The Weight of the Glass

Once upon a time a psychology professor walked around on a stage while teaching stress management principles to an auditorium filled with students. As she raised a glass of water, everyone expected they’d be asked the typical “glass half empty or glass half full” question. Instead, with a smile on her face, the professor asked, “How heavy is this glass of water I’m holding?”

Students shouted out answers ranging from eight ounces to a couple pounds.

She replied, “From my perspective, the absolute weight of this glass doesn’t matter. It all depends on how long I hold it. If I hold it for a minute or two, it’s fairly light. If I hold it for an hour straight, its weight might make my arm ache a little. If I hold it for a day straight, my arm will likely cramp up and feel completely numb and paralyzed, forcing me to drop the glass to the floor. In each case, the weight of the glass doesn’t change, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it feels to me.”

As the class shook their heads in agreement, she continued, “Your stresses and worries in life are very much like this glass of water. Think about them for a while and nothing happens. Think about them a bit longer and you begin to ache a little. Think about them all day long, and you will feel completely numb and paralyzed – incapable of doing anything else until you drop them.”

The moral: It’s important to remember to let go of your stresses and worries. No matter what happens during the day, as early in the evening as you can, put all your burdens down. Don’t carry them through the night and into the next day with you. If you still feel the weight of yesterday’s stress, it’s a strong sign that it’s time to put the glass down.

Pass or Fail Story

 Once a teacher told her students that she hadn't failed anyone in the class. A cheer went around the class. Then she told them again that she hadn't passed anyone either. And she told them that it is you, students had done it. Yes, it is true. We are the ones, who are making ourselves, pass or fail in life. No one else.

A Christmas Story-A True Story of a Holiday Miracle

A Christmas Story -- A True Story of a Holiday Miracle

A John Harricharan Adventure. It could be yours, too!

Long, long ago, in a small, tropical village in a country far, far away, a little boy lived with his parents in a two room house. He could not have been more than four or five years old and his entire experience of life was limited to the fishing and farming village, his neighbors and friends.

It wasn't that the little boy was unhappy. Given his situation, he was a rather cheerful, optimistic lad, but times were hard for his parents. The village was recovering from the recent floods that had wiped out his parents livelihood. And the Christmas holidays were just around the corner.

Now in this little village of long ago, people of various religions lived and worked together in harmony. Everyone enjoyed each other's religious holidays and everyone looked forward to the celebrations where Christians, Hindus, Muslims and others would gather. The parents would provide gifts for the children and little boys and little girls would squeal with delight as they played with their simple toys.

It wasn't an expensive gift by today's standards, but in that village of long ago, as Christmas approached, any gift would be considered expensive. Yes, you and I would probably smile when we realize that all the little boy wanted was a balloon -- just a simple little blue balloon.

You see, the little boy had seen pictures of brightly colored balloons and had even seen balloons that belonged to children of more affluent families. But he had never had his own balloon and so he longed for one. In the village, balloons were only sold in one shop and that shop was far from the little boy's home.

And the cost of a balloon? Just one penny! You would think that a penny was hardly anything, but in those days, literally every penny had to be used very carefully. When the little boy's parents had to choose between food and a balloon, the choice was naturally food.

The little boy was very sad. For weeks he had been thinking of the lovely, blue balloon he would get for Christmas. After another day or so, his mother, like all good mothers, determined to find her little boy a penny to get his blue balloon. Again, like most mothers, she sacrificed her own needs to get her son his wish.

Imagine how happy the little boy was! Clutching the penny tightly in his small hand, he set off for the store. He did not care that he would have to walk for more than a mile in the blazing hot, tropical sun to get his balloon. He moved as fast as his little legs would carry him -- sometimes half-running and then walking quickly. Now he would have his blue balloon.

But fate played a trick on the little boy. There was no blue balloon at the store -- only one balloon was left. And it was a drab green one, a color he didn't really like. He probably thought that a green balloon was better than no balloon at all, so he bought and paid for it. But things were to get much worse very quickly.

As he was returning home, he decided to inflate the balloon by blowing air into it. Suddenly, there was a loud sound and the balloon burst into pieces. At first, the boy couldn't believe it. He just stopped and stared at the rubbery shards in his hand. After all the trouble to get this one balloon and then, just like in life, in a split second it was gone.

He continued walking home and although he was a brave  little chap, tears streamed down his cheeks. After all, he was just four or five years old. His parents would not be able to spare another penny to buy a replacement balloon. And even if they were able to, there were no balloons left in the store. By now, his tiny feet were tired from all the walking so he sat down on a little rock at the side of the road.

That's when he saw the stranger. He wasn't quite sure why he hadn't seen the man sooner. He must have been too absorbed in his own problems to notice anything. Rarely were there strangers who came through the village. The man smiled a kindly smile and inquired of the little boy why he had tears in his eyes.

The little boy explained his plight. With a knowing wink, the man reached into a bag he was carrying on his shoulder and pulled out a small box. "I have a gift for you," he said as he handed the box to the little boy.

"Go ahead. Open it," he continued. Imagine the surprise of the little boy as he peered into the box and saw three, uninflated, beautiful blue balloons, each one with a picture of a star on it. He turned to say "thank you" to the stranger, but there was nobody there. The man was gone.

Perhaps it was an angel, thought the little boy. Or maybe the stranger just disappeared into thin air. But that would be magic, reasoned the little fellow. You see, there is magic in the heart and soul of every little boy and every little girl on Earth. They know it, but they forget the magic as they grow older.

Years have come and years have gone, but that was one of the happiest Christmas I ever spent. Every once in a while, or perhaps, even more often than once in a while, if I choose to sit quietly and revisit that scene of yesteryear, I could still see the kindness in the stranger's eyes and the beautiful stars on the blue balloons.

It was a great lesson that I learned that day. Sometimes when life takes something away from you, it is only because it wants to bring you something much better. Life took my little balloon because it wanted me to have three beautiful, bigger and better balloons.

We may not understand why things happen the way they do, but this I know: If we trust the process and we keep on keeping on, the dark valleys of life will eventually lead into beautiful fields of light and splendor. You are cared for and protected by a Force that transcends time and space -- a Force that has existed forever and that loves you unconditionally.

Last, but not least, I must tell you this before I go! If you want to help a little boy or a little girl get a toy this holiday season, I will give you a link where you can make a contribution to "Toys for Tots". Each year, my dear friend, Rick Beneteau, runs a campaign to raise funds to provide some needy children with a few precious gifts.

Rick has been doing this year after year, and in some ways, he reminds me of the stranger who walked through the little village and brought me the three beautiful, blue balloons. A contribution of any amount would be welcomed. It could be as small as a dollar or as large as you want to make it.

And it's easy to contribute through Paypal (I just made my contribution). No matter how bad things may be with us, we can always decide to help someone by giving even a small amount. For it is in giving that we are able to receive blessings beyond our fondest dreams. Here is the link for "Toys for Tots":

(InternetToyDrive.org)

I wish all of you a wonderful holiday season. It doesn't matter which holidays you celebrate or not celebrate, we are all in one great celebration, the celebration of life.

May this season and the coming new year be filled with peace, joy, prosperity and all good things for you.

Always,

John

Suspect Ultimate Chicken Story (Mind Blowing Climax)

 A farmer rears twenty-five young hens and one old cock. As he feels that the old cock could no longer handle his job efficiently, the farmer bought one young cock from the market. 

 

Old cock to Young cock : "Welcome to join me, we will work together towards productivity. 

 

Young cock : What you mean? As far as I know, you are old and should be retired. 

 

Old cock : Young boy, there are twenty-five hens here, can't I help you with some? 

 

Young cock : No! Not even one, all of them will be mine. 

 

Old cock : In this case, I shall challenge you to a competition and if I win you shall allow me to have one hen and if I lose you will have all. 

 

Young cock : O.K. What kind of competition? 

 

Old cock: 50 meter run. From here to that tree. But due to my age, I hope you allow me to start off the first 10 meters. 

 

Young cock : No problem ! We will compete tomorrow morning. Confidently, the following morning, the Young cock allows the Old cock to start off and when the Old cock crosses the 10 meters mark the Young cock chases him with all his might. 

 

Soon enough, he was behind the Old cock back in a matter of seconds. 

 

Suddenly, Bang! ...... before he could overtake the old cock, he was shot dead by the farmer, who cursed, "Hell ! This is the fifth GAY chicken I've bought this week !"

Bad Day at the Office?

 Hello

If you don't laugh out loud after you read this you are in a coma! 

 

This is even funnier when you realize it's real! Next time you have a bad day at work, think of this guy. 

 

Rob is a commercial saturation diver for Global Divers in Louisiana. He performs underwater repairs on offshore drilling rigs. Below is an E-mail he sent to his sister. She then sent it to radio station 103.2 on FM dial in Ft. Wayne, Indiana, who was sponsoring a worst job experience contest. 

 

Needless to say, she won. 

 

Hi Sue, just another note from your bottom-dwelling brother. Last week I had a bad day at the office. I know you've been feeling down lately at work, so I thought I would share my dilemma with you to make you realize it's not so bad after all. 

 

Before I can tell you what happened to me, I first must bore you with a few technicalities of my job. As you know, my office lies at the bottom of the sea. I wear a suit to the office. It's a wet suit. This time of year the water is quite cool, so what we do to keep warm is this: we have a diesel-powered industrial water heater. 

 

This $20,000 piece of equipment sucks the water out of the sea. It heats it to a delightful temperature. It then pumps it down to the diver through a garden hose, which is taped to the air hose. Now this sounds like a darn good plan, and I've used it several times with no complaints. 

 

What I do, when I get to the bottom and start working, is take the hose and stuff it down the back of my wet suit. This floods my whole suit with warm water. It's like working in a Jacuzzi. 

 

Everything was going well, until all of a sudden, my butt started to itch. So, of course, I scratched it. This only made things worse. Within a few seconds, my butt started to burn. 

 

I pulled the hose out from my back, but the damage was done. In agony, I realized what had happened. The hot water machine had sucked up a jellyfish and pumped it into my suit. 

 

Now, since I don't have any hair on my back, the jellyfish couldn't stick to it. However, the crack of my butt was not as fortunate. When I scratched what I thought was an itch, I was actually grinding the jellyfish into the crack of my butt. 

 

I informed the dive supervisor of my dilemma over the communicator. His instructions were unclear due to the fact that he, along with five other divers, were all laughing hysterically. 

 

Needless to say, I aborted the dive. I was instructed to make three agonizing in-water decompression stops totaling thirty-five minutes before I could reach the surface to begin my chamber dry decompression. 

 

When I arrived at the surface, I was wearing nothing but my brass helmet. As I climbed out of the water, the medic, with tears of laughter running down his face, handed me a tube of cream and told me to rub it on my butt as soon as I got in the chamber.

 

The cream put the fire out, but I couldn't poop for two days because my butt was swollen shut. So, next time you're having a bad day at work, think about how much worse it would be if you had a jellyfish shoved up your butt. 

 

Now repeat to yourself, "I love my job, I love my job, I love my job." Now whenever you have a bad day, ask yourself: Is this a jellyfish bad day? 

 

May you NEVER have a jellyfish bad day!!!!! 

 

Here is the link to learn how to change your day and your life for good: 

 

PS. I sent this to my sister who just learned how to scuba dive and she laughed her butt off. It feels good to make someone's day. Laughter is the key to a long life. Give the gift of life to others.

Story of Donkey

Socrates the ancient Greek Philosopher used to give public discourses about serious subjects like Life and the afterlife while standing in a big stone in the corner of the market. People in the market and the passers-by come and listen for a few minutes and then they leave when they listen to his philosophy. They did not pay much attention to his philosophy. Socrates, when he found that the people are not giving much attention to his philosophy decided to do something different.

Socrates then announced to the general public that he is going to tell a story. A very interesting story. And started his story. People who heard his announcement came near very eagerly to listen to his story.

He started like this. “There was a merchant who has a lot of merchandise to sell decided to go to another city so that he could get some extra profit from the business. He packed his goods and took it on his shoulder and left for another city before the daybreak. He has to cross a big mountain to reach another city. There is no other way but to climb the mountain with his goods. While he was walking he found another man with a donkey also heading to the same city the merchant was going to. They were walking together and talking to each other and become friends. Then the merchant asked the man to rent his donkey to hold his merchandise till they reach the other city. The man agreed for a certain amount of money.”

At this point, Socrates found that a large audience gathered around him to listen to the story, and a lot of people forget their duty and listening to his story. People used to come and listen and leave within a few minutes also forget their business and stay back to listen to the story. 

Then he continued his story like this: “They have to climb a steep mountain to reach their destination. The merchant placed his merchandise upon the donkey and they started in the morning. It was easy to walk in the morning. As the day progressed, it become very tough for them to climb the mountain. They were sweating and become very tired. But as soon as the sun came on top of their head They decided to take a rest.”

Socrates found a large number of people gathered around him and very eagerly listening to his story. He continued:

“It was Noon and they were tired. They decided to take a break. But there were no trees or shade where they could sit and take rest, there was only the shade of donkey who carried the merchandise. Under the shade of that donkey, there was space for only one man. The owner of the donkey told the other man that the shade of the donkey is solely belongs to him as he is the owner. But the merchant wants to sit and take a rest so he disagrees with the argument of the owner of the donkey saying that right now he hired the donkey so the shade of the donkey solely belongs to him only.

The owner of the donkey told that he only let out the donkey, not the shade. But the merchant said that when he hired the donkey, the shade also belongs to him. Both the men fell into a fierce argument for the shade of the donkey. Both argued that it belongs to them legally.”

By this time there was a large number of people gathered around Socrates. So He climbed down from the stone where he was standing and walked away. People followed him requesting to complete the story. He paid no attention to them and continued his walking. People were following him and requesting him to complete the story all the more. They pressed him hard for the end of the story, so he stopped walking and turned to them and said. “I was talking to you people about great and serious things like life and the afterlife. But you were not paying any attention. But when I started to tell about an imaginative story of a Donkey and it shade you are very eager to listen and want to know the end of the story. You are paying more attention to silly things and ignoring the important things in life. You should look for important things in life, do not run after silly things like stories. Do some important things every day and pursue it.”

 

Honesty Is Still the Best Policy

Once a general manager wanted to test his people who had come from all over India, about their values of life.

He announced that in their seminar folder, there is a PVC pouch and in it, there is a seed. When they return, they must put it in good soil in a pot and look after it very well.

He would hold a competition in the next year's seminar and that the best plants would be awarded suitably.

Everyone did what was told to him. A year passed quickly. And next year in a big hall, there were hundreds of pots and a great variety of plants-a great scene.

Except for one pot in which the soil was there and no plant! The owner was standing quietly and seemingly ashamed of himself!

The general manager called him on the stage. He asked him what happened and he told him the truth. He planted the seed which he was given – and did that was to be done- but nothing happened!

The general manager declared him the winner!

Everyone was shocked. It was announced, "Gentlemen! The seeds I gave you were boiled seeds. You planted them and nothing happened! You acted smartly and used some other seeds.

This man was honest to his work and, therefore he did not cheat me or himself!"