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Inspirational Stories
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Each of us is unique. Every relationship is unique, every human being and relationship has its own virtues and flaws. But it's the virtues and flaws that we each have that make our lives together so very interesting and rewarding. The world would be such a beautiful place to live in, if we would learn to accept and appreciate people for what they are. Remember life is beautiful journey and learn to appreciate all the different people in your life!
The Cracked Pot
A water bearer in India had two large pots, each hung on each end of a pole which he carried across his neck. One of the pots had a crack in it, and while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water at the end of the long walk from the stream to the master's house, the cracked pot arrived only half full.
For a full two years this went on daily, with the bearer delivering only one and a half pots full of water in his master's house. Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments, perfect to the end for which it was made. But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection, and miserable that it was able to accomplish only half of what it had been made to do.
After two years of what it perceived to be a bitter failure, it spoke to the water bearer one day by the stream. "I am ashamed of myself, and I want to apologize to you."
"Why?" asked the bearer. "What are you ashamed of?"
"I have been able, for these past two years, to deliver only half my load because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your master's house. Because of my flaws, you have to do all of this work, and you don't get full value from your efforts," the pot said.
The water bearer felt sorry for the old cracked pot, and in his compassion he said, "As we return to the master's house, I want you to notice the beautiful flowers along the path."
Indeed, as they went up the hill, the old cracked pot took notice of the sun warming the beautiful wild flowers on the side of the path, and this cheered it some. But at the end of the trail, it still felt bad because it had leaked out half its load, and so again it apologized to the bearer for its failure.
The bearer said to the pot, "Did you notice that there were flowers only on your side of your path, but not on the other pot's side? That's because I have always known about your flaw, and I took advantage of it. I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we walk back from the stream, you've watered them. For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate my master's table. Without your being just the way you are, he would not have this beauty to grace his house.
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To err is human and to forgive divine
There's no one definition of forgiveness. But in general, forgiveness is a decision to let go of resentments and thoughts of revenge. Forgiveness is the act of untying yourself from thoughts and feelings that bind you to the offense committed against you. When you forgive someone you reduce the power these negative feelings otherwise have over you, so that you can a live freer and happier life in the present. Forgiveness can even lead to feelings of understanding, empathy and compassion for the one who hurt you.
To err is human to forgive divine- I have heard this quote of Alexander Pope earlier , but never realized the depth of these words until recently a friend shared this simple and beautiful story with me. So here we go..!
A kindergarten teacher has decided to let her class play a game. The teacher told each child in the class to bring along a plastic bag containing a few potatoes. Each potato will be given a name of a person that the child hates, so the number of potatoes that a child will put in his/her plastic bag will depend on the number of people he/she hates. So when the day came, every child brought some potatoes with the name of the people he/she hated. Some had 2 potatoes; some 3 while some up to 5 potatoes.
The teacher then told the children to carry with them the potatoes in the plastic bag wherever they go (even to the toilet) for 1 week. Days after days passed by, and the children started to complain due to the unpleasant smell let out by the rotten potatoes.
Besides, those having 5 potatoes also had to carry heavier bags. After 1 week, the children were relieved because the game had finally ended.
The teacher asked: "How did you feel while carrying the potatoes with you for 1 week?" The children let out their frustrations and started complaining of the trouble that they had to go through having to carry the heavy and smelly potatoes wherever they go. Then the teacher told them the hidden meaning behind the game. The teacher said: "This is exactly the situation when you carry your hatred for somebody inside your heart.
The stench of hatred will contaminate your heart and you will carry it with you wherever you go. If you cannot tolerate the smell of rotten potatoes for just 1 week, can you imagine what is it like to have the stench of hatred in your heart for your lifetime?"
Forgiveness of yourself or some one else, though not easy, can transform our life, instead of dwelling on the injustice and revenge, instead of being anger and bitter, gift forgiveness and you can move towards a life of peace, compassion, mercy joy and kindness.
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A beautiful story on Unshakeable Faith
This is a true story that happened in Japan. A Japanese home was to be renovated and the demolishing crew begins breaking the walls. To comply with the quake resitant standards, Japanese houses normally have a hollow space between the wooden walls.
While the walls were being torn down, a workman sees a lizard stuck to a wall by nail hammered into one of its feet. While he was feeling very pitiful, curiousity that this triggered got better of him - it was nailed 10 years ago when the house was first built. How in the world did this lizard survive in the worst of the situation for over 10 years. In a dark wall partition for 10 years without moving a single step, it was impossible and mind-boggling. He stopped further demolition and wanted to figure out the secret behind this unworldly phenomenon and observed the lizard.
After a while, suddenly there appeared another lizard, with food in its mouth. Ah! He was stunned and touched deeply. For the lizard that was stuck by nail, another lizard has been feeding it for the past 10 years...
Imagine? this lowly reptile has been doing that untiringly for 10 long years, without giving up hope on its fellow being. Needless to say, its faith was justified, the demolition man, carefully removed the nails and set it free :-)
Can we draw a great lesson from this humble supposedly lowly being?
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Nails in the Fence
In our journey of life we come across different personalities and situation, so problems are but inevitable. Many a times these problems/challenges in life make us so panicky, we lose our temper. Temper comes in many forms sometimes loud and explosive as the bombs - wherein we rage, we use anger to lash out at others, and insult them. Some times temper manifests in form of a cold war- we give silent treatment, we sulk, we turn inward and beat ourselves. A most common form of temper is irritation- when small thing throw us off our balance and we start getting irritated with or without reasons. I have also seen people who get stuck with events, people and situation and nag and nag with no end.
Obviously, no one wants to communicate with the people that they love most in a negative way, but it still happens and we often don't realize it until the damage is done
Here is a beautiful story that truly applies to our day to day interactive life.
Once there was a little boy who had a bad temper. His father gave him a bag of nails and told him that every time he lost his temper, he must hammer a nail into the back of the fence.
The first day, the boy had driven 37 nails into the fence. Over the next few weeks, as he learned to control his anger, the number of nails hammered daily gradually dwindled down. He discovered it was easier to hold his temper than to drive those nails into the fence.
Finally the day came when the boy didn’t lose his temper at all. He told his father about it and the father suggested that the boy now pull out one nail for each day that he was able to hold his temper. The days passed and the boy was finally able to tell his father that all the nails were gone.
The father took his son by the hand and led him to the fence. He said," You have done well, my son, but look at the holes in the fence. The fence will never be the same. When you say things in anger, they leave a scar just like this one. You can put a knife in a man and draw it out. It won’t matter how many times you say I’m sorry the wound is still there."
A verbal wound is as bad as a physical one.”
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