Know Thyself

A Tibetan student was practicing

meditation in his cell when a spider

descended from the ceiling and hung

suspended in front of him.

It slowly spun around, attached to

the end of its web, until the novice

tried to catch it, at which point it

raced back up to the ceiling in a

second.

Every day for a week the student's

meditation was disturbed by the spider.

It even seemed that it was getting

bigger, that it was becoming more

adventurous, and sometimes tried to

swing back and forth in front of him,

with all its legs spread wide.

"This spider is bothering me,"

thought the novice, "and making fun of

me. I'll catch it one day, I know will!"

He became so upset that he went to

ask the advice of his Spiritual Master.

"I hid a knife in my sleeve while I

was meditating," he said. "I wanted to

kill the spider when it came down, but

I didn't succeed. It disappeared the

moment I thought about catching it."

"Replace your knife with a piece of

chalk," the Master replied, "and make a

cross on the spider's back each time it

disturbs your meditation. Come back and

see me in a week."

A week later the novice returned to

his Master's cell and knelt down before

him, his head lowered.

"Lift your robe and look at

yourself," the Master instructed.

To his great surprise, the novice saw

a big X drawn on his own chest.

_________________

This short parable may seem absurd,

and yet it contains a profound truth.

The spider that disturbed the novice

during his meditation was his own bad

conscience, which always surfaces when

we are most relaxed. And what do we do?

We accuse it of trying to harm us, we

say that it is someone else, we seek a

threatening monster to fight with. But

the monster, the spider, is our own

self.

We have to be able to look at

ourselves objectively in order to

overcome our worries, before they

assume a form that we have not chosen.

"Know thyself!"

This phrase is attributed to

Socrates, but it also appears on the

facade of the Temple of Delphi. 2500

years later it is still relevant, and

will always remain so!

Author unknown

Posted by Priya Deelchand

Laugh at yourself and at life

"Laugh at yourself and at life. Not in the spirit of derision or whining self-pity, but as a remedy, a miracle drug, that will ease your pain, cure your depression, and help you to put in perspective that seemingly terrible defeat and worry with laughter at your predicaments, thus freeing your mind to think clearly toward the solution that is certain to come. Never take yourself too seriously."

Og Mandino

Posted by Priya Deelchand

Joy in the morning

Here is a story by Steve Goodier that I would like to share with you today.

Does this sound familiar?

James was cleaning out the attic one day when he came across a ticket

from a shoe repair shop. The date stamped on the ticket showed it was

over eleven years old. He felt sure the shoes would not still be

there, but decided to stop by anyway and check.

He handed the ticket to the man behind the counter, who didn't seem to

be surprised at the date. "Just a minute," said the clerk. " I'll have

to look for these." He disappeared into a back room.

After a few minutes, the clerk called out, "Here they are!"

"That's terrific!" said James, hardly believing his good fortune.

The man came back to the counter, empty-handed. "They'll be ready

Thursday," he said.

We should all be masters of patience; after all, we've had plenty of

practice. But waiting for shoes is one thing, waiting to heal from a

hurt or waiting for a persistent problem to change can be far more

difficult.

James Melvin Washington shared some wisdom about the importance of

patience in those tough times of life. He said, "My grandmother used

to tell me that every loss is temporary, that every rainy day is

temporary, that every hardship is temporary. She used to tell me,

'Son, every goodbye ain't gone. Just hold on - there's joy coming in

the morning.'"

Are you holding on? It may seem dark now, but morning is coming.

Wish you all a joy filled life!

Shared by Priya Deelchand:

http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=127442177279870&topic=343

Learn from your mistakes

A humorous story has it that a newly appointed young clergy

person was contacted by a local funeral director to hold a

graveside service at a small country cemetery in Iowa. There was

to be no funeral, just the committal, because the deceased had no

family or friends left in the state.

The young pastor started early to cemetery, but soon became lost.

After making several wrong turns, he finally arrived a half-hour

late. The hearse was nowhere in sight and cemetery workers were

relaxing under a near-by tree, eating their lunch.

The pastor went to the open grave and found that the vault lid

was already in place. He took out his book and read the service.

As he returned to his car, he overheard one of the workers say,

“Maybe we’d better tell him it’s a septic tank.”

Why is it we make our biggest mistakes in public? And some people

can’t avoid it…former hockey goalie Jacques Plante wonders,

“How would you like a job where, if you made a mistake, a big,

red light goes on and 18,000 people boo?”

But we should never give up our right to be wrong. Good judgment

comes from experience and experience comes from bad judgment. It

is your right to be wrong. “No (one) ever became great or good

except through many and great mistakes,” said William E.

Gladstone. Great mistakes are opportunities for great learning.

And great learning makes for great living.

You have a right to be wrong. And if you are to build a great

life, you have a duty to make great mistakes. If possible, laugh

at them. Always learn from them. And try to make sure your next

mistake is one you haven’t made before!

Posted by Priya Deelchand

There is always a solution

Wishing to encourage her young son's progress on the piano,

a mother took her boy to a Paderewski concert.

After they were seated, the mother spotted a friend in the

audience and walked down the aisle to greet her. Seizing the

opportunity to explore the wonders of the concert hall, the

little boy rose and eventually explored his way through a door

marked "NO ADMITTANCE."

When the houselights dimmed and the concert was about to begin,

the mother returned to her seat and discovered that the child was

missing. Suddenly, the curtains parted and spotlights focused on

the impressive Steinway on stage.

In horror, the mother saw her little boy sitting at the keyboard,

innocently picking out "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star."

At that moment, the great piano master made his entrance, quickly

moved to the piano, and whispered in the boy's ear, "Don't quit.

Keep playing." Then leaning over, Paderewski reached down with

his left hand and began filling in a bass part. Soon his right arm

reached around to the other side of the child and he added a

running obbligato.

Together, the old master and the young novice transformed a

frightening situation into a wonderfully creative experience.

And the audience was mesmerized.

Whatever our situation in life and history--however outrageous,

however desperate, DON'T QUIT. There is always a solution.

You have the power to transform any problem into a way to

mesmerize your audience...

- Author unknown -

Posted by Priya Deelchand