Excellence.....

A German once visited a temple under construction where he saw a sculptor making an idol of God. Suddenly he noticed a similar idol lying nearby. Surprised, he asked the sculptor, "Do you need two statues of the same idol?" "No," said the sculptor without looking up, "We need only one, but the first one got damaged at the last stage."

The gentleman examined the idol and found no apparent damage. "Where is the damage?" he asked. "There is a scratch on the nose of the idol." said the sculptor, still busy with his work. "Where are you going to install the idol?"
   
The sculptor replied that it would be installed on a pillar twenty feet high. "If the idol is that far, who is going to know that there is a scratch on the nose?" the gentleman asked. The sculptor stopped his work, looked up at the gentleman, smiled and said, "I will know it."
 
The desire to excel is exclusive of the fact whether someone else appreciates it or not. "Excellence" is a drive from inside, not outside. Excellence is not for someone else to notice but for your own satisfaction and satisfaction of God.

Warmth in human relationships

A boy was born to a couple after eleven years of marriage. They were a loving couple and the boy was the gem of their eyes. When the boy was around two years old, one morning the husband saw a medicine bottle open.
  
He was late for office so he asked his wife to cap the bottle and keep it in the cupboard. His wife, preoccupied in the kitchen totally forgot the matter. The boy saw the bottle and playfully went to the bottle fascinated by its color and drank it all. It happened to be a poisonous medicine meant for adults in small dosages. When the child collapsed the mother hurried him to the hospital, where he died. The mother was stunned. She was terrified how to face her husband.
  
When the distraught father came to the hospital and saw the dead child he looked at his wife and uttered just four words.
The husband just said, "I am with you."
  
The husband's totally unexpected reaction is a proactive behavior. The child is dead. He can never be brought back to life. There is no point in finding fault with the mother. Besides, if only he had taken time to keep the bottle away, this would not have happened.
 
No one is to be blamed. She had also lost her only child. What she needed at that moment was consolation and sympathy from the husband. That is what he gave her.
 
If everyone can look at life with this kind of perspective, there would be much fewer problems in the world. Take off all your jealousies, un-forgiveness, selfishness, and fears. And you will find things are actually not as difficult as you think. Sometimes we spend time in asking who is responsible or whom to blame, whether in a relationship, in a job or with the people we know. By this way we miss out some warmth in human relationship.

Your self-defeating beliefs

All of us have beliefs that get in our way. For me, it was my belief that “I didn’t have enough time.” Day after day, for most of my adult life, I would remind myself of this limiting concept. Sometimes I would tell myself this many times in a single day.

What possible value could there be in telling yourself this – or any self-created negative belief? Consider the subtle message that go along with this idea. After all, if I believe that “I don’t have enough time,” I must also believe that “I’ll never get something done on time,” as well as other related, limiting ideas that directly interfere with my success and quality of life. Does this belief help me get things done? Of course not! Does it bring me joy? No. Any effect this belief has is strictly negative.

What’s your most self-defeating belief? Is it that you believe you aren’t good enough? Maybe you believe you don’t deserve success. Perhaps you believe that people are out to get you, or that you are a victim of circumstance. Whatever it is, it’s not worth keeping and certainly not worth defending. But each time you remind yourself – by telling yourself – of your limiting belief, you are reinforcing an idea that directly interferes with your success. It puts a wall between where you are where you want to be.

Each time I slip into my old habit of telling myself that I don’t have enough time, I keep in mind the damage I am inflicting on myself. I remind myself that there is zero value in this, or any, self-defeating belief. You may be surprised, even shocked, at how often you repeat self-defeating statements to yourself and/or to others. The good news is that you’ll be pleasantly surprised at how easily you can rid yourself of their negative effects. Make a commitment to yourself to stop reinforcing this – and all – negative beliefs by discussing them, or even thinking about them. As familiar negatively comes to mind, gently dismiss it. Don’t give it your valuable attention. Save your energy for positive ideas and action.

Anatomy decoded

Formerly leaves and twigs were growing from this dead tree.. Why are they not growing now? Can the scientists answer this question? Scientists say that the chemicals are the cause of life. But all the chemicals that were there when the tree was living are still present. And life energy is also there. There are thousands of microbes in the tree, and they are all living entities. No one can claim that life energy is lacking in the body of this tree.

The living force is individual, and the particular individual living entity which was the tree has left. This must be the case, since all the chemicals that are necessary to support life are still there yet the tree is dead.

Here is another example: suppose I am living in an apartment, and then I leave it. I am gone, but many other living entities remain there—ants, spiders, and so forth. It is not true that simply because I have left the apartment, it can no longer accommodate life. Other living entities are still living there. It is simply that I—an individual living being—have left. The chemicals in the tree are like the apartment; they are simply the environment for the individual living force—the soul—to act through.

Honesty

There was a farmer who sold a pound of butter to the baker. One day the baker decided to weigh the butter to see if he was getting a pound and he found that he was not. This angered him and he took the farmer to court.

The judge asked the farmer if he was using any measure. The farmer replied, "Your Honor, I am primitive. I don't have a proper measure, but I do have a scale."

The judge asked, "Then how do you weigh the butter" The farmer replied "Your Honor, long before the baker started buying butter from me, I have been buying a pound loaf of bread from him. Every day when the baker brings the bread, I put it on the scale and give him the same weight in butter. If anyone is to be blamed, it is the baker."

What is the moral of the story? We get back in life what we give to others.
   
Honesty and dishonesty become a habit. Some people practice dishonesty and can lie with a straight face. Others lie so much that they don't even know what the truth is anymore. But who are they deceiving? Themselves – more than anyone else.

What is Maturity?

Maturity is the ability to control anger and settle differences without violence or destruction.

Maturity is to have patience.

Maturity is the willingness to pass up immediate pleasure in favor of the long-term gain.

Maturity is perseverance, the ability to sweat out a project or a situation in spite of heavy opposition and discouraging set-backs.

Maturity is the capacity to face unpleasantness and frustration, discomfort and defeat, without complaint or collapse.

Maturity is humility. It is being big enough to say, "I was wrong." And, when right, the mature person need not experience the satisfaction of saying, "I told you so."

Maturity is the ability to make a decision and stand by it. The immature spend their lives exploring endless possibilities; then they do nothing.

Maturity is the art of living in peace with that which we cannot change, the courage to change that which should be changed -- and the wisdom to know the difference.

Take advice

Once upon a time, there were three people who went to watch drama together. One of them was far-sighted, another one had a hearing problem, and the other had a twisted head.

After the show, they were judging the drama.

“Today’s show had great singers, but the costume design was poor,” said the person who had farsightedness.

“The costume was perfect, but the sound was too low,” said the person who had hearing problem.

“The sound was loud and the costume was fine. Everything was great, but the performance stage was lopsided,” said the person who had twisted head.

From the story above, most people do not admit their shortcomings. It’s because the person, who had farsightedness, cannot see things in clarity, but complains about the costume; the one, who had hearing problem, cannot hear things clearly, but complains about the music; the one, who doesn’t admit his twisted head, but complains about the performance stage.
  
According to statistics, the vocabulary most often used in our daily communication is either “I” or “me”. Aren't conflicts among human and disputes among nations, the results of over-emphasizing one's opinion?

Accept sincere advice and the reality of truth given by others. One who is willing to take advice and relinquish one’s ego can work well with others.

If you find yourself in a hole, stop digging

A great football coach once said,” Just because you’re doing something wrong, doing it more intensely won’t help.”

Yet, how often do we do just that? We are making a mistake, getting ourselves into trouble – and, instead of backing off, reflecting, and doing it differently, we roll up our sleeves and do the very same thing even more intensely!

The same pattern exists in many areas of our lives. Many people have a great deal of conflict to manage. Whenever a potential new conflict arises, or the environment or circumstances seem to be encouraging that development, instead of backing off and looking  for new ways to defuse the situation, they charge straight ahead, as always – repeating their identical patterns and responses, taking the adversarial approach – and, once again, find themselves in the middle of another drama or conflict. Then, frustrated and stressed, they assume the world is to blame, or that they need to find more effective and more aggressive ways to deal with things. This is the essence of being in a vicious circle. The same essential problems come up over and over again, unless and until you see your own contribution – and vow to do something differently.

The solution is simple, but not always very easy. The trick is to recognize when your part of the pattern is being repeated; for example, “Here I am, arguing again,” or “I’m upset by the very same things – this sure feels familiar.” Then, rather than clenching your fists, feeling frustrated, filing your mind with stressful thoughts, and trying the same old thing, you instead relax, back off, and empty your mind. Soften and try to see the situation in a whole new way.

God is always around us

A man whispered, "God, speak to me" and a cuckoo bird sang. But, the man did not hear.

So the man yelled, "God, speak to me" and the thunder rolled across the sky. But, the man did not listen.

The man looked around and said, "God, let me see you." And a star shined brightly. But the man did not see.

So, the man cried out in despair, "Touch me God, and let me know you are here." Whereupon, God reached down and touched the man. But, the man brushed the butterfly away, and walked on.

The man cried, "God, I need your help!" And an e-mail arrived reaching out with good news and encouragement.

But, the man deleted it and continued crying

Don't miss out on a blessing because it isn't packaged the way that you expect.

God is always around us in the little and simple things that we take for granted.

Perfect Understanding

If a boy wants to know who his father is, the simple process is to ask his mother. The mother will then say, "He is your father." This is the way of perfect knowledge. Of course, one may speculate about one's father, wondering if this is the man or if that is the man, and one may wander over the whole city, asking, "Are you my father? Are you my father?" The knowledge derived from such a process, however, will always remain imperfect. One will never find his father in this way. The simple process is to take the knowledge from an authority—in this case, the mother. She simply says, "My dear boy, here is your father." In this way our knowledge is perfect. Transcendental knowledge is similar. Spiritual world is not subject to our speculation. God says, "There is a spiritual world, and that is My headquarters" In this way we receive knowledge from Krishna, the best authority. We may not be perfect, but our knowledge is perfect because it is received from the perfect source.

Although the understanding of God is a difficult subject, God explains Himself in the Bhagavad-gita. He says, "I am like this, and I am like this. The material nature is like this, and the spiritual nature is like that. The living entities are like this, and the Supreme Soul is like that." Thus everything is completely described in the Bhagavad-gita. Although understanding God is very difficult, it is not difficult when God Himself gives us His own knowledge. Actually that is the only process by which we can understand God. To understand God by our own speculation is not possible, for God is unlimited and we are limited. Our knowledge and perception are both very limited, so how can we understand the unlimited? If we simply accept the version of the unlimited, we can come to understand Him. That understanding is our perfection.

Be willing to take advice

Generally speaking people don’t take advice, even good advice. This is true even when the advice is free and when it’s offered with love. Think about yourself. How often do you really, honestly take someone else’s advice? How often do you say to yourself, or out loud, “That’s a great idea. That’s a much better way of doing it than the way I have been doing."

In order to grow, we need to see things differently. We don’t want to do the same things over and over if they’re not working well. Instead, we want to open our eyes to new and improved ways of doing things. But how can we see things differently if we refuse to take to heart the suggestions from others?

Sometimes, the reason we don’t take advice is pure stubbornness. We want to do things our own way – even if it’s not working! Other times, we avoid advice out of fear. We might be frightened that we’re going to look bad in the eyes of someone else, or that we’re going to seem incompetent. Or we might be fearful that the advice we get isn’t going to help. Sometimes we’ve received bad advice or too much advice, and we vow to not repeat that same mistake.

Life is so much simpler when you involve the strengths and expertise of others. After all, if you absolutely knew what to do to make your life better or more successful, you’d be doing it already. But if you’re struggling in any aspect of your life (and we all do), you need advice. So take the advice.