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Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Choose Your Attitudes (Posted by Priya Deelchand)

My dearest friends,

Hope you are all doing awesome! :))

Here is a story that I would like to share with you today. The author is unknown.

I believe that, at least to some degree, we can each exercise control over our attitudes. And the problem is – if we don’t control our attitudes, they will surely control us.

One farmer took charge of his outlook. He did it by filling his mind with awe and gratitude. He found that doing this gave him more energy to work on problems and to tackle those things that needed his attention. His neighbor’s outlook could not have been more different.

One summer morning he exclaimed, “Look at the beautiful sky. Did you ever see such a glorious sunrise?”

She countered. “It’ll probably get so hot the crops will scorch.”

During an afternoon shower, he commented, “Isn’t this wonderful? Mother Nature is giving the corn a drink today.”

“And if it doesn’t stop before too long,” came the sour reply, “we’ll wish we’d taken out flood insurance on the crops.” And so it went.

Convinced that he could instill some awe and wonder in this hardened woman, he bought a remarkable dog. Not just any mutt, but the most expensive, highly trained and gifted dog he could find. The animal was exquisite. It could perform remarkable and impossible feats that, the farmer thought, would surely amaze even his neighbor. So he invited her to watch his dog perform.

“Fetch!” he commanded, as he tossed a stick into a lake, where it bobbed up and down in the rippling water. The dog bounded after the stick, walked ON the water, and retrieved it.

“What do you think of that?” he smirked.

“Hmmm,” she frowned. “Can’t swim, can he?”

Not to sound too Pollyanna, but I agree with newscaster Paul Harvey when he said that he has never seen a monument erected for a pessimist. A stubbornly positive attitude can often make the difference between happiness and misery, between health and illness and even between life and death.

Viktor Frankl would have agreed. Dr. Frankl chronicled his experiences as a Holocaust and concentration camp survivor in his book Man's Search for Meaning. In it he asserts something really quite remarkable. He says that everything can be taken from a person except one thing. What can never be taken away is the power to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances.

We can decide to choose our attitudes every day. That may be one of the most important decisions we will make. I don’t want to neglect making that choice.

Have an excellent day!

Much Love,
Priya:))

Sunday, June 12, 2011

Helping other to win (posted by Priya Deelchand)

My dearest friends,

Hope you are all doing great!

Here is a story that I would like to share with you today.
  
A few years ago, during the Para-Olympics
help in Seattle, nine participants, all mentally
retarded or physically challenged, had aligned
themselves for the 100 meter hurdles.
   
    Although at the given signal they didn't
start exactly at that moment, nor orderly, they
were determined to finish the race and thus win.
All they had to do in order to win the race was
to finish it.
    
    All managed to finish it, except for a
young athlete that fell over the runway passage
of the first hedge. Because of the pain and of
the sorrow, he began to cry. The others hearing
his cry came back for him. They slowed down and
eventually they stopped.
   
    In that day an unprecedented situation
occurred, eight out of the nine athletes
returned in order to help the ninth athlete,
which was in need of assistance. A girl with
the down syndrome came up to the wounded to
give him a kiss and to encourage him:

    "Do not worry, the pain will go away."

    Although that day the world record was not
beaten from any point of view, but the race was
finished by all nice athletes which past the
finish line together, holding each other with
their arms.
   
    The whole stadium stood up and cheered
them for several minutes. They were even more
enthusiastic in the presence of such a wonderful
gesture then when a record was beaten.

    Why was this possible?

    Because we all know well, that basically,
the most important thing in this life is not
so much winning by yourself, but helping others
to win as well, even if you have to slow down
and maybe turn back to help others.

Wish you all an excellent week.

Much love,
Priya:))

Posted by Priya Deelchand 
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