BEAUTIFUL HEART

An old English proverb says, ‘First impression is the last impression’. I don’t know how true the statement is! And I say this because in life we can never be so sure and so we cannot make such sweeping statements. Sometimes a single encounter with a person is not enough for even a glimpse into the personality. 


Many times people tend to judge a person from a picture of his/hers. But can we know even a hint out of them? Not exactly sure. A picture is just like a peep out of the window to the outside world. But they may be deceptive. Shakespeare rightly said in ‘Merchant of Venice’: “Goodly apple rotten at heart.” 


Often we say things are not what they seem. This may be true in both ways – a seemingly good thing may be just the opposite but a bad thing apparently may be a good one. So how do we become better judges? Actually what matters is the heart. No matter what the external appearance is it is the heart that matters. A beautiful heart makes even an ugly face look really gorgeous. But a person with evil designs and a heart full of ill-wills would make even the most beautiful face the ugliest. 


So on one thing we should all agree that a picture cannot be a good judge of the person. Look for a beautiful heart instead of a goody exterior! 

Let us live with Human Values

During the days of "Gautam Budha" one young boy was addicted to the bad habits and behave rude with the people and becoming a criminal with his anti social activities. His mother tried to bring him back to normal life but could not succeed.  Finally she decided to take her son to "Gautam Budha" to seek his blessings. With great difficulty she convinced her son to meet "Budha".
Both of them went to forest where Budha was sitting under the tree doing meditation. The mother fall on his feet
and started crying. 


Budha" asked her " Why are you crying??" .


The mother said My son is doing all bad things and becoming criminal now a days. Please do something Budha looked at her son and said thatnow it is too late and this young man is going to die in one day" and left that place.  Both mother and her son shocked with that and came back to their home with sad feelings. They even did not sleep that whole night with the fear of death. 23 hours are over and in last hour Budha came to that area and visit their house. 


Asked her son  " Have you indulged any cheating / criminal / theft during these 23 hours??"
The son said "No"
Did you tell lies??" The son said "No"
Budha asked " What you did these 23 hours then?"
The son said " Since the death approaching me very closely, I have been regretting for all my sins committed all these period
and realized that how I wasted my valuable life but it's too late now to realize"


Budha said " Don't worry.  Your death is not happen now and it is postponed.  Spend your rest of life meaningful and be kind to the others. " 


Moral of the Story:
Death is certain to all of us. It may come in any movement, any shape and any reason.  Let us live with human values doing good things and helpful to others. Such people will be remembered even after their death.

You Cannot Change the World (Brian Tracy Poem)

You cannot change the world,
But you can present the world with one improved person — Yourself.

You can go to work on yourself to make yourself
Into the kind of person you admire and respect.
You can become a role model and set a standard for others.
You can control and discipline yourself to resist acting
Or speaking in a negative way
Toward anyone for any reason.
You can insist upon always doing things the loving way,
Rather than the hurtful way.
By doing these things each day,
You can continue on your journey
Toward becoming an exceptional human being.

(Brian Tracy)

Face difficulties positively

This parable is told of a farmer who owned an old mule. The mule fell into the farmer’s well. The farmer heard the mule praying or whatever mules do when they fall into wells. After carefully assessing the situation, the farmer sympathized with the mule, but decided that neither the mule nor the well was worth the trouble of saving. Instead, he called his neighbors together, told them what had happened, and enlisted them to help haul dirt to bury the old mule in the well and put him out of his misery.

Initially the old mule was hysterical! But as the farmer and his neighbors continued shoveling and the dirt hit his back, a thought struck him. It suddenly dawned on him that every time a shovel load of dirt landed on his back, HE WOULD SHAKE IT OFF AND STEP UP!

This he did, blow after blow. “Shake it off and step up…shake it off and step up…shake it off and step up!” He repeated to encourage himself. No matter how painful the blows, or how distressing the situation seemed, the old mule fought panic and just kept right on SHAKING IT OFF AND STEPPING UP!

It wasn’t long before the old mule, battered and exhausted, stepped triumphantly over the wall of that well! What seemed like it would bury him actually helped him . . . all because of the manner in which he handled his adversity.

THAT’S LIFE! If we face our problems and respond to them positively, and refuse to give in to panic, bitterness, or self-pity.

Risk Quotes and Risk-Taking Quotes

"Risk more than others think is safe. Care more than others think is wise. Dream more than others think is practical. Expect more than others think is possible"

~ Cadet Maxim

"All growth is a leap in the dark, a spontaneous unpremeditated act without benefit of experience. "

~ Henry Miller

"Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly."

~ Robert F. Kennedy

"We must walk consciously only part way toward our goal and then leap in the dark to our success. "

~ Henry David Thoreau

"Do one thing every day that scares you."

~ Eleanor Roosevelt

"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I... I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference."

~ Robert Frost

"If your life is free of failures, you’re not taking enough risks."

~ Anonymous

"Progress always involves risks. You can’t steal second base and keep your foot on first."

~ Frederick B. Wilcox

"If you risk nothing, then you risk everything."

~ Geena Davis

John Wooden's Top Inspirational Quotes

"Nothing will work unless you do."

"Failure is not fatal, but failure to change might be."

"Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are."

"I'd rather have a lot of talent and little experience than a lot of experience and little talent."

"The main ingredient of stardom is the rest of the team."

"Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do."

"Success comes from knowing that you did your best to become the best that you are capable of being."

"Ability is a poor man's wealth."

"The athlete who says that something cannot be done should never interrupt the one who is doing it."

"You can't live a perfect day with doing something for someone who will never be able to repay you."

Be True to Yourselves in Your Values and Ideals

It is important in your marriage that both of you are true to yourselves as individuals and true to yourselves as a couple. Before you can do that you need to know what the two of you value.
Difference Between Values and Ideals
There is a difference between values and ideals.


A value is something you recognize as good and worthwhile and that you choose to have in your life now by being willing to sacrifice other things.
An ideal, on the other hand, is something you recognize as good that you want in your lives sometime in the future, but you are not willing to sacrifice for it now.
Values and ideals are often confused, but the difference is the level of committment. Some couples say they value a good marriage, yet they do nothing to make their marriage better. So for them, a good marriage is an ideal, not a value.


How to Recognize Your Values
The best way to recognize your own values is to analyze two aspects of your life.

• The first is finances. How do you spend your money? Where does it go?
• The second is time. How do you spend you time? Are most of your hours at work or school? How much time do you make for one another? How much time is spent on hobbies or recreation?

Prioritize Your Values and Ideals
Sometimes both of you may place a value on the same thing, but the value is different in terms of priorities and importance. Without talking about this, the differences can lead to conflict.


For example, a couple is considering relocating to a locale far from family. Although they consider being close to extended family one of their values, one spouse places a higher priority on it than the other because opportunities for career enhancement rank higher on the list for the other spouse. Being close to family is a value for one and an ideal for the other.


In order to deal with this difference in values, this couple will need to honestly appraise whether the decision is going to be good for their relationship or not.


A question to ask yourselves as you discuss your values and ideals is, "Will doing [such and such ...] bring us closer or allow us to grow apart?"

Education : Knowledge Vs Character

There are two aspects to education: 1. Imparting Knowledge. 2. Instilling character.

It is an age old saying that "If character is lost, evertything is lost". 
Nobody says "if knowledge is lost, everything is lost". 


Today, education has become synonymous with gaining more and more knowledge, be it theoretical or practical. This section itself is not very good. What is happening is that the character side of education is facing severe neglect, mainly because the teachers themselves lack them. In the case of knowledge, even if the teacher is dumb, students have other sources like books, internet etc. But for character, the sources of learning for a child are parents and teachers. A parent/teacher of a great character can produce students of great character, even against the so-called peer pressure, because in those cases, peer pressure reduces due to the overwhelming influence of the teacher/parent. Sad part is neither the parent nor the teacher have that character. Where from are you going to select good teachers in this regard?

If you think about it deeply, the philosophy of education itself needs to be modified to not just produce great engineers and doctors, but to produce, basically a good human being who has heart, and not machines that work only for themselves. The present system only leads to the formation of such machines. Unless something is done about it soon, the world will surely be ruled by robots - robots who have flesh around their bones and blood running through their veins. Sooner we act, the better it is.

But the age old question remains: Who will bell the cat? 

What the hell is this?

I found this as a forward, and I thought it would be appropriate to put it up here.

The photo is the Pulitzer Prize winning photo taken in 1994 during the Sudan famine. The picture shows a famine stricken crawling towards a UN food camp located a kilometer away. The vulture is waiting for the child to die so that it can eat it. This picture shocked the whole world. No one knows what happened to the child, including the photographer Kevin Carter who left the place as soon as the photograph was taken. Three months later he commited suicide due to depression.



This is what the Kevin Carter wrote:

Dear God,

I promise I will never waste my food no matter how bad it can taste and how full I may be. I pray that He will protect this little boy, guide and deliver him away from his misery. I pray that we will be more sensitive towards the world around us and not be blinded by our own selfish nature and interests.

I hope this picture will always serve as a reminder to us that how fortunate we are and that we must never ever take things for granted.

Just two points I want to make:

• What kind of ethics do photojournalists have?
• Why the hell did this photo win the Pulitzer Prize? He should not have been awarded the prize, since he lacked any sense of ethics.