Doing small things matter

Lord Ram was building a bridge before attacking Lanka. One squirrel would roll on and off the banks and bring sand on its body. It would dump the sand clinging on its body on to the heap already there. The monkeys, Lord Rama’s sentinels, and soldiers described this incident to him. He went to the squirrel and asked why she was doing that. The reply was, “ To win over Lanka!”

The Lord said, “ What will these miniscule grains of sand do by way of help?” The squirrel replied, “I beg your forgiveness, lord, the grains of sand are enough or less, I cannot fathom that, but all I know is that I’m trying my level best to contribute, pulling up all my energies.”This overwhelmed Rama. He lovingly patted her back. It is said that the stripes on a squirrel’s body are the fingerprints of Lord Rama.

It doesn’t matter whether the assignment is big or small. What matters is whether you do it with total surrender and enthusiasm or not. If you are eager, you have that zeal and you are enthusiastic then no one can stop you.

Never give up !

Melanie wanted to be a dancer from the very beginning. She was a gifted artist. She could dance for hours on music. Seeing this, her parents decided to make her a ballet dancer. Those days there was a big dance troupe in town. Her parents took her to the chief of the ballet group and requested him to train her. He asked her to perform. She did that. Instead of paying any attention, he didn’t even bother to look at her. He was busy with his own work. After her performance, he admonished her, saying that she neither had the talent nor the inclination. It would be better if she gave up the idea of pursuing a career in that field and should opt for another career.

Melanie was heart- broken. She felt her world coming to an end. She followed the dance master’s advice and gave up dancing—her only passion. She joined as a teacher in a school. She had been working there for five years now. Once it so happened that the dance master was away for a while. Melanie was asked to supervise the children. She was teaching them dancing when suddenly the dance teacher reached there. She was stunned to see her talent. She encouraged her and praised her immensely. She told her that she danced superbly. Melanie was stunned to hear that. She couldn’t believe her ears. She was taken to the dance teacher and the world then witnessed one of its most exotic dancers in her.

So, we see how one pessimistic, negative minded teacher could curb Melanie’s talent for 15 years, whereas the other one shaped her into a true artist.

Do you want some such person to demolish your aspirations and hopes and dreams? Do not surrender yourself to any such person who can turn you into a frustrated creature and pull you down.

The Boy and The Starfish

One day, an old man was walking along the beach in the early morning and noticed the tide had washed thousands of starfish up on the shore. Up ahead in the distance he spotted a boy who appeared to be gathering up the starfish, and one by one tossing them back into the ocean.

He approached the boy and asked him why he spent so much energy doing what seemed to be a waste of time.

The boy replied, "If these starfish are left out here like this they will bake in the sun, and by this afternoon they will all be dead."

The old man gazed out as far as he could see and responded, "But, there must be hundreds of miles of beach and thousands of starfish. You can't possibly rescue all of them. What difference is throwing a few back going to make anyway?"

The boy then held up the starfish he had in his hand and replied, "It's sure going to make a lot of difference to this one!"

Think about a time when your efforts made a difference.

Why We Shout When In Anger

Spiritual Story from www.Spiritual-Short-Stories.com

A Hindu saint who was visiting river Ganges to take bath found a group of family members on the banks, shouting in anger at each other. He turned to his disciples smiled and asked.

'Why do people shout in anger shout at each other?'

Disciples thought for a while, one of them said, 'Because we lose our calm, we shout.'

'But, why should you shout when the other person is just next to you? You can as well tell him what you have to say in a soft manner.' asked the saint

Disciples gave some other answers but none satisfied the other disciples. Finally the saint explained.

'When two people are angry at each other, their hearts distance a lot. To cover that distance they must shout to be able to hear each other. The angrier they are, the stronger they will have to shout to hear each other to cover that great distance.

What happens when two people fall in love? They don't shout at each other but talk softly, Because their hearts are very close. The distance between them is either nonexistent or very small...'

The saint continued, 'When they love each other even more, what happens? They do not speak, only whisper and they get even closer to each other in their love. Finally they even need not whisper, they only look at each other and that's all. That is how close two people are when they love each other.'

He looked at his disciples and said.

'So when you argue do not let your hearts get distant, Do not say words that distance each other more, Or else there will come a day when the distance is so great that you will not find the path to return. They may end up in divorce courts, for instance.'

Story of a Tea Cup

I picked this story from the net itself but unfortunately i do not remember from where.

There was a time when I was just a dumb lump of red clay. Then one day my master came. He took me, brought me home, rolled and pounded me on a wooden table. Again and again, he poked his fingers into me until finally I yelled out: 'Don't do that! Leave me alone!' But he only smiled and gently said: "Not yet!"

Then, whoommmm! I was placed on a spinning wheel and suddenly spun around and around and around until I lost all my sense of direction: 'Stop it; don't you see that I'm getting sick? Quickly, take me from the spinning wheel!' But the master only nodded in understanding and quietly said: "Not yet!"

Then he placed me carefully into an oven. I never felt such heat. I yelled and knocked and pounded at the door: 'It is hotter than hell - I'm burning to ashes. Please get me out of here before it is too late.' I could only read his lips as he shook his head from side to side and silently pronounced, "Not yet!"

After I had cooled down he carefully picked me up, looked at me and brushed some dust away. Then he brought the colors! The fumes were horrible! 'Please... you have no mercy! Please, Stop it!' But he only shook his head and said: "Not yet!"

An hour or later he came back and placed a mirror before me and said: "Look at yourself!" And I did.What I saw amazed me. 'That's not me!' I said. 'It is too beautiful...' With a very compassionate voice he spoke: "This is what you are meant to be," and then he explained: "I know it hurt you when I rolled and kneaded you on the table. But if I had not gotten the air out of you, you would have broken. I knew you must have lost all your sense of orientation when I was spinning you. But without this you would never have come into this form. I know the fumes of the colors were intolerable when I painted you all over. But if I had not done that, you would not have had any color in your life."

God is the potter and we are the clay. He will mold us and will expose us to just enough pressures of just the right kinds that we will become a perfect piece of His liking.

Is Sunlight essential for health?

Is Sunlight essential for health? Yes. Absolutely! This will be my answer, if someone asks me this question.

Since ancient times, Sun has been worshipped as a god and giver of life and energy to mankind. We find numerous examples of sun worshipping rituals in many ancient civilizations such as Indian, Egyptian and even Greeks.It is not without reason, that humans have worshipped sun for long. Even scientifically, we are aware that Sun is the nearest star to our earth and the heat and light emitted by sun is the main reason which allows life to flourish on earth. We are at such a distance form sun that we are neither too close nor too far unlike some other planets. It is the combination of this heat and light given by sun which gave rise to living organisms on earth.

During cold winters, the appearance of sun brings much needed warmth to our bodies. Our bodies function optimally at a core temperature of 37 degree Celsius. It has been seen that people who are not exposed to sunlight for long develop skin diseases and also suffer from deficiency of Vitamin D. This Vitamin D is very important for normal development of strong bones in our bodies. Its deficiency leads to diseases like brittle bones, osteomalacia and rickets in children. Moreover, the sunlight has a component which protects from different types of skin cancers. No wonder, then people living in areas having exposure to sufficient sunlight have fewer incidences of such diseases.

The various health benefits that sunlight offers are:

1. Synthesis of vitamin D which protects from Rickets, Osteomalacia and other bone diseases.

2. It helps to accumulate Melanin which protects from skin cancers.

3. It helps in better absorption of calcium which is necessary for bones and teeth.

4. Its helps to boost the immune system of our body.

5. The infra red component of sun rays relieve pain and help in relaxing the muscles.

6. It has also been proved that adequate exposure to sunlight helps in kidney related diseases.

7. Sunlight promotes growth of hair.

If we take a look at the plants and animal kingdoms, we would find the same results. The forest areas in places where there is sufficient heat and moisture leads to growth of many different species of flora and fauna. The plants wither if they do not get sufficient sunlight. Similarly, many animals are known to go for long sleep or hibernation to avoid harsh winter months when sunlight is scarce. The same effect is seen on humans as well. This is the reason we use metaphors like “warm and sunny” to express happy feelings and words like “ coldness “ to describe feeling of sadness and despair.

But there are couple of things one should be careful about when taking the sun bath. It is important to take in sun as is needed depending upon your body’s requirement. Moderate exposure is good for health, but over exposure can lead to disastrous effects. In fact, it is ideal to take sun soak early in the mornings when the sun has just risen. Do not ever go out in sun during afternoons when sun is very hot. And stop soaking in the sun – if you feel burning or itching sensations. Thus, taking care of these precautions will help you to reap maximum benefits from the life giving rays of the sun.