How should we motivate ourselves in negative circumstances?
Irrelevance
by: Anthony de Mello, SJ, One Minute Wisdom
All questions at the public meeting that day were about life beyond the grave.
The Master only laughed and did not give a single answer.
To his disciples, who demanded to know the reason for his evasiveness, he later said, "Have you observed that it is precisely those who do not know what to do with this life who want another that will last forever?"
"But is there life after death or is there not?" persisted a disciple.
"Is there life before death?-that is the question!" said the Master enigmatically.
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This thing has always puzzled me in my life that what is the trick to keep ourselves engaged in positive activities when we are down. There are lots of motivational stuffs available on Net and also so many self-improvement books available. Do we really feel like reffering all those when we are just completely demotivated?
What we lose? How can we regain our confidence? How to proceed in the most negative circumstances? Is their any scientific way to come out of these killing-like situation.
Let's share our views and this may help some of us to start a fresh if they are coming in search of some practical thoughts.
Happy Sharing..
The story about the tiny frogs.
There once was a bunch of tiny frogs, who arranged a running competition. The goal was to reach the top of a very high tower. A big crowd had gathered around the tower to see the race and cheer on the contestants. The race began. Honestly: No one in crowd really believed that the tiny frogs would reach the top of the tower. You heard statements such as: "Oh, WAY too difficult!!
They will NEVER make it to the top." or: "Not a chance that they will succeed. The tower is too high!"
The tiny frogs began collapsing. One by one except for those who in a fresh tempo were climbing higher and higher. The crowd continued to yell "It is too difficult!!! No one will make it!" More tiny frogs got tired and gave up. But ONE continued higher and higher and higher. This one wouldn't give up! At the end everyone else had given up climbing the tower. Except for the one tiny frog who after a big effort was the only one who reached the top! THEN all of the other tiny frogs naturally wanted to know how this one frog managed to do it?
A contestant asked the tiny frog how the one who succeeded had found the strength to reach the goal? It turned out that the winner was DEAF!!!!
The wisdom of this story is: Never listen to other people's tendencies to be negative or pessimistic because they take your most wonderful dreams and wishes away from you. The ones you have in your heart! Always think of the power words have. Because everything you hear and read will affect your actions!
Therefore: ALWAYS be POSITIVE! And above all:Be DEAF when people tell YOU that YOU can not fulfil YOUR dreams! Always think: I can do this!
Fatigue-caused not by work,but by worries, frustration ....
Dale Carnegie says, “If you are a mental worker, it is seldom the amount of work you do that makes you tired. You may be tired by the amount of work you do not do. The lesson to be learnt is that our fatigue is often caused not by work, but by worries, frustration and resentment”.
In one of his books, Dale Carnegie had described a small but very interesting and inspiring story. There was this man Sam, who would get bored with his dull job standing next to his lathe, producing bolts in a factory. He wanted to quit, but was not too sure what the next job would have in store for him, if he were to get one. He thought since he had to do this job anyway, why not make it interesting. He began to race with another mechanic who had to trim the rough surfaces on his machine. Occasionally they’d switch the job. The idea was to see who would turn out more number of bolts. The foreman, impressed with Sam for the speed and accuracy promoted him. It was the beginning of a series of promotions. Sam, Samuel Vauchlain, thirty years later went on to become the president of Baldwin Locomotive Works.
By inculcating the right thoughts and the right attitude, you can make any job less distasteful and at times very interesting and very rewarding. We spend almost half our day and about a 3rd of our life at work. If you don’t find happiness in your work, you’ll probably not find anywhere. On the contrary, if you get interested in your work and do it well, you’d take away a lot of worries and in due course be rewarded with increased pay and even promotions. At a minimum, you’ll help yourself reduce fatigue and enjoy your leisure.
lead our own way to realize our potential
Paramahamsa Sri Nithyananda Swamy wrote, “A poor man had no land and prayed to God for some land. God appeared to him and told him that all that he could cover from dawn to dusk would be his land.”
“The man set off the next morning without sleeping a wink. Though he had covered enough land to satisfy his needs, very soon he began to run and run filled with the desire to own more land, more than anyone else. By dusk he had covered a lot of land, but he fell down dead, exhausted.”
Usually this is the story of most of our lives.
Desires that are real and are born out of genuine need will have their own energy and will sustain them. However, most of our desires are created out of jealousy and have negative energy.
When we cannot bear the excellence of others, we get jealous. Comparison is the seed, jealousy the fruit. Comparison and jealousy are actually non-existent. We create such thoughts ourselves and talk endlessly on how to overcome them.
Imagine that the room you’re in is dark. Can you remove the darkness if you wanted to? Can you take it to another room? No. The reason is that darkness has a negative existence. It does not really exist. If you bring light into the room, the darkness will at once cease to exist. In the same way, jealousy has a negative existence. You cannot deal with it directly. Even if you tell yourself repeatedly not to be jealous, you cannot overcome it.
If you queue up all the people in the world in an ascending order of money, where would you be? You’ll be somewhere in the middle. You’ll not be able to count the number of people on either side of you in the queue. Now, you’ll have to decide if you’re going to look at the queue in front of you and feel jealous or look at the queue behind and feel relaxed and grateful to God.
Everything is in your hands. We’ll never face failure if we live our lives competing with ourselves. Win yourself with yourself, never with others. Every minute of comparison with others is a waste of time in the path of progress. A problem in a rat race is that even if you win, you’re still a rat. To stop comparisons, you need to be aware of your own worth; you need to realize your uniqueness without being proud. Meditation leads you into that awareness of who you are and what your potential is.
You will then soar beyond comparison, for you’re freed from jealousy.
Let us find ourselves, and lead our own way to realize our potential.
Well said... wonderful quotes
Excellent dear. These are some of those wonderful lines that inspires us always. It'd have been a far more better world to live had all of us understand the simple meaning hidden in these lines.
Thanks !
Quote:
"Burning desire to be or do something gives us staying power, a reason to get up every morning or to pick ourselves up and start in again after a disappointment."
-Marsha Sinetar
Never give up on anything
hi Kakashi-san, here is something on love...hope you would like it.
Its madness-
To hate all roses; because you got scratched by one thorn.
To give up all your dreams; because one did not come true.
To lose faith in prayers; because one was not answered.
To give up on your efforts; because one of them failed.
To condemn all your friends; because one of them betrayed.
Not to believe in love; because someone was unfaithful.
Remember that, another chance may come up.
A new friend, A new love , A new life.
Never give up on anything.
Thanks for your positive approach
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kakashi
Dear Neeraj/ Ebisu-san,
If you insist... I guess I can try. * melancholic smile* But you should know that I'll get hurt again. And I'll tell you when it happens. Is that ok? If I may,that is.
Thanks for your consideration dear. I am pretty positive that you would succeed beyond any doubt. Feel free to reach me when you wish. I would be more than happy to share your experiences throughout our journey of life.
Good Luck.. and thanks once again :-))
Life is not a problem to be solved, but a gift to be enjoyed
One day I decided to quit...I quit my job, my relationship, my spirituality... I wanted to quit my life.
I went to the woods to have one last talk with GOD. "GOD", I said. "Can you give me one good reason not to quit?" His answer surprised me...
"Look around", GOD said. "Do you see the fern and the bamboo?"
"Yes", I replied.
"When I planted the fern and the bamboo seeds, I took very good care of them. I gave them light. I gave them water. The fern quickly grew from the earth. Its brilliant green covered the floor. Yet nothing came from the bamboo seed. But I did not quit on the bamboo. In the second year the Fern grew more vibrant and plentiful. And again, nothing came from the bamboo seed. But I did not quit on the bamboo." GOD said.
"In year three there was still nothing from the bamboo seed. But I would not quit.
In year four, again, there was nothing from the bamboo see. I would not quit." GOD said.
"Then in the fifth year a tiny sprout emerged from the earth. Compared to the fern it was seemingly small and insignificant...But just 6 months later the bamboo rose to over 100 feet tall. It had spent the five years growing roots. Those roots made it strong and gave it what it needed to survive. I would not give any of my creations a challenge it could not handle." GOD said to me.
"Did you know, that all this time you have been struggling, you have actually been growing roots?"
"I would not quit on the bamboo. I will never quit on you."
"Don't compare yourself to others." GOD said. "The bamboo had a different purpose than the fern. Yet they both make the forest beautiful."
"Your time will come", GOD said to me. "You will rise high"
"How high should I rise?" I asked.
"How high will the bamboo rise?" GOD asked in return.
"As high as it can?" I questioned
"Yes." GOD said, "Give me glory by rising as high as you can."
I left the forest and bring back this story. I hope these words can help you see that GOD will never give up on you.
GOD will never give up on you
"Life is not a problem to be solved, but a gift to be enjoyed"
"VALUE HAS A VALUE ONLY IF ITS VALUE IS VALUED BY YOU&q
A well-known speaker started off his seminar by holding up a Rupee 500 note.
In the room of 200, he asked, "Who would like this Rupee 500 note?"
Hands started going up. He said, "I am going to give this note to one of you but first let me do this."
He proceeded to crumple the note up.
He then asked, "Who still wants it?"
Still the hands were up in the air.
"Well," he replied, "What if I do this?" And he dropped it on the ground and started to grind it into the floor with his shoe. He picked it up, now all crumpled and dirty. "Now who still wants it?"
Still the hands went into the air.
"My friends, you have all learned a very valuable lesson.
No matter what I did to the money, you still wanted it because it did not decrease in value. It was still worth Rupee 500/-.
Many times in our lives, we are dropped, crumpled, and ground into the dirt by the decisions we make and the circumstances that come our way. We feel as though we are worthless.
But no matter what has happened or what will happen, you will never lose your value. You are special. Don't ever forget it! Never let yesterday's disappointments overshadow tomorrow's dreams.
"VALUE HAS A VALUE ONLY IF ITS VALUE IS VALUED BY YOU"
The value of a life is measured by the life it touches
Quote:
Those who choose to be at peace, must help their others to be at peace.
Those who choose to live well, must help others to live well.
And those who choose to be happy, must help others find happiness.
The value of a life is measured by the life it touches.
Let us touch others life to make it a better place to live :-)
The Power of positive Thinking
The only survivor of a shipwreck was washed up on a small, uninhabited island. He prayed feverishly for God to rescue him, and every day he scanned the horizon for help, but none seemed forthcoming.
Exhausted, he eventually managed to build a little hut out of driftwood to protect himself from the elements, and to store his few possessions. But then one day, after scavenging for food, he arrived home to find his little hut in flames, the smoke rolling up to the sky.
The worst had happened ~everything was lost. He was stunned with grief and anger. "God, how could you do this to me?" he cried.
Early the next day, however, he was wakened by the sound of a ship that was approaching the island. It had come to rescue him.
"How did you know I was here?" asked the weary man of his rescuers.
"We saw your smoke signal," they replied.
It's easy to get discouraged sometimes when things appear to be going badly. But we shouldn't lose heart, because God is at work in our lives, even in the midst of pain and suffering. Remember, next time your little hut is burning to the ground, it just may be a smoke signal that summons the grace of God.
For all the negative things we have to say to ourselves, God has a positive answer for it.
Life is a jig-saw puzzle.
Life is a jig-saw puzzle.
When you first look at it, you wonder - how you're ever going to make the pieces fit?
But take your time. Go step by step.
As the fragments come together, you will see the picture.
Its the same with life.
Even if it seems like a mess at start; Every incident come together and shapes it.
Just don't give up in between.
Life gives answers in three ways.
:arrow: Life gives answers in three ways.
It says Yes and give whatever you want.
It says No and gives you something better.
It says Wait and gives you the best.
If we are commited to our dream, we will win anyways.
Let us not just dream. Lets live our dream.
Lets keep moving towards it.
:arrow:
We seem to gain wisdom more readily through our failures than through our successes. We always think of failure as the antithesis of success, but it isn't. Success often lies just the other side of failure.
Leo F. Buscaglia
