An ambitious and restless disciple was getting impatient with his guru’s style of
teaching one lesson at a time. He wanted to learn everything quickly and reap the
rewards of this learning quickly. He finally expressed his desire to complete his
course quickly and move to the next phase of his life. The guru nodded his head
and told him to come to him early next morning.
Next morning when the student arrived, he found the guru waiting for him near the
chicken coop. The guru then let the chickens free and asked the student to catch
them all in the next one hour. The student ran about trying to catch one and then
the other and finally at the end of his hour got exhausted and sat down dejected
as he had not been able to catch any. Then the master told him, now I ask you to
catch only the one with the ribbon round its neck. The student got up and despite
all the other chickens running around him just went after the ribboned one and
caught it with time to spare!.
The master smiled and said, “Focus is not our ability to stay attached to the ‘one’
but also the discipline to avoid the distractions of the ‘ninety nine”.
Moral: Success comes only when you get your priorities straight and your
actions following those priorities.

Once a manager had a team of around 40 people and most of them were bright, enthusiastic,
and hardworking young people.

But the manager had a problem in the team, individually everyone is excelling but as a team,
they are not sharing the information with each other which is very important for the team’s
growth. Once a manager had a team of around 40 people and most of them were bright,
enthusiastic, and hardworking young people.

During the outing, he invited everyone to a big room for a game consisting of 3 rounds. He told
everyone to blow a balloon which was kept on the table and write their name on the balloon
without tampering it. Hearing this all team members were able to blow a balloon and wrote their
names on it.

Then he told everyone to wait outside for the next round. After some time, he calls them back to
the room. After entering, team members could see there were more balloons without names
being added and scattered around.

The manager told them, they will be given 15 minutes to find the balloon they left behind with
their name on it, among the scattered balloons. The first three persons who find their balloons
will be winners and the one who pops the balloon will be disqualified.

Everyone started searching for their balloons and after 15 minutes Manager stopped the round
as no one was able to identify their balloons.

For the next round, the manager told them, if any team member finds a balloon with a name on
it, give the balloon to the person whose name was on it.

Everyone started searching and within a couple of minutes, every member of the team had their
balloon with their own name on it.

After that, Manager went to the dais and told, ” You see, in the 2nd round no one was able to
find their balloons as we were working on individual target but in the final round within a couple
of minutes everyone had their balloon with them, that’s the power of teamwork and sharing to
each other”.

A little bird was flying south for the winter. It was so cold the bird froze and fell to
the ground into a large field. While he was lying there, a cow came by and dropped
some dung on him. As the frozen bird lay there in the pile of cow dung, he began to
realize how warm he was. The dung was actually thawing him out! He lay there all
warm and happy, and soon began to sing for joy. A passing cat heard the bird
singing and came to investigate. Following the sound, the cat discovered the bird
under the pile of cow dung, promptly dug him out and ate him.
Moral of the story:
(1) Not everyone who shits on you is your enemy.
(2) Not everyone who gets you out of shit is your friend.
(3) And when you’re in deep shit, it’s smart to keep your mouth shut!

A Story Parable: Pray First, Aim High, Stay Focused.
There once was a man who had nothing for his family to eat. He had an old
shotgun and three shells. So, he decided that he would go out and kill something
for dinner.
As he went down the road, he saw a rabbit and he shot at the rabbit and missed it.
Then he saw a squirrel and fired a shot at the squirrel and missed it.
As he went further, he saw a wild turkey in the tree and he had only one bullet, but
a voice came to him and said “pray first, aim high and stay focused.”

However, at the same time, he saw a deer which was a better kill. He brought the
gun down and aimed at the deer.
But, then he saw a rattle snake between his legs about to bite him, so he naturally
brought the gun down further to shoot the rattle snake.

Still, the voice said again to him, “I said ‘pray, aim high and stay focused.’ ”
So, the man decided to listen to the voice. He prayed, then aimed the gun high up
in the tree and shot the wild turkey.
The bullet bounced off the turkey and killed the deer. The handle fell off the gun
and hit the snake in the head and killed it. And, when the gun had gone off, it
knocked him into a pond.
When he stood to look around, he had fish in all his pockets, a dead deer and a
turkey to eat. The snake (Satan) was dead simply because the man listened to
God.
Moral of the story: Pray first before you do anything, aim and shoot high in your
goals, and stay focused on God.

A wealthy merchant from the east passed away. In his will, the man stated equally
division of his wealth to three sons but his most treasured camels were divided in
rather challenging way.
According to the will the eldest son was to be given half of the camels, the middle
son was to be given one third of the camels, and the youngest son was to be
given one ninth of the camels. The merchant had seventeen cattle. As it was not
possible to divide 17 camels into half, one third or even into one ninth. The three
son started fighting with each other
Since the sons were not able distribute the camel among them, they went to a
wise man for advice. The wise man patiently listened about the sons’ dilemma.
After carefully understanding the situation the wise man brought one of his camels
and added to the seventeen camels of the merchant. That increased the total to
eighteen (18) camels.
Now, he started reading the deceased father’s will and divided the camels. Half of
eighteen is nine. So he gave the eldest son nine camels. One third of the eighteen
is six, so he gave the middle son six camels. The youngest son got one ninth of
the eighteen camels, so he gave him two camels.
After giving nine, six and two camels to the sons, he successfully distributed
seventeen camels. The wise man took back his camel.
Moral :The attitude of negotiation and problem solving is to find the 18th camel i.e.
the common ground. Once a person is able to find the common ground, the issue
is resolved. It is difficult at times. However, to reach a solution, the first step is to
believe that there is a solution. If we think that there is no solution, we won’t be
able to reach anywhere!

One day a teacher asked her students to list the names of the other
students in the room on two sheets of paper, leaving a space between
each name. Then she told them to think of the nicest thing they could
say about each of their classmates and write it down. As the students
left the room, each one handed in the papers. That Saturday, the
teacher wrote down the name of each student on a separate sheet of
paper, and listed what everyone else had said about that individual.
The students were happy with themselves and one another.
‘I never knew that I meant anything to anyone!’ and, ‘I didn’t know
others liked me so much,’ where most of the comments. The students
were happy with themselves and one another.
Several years later, one of the students was killed in a military activity
and his teacher attended the funeral of that special student. She had
never seen a serviceman in a military coffin before. He looked so
handsome, so mature. The ground was packed with his friends. One by
one those who loved him took a last walk by the coffin. The teacher was
the last one to walk past.
As she stood there, one of the soldiers who acted as pallbearer came up
to her. ‘Were you Karin’s math teacher?’ he asked.
She nodded: ‘yes.’ Then he said: ‘Karim talked about you a lot.’ After
the funeral, most of Karim’s former classmates went together to a
luncheon. Karim’s mother and father were there, obviously waiting to
speak with his teacher. ‘We want to show you something,’ his father
said, taking a wallet out of his pocket ‘They found this on Karim when
he was killed. We thought you might recognize it.’ Opening the billfold,
he carefully removed two worn pieces of notebook paper that had
obviously been taped, folded and refolded many times. The teacher
knew without looking that the papers were the ones on which she had
listed all the good things each of Karim’s classmates had said about
him. ‘Thank you so much for doing that,’ Karim’s mother said. ‘As you
can see, Karim treasured it.’ All of Karim’s former classmates started to
gather around. They said they all have that piece of paper as a
memento.
That’s when the teacher finally sat down and cried. She cried for Karim
and for all his friends who would never see him again.
The density of people in society is so thick that we forget that life will
end one day. And we don’t know when that one day will be. So please,
tell the people you love and care for, that they are special and
important. Tell them, before it is too late.

There was a young boy who had become addicted to eating sugar. His
mother decided to get help from Gandhi Ji and took the long and hot
journey with her son walking many miles and hours under the sun. She
finally reached Gandhi Ji ashram and asked him to tell her son to stop
eating sugar; it wasn’t good for his health. Gandhi Ji replied, “I cannot tell
him that. But you may bring him back in a few weeks and then I will talk
to him.” The mother was confused and upset and took the boy home.
Two weeks later she came back. This time Gandhi Ji looked directly at
the boy and said you should stop eating sugar. It is not good for your
health. The boy nodded his head and promised he wouldn’t.
The boy’s mother was puzzled. She asked “Why didn’t you tell him that
two weeks ago when I brought him here to see Gandhi Ji smiled and said
“Mother, two weeks ago I was eating a lot of sugar myself.”
Takeaway as a Leader- Leaders must model the behavior they ask of
their employees. If employees see their leaders stand up and lead by
example, they will feel more engaged and will be more willing to do their
best work.

One day all the employees reached the office and they saw a big advice on the door on which it was written: “Yesterday the person who has been hindering your growth in this company passed away. We invite you to join the funeral in the room that has been prepared in the gym”.  In the beginning, they all got sad for the death of one of their colleagues, but after a while, they started getting curious to know who was that man who hindered the growth of his colleagues and the company itself.

The excitement in the gym was such that security agents were ordered to control the crowd within the room. The more people reached the coffin, the more the excitement heated up. Everyone thought: “Who is this guy who was hindering my progress? Well, at least he died!”  One by one the thrilled employees got closer to the coffin, and when they looked inside they suddenly became speechless.  They stood nearby the coffin, shocked and in silence, as if someone had touched the deepest part of their soul. There was a mirror inside the coffin: everyone who looked inside it could see himself.

There was also a sign next to the mirror that said: “There is only one person who is capable of setting limits to your growth: it is YOU.” You are the only person who can revolutionize your life. You are the only person who can influence your happiness, your realization, and your success. You are the only person who can help yourself.  Your life does not change when your boss changes, when your friends change, when your partner changes when your company changes. Your life changes when YOU change, when you go beyond your limiting beliefs when you realize that you are the only one responsible for your life. “The most important relationship you can have is the one you have with yourself”.

Moral: The world is like a mirror: it gives back to anyone the reflection of the thoughts in which one has strongly believed. The world and your reality are like mirrors lying in a coffin, which show to any individual the death of his divine capability to imagine and create his happiness and his success. It’s the way you face Life that makes the difference.

 

There was a Watchman who always used to open and close the gates and then greet the house owner but the owner never responds to him. The Watchman thinks his owner is a little arrogant and doesn’t want to talk to some poor fellow.

Every day, after work, he searches the garbage for food. Whatsoever is left by the owners?

One day, when he was searching for the food he finds a bag full of eatables in a well-packed poly bag. He didn’t understand who put it and why someone does it.

This goes on for several years until his owner has died. After his owner’s death, he searches daily but never got that bag again.

Without that food, it was again difficult for him to feed himself with the little salary he gets. So, he went to the owner’s wife to ask for a salary raise.

When he asked for the salary raise, the owner’s wife questions him why didn’t he come early and had been working with such a little salary.

He tells her about the polybag he used to get every day and for this reason, his salary was enough for his family. But now it stopped.

The owner’s wife got tears in her eyes and said” you are the fifth one, Telling this story. My husband used to help everyone, he can. Don’t worry, you will have the raise.”

Again from the next day, he starts to get the polybag with eatables at the same place. This time he understands that it must be his owner’s son.

Every day, he greets the owner’s son and even he never replied to the Watchman. One day, nearly feed up with this, he shouted aloud to the owner’s son. ” Sir, thank you”.

The owner’s son turns and said” Sorry I didn’t hear you. I have a hearing problem just like my father.”

Moral of the Story:

Two sides to every story. Someone may seem arrogant, jealous, and egotistic. But it will be always better to first know the two sides to every story and then reach any final decision. You may be right but you may be wrong as well. We should never be judgmental and decide the character of a person just by his behaviour.

 

Never judge others by their NO.

Once a bird was searching for a home to lay her eggs and get shelter in the coming rainy season.

In her Search, she saw two trees and went to ask for shelter.

When she asked the first tree. He refused to give her shelter.

With disappointment, she went to the second.

And second, agreed

She made her home and lay her eggs and then the rainy season arrives.

The rain was so heavy that the first tree fell and was carried away by the flood.

The bird saw this and in a taunting way said:” See, this is your karma, you didn’t offer me shelter, and now God has given you the punishment.”

The tree smiled and said:” I knew I’m not going to survive this rainy season that’s why I refused you. I didn’t want to risk yours and your children’s lives. “

The bird got tears in her eyes. Now she knew the reason and felt respect for the tree.

Moral of the Story:

We should not always consider someone’s NO as their arrogance. You don’t know the full picture. Respect other’s decisions whether it is in your favour or not.

We get so much involved in the problems that we forget to view the other person’s point. Without even trying to understand the motive, the reason, we make our own judgments. We should never judge others by their No. because we don’t know their story.

You don’t know what good is hidden for you behind it.