DON'T JUST LAUGH LEARN THE LESSON.

During lunch at work, I ate 3 plates of beans (which I know I shouldn't). When I got home, my husband seemed excited to see me and exclaimed delightedly, "Darling I have a surprise for dinner tonight." He then blindfolded me and led me to my chair at the dinner table. I took a seat and just as he was about to remove my blindfold, the telephone rang. He made me promise not to touch the blindfold until he returned and went to answer the call. The beans I had consumed were still affecting me and the pressure was becoming unbearable, so while my husband was out of the room I seized the opportunity, shifted my weight to one leg and let one go. 

 

It was not only loud, but it smelled like a fertilizer truck running over a skunk in front of a garbage dump! I took my napkin from my lap and fanned the air around me vigorously. Then, shifting to the other leg, I ripped off three more. The stink was worse than cooked cabbage. Keeping my ears carefully tuned to the conversation in the other room, I went on releasing atomic bombs like this for another few minutes. The pleasure was indescribable! Eventually the telephone farewells signaled the end of my freedom, so I quickly fanned the air a few more times with my napkin, placed it on my lap and folded my hands back on it feeling very relieved and pleased with myself. My face must have been the picture of innocence when my husband returned, apologizing for taking so long. He asked me if I had peaked through the blindfold, and I assured him I had not. 

 

At this point, he removed the blindfold, and twelve dinner guests seated around the table, with their hands to their noses, chorused, "Happy Birthday!"

The Triple-Filter Test

In ancient Greece, Socrates was reputed to hold knowledge in high

esteem. One day an acquaintance met the great philosopher and said,

"Do you know what I just heard about your friend?"

 

"Hold on a minute," Socrates replied. "Before you talk to me about my

friend, it might be good idea to take a moment and filter what you’re

going to say. That’s why I call it the triple filter test. The first filter is

Truth. Have you made absolutely sure that what you are about to tell

me is true?"

 

"Well, no," the man said, "actually I just heard about it and…"

 

"All right," said Socrates. "So you don’t really know if it’s true or not.

 

Now, let’s try the second filter, the filter of Goodness. Is what you are

about to tell me about my friend something good?"

 

"Umm, no, on the contrary…"

 

"So," Socrates continued, "you want to tell me something bad about my

friend, but you’re not certain it’s true. You may still pass the test

though, because there’s one filter left—the filter of Usefulness. Is what

you want to tell me about my friend going to be useful to me?"

 

"No, not really."

 

"Well," concluded Socrates, "if what you want to tell me is neither true,

nor good, nor even useful, why tell it to me at all?"

BE DIFFERENT

For research purpose, scientists placed 5 monkeys in a cage, with a ladder in the middle and bananas on the top. Every time a monkey went up the ladder, the scientist soaked the rest of the monkeys with cold water. After a while, whenever a monkey attempted to climb the ladder, others would beat him up. After some time, no monkey dared go up the ladder regardless of the temptation. Scientists then decided to replace one of the monkeys.

As expected, the new monkey instantly fell for the temptation and was beaten up by the rest. After several beatings, this new member learnt not to climb up the ladder even though he never learnt the real reason. Then, a second monkey was brought in and the same thing happened. The first monkey participated in the beating of the second monkey.

The replacements continued, until only a group of 5 monkeys were left in the cage. Even though the new group of monkeys never received a cold shower, they continued to beat up any monkey that attempted to climb the ladder. If you asked any of the new monkeys why the beatings took place, the answer would probably be, “Well, how do I know. I guess that's how things are done around here!" 

 

MORAL

You will never influence the world if you continue doing things the way they have always been done. Be different. Create chaos. Leave an echo behind!

One of the greatest challenges in life is being yourself in a world that's trying to make you like everyone else.  

GRATITUDE

A blind boy sat on the steps of a building with a hat by his feet. He held up a sign which read, “I am blind, please help.”

 

There were only a few coins in the hat – spare change from folks as they hurried past.

 

A man was walking by. He took a few coins from his pocket and dropped them into the hat. He then took the sign, turned it around, and wrote some words.

Then he put the sign back in the boy’s hand so that everyone who walked by would see the new words.

 

Soon the hat began to fill up. A lot more people were giving money to the blind boy.

 

That afternoon, the man who had changed the sign returned to see how things were.

 

The boy recognized his footsteps and asked, “Were you the one who changed my sign this morning? What did you write?”

 

The man said, “I only wrote the truth. I said what you said but in a different way.” I wrote, “Today is a beautiful day, but I cannot see it.”

 

Both signs spoke the truth. But the first sign simply said the boy was blind, while the second sign conveyed to everyone walking by how grateful they should be to see…

 

MORALS: When your life seems full of troubles, it seems difficult to maintain an attitude of gratitude, doesn’t it? All we see are our problems, like a blackened storm cloud casting a dark shadow over our lives.

 

And the times when everything just seems to be going smoothly? We often take these precious moments for granted too, don’t we? Caught up in the bliss, comfort, and familiarity of it all, we can simply forget to be thankful.

It was too late to escape

A lady was once heating up a pot of water on a gas stove with the intent of cooking pasta for her family for dinner. A frog fell into the pot while it was sitting on the stove. While it wasn’t his intention to be stuck in a pot of water, he didn’t try to escape. He was comfortable enough as he was.

 

The lady soon turned on the flame to begin boiling the water. As the water’s temperature began to rise, the frog was able to adjust his body temperature accordingly, so he remained in the pot without trying to do anything to change the situation.

 

However, as the water approached its boiling point, the frog’s body temperature could no longer keep up. He finally tried to jump out of the pot, but with water temperature continuing to increase, he didn’t have it in him to make the leap.

It was too late for the frog to save himself.

 

The Moral:

Things don’t always go as planned in life, and they certainly don’t always go the way we want them to. But, no matter how bad a situation is, it’s critical to be proactive and face the problem head-on.

 

Unlike the frog, who waited until the last minute to try to do anything about the problem he was clearly facing, it’s important to project the future outcomes of the obstacles that hinder you and mediate them before they get past the point of no return. You have to avoid wasting time and take appropriate action before problems get out of hand or become too much to handle.

THE LITTLE BOY'S MEETING WITH GOD

There once was a little boy who wanted to meet God. He knew it was a long trip to where God lived, so he packed his suitcase with Twinkies and a six-pack of root beer and started his journey. When he had gone about three blocks, he met an old woman. She was sitting in the park just staring at some pigeons.

The boy sat down next to her and opened his suitcase. He was about to take a drink from his root beer when he noticed that the old lady looked hungry, so he offered her a Twinkies. She gratefully accepted it and smiled at him. Her smile was so pretty that the boy wanted to see it again, so he offered her a root beer. Once again she smiled at him. The boy was delighted! They sat there all afternoon eating and smiling, but they never said a word.

 

As it grew dark, the boy realized how tired he was, and he got up to leave but before he had gone more than a few steps, he turned around, ran back to the old woman and gave her a hug. She gave him her biggest smile ever. When the boy opened the door to his own house a short time later, his mother was surprised by the look of joy on his face. She asked him, “What did you do today that made you so happy?” He replied, “I had lunch with God.” But, before his mother could respond, he added, “You know what? She’s got the most beautiful smile I’ve ever seen!”

 

Meanwhile, the old woman, also radiant with joy, returned to her home. Her son was stunned by the look of peace on her face and he asked, “Mother, what did you do today that made you so happy?” She replied, “I ate Twinkies in the park with God.” But, before her son responded, she added, “You know, he’s much younger than I expected.”

 

Moral: God is everywhere. We just need to share our happiness and make others smile to feel him.

I SHOULD HAVE DONE IT BETTER.

A carpenter who was nearing retirement told his boss that he was ready to end his career and spend his time with his wife and family. He would miss his work, but he felt it was time to spend his time with the people who were important to him.

 

His boss was saddened by this news, as this carpenter had been a good, reliable employee for many years. He asked the carpenter if he could do him a favor and build just one more house.

 

The carpenter reluctantly conceded, even though his passion for building had faded.

 

While he was building this last house, his normal work ethic faded and his efforts were mediocre, at best. He used inexpensive and inferior materials and cut corners wherever he could. It was a poor way to finish such a dedicated career that he once had.

 

When the carpenter was finished, his boss came to look at the house. He gave the key to the carpenter and said, “This house is my gift to you for all of the hard work you have done for me over the years.”

 

The carpenter was astonished.

 

What a generous gift this was to receive from his boss, but if he had known he was building a house for himself, he would have made his usual efforts to create a high-quality home.

 

The Moral:

The same idea applies to how you build your life. Every day that you wake up offers an opportunity for you to put your best foot forward, yet we often do mediocre work, saving the more important things for “another” day. Then one day, we find ourselves shocked that our lives aren’t what we had hoped they would be. The “house” we built to live in has a lot of flaws due to a lack of effort.

However, you can’t go back and rebuild it in a day or two. As people say, “Life is a do-it-yourself project.” Your attitude and choices help build the life you will live tomorrow. Build carefully.