To hear the unheard...

Back in the third century AD China, King Ts'ao sent his son, prince T'ai to study under the great master Pan Ku. When the prince arrived at the temple, the master sent him alone to the Ming-Li forest. After one year, the prince was to return to the temple to describe the sound of the forest. When T'ai returned, Pan Ku asked him to describe all that he could hear.

"I could hear the cuckoos sing, the leaves rustle, the hummingbirds hum, the bees buzz, and the wind whisper and holler," replied the prince.

The master told him to go back to the forest to listen to what more he could hear.

For days, the prince sat in the forest listening. Then he started to discern faint sounds unlike those he had ever heard before. A feeling of enlightenment enveloped the boy. When he returned, the master asked him what more he had heard.

"I could hear the sound of flowers opening, the sound of the sun warming the earth, and the sound of the grass drinking the morning dew," he replied.

The master nodded approvingly. "To hear the unheard," he said, "is a necessary discipline to be a good ruler. For only when a ruler has learned to listen closely to the people's hearts,hearing their feelings un-communicated, pains unexpressed, and complaints not spoken of, can he meet the true needs of his citizens." - From the column Happiness@Work by Prof Srikumar Rao in Corporate Dossier, The Economic Times, March 12, 2012

You can't hide bad intention..

Once upon a time a poor old woman was walking from one village to another, carrying a bundle on her head. Unable to lift it easily, she rested every now and then. A horseman passed by. The old woman requested him to carry the bundle on the horseback till next village.

He refused saying, "You'll walk slowly and delay me and I've a long way to go."

After a short distance, the horseman thought maybe there was something valuable in the bundle and he could actually run away with it. So he he went back and told her to give him the bundle.

The old woman refused.

The horseman got angry and said, "Just a few minutes ago you wanted me to carry it and now you refuse! What has changed your mind?"

With a smile the old woman replied, "The same thing changed my mind that changed your mind!" and continued walking on.

One can't hide bad intentions as it strikes everywhere even to the careless, the most stupid thinker.

Take PRIDE of your work

A Professor was on a three-months visit to a foreign university. He was given an office, and also the services of a typist  whenever he needed one.

Once he wrote a manuscript by hand, and got it typed by the typist.

The Professor proofread the typed manuscript  and found one spelling mistake. He asked the typist to correct it. The typist retyped the whole sheet of paper, and gave it to the Professor.

The Professor was surprised that the lady had typed the whole sheet for the sake of correcting just one mistake. He remarked that she could have corrected just that one mistake instead of retyping the whole sheet.

The typist remarked: I do not do that. My initials (D.H. for Debbie Huygen)  are there at the bottom of every page.

The Professor was moved by the fact that the typist took such pride in her work.

The most important thing to do in life is to define our attitude towards our own work. Taking great pride in doing work well every time is one of the important elements of our attitude towards it. No one has a greater asset for his/her business than a person's pride in his/her work. Let's focus all our thoughts upon the work at hand and do it well. Work and self-worth are the two factors in pride that interact with each other and never let one suffer because of the other. Pride also prevents us from doing just enough to get by. If we know that everything we do at work has our name and signature on it, then we will give it our best shot and nothing less. Then our work will speak for itself and about us. Also, one of the strongest, lifelong, reliable motivation is the joy and pride that grow from knowing that we've just done something as well as we can do it. There is a special sense of satisfaction, a pride in doing a work which is well rounded, full, exact, complete in its parts. People may forget how fast we did a job, but they remember how well we did it.  Let us always take PRIDE in what we do and do it well every time.

Having 'peace of mind' is easy

Once Buddha was walking from one town to another town with a few of his followers. While they were travelling, they happened to pass a small water body. They stopped there and Buddha told one of his disciples, “I am thirsty. Do get me some water from that water body.”

The disciple walked up to the water body. When he reached there and was about to collect the water, right at that moment, a bullock cart started crossing through it. As a result, the water became very muddy, very turbid.

The disciple thought, “How can I give this muddy water to Buddha to drink!”

So he came back and told Buddha, “The water in there is very muddy. I don’t think it is fit to drink.”

After about half an hour, again Buddha asked the same disciple to go back there and get him some water to drink.

The disciple obediently went back. This time he found that the water body had absolutely clear water in it. The mud had settled down and the water above it looked fit to be had. So he collected some water in a pot and brought it to Buddha.

Buddha looked at the water, and then he looked up at the disciple and said, “See what you did to make the water clean. You let it be ... and the mud settled down on its own – and you got clear water... Your mind is also like that. When it is disturbed, just let it be. Give it a little time. It will settle down on its own and peace would be restored. You don’t have to put in any effort to calm it down. It will happen. It is effortless.”

What did Buddha emphasize here? He said, “It is effortless.” Having 'peace of mind' is not a strenuous job; it is an effortless process. When there is peace inside you, that peace permeates to the outside. It spreads around you and in the environment, such that people around start feeling that peace and grace

Attack the smaller problems first...

The great Maharana Pratap (a King in medieval India) had just been defeated by the Mughals in one of his attempts to capture a key fort. He was forced to wander around the forests in disguise while he attempted to recruit people into his army.

One day, around lunch time, he found a small hut. The hungry King went and knocked on the door. An old woman appeared. She didn't recognize the visitor as Maharana, as he had disguised himself.

Maharana Pratap asked the old lady if she could spare him some food for lunch.

The lady was delighted to have guest and welcomed him in and offered to serve him lunch. She brought out a plate and served him khichdi (An Indian preparation made from rice and lentils). The hungry king plunged his hand in the center of the plate but ended up burning his fingers!

The old lady started laughing.

The king looked up and asked, "You find it amusing that I am in pain?"

To which she replied saying, "Oh no! Please do not mistake me so! I was just thinking to myself that you are no better than the great Maharana Pratap himself!".

To this, Maharana asked, "what have I done that reminds you of that unfortunate King?".

She replied, "He tried to take over a key fort, just like how you tried to pick hot khichdi from the center of the plate. That is why he lost the battle and now you have burnt your fingers. When served with a plate full of hot khichdi, you must tackle your food from the edge of the plate as it would have cooled more there than the center. From the edges, you must work inside if you want to keep your fingers from getting burnt. This applies not just to eating habits. Everywhere in life, you will find this useful.

For example, if the great Maharana, instead of attacking the key fort first, had attacked and taken over the smaller forts in the surrounding region, the key fort would be left defenseless by the time he finally got there. Instead, the great Maharana seems to have made the mistake of plunging his hand in the center of the plate."

The Maharana got more than a filling meal that afternoon in the old lady's hut. He later went on to capture the key fort, of course, after bringing down the smaller ones in the region.

Attacking the smaller problems in life before taking on the bigger challenges doesn't make you any lesser of a person. It will in fact, help you achieve success in everything you do in life.

Ring the bell till its ringing...

A water bearer in China had two large pots, each hung on the ends of a pole which he carried across his neck. One of the pots had a crack in it, while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water. At the end of the long walk from the stream to the House, the cracked pot arrived only half full. For a full two years this went on daily, with the bearer delivering only one and a half pots full of water to his house.

Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments, Perfect for which it was made. But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection. And miserable that it was able to accomplish only half of what it had been made to do.

After two years of what it perceived to be a bitter failure, it spoke to the water bearer one day by the stream. "I am ashamed of myself, and I want to apologize to you. I have been able to deliver only half my load because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your house. Because of my Flaws, you have to do all of this work, and you don't get full value from your efforts," the pot said. 

The bearer said to the pot, "Did you notice that there were flowers only on your side of the path, but not on the other pot's side? That's because I have always known about your flaw. So I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we walk back, you've watered them. For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate the table. Without you being just the way you are, there would not be this beauty to grace the house?


Each of us has our own unique flaws. We're all cracked pots. But it's the cracks and flaws we each have that make our lives together so very interesting and rewarding. We've just got to take each person for what they are, and look for the good in them. Blessed are the flexible, for they shall not be bent out of shape. Unless we accept our faults we will most certainly doubt our virtues. Even the best needles are not sharp at both ends, good gardens have some weeds, the best diamonds and perfectly seeming beauties have some flaws. Genius is more often found in a cracked pot than a whole one. Remember to appreciate all the different people in our life.

Look at the other side...

A father was reading a magazine and his little daughter every now and then distracted him. To keep her busy, he tore one page on which was printed the map of the world.

He tore it into pieces and asked her to go to her room and put them together to make the map again. He was sure she would take the whole day to get it done. But the little one came back within minutes with perfect map.

When he asked how she could do it so quickly, she said, "Oh Dad, there is a man's face on the other side of the paper. I made the face perfect to get the map right."

She ran outside to play leaving her father surprised.

Life keeps on giving us challenges but it is on us to tackle and handle it in the best way we think we can. The most important thing is to look, listen, think and understand about the other sides and then handle things and do them the best way we can. If it is too fast then may be in slowing it down, if too rigid then may be in being flexible, if too far or long them may be near by or short, if too free then may be in some restriction, if too complex then may be in simplicity... and vice-verse. There are more than one way to solve a problem and there may be something better on the other side to solve it. There is always the other side to whatever we experience in this world. Whenever we come across a challenge or a puzzling situation, always look at the other side. You will be surprised to see an easy way to tackle the problem.

Be Confident !!!

Henry was called upon to recite in front of the class. He had hardly begun when the teacher interrupted with an emphatic, “No!”

He started over and again the teacher thundered, “No!” Humiliated, Henry sat down.

The next boy rose to recite and had just begun when the teacher shouted, “No!”

This student, however, kept on with the recitation until he completed it.

As he sat down, the teacher replied, “Very good!” Henry was irritated. ”I recited just as he did,” he complained to the teacher.

But the teacher replied, “It is not enough to know your lesson, you must be sure. When you allowed me to stop you, it meant that you were uncertain. If the world says, ‘No!’ it is your business to say, ‘Yes!’ and prove it.

Henry Ward Beecher was a prominent congregationalist clergyman, social reformer, abolitionist, and speaker in the mid to late 19th century. When he was a young boy in school, he learned above lesson in self-confidence which he never forgot. The world will say, ‘No!’ in a thousand ways. ‘No! You can’t do that.’ ‘No! You are wrong.’ ‘No! You are too old.’‘No! You are too young.’ ‘No! You are too weak.’ ‘No! It will never work.’ ‘No! You don’t have the education.’ ‘No! You don’t have the background.’ ‘No! You don’t have the money.’ ‘No! It can’t be done.’  And each ‘No!’ you hear has the potential to erode your confidence bit by bit until you quit all together.  Though the world says, ‘No!’ to you today, you should be determined to say, ‘Yes!’ and prove it! ” And remember, when someone tells you 'No' time and again, it doesn't mean you can't do it, it simply means you can't do it with him/her. Because of lack of self-confidence, too many people overvalue what they are not and undervalue what they are. Are you one of those? - certainly not. Just look inward. Your self-confidence is always  there awaiting your attention to take you on an amazing journey of success.