I wanted to change the World!

When I was a young man, I wanted to change the world. I found it was difficult to change the world, so I tried to change my nation.
When I found I couldn't change the nation, I began to focus on my town. I couldn't change the town and as an older man, I tried to change my family.
Now, as an old man, I realize the only thing I can change is myself, and suddenly I realize that if long ago I had changed myself, I could have made an impact on my family. My family and I could have made an impact on our town. Their impact could have changed the nation and I could indeed have changed the world.
Author: unknown monk around 1100 AD

Have a Happy week ahead!

The Eagle!

Once a farmer found an abandoned eagle's nest and in it was an egg still warm. He took the egg back to his farm and laid it in the nest of one of his hens. The egg hatched and the baby eagle grew up along with the other chickens. It pecked about the farmyard, scrabbling for grain. It spent its life within the yard and rarely looked up. When it was very old, one day it lifted up its head and saw above it a wonderful sight - an eagle soaring high above in the sky. Looking at it, the old creature sighed and said to itself, "If only I'd been born an eagle".

Source: an adaptation from an Anthony de Mello story

You too have that power which is there in all champions, Just believe in it and do what your Heart says!

Have a fantastic week ahead!

Here is a short story from Buddha’s life—wish you happy Buddha Jayanti!

Once Buddha was in an assembly when a man walked in looking furious. He thought Buddha was doing something wrong. He was a restless businessman and he had found that his children were spending hours with Buddha when they could have engaged themselves in business at that time, making more and more money. He felt that spending four hours of their day seated next to someone whose eyes were always closed was incredulous. This was what had upset the businessman. 

So, with furiousness walked straight up to Buddha looked him the eye and spat. He was so angry, he could not find the words to express them that he merely spat at Buddha. Buddha simply smiled. He showed no anger, though the disciples around him were angry. They would have liked to react but could not because Buddha was there. So, everybody was holding their lips and fists tight. After the businessman spat at Buddha and realized his action was not drawing a reaction, simply walked away in a huff. 

Buddha did not react or say anything. He just smiled. And that was enough to shock the angry man. For the first time in his life, the man had met someone who would just smile when he spat on his face. That man could not sleep all night and his whole body underwent such a transformation. He was shivering, shaking. He felt as if the whole world had turned upside down. The next day he went and fell at Buddha’s feet and said, Please forgive me. I did not know what I did. To which Buddha replied, I cannot excuse you!
Everyone including the man and Buddha’s disciples were flabbergasted. Buddha then explained the reason for his statement. He said, Why should I forgive you when you have done nothing wrong. 

The businessman looked a little more surprised and told Buddha that it was he who had wronged him by spitting on him. Buddha simply said, Oh! That person is not there now. If I ever meet that person whom you spat on, I will tell him to excuse you. To this person who is here, you have done no wrong.

MORAL : Compassion is not saying, I forgive you. Your forgiveness should be such that the person who is forgiven, does not even know that you are forgiving them. They should not even feel guilty about their mistake.

Have a fantastic week ahead! 

Triple Filter: Socrates!

In ancient Greece, Socrates was reputed to hold knowledge in high esteem. One day an acquaintance met the great philosopher and said, "Do you know what I just heard about your friend?" "Hold on a minute", Socrates replied. "Before telling me anything I'd like you to pass a little test. It's called the Triple Filter Test."  "Triple filter?"

"That's right", Socrates continued. "Before you talk to me about my friend, it might be a good idea to take a moment and filter what you're going to say. That's why I call it the triple filter test. The first filter is Truth. Have you made absolutely sure that what you are about to tell me is true?" "No,”, the man said, "Actually I just heard about it and ..."

"All right", said Socrates. "So you don't really know if it's true or not. Now let's try the second filter, the filter of Goodness. Is what you are about to tell me about my friend something good?" "No, on the contrary."

"So", Socrates continued, "you want to tell me something bad about him, but you're not certain it's true. You may still pass the test though, because there's one filter left: the filter of Usefulness. Is what you want to tell me about my friend going to be useful to me?" "No, not really."

"Well", concluded Socrates, "if what you want to tell me is neither true nor good nor even useful, why tell it to me at all?"

Have a fantastic week ahead!!

Morning thought!

Every morning in Africa, a deer wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed.

Every morning in Africa, a lion wakes up. It knows it must outrun the slowest deer or it will starve to death!!

It doesn't matter whether you're a lion or a deer; when the sun comes up - you'd better be running!

- Unknown

Brahma!

There is an old Hindu legend that at one time all men on earth were gods but man so sinned and abused the divine that Brahma, the god of all gods decided that this special gift should be taken away from man and hid someplace where he would never find it again and abuse it.
One god said: "Let's bury it deep in the earth."Brahma said: "No, man will dig down in the earth and find it". Another god said: "Let's put it in the deepest ocean."Brahma said: "No, man will learn to dive and find
it there someday". A third god suggested: "Why don't we hide it in the highest mountain?
Brahma said: "No, man can climb the highest mountain. I have a better idea let's hide it down in man himself. Man will never think to look there.

Point: We all have the power to accomplish what we want to if we'll just stop looking elsewhere. –Unknown
Have a very productive and joyful week ahead!

Golden Buddha!

Dear Champions,

In 1957 a group of monks from a monastery had to relocate a clay Buddha from their temple to a new location. The monastery had to be relocated to make room for the development of a new highway through Bangkok.

When the Crane began to lift the clay Buddha, the weight of it was so heavy that it began to crack, to make things worse it also began to rain. The head monk who was concerned about the damage to the Buddha decided to lower the statue back down to the ground and cover it with a large canvas to protect it from the rain. Later that evening the head monk went back to check on the Buddha.

He shined a flashlight under the canvas to see if the Buddha was staying dry. As the light reached where the statue had cracked he noticed a gleam shinning back. He decided to take a closer look at this gleam of light and wondered whether there was anything underneath the clay. He got a chisel and hammer and began chipping away at the clay. As he knocked off the clay, the gleam grew brighter and bigger. After chipping away for many hours the monk finally stood before an extraordinary solid gold Buddha.

It turns out that several hundred years before, the golden Buddha had been covered in clay by monks to keep their precious treasure from being looted by the Burmese when they attacked Thailand. Although the Burmese killed the Monks in Thailand, the secret of the golden Buddha remained intact until it was rediscovered in 1957.

Like that Golden Buddha many of us have allowed the gold within us to be covered by the clay of fear and other factors that don't allow us to shine and keep the beauty within us trapped. Somewhere along the way between the ages of two and nine, we begin to cover up our golden essence and develop low self esteem because of the things we experience and because of the things that are said to us and the negative meanings we associate with our experiences that cause us to undervalue ourselves.

Like the Monk we must grab our chisel and hammer and chip away the clay of low self esteem so that we can discover our true essence again.