Bedtime stories for Adults.

 

 

SHARED THOUGHTS….. 19.11.11

===============================

Let me share with you some bedtime stories....  in fact, powerpacked short stories some real & others fictional collected from a variety of sources, with some relevant postscript,  good enough to generate a positive charge in our way of thinking & reacting under various circumstances at our workplace & also in our personal life.... 

===========================================================

The Black Balloon,
by: Neil Eskelin,

On the streets of New York City a balloon salesman knew how to attract a crowd. Before making his first sale, he took a white balloon, filled it with helium gas and it floated into the air on the string. Next, he inflated a red balloon and then a yellow one. As children gathered around to buy his wares, a little black boy looked up at the balloons and eventually asked, "Mister, if you filled a black balloon, would it go up, too?" The man bent down and looked the boy in the eyes and said, "Of course. It's not the color of the balloon, it's what's inside that makes it rise."

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hidden Treasure Amongst Us

A man was exploring some caves by the seashore. In one of the caves he found a canvas bag with a bunch of hardened clay balls. It was like someone had rolled up some clay and left them out in the sun to bake.

They didn't look like much, but they intrigued the man so he took the bag out of the cave with him.

As he strolled along the beach, to pass the time, he would throw the clay balls one at a time out into the ocean as far as he could throw. He thought little about it until he dropped one of the balls and it cracked open on a rock. Inside was a beautiful, precious stone. Excited, the man started breaking open the remaining clay balls. Each contained a similar treasure. He found hundreds of dollars worth of jewels in the 20 or so clay balls he had left, then it struck him.

He had been on the beach a long time. He had thrown maybe 50 or 60 of the clay balls with their hidden treasure into the ocean waves. Instead of hundreds of dollars in treasure, he could have taken home thousands, but he just threw it away.

You know sometimes, it's like that with people. We look at someone, maybe even ourselves, and we see the external clay vessel. It doesn't look like much from the outside.

It isn't always beautiful or sparkling, so we discount it; we see that person as less important than someone more beautiful or stylish or well known or wealthy.

But we have not taken the time to find the treasure hidden inside that person by God. There is a treasure in each and every one of us.

===================================================================

Weakness or Strength?
by: Author Unknown, Bits & Pieces, August 15, 1996 , Economic Press Inc

Sometimes your biggest weakness can become your biggest strength. Take, for example, the story of one 10-year-old boy who decided to study judo despite the fact that he had lost his left arm in a devastating car accident.

The boy began lessons with an old Japanese judo master. The boy was doing well, so he couldn't understand why, after three months of training the master had taught him only one move.

"Sensei," the boy finally said, "Shouldn't I be learning more moves?"

"This is the only move you know, but this is the only move you'll ever need to know," the sensei replied.

Not quite understanding, but believing in his teacher, the boy kept training.

Several months later, the sensei took the boy to his first tournament. Surprising himself, the boy easily won his first two matches. The third match proved to be more difficult, but after some time, his opponent became impatient and charged; the boy deftly used his one move to win the match. Still amazed by his success, the boy was now in the finals.

This time, his opponent was bigger, stronger, and more experienced. For a while, the boy appeared to be overmatched. Concerned that the boy might get hurt, the referee called a time-out. He was about to stop the match when the sensei intervened.

"No," the sensei insisted, "Let him continue."

Soon after the match resumed, his opponent made a critical mistake: he dropped his guard. Instantly, the boy used his move to pin him. The boy had won the match and the tournament. He was the champion.

On the way home, the boy and sensei reviewed every move in each and every match. Then the boy summoned the courage to ask what was really on his mind.

"Sensei, how did I win the tournament with only one move?"

"You won for two reasons," the sensei answered. "First, you've almost mastered one of the most difficult throws in all of judo. And second, the only known defense for that move is for your opponent to grasp your left arm."

The boy's biggest weakness had become his biggest strength.

A life without challenge would be like
going to school without lessons to learn.

Challenges come not to depress or get you down,
but to master and to grow and to unfold your abilities.

 ===============================================================

Obstacles? Deal with Them Now
by: Brian Cavanaugh, T.O.R., The Sower's Seeds

An old farmer had plowed around a large rock in one of his fields for years. He had broken several plowshares and a cultivator on it and had grown rather morbid about the rock.

After breaking another plowshare one day, and remembering all the trouble the rock had caused him through the years, he finally decided to do something about it.

When he put the crowbar under the rock, he was surprised to discover that it was only about six inches thick and that he could break it up easily with a sledgehammer. As he was carting the pieces away he had to smile, remembering all the trouble that the rock had caused him over the years and how easy it would have been to get rid of it sooner.

 If live gives us rocks, don’t sit back and blame life for that.
At every turn of our life, it gives us choices which we fail to recognize.

So when life gives you rocks,
It’s still your choice whether to build a wall or to build a bridge,

(or just try to remove it.)
=========================================================

Lessons of Failure
by: Author Unknown, Source Unknown

Lord, are you trying to tell me something?
For...

Failure does not mean I'm a failure;
It does mean I have not yet succeeded.

Failure does not mean I have accomplished nothing;
It does mean I have learned something.

Failure does not mean I have been a fool;
It does mean I had enough faith to experiment.

Failure does not mean I have disgraced;
It does mean I have dared to try.

Failure does not mean I don't have it;
It does mean I have something to do in a different way.

Failure does not mean I am inferior;
It does mean I am not perfect.

Failure does not mean I have wasted my life;
It does mean that I have an excuse to start over.

Failure does not mean that I should give up;
It does mean that I should try harder.

Failure does not mean that I will never make it;
It does mean that I need more practice.

Failure does not mean that you have abandoned me;
It does mean that you must have a better idea

============================================================
Don’t give up, though the pace seems to be slow,
you may succeed with another blow.

Success is failure turned inside out,
the silver tint of a cloud of doubt.

And you never can tell how close you are,
it may be near when it seems so far.

So stick to the fight when you’re hardest hit,
its when things seem worst - you must not quit.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dig A Little Deeper

There’s a story about the California gold rush that tells of two brothers who sold all they had and went prospecting for gold.

They discovered a vein of the shining ore, staked a claim, and proceeded to get down to the serious business of getting the gold ore out of the mine. All went well at first, but then a strange thing happened. The vein of the gold ore disappeared!

They had come to the end of the rainbow, and the pot of gold was no longer there. The brothers continued to pick away, but without success. Finally they gave up in disgust.

They sold their equipment and claim rights for a few hundred dollars, and took the train back home. Now the man who bought the claim hired an engineer to examine the rock strata of the mine. The engineer advised him to continue digging in the same spot where the former owners had left off. And three
feet deeper, the new owner struck gold.

A little more persistence and the two brothers would have been millionaires themselves. There is gold in you too. Do you need to dig three feet more and find the treasures inside you?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thanks to Gautam Krishnaswamy  &  Pravsworld.

============================================================

Have a good week ahead.

 

MOHANDAS. KP.

http://mohandas-sharedthoughts.blogspot.com/

 

That all important PUSH..

World is one dictator less.... not really !!

 

 

SHARED THOUGHTS…23.10.11

========================================================

 

The world is one dictator less… or is it really? May be, the world is one dictator less, who is known world over… but then how many more dictators are there lesser known to the world.. yet, the world knows these dictators come in all hues and shapes, that exist everywhere, from times immemorial and will continue to thrive…. to make life miserable to others in their own smaller worlds… may be in their households, place of work, within a group or an area or a region…may be of lesser evil, but the residual feeling of bitterness & misery being in equal measure.

 

There comes a point in life, coming with success too fast, too early, too much to digest….when the attitude gets blinded by the supremacy and infallibility of one’s own power… the potency of which is fuelled beyond need by self serving, scavenging coterie… that one’s existence is out of tune with reality… out of sync with the world at large…

 

Its said, power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely… Even the gory images of the fallen might.. will not stir the conscience of the heartless whose continued existence assures only continued misery…

 

If only someone, could have the chance to whisper into the ears of such bigots the simple wisdom of what is permanent and what is not, what matters and what does not, what brings happiness and what does not.. et al… and if only his pride & ego would give way to comprehend those finer aspects of life…..!!!  

 

================================================

The three things we crave for in life...

There is a wonderful mythical law of nature that three things that we crave for most in life -- happiness, freedom, and peace of mind -- are always attained by giving them to someone else !

 

=============================================================

 

Ready or not, someday it will all come to an end.
Live A Life That Matters

 

There will be no more sunrises, no minutes, hours or days.
All the things you collected, whether treasured or forgotten,
will pass to someone else.

 

Your wealth, fame and temporal power will shrivel to irrelevance.
It will not matter what you owned or what you were owed.

 

Your grudges, resentments, frustrations, and jealousies will finally disappear.
So, too, your hopes, ambitions, plans, and to-do lists will expire.

 

The wins and losses that once seemed so important will fade away.
It won't matter where you came from,
or on what side of the tracks you lived, at the end.

 

t won't matter whether you were beautiful or brilliant
Even your gender and skin color will be irrelevant.

 

So what will matter? How will the value of your days be measured?
What will matter is not what you bought, but what you built;
not what you got, but what you gave.

 

What will matter is not your success, but your significance.
What will matter is not what you learned, but what you taught.

 

What will matter is every act of integrity, compassion, or sacrifice that enriched, empowered or encouraged others to emulate your example.

 

What will matter is not your competence, but your character.
What will matter is not how many people you knew,

but how many will feel a lasting loss when you're gone.

 

What will matter is not your memories,

but the memories that live in those who loved you.
What will matter is how long you will be remembered,

by whom and for what.

 

Living a life that matters doesn't happen by accident.
It's not a matter of circumstance but of choice.

 

While you come across something beautiful, the beauty is to share it…
So that these beautiful things will be able to spread out literally
around the world.

 

And not only this, try to think about this message day and night and understand the true meaning behind it .

Make your life and the lives of people whom you love be worth living.

Make others happy as much as you can and happiness will follow you in all your lives to come.

 

(thank you S.Ram)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

First we form habits, then they form us. Conquer your bad habits or they will conquer you!

From Arun.GV

===========================================================

Have a pleasant week ahead... and HAPPY DIWALI & EID AL ADHA.

 

MOHANDAS. KP.

http://mohandas-sharedthoughts.blogspot.com/

iSad... in memory of a visionary....Steve Jobs

 

SHARED THOUGHTS……07.10.2011.

==============================

 

The Arab Times today, headlined, “iSad” in big bold black letters!!

Yes, real sad… the news of the death of Steve Jobs on 5^th Oct night in America, at 56, came as a rude shock. The article that paid tribute to this great visionary, read as…quote… “the June 2005 speech delivered by Jobs offered the college graduates pearls of wisdom as they finished their studies and prepared to embark on life’s way…. But the oft-cited graduation speech to students at Stanford University also offered a fascinating glimpse into the twists and turns of the Apple Chief Executives remarkable life, and the Zen-like philosophy that fueled his creative passion and helped govern his tireless energy. “ unquote. ..

 

After reading this newspaper report, I was trying to retrieve this famous speech.  By a strange co-incidence, I find this speech mailed to me by a friend on 6^th Oct, even before the sad news broke out in this part of the world.

 

What was remarkable in Steve Jobs life had been that he never allowed a long suffering terminal illness to affect his enthusiasm to being creative. To the world, he was an enigmatic show man who enjoyed being in the centre stage of product launches of new and newer systems  … even while the cancer was devouring his own internal system slowly and surely to a full stop.

 

His life was one of

“The be-all and end-all of life should not be to get rich, but to enrich the world.”

 

There are three ingredients in good life - Learning, Earning and Enjoying - what you do.

One of the greatest things in life is not so much where we are, but in what direction we are moving.

You will become as small as your controlling desires, as great as your dominant aspiration.

All animals except man know that the ultimate point of life is to enjoy it.”

 

Enjoy his life he did…. So much so his life was one of ….

 

Understand life and you will understand death.
Conquer life and you will conquer death.
Have no fear of life and you will have no fear of death.

====================================================================

Steve Jobs, who stepped down as CEO of Apple Wednesday ( August 25, 2011 ) after having been on medical leave, reflected on his life, career and mortality in a well-known commencement address at Stanford University in 2005.

 

Here, read the text of of that address:

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. I never graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That's it. No big deal.

 

Just three stories.

 

The first story is about connecting the dots.

 

I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out?

 

It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife. Except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl.

 

So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: "We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?" They said: "Of course." My biological mother later found out that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college.

 

And 17 years later I did go to college. But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents' savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months, I couldn't see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out. And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life.

 

So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn't interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting.

 

It wasn't all romantic. I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it. And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on.

 

Let me give you one example:

Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn't have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can't capture, and I found it fascinating.

 

None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, it's likely that no personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do. Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later.

 

Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.

 

My second story is about love and loss.

 

I was lucky — I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my parents garage when I was 20. We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4000 employees. We had just released our finest creation — the Macintosh — a year earlier, and I had just turned 30. And then I got fired.

 

How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him. So at 30 I was out. And very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating.

 

I really didn't know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down - that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me — I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over.

 

I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.

 

During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife. Pixar went on to create the world’s first computer animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world. In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I returned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple's current renaissance. And Laurene and I have a wonderful family together.

 

I'm pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn't been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith. I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle.

 

My third story is about death.

 

When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.

 

Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

 

About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn't even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor's code for prepare to die. It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you'd have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.

 

I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I'm fine now.

 

This was the closest I've been to facing death, and I hope it's the closest I get for a few more decades.

 

Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept:

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

 

When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960's, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.

 

Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish." It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.

 

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

Thank you all very much.

(thank you Ajay)
========================================================
 

MOHANDAS. KP.

http://mohandas-sharedthoughts.blogspot.com/

 

Life robbed of joy...an introspection.

========================================= ====================
SHARED THOTS...........20/09/08.
==============================================================
life  without joy – one year – an introspection...

--------------------------------------------------------------
From the skies of life,
tearing the clouds of sadness there comes a ray of hope.
Enlightens our world and gives us strength to cope.
It fills in light. It fills in strength And teaches us never to bend.
It makes us smile. It brings us joy.
Makes us as happy as a child with toy.
A Ray of Hope is as beam of light which removes from our lives the darkest night.
                                                  (Pravsworld)
===================================== ==========================
Our darkest night, 20th Sept, will live with us through every day of our life....

over the past few months, I have shared with you all, the impact of that night in our lives, thoughts and actions… more as a treatise to coping with such unexpected twists of fortune in our lives.....

Many have responded with their own perceptions and I thank them and others for their words of comfort.

On a recent visit to Sydney, I was asked a very thought provoking question by my dear niece, how we are coping with the loss as days go by... What will comfort us.... what are we seeking.... and so on….

We really do not know what we are seeking...or if we are seeking any answers at all…!!

I remember a colleague of mine in the '80s, lost his brother in a road accident ; his father then, at about my age, was devastated and lost his mental balance. He is still around, but with no feelings... almost crippled ever since that accident day. 

As opposed to this, we have faced the change of fortune in our lives in a way, everyone says we should,  but yet people may even mistake… that the tragedy has not hit us hard...or for that matter, sometimes, even making us wonder, if there is something wrong with us....are we normal or how abnormal are we before other people who are just incapable of understanding what we are going through.. … 

For us, the first few days were surreal, with so many people around and things to go thru ; the real loss dawned upon us as days went by, when we tried to go back to our lives.... and tried to look ahead.... it was then the total impact of the stress and strain of bereavement became a reality..... That had to be endured.... but how?

There is this QED formula I adopt to be able to cope with this stress ; ie – ‘ reductio ad absurdum’ theory, which we have learnt in solving theorems in Geometry.... reducing rationale or reality into absurdity ; in short, to reduce our mental feelings to the level of near zero or in other words, near animal feelings. 

A herd of bison going in the African plains, do have a ruffle, when one in the group get caught by a predator ; they do not turn back , but just go forward,  they go on and on ; this attitude...of just going forward,  is what has enabled me to live with the stress;  there is no other choice…..

We grieve because we have set for ourselves certain rules of life. We ‘expect’ that our children should outlive us; we ‘expect’ they will be healthy in growing up; we ‘expect’ they will be well behaved ; we ‘expect’ they will continue to love us- parents, all thru; we ‘expect’ they will be successful in life & well settled ; we ‘expect’ they will take care of us -parents, in our old age… and so on...  Life being a journey full of expectations, that we have set for ourselves… and when that journey goes off course, and the destination we have expected to see, is not there anymore, we panic, worry, cry and lose our way in grief and become blind to see the road ahead...

Accepting the change and looking for a new destination is a real challenge that requires every ounce of positive energy & thoughts, coupled with near absence of negative thoughts,  total focus on new or changed priorities ;  a high sense of responsibility ; honest approach to changed situations and above all, total family support and understanding.

Our ancient texts are rich with several clues to the mystery of life, purpose, etc.
From a philosophical point of view, it is believed that when a person dies young, it is because,  he has to take just one more birth, a short one at that, before his soul attains salvation .... he has to fulfill certain obligations early in life and its time to go... in that perspective, we may be fortunate enough to be the parents of a soul that has attained ‘moksha’ or liberation from the cycle of birth & rebirth..…  may be God has chosen us to be the privileged parents for this distinction... we may not realize it if we continue to grieve, but will find consolation and peace, if we accept this view point.

I read recently, about a lady who was grieving... until one morning when she woke up, she looked out of the window and suddenly a realization dawned upon her, that instead of grieving over a loss, however important in her life, which cannot be retrieved, there are so many other wonderful blessings she should be thankful to God... so she set a pattern every day, to write down everything,  however small or significant, that she should thank God for.... and then she  found to her amazement, this process gave her peace and strength more than all the words of consolation from all friends, relatives combined.

Truly, we can find peace and strength from the belief that God has blessed us with a wonderful soul as our son .. who in his short and healthy life, had endeared himself to everyone around and gave us only good times and happy moments to share, remember and preserve in our memory and …  meeting his destiny was the way, God had willed, for him to attain ‘moksha’.... which may not suit our mortal ‘expectations’ we have set for ourselves ; but in the Divine Dispensation, he HAD to keep his tryst with Destiny.

Like for everyone else, we too have many a thing to thank God for, even in our grief, that we can count as His blessings… which we can see only when our eyes are set to see them…

Knowing all these and living by these thoughts, I don’t know to what extent,  any philosophy can infuse more strength for us to face the change... Or if there are any more answers that we can seek.... 
============================================= ========================

And that the mud will be made to be flowers and fruits
And the fruits and flowers will be made to mud and dirt.

If not for adjustment and compromise,
Our physical body in this physical world
Won’t last more than a second.

We have to learn, teach and train ourselves
To be no-one and nothing,
To be unknown and uselessly purposeless.

I am very happy to have one very good friend.

Let him be the symbol of "virtue and beauty"
Understanding and being understood.

Raheem:
===============================================================

have a good peaceful week end.

Mohandas.
camp Bangalore.

Reflection of that day..20.09.09

SHARED THOTS.......20.09.09.
======================================================================
Our best wishes to all during the occasion of Eid Al Fitr and Navarathri – the festivals of joy, peace and prosperity.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

As my next dispatch will be a while later, I am post-dating this to the date, two years ago, which was the last ‘complete’ happy day for our family.

Its said,

When God takes something from your grasp,  He's not punishing you, but merely opening your hands to receive something better.

'The WILL OF GOD will never take you where the GRACE OF GOD will not protect you.' 

How much would you agree to this saying?? When life floats in thin air, smooth and sound, all is fine and you would say, this is True....
But for those having experienced turbulence and shocks, the Will of God is accepted, but to believe that something ‘better’ or good will come out of this kind of loss, is far-fetched and out of this world.....
there will be no easy takers…

Is it God or His proxy who takes away an innocent and a simple soul, at the prime of life??....this has happened to some among our dear and near and to many unknown others, whose loss, for others, is just confined within a routine obituary column of a newspaper..... and if so, its ironical that those, who grieve after them, must console, that this ‘loss’  is opening our hands to receive something better….  !!!

What better can we receive as part of His Grace…. that His Will was not able to protect …??

Such tormenting queries haunt those who have to live with ‘His Will’ contrary to ‘our wishes’..... the irreconcilable loss or sense of missing grips us, every waking moment.... unwilling ever, we come to accept a fact.....  the cruel fact, that some are born to live a shorter life than others......leaving behind  grieving loved ones, giving them a lifetime of memories, to fill the void moments..... until Time can catch up....

The Grace of God manifests itself in giving us the strength to bear the loss and motivate us to lead a life which should be more meaningful and serve a larger purpose than otherwise....
 
As the dreaded date 21st Sept nears,…… . in as much as Time can never ‘heal’ the wound caused by His Will, Time, however long afterward, can never erase the ecstasy of great moments given to us ... and this perhaps is … thanks to His Grace….!!

-------------------------------------------------------------------
I Cried over for you.
I saw your face today, In the face of a stranger
But when I looked again, You were not there anymore

I heard your voice today, In the middle of a crowd
I turned around to listen, But did not hear a sound

I felt your touch today, In the blowing wind
I clung to that moment, Held it to its end

I cried over you today, Drowned in my own sorrow
Then I came to realize, There is always a tomorrow.

======================================================================
From my archives....(Shared Thots.. of June.05.2005).

God didn't promise
days without pain,
laughter without sorrow,
sun without rain,
but He did promise
strength for the day,
comfort for the tears,
and light for the way
=====================================================

WHAT WE ARE IS GOD’S GIFT TO US.
WHAT WE BECOME,IS OUR GIFT TO HIM.
-----------------------------------
SORROW LOOKS BACK
WORRY LOOKS AROUND,
FAITH LOOKS UP.
----------------------------------
FAITH SEES THE REALITY
THAT THE HUMAN EYE CANNOT SEE.
---------------------------------
FAITH CAN NEVER BE WEIGHED
IN THE BALANCE NOR
TESTED IN THE LABORATORY;
IT IS THE MOST WONDERFUL THING.
-------------------------------------
Last week, my THOTS were focused on Time. Received
many mails appreciating the different perspectives of
TIME.

Dana had this to contribute -
Take time to look- it is price of success
Take time to think-it is a source of power
Take time to read-it is a source of wisdom
Take time to be friendly-it is a way of
happiness......

----------------------------------------
Madhavan Kutty.....

I have some contribution to your thoughts on time.

Time and  tide waits for no man-Anon

It is the busiest man who has time for everything-Anon
(Just like yours)

And on a personal note, when I first came to USA in
1978, there was a song going around by Al Stewart
called Time Passages in which the lyrics went
something like this “ Time passes you just, buy me a
ticket on the last train home tonight---.
I was so homesick, I will always remember those lines.
And by the way it has nothing to do with your subject.

(thanks buddy, all the same.)
========================================================================
Enjoy your holidays and have a safe week-end.

KP.Mohandas.
Doha.

Life without Joy.. an introspection

SHARED THOTS...........18/09/08.
===================================================================
Life  without joy –  three years – an introspection.....
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Thoughts… and more thoughts ….coming in with a vengeance. .. flood of thoughts,
like a deluge unleashing its fury mercilessly on our daily lives, rendering us
helpless before its persistent barrage, about to burst open any time to take us
along to its depth of unfathomable despair….. we fight, we resist, we push
forward with all our strength.... even with the immeasurable sense of
missing..!!

Thoughts…..and more thoughts…..  sometimes good ….and more often…. thoughts
difficult to accept…..  denial mode continuing……… digging from memories ……
re-living as if we could playback our life and go frame to frame and pause for
the moment to stay on forever…..or  to once again enjoy the fragrance of those
lost moments…. As if we could capture or pluck those times, out of our
recollections and once again live those treasured days and nights …and live in
the past for ever and ever…  and then the reality strikes …. rudely awakening us
to the present, with a future staring at us… !! we are on an escalator that
pushes you willing or unwilling to go forward .. and forward beckoning us to
meet with our destiny..... NO CHOICE but to go on… 

================================================================================================

Living In You

Some things in life never change,
Sometimes in life you don't find reasons,
Some moments in life aren't forgotten,
Sometimes you lose hope...
When time rolls by you to forget
What holds you on...

Some people in life are a part of you,
And when you let them go,
You never lose them.
Because... you find them living in you.
===========================================================================================

( portions of the 2008 dispatch of Shared Thoughts, of the dreaded night.. which


is so relevant as we are about to face that night once again…. It’s a mild
relief to be able to share these thoughts... thank you for your time...)
Our darkest night, 20th Sept, will live with us through every day of our
life....


Over the past ….., I have shared with you all, the impact of that night in our
lives, thoughts and actions… more as a treatise to coping with such unexpected
twists of fortune in our lives.....


On a recent (2008) visit to Sydney, I was asked a very thought provoking
question by my dear niece, how we are coping with the loss as days go by…...

What will comfort us.... what are we seeking.... and so on…. We really do not
know what we are seeking…..or if we are seeking any answers at

all…!!

I remember a colleague of mine in the '80s, lost his brother in a road accident;
his father then, at about my age, was devastated and lost his mental balance. He
is still around, but with no feelings... almost crippled ever since that
accident day. 


As opposed to this, we have faced the change of fortune in our lives in a way,
everyone says we should,  to the extent, some people may even mistake… that the
tragedy has not hit us hard...or for that matter, sometimes, even making us
wonder, if there is something wrong with us....are we normal or how abnormal are
we before other people who are just incapable of understanding what we are going
through.. … how’s it that we can yet again, smile, joke and go about…?!!


There is this QED formula I adopt to be able to cope with this stress ; ie – ‘
reductio ad absurdum’ theory, which we have learnt in solving theorems in

Geometry.... reducing rationale or reality into absurdity ; in short, to reduce
our mental feelings to the level of near zero or in other words, near animal

feelings. 

A herd of bison going in the African plains, do have a ruffle, when one in the
group get caught by a predator ; they do not turn back , but just go forward, 

they go on and on ; this attitude...of just going forward,  is what has enabled
me to live with the stress;  there is no other choice…..


We grieve because we have set for ourselves certain rules of life. We ‘expect
that our children should outlive us; we ‘expect’ they will be healthy in growing

up; we ‘expect’ they will be well behaved ; we ‘expect’ they will continue to
outlive us- parents, all thru; we ‘expect’ they will be successful in life &
well

settled ; we ‘expect’ they will take care of us -parents, in our old age… and so
on...  Life being a journey full of expectations, that we have set for

ourselves… and when that journey goes off course, and the destination we have
expected to see, is not there anymore, we panic, worry, cry and lose our way in
grief and become blind to see the road ahead...


Accepting the change and looking for a new destination is a real challenge that
requires every ounce of positive energy & thoughts, coupled with near absence of
negative thoughts,  total focus on new or changed priorities ;  a high sense of
responsibility ; honest approach to changed situations and above all, total
family & friends’  support and understanding.


………I read recently, about a lady who was grieving...... until one morning when
she woke up, she looked out of the window and suddenly a realization dawned upon
her, that instead of grieving over a loss, however important in her life, which
cannot be retrieved, there are so many other wonderful blessings she should be
thankful to God... so she set a pattern every day, to write down everything, 
however small or significant, that she should thank God for.... and then she 
found to her amazement, this process gave her peace and strength more than all

the words of consolation from all friends, relatives combined. Truly, we can
find peace and strength from the belief that God has blessed us

with a wonderful soul as our son .. who in his short and healthy life, had
endeared himself to everyone around and gave us only good times and happy

moments to share, remember and preserve in our memory and …  meeting his destiny
was the way, God had willed, for him to attain ‘moksha’.... which may not suit
our mortal ‘expectations’ we have set for ourselves ; but in the Divine
Dispensation, he HAD to keep his tryst with Destiny.

As with everyone else, we too have many a thing to thank God for, even in our
grief, that we can count as His blessings… which we can see only when our eyes
are set to see them…Knowing all these and living by these thoughts, I don’t know
to what extent, any philosophy can infuse more strength for us to face the
change... Or if there are any more answers that we can seek.... 

=======================================================================================

O, Noblest of men, that person of wise judtement equipoised in happiness and
distress whom cannot be disturbed by these is certainly eligible for liberation.
(Bhagawad Gita)
=======================================================================================

I wish I could see through your eyes
so I would know what you like to see.

I wish I knew your wishes,
so I could give you everything you want.

I wish I dreamed the same dreams you do,
and together we could make them come true.

I wish I knew what makes you happy,
so I could make you the happiest person in the whole world.

And lastly, I wish I were a cell in your blood,
so I would be sure I was somewhere in your heart.

(How I wished this wish had remained In a present continuous tense…. And not in
a vain past tense).
=================================================================================

Have a peaceful week ahead.

Mohandas.

Sharing another family's grief, to reduce our own.

SHARED THOUGHTS………..20.09.2011.                                                                                            ==================================                                                                                                                                    

As the 20^th Sept dawns, it gets difficult to face the world without a veil....to mask our emotional under-currents….. for me and family, this is an inevitable imposition to live through the 20^th night to 21^st Sept..  and still be expected to remain,  tranquil and & calm and even smile..…  involuntarily, from the deep crevice of our memory, gushes forth,  the flash back of that dark day….

Today, we find, we are not alone facing the intensity of such trials & tribulations…!!

This dispatch is dedicated not just to the memory of our dearest son Lalit, who left us four years ago, this day midnight..… but also to a young Arjun (28), who was knocked down by a speeding cab on the night of 15^th Sept 2011, at Bangalore….. both these fine young men, as with many others unknown to us, are robbed of leading a full life, at the peak of their youth .. when Life was just opening up in full bloom…  to that  family, we share their grief, knowing what it is like to go thru such sudden change in fortune…  living thru the metamorphosis from one day of joy, hope and ecstasy to another day of agony, despair, distress …. Being caught off-guard and in one split moment, the entire world of future belief lies shattered …

Death, they say, is just a door to another beginning… we should not be afraid of Death… yes, we are not afraid of Death..  but the inability to stop grieving, is just like banging our heads on the door, that opens only one way, which is a futile exercise.

Hence we learn to live...the hard way... and to smile again, look at life with renewed hope and faith…

 

Laughing faces do not mean that there is absence of sorrow.

But it means that they have the ability to deal with it.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

So long as our memories are alive, those who have gone ahead of us,  are indeed……

Living In You

Some things in life never change,
Sometimes in life you don't find reasons,
Some moments in life aren't forgotten,
Sometimes you lose hope...
When time rolls by you to forget
What holds you on...

Some people in life are a part of you,
And when you let them go,
You never lose them.
Because... you find them living in you.... and living in many others, as well. 
===========================================================================

Yes, indeed … living in you.. and this is symbolized by those that are left behind.. in the case of our dear Lalit, it is his daughter…. As he would have said….

 I'll always need my daughter no matter what age I am. My daughter has made me laugh,  made me proud…...hugged me tight…... seen me fall…... cheered me on…. kept me going strong….. .and driven me crazy at times!  But my daughter is a promise from God that I will have a friend forever!

============================================================================

To be fair to Destiny, we have our daughter who is blessed with her own daughter recently.... that makes it for us, two grand-daughters,  with a bright promise from God that we will have these three gifts, as friends forever, in our life...just as they are and will be great friends for their parents.

=============================================================

From my archives....(Shared Thots.. of June.05.2005).

God didn't promise
days without pain,
laughter without sorrow,
sun without rain,
but He did promise
strength for the day,
comfort for the tears,
and light for the way

============================================================

Three great slogans of Charlie Chaplin…

Nothing is permanent in this world ; including my problem.

I like walking in the rain, because, nobody can see my tears.

If you complete a day without laughing, then that day is a total waste.

===============================================================

Have a safe and enjoyable week, keep smiling, no matter what.

 

MOHANDAS. KP.

http://mohandas-sharedthoughts.blogspot.com/

 

Moments in our life.... that make a difference to others.

SHARED THOGUHTS...09.09.2011

================================================

Given below are three simple stories that are poignant in its message….these have gone around .. yet, the message is fresh each time, one reads... a gentle reminder - take it that way.

In our non-stop and non-ending quest for more and more of everything, we are blissfully ignorant of many a blissful moment that come to us, in the form of very simple everyday events….. that we do not realize it as a moment to treasure.....until it is lost to our folly, more often than not.... at the end of the day, its less and less of everything....in terms of what we are left to cherish ...

"Mata, Pitha, Guru, Deivam..." so the saying goes in our Indian tradition.. .ie. Mother, Father, Teacher and only then... God... to love,  to respect and to bow in reverence... so be it, when we are young....children’s dependence on parents is inversely proportional to their growth by the day...and vice versa.!  In our hectic life, this simple axiom ie- the “vice versa” aspect of it.. is forgotten in the ''rat race'' we are so committed to.  only to remember its truism  when each child reaches the Golden years...something like…By the time a son realizes that his father is right, he has a son, telling him, he is wrong....!!

A driver’s indiscretion costs a huge loss to a family. A simple gesture from a kind soul, helps the innocence of a child to express his love in a full and final measure …we are all capable of this simple gesture in our own ways… yet, we often fail to find that ‘pause’ mode to reflect.....that would mean so much to another..!! 

Now read on …

======================================================

A Box of Kisses...................... The story goes that some time ago, a man punished his 3-year-old daughter for wasting a roll of gold wrapping paper. Money was tight and he became infuriated when the child tried to decorate a box to put under the Christmas tree.  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 gold box was empty. Annoyed, he said to his daughter, "Don't you know that when you give someone a present, there's suppose to be something inside the box? A box isn't a present!" The little girl looked up at him with tears in her eyes and said, "But 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.  It is told that the man kept the gold box by his bed for 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, friends, family and God. There is no more precious possession anyone could hold. ========================================================== Father and Son..................... An 80 year old man was sitting on the sofa in his house along with his 45  years old highly educated son. Suddenly a crow perched on their window.  The Father asked his Son, "What is this?"  The Son replied "It is a crow".  After a few minutes, the Father asked his Son the 2nd time, "What is this?"  The Son said "Father, I have just now told you "It's a crow".  After a little while, the old Father again asked his Son the 3rd time,  What is this?"  At this time some ex-pression of irritation was felt in the Son's tone when  he said to his Father with a rebuff. "It's a crow, a crow".  A little after, the Father again asked his Son t he 4th time, "What is  this?"  This time the Son shouted at his Father, "Why do you keep asking me the  same question again and again, although I have told you so many times 'IT  IS A CROW'. Are you not able to understand this?"  A little later the Father went to his room and came back with an old  tattered diary, which he had maintained since his Son was born. On opening  a page, he asked his Son to read that page. When the son read it, the  following words were written in the diary :-  "Today my little son aged three was sitting with me on the sofa, when a  crow was sitting on the window. My Son asked me 23 times what it was, and I  replied to him all 23 times that it was a Crow. I hugged him lovingly each  time he asked me the same question again and again for 23 times. I did not  at all feel irritated I rather felt affection for my innocent child".  While the little child asked him 23 times "What is this", the Father had  felt no irritation in replying to the same question all 23 times and when  today the Father asked his Son the same question just 4 times, the Son felt  irritated and annoyed.  a simple lesson, often forgotten....  If your parents attain old age, do not repulse them or look at them as a  burden, but speak to them a gracious word, be cool, obedient, humble and  kind to them. Be considerate to your parents.From today say this aloud, "I  want to see my parents happy forever. They have cared for me ever since I  was a little child. They have always showered their selfless love on me.  They crossed all mountains and valleys without seeing the storm and heat to  make me a person presentable in the society today".  Say a prayer to God, "I will serve my old parents in the BEST way. I will  say all good and kind words to my dear parents, no matter how they behave. ====================================================================== For my syster................... The boy couldn't have been more than 5 or 6 years old.  The Cashier said, 'I'm sorry, but you don't have enough money to buy this doll.'  Then the little boy turned to the old woman next to him: ''Granny,  are you sure I don't have enough money?''  The old lady replied: ''You know that you don't have enough money to buy this doll, my dear.''  Then she asked him to stay there for just 5 minutes while she went to look a round. She left quickly.  The little boy was still holding the doll in his hand.  Finally, I walked toward him and I asked him who he wished to give this doll to.  'It's the doll that my sister loved most and wanted so much for Christmas.  She was sure that Santa Claus would bring it to her.'  I replied to him that maybe Santa Claus would bring it to her after all, and not to worry.  But he replied to me sadly. 'No, Santa Claus can't bring it to her where she is now. I have to give the doll to my mommy so that she can give it to my sister when she goes there.'  His eyes were so sad while saying this. 'My Sister has gone to be with God.  Daddy says that Mommy is going to see God very soon too, so I thought that she could take the doll with her to give it to my sister.''  My heart nearly stopped.  The little boy looked up at me and said: 'I told daddy to tell mommy not to go yet.  I need her to wait until I come back from the mall.'  Then he showed me a very nice photo of him where he was laughing.  He then told me 'I want mommy to take my picture with her so she won't forget me.'  'I love my mommy and I wish she doesn't have to leave me, but daddy says that she has to go to be with my little sister.'  Then he looked again at the doll with sad eyes, very quietly.  I quickly reached for my wallet and said to the boy. 'Suppose we check again, just in case you do have enough money for the doll?''  'OK' he said, 'I hope I do have enough..' I added some of my money to his with out him seeing and we started to count it.  There was enough for the doll and even some spare money.  The little boy said: 'Thank you God for giving me enough money!'  Then he looked at me and added, 'I asked last night before I went to sleep for God to make sure I had enough  money to buy this doll, so that mommy could give It to my sister. He heard me!''  'I also wanted to have enough money to buy a white rose for my mommy, but I didn't dare to ask God for too much.  But He gave me enough to buy the doll and a white rose.''  'My mommy loves white roses.'  A few minutes later, the old lady returned and I left with my basket.  I finished my shopping in a totally different state from when I started.  I couldn't get the little boy out of my mind.  Then I remembered a local news paper article two days ago, which mentioned a drunk man in a truck, who hit a car occupied by a young  woman and a little girl.  The little girl died right away, and the mother was left in a critical state. The family had to decide whether to pull the plug on the life-sustaining machine, because the young woman would not be able to recover from the coma.  Was this the family of the little boy?  Two days after this encounter with the little boy, I read in the news paper that the young woman had passed away.  I couldn't stop myself as I bought a bunch of white roses and I went to the funeral home where the body of the young woman was exposed for people to see and make last wishes before her burial.  She was there, in her coffin, holding a beautiful white rose in her hand with the photo of the little boy and the doll placed over her chest.  I left the place, teary-eyed, feeling that my life had been changed for ever.. The love that the little boy had for his mother and his sister is still, to this day, hard to imagine.  And in a fraction of a second, a drunk driver had taken all this away from him. ========================================================================= Wish you all a Happy Onam. MOHANDAS. KP. http://mohandas-sharedthoughts.blogspot.com/