A Farmer was driving his wagon along a country road after a heavy rain. The horses could hardly drag the load through the deep mud, and at last came to a standstill when one of the wheels sank totally into the rut. The farmer climbed down from his seat and stood beside the wagon looking at it but didn’t bother to make any effort to get it out of the rut. All he did was to curse his bad luck and call on God to come to his aid.
Then, God really appeared and said:
"Put your shoulder to the wheel, man, and urge on your horses. Do you think you can move the wagon by simply looking at it and whining about it? I will not help unless you make some effort to help yourself." Then the farmer put his shoulder to the wheel and urged on the horses, the wagon moved very readily, and soon the Farmer was riding along in great content and with a good lesson learned.

God helps those who help themselves

Long time ago there lived a man who believed that he could read the future in the stars. He called himself an Astrologer, and spent his time at night gazing at the sky. One evening he was walking along the open road outside his village. His eyes were fixed on the stars.

He thought he saw that the end of the world was near, when all at once, he fell into a hole full of mud and water. There he stood up to his ears, in the muddy water, and madly clawing at the slippery sides of the hole in his effort to climb out. His cries for help soon brought the villagers running. As they pulled him out of the mud, one of them said:

“You pretend to read the future in the stars, and yet you fail to see what is at your feet! This may teach you to pay more attention to what is right in front of you, and let the future take care of itself.”
“What use is it,” said another, “to read the stars, when you can’t see what’s right here on the earth?”

Take care of the little things and the big things will take care of themselves.

A university professor went to visit a famous Zen master. While the master quietly served tea, the professor talked about Zen. The master poured the visitor’s cup to the brim, and then kept pouring. The professor watched the overflowing cup until he could no longer restrain himself and blurted “Its overfull, no more will go in!”

Then the master replied, “You are like this cup, How can I show you Zen unless you first empty your cup?”

Erase all your fixed opinions to be able to accept and “adapt to” all the good that comes to you.

A Dove saw an Ant fall into a river. The Ant struggled in vain to reach the bank. Watching the ant struggle, the dove pitied the ant and dropped a blade of straw close beside it. Clinging to the straw like a shipwrecked sailor to a broken spar, the Ant floated safely to shore.Soon after, the Ant saw a man getting ready to kill the Dove with a stone. But just as he cast the stone, the Ant stung him in the heel, so that the pain made him miss his aim, and the startled Dove flew to safety in a distant wood.

A kindness is never wasted.

Bruce Lee used to run 3 miles a day along with his friend. They would run 3 miles in about twenty-one or twenty-two minutes with just eight minutes a mile. The interesting fact was that when running on his own Bruce Lee would get his time down to six-and-a half minutes per mile.

One morning Bruce Lee told his friend “We’re going to go five miles” and his friend objected to it. But finally he gave in to Bruce’s words and ran along. Soon, the friend found it difficult to run after the 3rd mile and told Bruce that his heart is pounding and he will die if he ran any longer. Bruce simply said his friend “Then die” which made him mad and he ran the full 5 miles.

Later when Bruce was questioned on his curtness and Bruce replied “Because you might as well be dead. Seriously, if you always put limits on what you can do, physical or anything else, it’ll spread over into the rest of your life. It’ll spread into your work, into your morality, into your entire being. There are no limits. There are plateaus, but you must not stay there, you must go beyond them. If it kills you, it kills you.

A man must constantly exceed his level.

About a hundred years ago, a man looked at the morning newspaper was shocked. To his horror he read his name in the obituary column. The news papers had reported the death of the wrong person by mistake. He didn’t know how to react for a moment. When he regained his composure, his second thought was to find out what people had said about him. The obituary read, “Dynamite King Dies.” It also read “He was the merchant of death.”

This man, the inventor of dynamite, when he read the words “merchant of death,” he wasn’t too pleased. He asked himself, “Is this how I am going to be remembered?”. That was when he got in touch with his feelings and decided that this was not the way he wanted to be remembered. From that day on, he started working toward peace. His name was Alfred Nobel and he is remembered today by the great Nobel Prize.

Just as Alfred Nobel got in touch with his feelings and redefined his values, we should step back and do the same.

Once in an ancient Indian village, there lived a sage, who was believed could walk on water. A man went to him to learn how to walk on water. The sage told that he will teach him with a condition that he should not think of monkey not even once in a day for 2 days. After doing this he can come back and learn the art.

The man goes back thinking it to be a very simple task, but from the minute he accepts the challenge, the man counldn’t stop himself but to think of it every second. He tries this for several months but in vain. Then he returns to the sage and accepts his failure and requests him to take him as his disciple.

Human mind does only what it is asked not to do. Ventilate your thoughts do not try to restrict any of them. Even a bad thought goes away when it is not given too much of prominence.

A philosophy professor stood before his class with some items on the table in front of him. When the class began, wordlessly he picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with rocks, about 2 inches in diameter. He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was. So the professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles, of course, rolled into the open areas between the rocks. He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was. The professor picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar and it filled up everything else. The students responded with a unanimous “Yes.”

“Now,” said the professor, “I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The rocks are the important things – your family, your partner, your health, your children – things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full. The pebbles are the other things that matter – like your job, your house, your car.The sand is everything else “The small stuff”.

If you put the sand into the jar first,” he continued “there is no room for the pebbles or the rocks. The same goes for your life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are important to you. Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness.

Take care of the rocks first – the things that really matter. Set your priorities. “The rest is just sand.”