PROFOUND THOUGHTS # 1 

A GLASS OF WATER

A chemistry professor decided to teach his students a different lesson one day. Holding a glass of water in his hand, he asked the students, “How much do you think this glass of water weighs?” “500 grams!” came a voice from the back. “600,” said another student. “I don’t really know!” said the professor, holding the glass up to make sure everyone could see it. “And unless we weigh it, we won’t know.” With the glass still in his outstretched hand, the professor continued, “What will happen if I hold it like this for a few minutes?”

“Nothing!” came the reply. “Right, and if I hold it for an hour like this, what might happen?” “Your hand will begin to hurt,” said a student. “Indeed. And what would happen if I held the glass in my hand like this for 24 hours?”

“You would be in tremendous pain,” said one student. “Your hand will probably go numb,” said another. “Your arm will be paralysed and we’ll need to rush you to the hospital!” said a student on the last bench.

“True,” said the professor. “But notice that through all this, the weight of the glass did not change. What then causes the pain?”

The class went quiet. The students seemed puzzled.“What should I do to avoid the pain?” asked the professor. “Put the glass down!” said a student.

“Well said!” exclaimed the professor. “And that’s a lesson I want you to remember. The problems and worries in life are like that glass of water. Think about them for a while and nothing happens. But think about it a bit longer and they begin to hurt. And if you think about them all day long, you will feel paralysed – incapable of doing anything. It’s important to remember to let go of your problems. Remember to put the glass down!”

We may not have been in that classroom that day, but it’s a lesson we would all do well to remember. Put the glass down! Always. It’s not just problems and worries. Sometimes, we feel hurt and betrayed by a friend. And we carry that grudge through our lives. It grows and causes us anguish and pain. Learning to forgive – and forget – is not just good for the other people, it’s great for you. Nelson Mandela spent 27 years in jail and when he was finally freed, you can understand how angry and vengeful he must have felt. But guess what? When he became President, he invited his jailers to be present at the inauguration – in the VIP seats! If he could forgive after 27 years of suffering, surely we can too.

It is the same with our fears too. A failure or an incident in early childhood becomes a deeply entrenched fear over time. Fear of public speaking, fear of Maths, fear of rejection. You name it, and chances are, we have it. Someone gave us that glass to hold when we were little kids – ‘you are clumsy, you are no good, you can’t do it’ – and we have faithfully held on to it all our lives. ‘I can’t’ – becomes a thought that stays in our mind and grows – leading us to complete paralysis. Time to put the glass down!

The story goes that there was a hardworking man who lived a contented life with his wife and children. Every evening when he returned from work, he’d follow a ritual. Outside the door to his house were three nails. On the first one, he’d put his hat. On the second he’d hang his coat. And on the third nail, he’d unwrap an imaginary turban from his head and ‘put’ it there. A friend happened to see this and enquired what he was putting on the third nail every day.

“Those are my problems, my worries and my anger,” said the man. “I have lots of that at work, but when I come home, I remember to take it off – and leave them outside. I don’t take them home with me.” Maybe you should learn to do that too. Starting today. Put the glass down. And see the difference!

 

PROFOUND THOUGHTS # 2

DESTINY

Life is all about choices. Your destiny is the sum of your choices. Fortunately, you only have two choices to make – less or more. In the first choice, all you have to do is read less, learn less, think less, know less, produce less, earn less, become less materially and spiritually, and contribute less to the society.

In the second option, you read more, learn more, think more, know more, produce more, earn more, and become and contribute more materially and spiritually to the society.

You can choose to be less or more. Why not stretch up to the full measure of the challenge and see what you can become in business or life.

If you want to be a winner always start with the crowd, but eventually leave the crowd. A crowd never wins. Winning is a lone process, but you can share the joy of winning with the crowd.

Life is a balanced equation. The more you give, the more you receive. Obey the laws of nature.

Your destiny is moulded as you journey towards it. Success is not so much what you have as what you are. Do not pursue success rather attract it by the person you become.

The road to your destiny should be paved with faith. Believe in the best of you, hope for the best of you and expect the best of you. Commanding the best of you will lead you to be the best of the Universe.

The best in you can only be balanced by the best in nature. You cannot clone the best, you cannot fake or imitate the best. You can only become the best through your personal efforts. Becoming the best is a progressive empowerment effort.

The best attitude leads to the best aptitude. You become the best by personal design and your attitude. Without focusing on the road-map of your destiny, you simply are stumbling through life.

Your destiny is a personal process based on a personal choice. Desire is simply a possibility seeking expression.

The worst crime you can commit to yourself is to be casual about your life. Casualness in life leads to casualties in your life. Do not run after success; rather become the success you want to be. With the right attitude, you can transform your frustrations into fascinations.

Devoting yourself to your destiny will generate faith. Of all the tragedies that could befall you, none is worse than losing faith in yourself. Faith is a powerful motivational driver to your destiny. You must remain focused on your journey to your destiny and leave the world a bit better than you found it.

Do not waste time blaming your family or self for present conditions; most of the greatest and most successful persons started their lives with a handicap. Benjamin Franklin, Abraham Lincoln and even Napoleon all lived in poverty.

Use the much you have at present to jump-start your journey to your destiny. Your destiny comes from within you and not from without. All your discordant conditions must be cured in your own thought first. By thought you design your destiny; by action you reach your destiny.

The biggest mistake you can make is to underestimate your power to develop and to accomplish. Your destiny is not a thing that awaits you at some far-off shrine. Your destiny lies in doing well in whatever you are doing now. It is more a matter of mental attitude than of mental capacity.

Plant the seed of your desire in your mind and let it form a nucleus with power to attract everything needed for its fulfillment. The seed of your desire needs the mental sunshine of faith and will power for the journey to your destiny.

 

PROFOUND THOUGHTS # 3

THE RACE

Leo Tolstoy once told a story about a race. The winner would be awarded all of the land around which he could walk or run from sunrise to sunset.

Finally, the race began. One man walked leisurely at first; after all, he had all day. But then, his mind began to work on him. “All the land I can encompass in a day is mine.” And so he speeded up his pace until he was running. His heart beat faster, and his breath became shorter, and he became more and more fatigued. However, he pressed on.

He tore through thickets and tumbled down hills. He ran until he was at the point of absolute exhaustion – until he felt he couldn’t take another step. And then, just as the sun was going down, he saw the finish line. With his last bit of strength, he staggered to the finish line and fell over it… dead.

They gave him the land. He is buried there, six feet under it.

 

PROFOUND THOUGHTS # 4

RESPONSE OR REACTION ? 

At a restaurant, a cockroach suddenly flew from somewhere and sat on a lady. She started screaming out of fear. With a panic stricken face and trembling voice, she started jumping, with both her hands desperately trying to get rid of the cockroach. Her reaction was contagious, as everyone in her group also got panicky.
The lady finally managed to push the cockroach away but …it landed on another lady in the group. Now, it was the turn of the other lady in the group to continue the drama.
The waiter rushed forward to their rescue. In the relay of throwing, the cockroach next fell upon the waiter. The waiter stood firm, composed himself and observed the behavior of the cockroach on his shirt. When he was confident enough, he grabbed it with his fingers and threw it out of the restaurant. Sipping my coffee and watching the amusement, the antenna of my mind picked up a few thoughts and started wondering, was the cockroach responsible for their histrionic behaviour? If so, then why was the waiter not disturbed? He handled it near to perfection, without any chaos.
It is not the cockroach, but the inability of the ladies to handle the disturbance caused by the cockroach that disturbed the ladies. I realized that, it is not the shouting of my father or my boss or my wife that disturbs me, but its my inability to handle the disturbances caused by their shouting that disturbs me. Its not the traffic jams on the road that disturbs me, but my inability to handle the disturbance caused by the traffic jam that disturbs me. More than the problem, it’s my reaction to the problem that creates chaos in my life. Lessons learnt from the story:
I understood, I should not react in life. I should always respond. The women reacted, whereas the waiter responded. Reactions are always instinctive whereas responses are always well thought of, just and right to save a situation from going out of hands, to avoid cracks in relationship, to avoid taking decisions in anger, anxiety, stress or hurry.

 

 

PROFOUND THOUGHTS # 5

THE GIFT

Some time ago, a man punished his 3-year-old daughter for wasting a roll of gold wrapping paper. Money was tight and he was furious when the child tried to decorate a box. Nevertheless, the little girl brought the gift to her father the next morning and said, “This is for you, Daddy.” He was embarrassed by his earlier overreaction, but his anger flared again when he found the box was empty.

He yelled at her, “Don’t you know when you give someone a present, there’s supposed to be something inside it? The little girl looked up at him with tears in her eyes and said, “Oh, Daddy, it’s not empty, I blew kisses into the box. All for you, Daddy.”

The father was crushed. He put his arms around his little girl, and he begged for her forgiveness. An accident took the life of the child only a short time later and it is told that the man kept that gold box by his bed for many years and whenever he was discouraged, he would take out an imaginary kiss and remember the love of the child who had put it there.

In a very real sense, each of us as humans have been given a gold container filled with unconditional love and kisses from our children, students, friends, family, teachers or God. Even our pets! There is no more precious possession anyone could hold than love.

 

 

PROFOUND THOUGHTS # 6

POINT OF VIEW

Situation 1

Director’s story – “I’ve just completed our road-shows around the business, we presented for 2 hours letting everyone know the company business plan, what the future holds, it was really invigorating. There was no dissension whatsoever, I’m really fired up.”

Worker’s story – “We had to down tools last week to sit and listen to a load of company bullshit. It took two hours and we lost our bonus for the day, thanks a lot!”

Moral to the story – What’s interesting to Directors might not be interesting to the workforce.

 Situation 2

 Team leader’s story – “I got the team together in the office today in order to thank them for their great work over the last couple of months during these difficult times.”

Team member’s story – “We got our usual pep talk today, you’re all doing really well but you cannot let up, there can be no slacking, blah, blah, blah, nag, nag, nag.”

Moral to the story – If you are going to thank people then just do that and nothing else.