The buzzard, The bat, The bumblebee, and People

THE BUZZARD


If you put a buzzard in a pen that is 6' x 8' and is entirely open
at the top, the bird, in spite of its ability to fly, will be an
absolute prisoner.
The reason is that a buzzard always begins a flight from the
ground with a run of 10-12'. Without space to run, as is its
habit, it will not even attempt to fly, but will remain a prisoner
for life in a small jail with no top.


THE BAT

The ordinary bat that flies around at night, a remarkably nimble
creature in the air, cannot take off from a level place. If it is
placed on the floor or flat ground, all it can do is shuffle about
helplessly and painfully until it reaches some slight elevation
from which it can throw itself into the air. Then, at once, it
takes off like a flash.


THE BUMBLEBEE

A bumblebee, if dropped into an open tumbler, will be there until
it dies, unless it is taken out. It never sees the means of escape
at the top, but persists in trying to find some way out through
the sides near the bottom. It will seek a way where none exists,
until it completely destroys itself.



PEOPLE

In many ways, we are like the buzzard, the bat and the bumblebee.
We struggle about with all our problems and frustrations, never
realizing that all we have to do is look up. Sorrow looks back,
worry looks around, but faith looks up. Live simply, love
generously, care deeply and speak kindly.

The Two Wolves

An elder Cherokee Native American was teaching his grandchildren about life. He said to them, "A fight is going on inside me..., it is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves.

"One wolf represents fear, anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority and ego.

"The other stands for joy, peace, love, hope, sharing, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, friendship, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith.

"This fight is going on inside you, and inside every other person, too."�

The children thought about it for a minute and then one child asked "Which wolf will win, grandfather?"�

The old Cherokee simply replied... "The one you feed."

Great Motivational Clip!

Check out this awesome video clip. It's called the "212 Degrees Movie" because at 211 degrees, water is hot. At 212 degrees, it boils. And with boiling water, comes steam. And steam can power a locomotive. Here is the link, once you click it, you will be redirected to the video located on youtube. Thanks!

212 Degrees Movie

The Young Lion By Orison S. Marden

A young lion, as the fable runs, was one day playing alone in the forest while his mother slept.

As the different objects attracted his attention, he thought he would explore a bit and see what the great world beyond his home was like. Before he realized it, he had wandered so far that he could not find his way back.

He was lost.

Very much frightened, he ran frantically in every direction calling piteously for his mother, but no mother responded.

Weary with his wanderings, he did not know what to do, when a sheep, whose offspring had been taken from her, hearing his pitiful cries, made friends with the lost lion, and adopted him.

The sheep became very fond of her foundling, which in a short while grew so much larger than herself that at times she was almost afraid of it.

The foster mother and her adopted lived very happily together, until one day a magnificent lion appeared, sharply outlined against the sky, on the top of an opposite hill. He shook his tawny inane and uttered a terrific roar, which echoed through the hills.

The sheep mother stood trembling, paralyzed with fear. But the moment this strange sound reached his ears, the young lion listened as though spellbound, and a strange feeling which he had never before experienced surged through his being until be was all a-quiver.

The lion's roar had touched a chord in his nature that had never before been touched. It aroused a new force within him which he had never felt before.

New desires, a strange new consciousness of power possessed him. A new nature stirred in him, and instinctively, without a thought of what he was doing, he answered the lion's call with a corresponding roar.

Trembling with mingled fear, surprise and bewilderment at the new powers aroused within him, the awakened animal gave his foster mother a pathetic glance, and then, with a tremendous leap, started toward the lion on the hill.

The lost lion had found himself.

Up to this he had gamboled around his sheep mother just as though he were a lamb developing into a sheep, never dreaming he could do anything that his companions could not do, or that he had any more strength than the ordinary sheep.

He never imagined that there was within him a power which would strike terror to the beasts of the jungle. He simply thought he was a sheep, and would run at the sight of a dog and tremble at the howl of a wolf.

Now he was amazed to see the dogs, the wolves, and other animals which formerly had so terrified him, flee from him.

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There is in every normal human being a Sleeping lion. It is just a question of arousing it, just a question of something happening that will awaken us, stir the depths of our being, and arouse the sleeping power within us.

Just as the young lion, after it had once discovered that it was a lion would never again be satisfied to live the life of a sheep, when we discover that we are more than mere clay, when we at last become Conscious that we are more than human, that we are gods in the making, we shall never again be satisfied to live the life of common clods of earth.

We shall feel a new sense of power welling up within us, a power which we never before dreamed we possessed, and never he quite the same again, never again he content with low-flying ideals, with a cheap success.

Ever after we will aspire. We will look up, struggle up and on to higher and ever higher planes.

"To get what you've never had, you must do what you've never done.”

The following is an amazing excerpt from a book written by Brian Tracy called The Power Of Discipline:
Why are some people more successful than others? Why do some people make more money, live happier lives and accomplish much more in the same number of years than the great majority?

I started out in life with few advantages. I did not graduate from high school. I worked at menial jobs. I had limited education, limited skills and a limited future.

And then I began asking, “Why are some people more successful than others?” This question changed my life.

Over the years, I have read thousands of books and articles on the subjects of success and achievement. It seems that the reasons for these accomplishments have been discussed and written about for more than two thousand years, in every conceivable way. One quality that most philosophers, teachers and experts agree on is the importance of self-discipline. As Al Tomsik summarized it years ago, “Success is tons of discipline.”

Some years ago, I attended a conference in Washington. It was the lunch break and I was eating at a nearby food fair. The area was crowded and I sat down at the last open table by myself, even though it was a table for four.

A few minutes later, an older gentleman and a younger woman who was his assistant came along carrying trays of food, obviously looking for a place to sit.

With plenty of room at my table, I immediately arose and invited the older gentleman to join me. He was hesitant, but I insisted. Finally, thanking me as he sat down, we began to chat over lunch.

It turned out that his name was Kop Kopmeyer. As it happened, I immediately knew who he was. He was a legend in the field of success and achievement. Kop Kopmeyer had written four large books, each of which contained 250 success principles that he had derived from more than fifty years of research and study. I had read all four books from cover to cover, more than once.

After we had chatted for awhile, I asked him the question that many people in this situation would ask, “Of all the one thousand success principles that you have discovered, which do you think is the most important?”

He smiled at me with a twinkle in his eye, as if he had been asked this question many times, and replied, without hesitating, “The most important success principle of all was stated by Thomas Huxley many years ago. He said, 'Do what you should do, when you should do it, whether you feel like it or not.'”

He went on to say, “There are 999 other success principles that I have found in my reading and experience, but without self-discipline, none of them work.”

Self-discipline is the key to personal greatness. It is the magic quality that opens all doors for you, and makes everything else possible. With self-discipline, the average person can rise as far and as fast as his talents and intelligence can take him. But without self-discipline, a person with every blessing of background, education and opportunity will seldom rise above mediocrity.

The Ten Cannots

1) You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.

2) You cannot help small men by tearing down big men.

3) You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.

4) You cannot lift the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer.

5) You cannot help the poor man by destroying the rich.

6) You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than your income.

7) You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.

8) You cannot establish security on borrowed money.

9) You cannot build character and courage by taking away men's initiative and independence.

10) You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they could and should do for themselves.

Key Advice In Making A Great First Impression

Get a good handshake. You'll never forget the handshake of a person if it's bad...I shook hands within the last six months with a presidential candidate, who will remain nameless, whose handshake was frightening...Shine your shoes. First things I notice when somebody comes in is the handshake, and are their shoes shined?....Be interesting, find things that make YOU an interesting person and don't be afraid to pass it on to people!

-Brian Lamb, Founder and CEO of C-SPAN

Eat That Frog!!!

There's an old saying that goes,

"If the first thing you do when you wake up in the morning is eat a live frog, then nothing worse can happen for the rest of the day!"

Brian Tracy who is the author of the book, Eat That Frog says that your "frog" should be the most difficult item on your things to do list, the one you're most likely to procrastinate; because, if you eat that first, it'll give you energy and momentum for the rest of the day. But, if you don't...and let him sit there on the plate and stare at you while you do a hundred unimportant things, it can drain your energy and you won't even know it.

So, the key here is not to procrastinate. In the same book mentioned above, Brian Tracy gives 21 tips to stop procrastinating. Here they are:

1. Get crystal clear about your goals
2. Plan every day in advance
3. Ruthlessly follow the pareto principle (getting the most important stuff done first)
4. Make daily decisions based on your long term goals
5. Do high, medium, and low priority tasks in THAT order
6. Focus on your key weak points holding you back
7. Always be doing the most important thing
8. Have everything you need at hand before you begin
9. Never stop developing your key skills
   
10. Pursue work that rewards your special talents
11. Blast open the biggest bottleneck to your success
12. Tackle all goals, especially the biggest ones, one task at a time
13. Supervisor, manage, and lead yourself
14. Keep your mind and body in top condition
15. Use positive self talk to eliminate negative self talk
16. Practice selective procrastination (get rid of the tadpoles and focus on the frogs)
17. Do the most difficult task first (eat that frog!)
18. Eat the salami, one slice at a time (our bodies crave closure, as soon as we finish 1 big task, start the next)
19. Block out chunks of time for your goals daily
20. Be urgent
21. Single-task (concentrate on single biggest task only and you can increase the amount of time to finish it by 50% or more)
    

Just Be Happy

"As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he."
Proverbs 23:7

Just be happy. Sounds too simplistic, doesn't it? But, in actuality, we can have much more happiness if we choose to consider things from a positive perspective.

Everyone experiences the ups and downs of life, however, we can make a decision to dwell on the negative or practice what the old saying says to do: "When life give you lemons, make lemonade!"

It really boils down to your attitude and you have the ability to mold your attitude into any shape you like.

Here are some tips:

• Ignore those who tell you that life is too difficult to be happy. What do they know?
  
  
• When you awaken each morning, be thankful for another day, even if it's raining.
  
  
• Smile at those you meet, even if they don't return the favor.
  
  
• Don't borrow trouble. Each day has enough of it's own.
  
  
• Don't allow trouble to bury you in its gray mire of sorrow.
  
  
• Don't give in to negative thinking.
  
  
• Be positive even when others are not.
  
  
• Refuse to give up on anything worth having or doing.
  
  
• Do something you enjoy each day, even if it's just a walk in your neighborhood.
  
  
• Whistle as you go through the day.
  
  
• Work at being happy because it's worth it.

You're human, like everyone else, and from time to time you need a little pick-me-up in your decision to be happy. When you reach that stage, find someone else who has decided to be happy. Join forces with him or her and march forward in your decision to be a happy person.

Simply speaking, a happy person is not a person in a certain set of circumstances but rather a person with a certain set of attitudes.

Choose today to just be happy - as much as it depends on you!

--- Aseem Kaistha