2017-05 - A Samurai and a Zen Master...

A Samurai, a very proud warrior, came to see a Zen Master one day. The samurai was very famous, but looking at the beauty of the Master and the grace of the moment, he suddenly felt inferior.

He said to the Master, "Why am I feeling inferior?  Just a moment ago everything was okay. As I entered your court suddenly I felt inferior. I have never felt like that before. I have faced death many times, and I have never felt any fear - why am I now feeling frightened?“ The Master said, "Come outside, I will answer you."

And he said, "Look at these trees. This tree is high in the sky and this small one beside it. They both have existed beside my window for years, and there has never been any problem. The smaller tree has never said to the big tree, 'Why do I feel inferior before you?' This tree is small, and that tree is big - why have I never heard a whisper of it?"

The samurai said, "Because they can't compare."

The Master replied, "Then you need not ask me. You know the answer."

~ Author Unknown

---

Each one of us has our own evolution of life, and each one of us goes through different tests which are unique and challenging.

~ A R Rahman

2017-04 - Love...

A man offered to pay a sum of money to his twelve-year-daughter if she mowed the lawn.

The girl went at the task with great zest and by evening the whole lawn had been beautifully mowed – well, everything except the large uncut patch of grass in one corner.

When the man said he couldn't pay the sum agreed upon because the whole lawn hadn't been mowed, the girl said she was ready forego the money, but would not cut the grass in the patch.

       

Curious to find out why, he checked the uncut patch. There, right in the center of the patch, sat a large toad.

The girl had been too tender-hearted to run over it with the lawn–mower.

~ Anthony de Mello

---

"Where there is love, there is disorder.

Perfect order would make the world a graveyard."

~ Author Unknown

2017-03 - Painting Peace...

There once was a King who offered a prize to the artist who would paint the best picture of peace. Many artists tried. The King looked at all the pictures, but there were only two he really liked and he had to choose between them.

One picture was of a calm lake. The lake was a perfect mirror, for peaceful towering mountains were all around it. Overhead was a blue sky with fluffy white clouds. All who saw this picture thought that it was a perfect picture of peace.

The other picture had mountains too. But these were rugged and bare. Above was an angry sky from which rain fell and in which lightening played. Down the side of the mountain tumbled a foaming waterfall. This did not look peaceful at all. But when the King looked, he saw behind the waterfall a tiny bush growing in a crack in the rock. In the bush a mother bird had built her nest.

There, in the midst of the rush of angry water, sat the mother bird on her nest… perfect peace.

~ Author Unknown

---

Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without."

~ Buddha

2017-02 - An Act of Integrity

Reuben Gonzales was a leading racquetball player. In his first ever professional tournament Gonzales reached the final. He held match point in the fifth and final game when he made a terrific “kill shot” into the front corner to win the tournament.

The ball was called good and all were ready to congratulate the new champion when Gonzales turned around and declared that his shot had hit the floor before it reached the wall. He lost his serve and his opponent went on to win the match and the tournament.

The next issue of National Racquetball Magazine featured Gonzales on its cover. Everyone wanted to know why Gonzales did it – why would a professional sportsman disqualify himself after he had just been declared winner of match point?

Gonzales reply was simple: “It was the only thing I could do to maintain my integrity.”

Source: reported by Dennis Waitley, Being the Best.

---

"Live so that when your children think of fairness, caring, and integrity, they think of you."

~ H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

2017-01 - They Sent Me to Finish...

The Olympic Games, Mexico, 1968. The marathon is the final event on the program. The Olympic stadium is packed and there is excitement as the first athlete, an Ethiopian runner, enters the stadium. The crowd erupts as he crosses the finish line.

Way back in the field is another runner, John Stephen Akwhari of Tanzania. He has been eclipsed by the other runners. After 30 kilometers his head is throbbing, his muscles are aching and he falls to the ground. He has serious leg injuries and officials want him to retire, but he refuses. With his knee bandaged Akwhari picks himself up and hobbles the remaining 12 kilometers to the finish line. An hour after the winner has finished Akwhari enters the stadium. All but a few thousand of the crowd have gone home. Akwhari moves around the track at a painstakingly slow pace, until finally he collapses over the finish line.

It is one of the most heroic efforts of Olympic history. Afterward, asked by a reporter why he had not dropped out, Akwhari says, "My country did not send me to start the race. They sent me to finish."

~ Author Unknown

---

"Beginning in itself has no value, it is an end which makes the beginning meaningful, we must end what we have begun."

~ Amit Kalantri