn by the approach of the
Hares scuttled off, and jumped into the water. ‘Truly,’ said
one of the Hares, ‘things are not so bad as they seem:
‘There is always someone worse off than yourself.’




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Monday, February 13, 2012

Prayers

A voyaging ship was wrecked during a storm at sea and only two of the men on it were able to swim to a small, desert like island. The two survivors, not knowing what else to do, agree that they had no other recourse but to pray to God. However, to find out whose prayer was more powerful, they agreed to divide the territory between them and stay on opposite sides of the island.
The first thing they prayed for was food. The next morning, the first man saw a fruit-bearing tree on his side of the land and he was able to eat its fruit. The other man’s parcel of land remained barren!
After a week, the first man was lonely and he decided to pray for a wife. The next day, there was a woman who swam to his side of the land. On the other side of the island, again there was nothing!
Soon the first man prayed for a house, clothes, more food. The next day, like magic, all of these were given to him. However, the second man still had nothing!
Finally, the first man prayed for a ship, so that he and his wife could leave the island. In the morning, he found a ship docked at his side of the island. The first man boarded the ship with his wife and decided to leave the second man on the island. He considered the other man unworthy to receive God’s blessings, since none of his prayers had been answered.
As the ship was about to leave, the first man heard a voice from heaven booming, “Why are you leaving your companion on the island?”
“My blessings are mine alone, since I was the one who prayed for them,” the first man answered. “His prayers were all unanswered and so he does not deserve anything.”
“You are mistaken!” the voice rebuked him. “He had only one prayer, which I answered. If not for that, you would not have received any of my blessings.”
“Tell me, O God,” the first man asked the voice, “What did he pray for that I should owe him anything?”
“He prayed that all your prayers be answered.”
For all we know, our blessings are not the fruits of our prayers alone, but those of another praying for us.



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