The Wise Old Man

An old cobbler sought out the village sage and asked him to please find a way to wean his son away from his bad habits. The wise man agreed and took the youth for a stroll through a garden. Stopping suddenly, he asked the boy to pull out a tiny plant growing there.

The youth held the plant between his thumb and forefinger and pulled it out. The wise man then asked him to pull out a slightly bigger plant. The youth pulled hard and the plant came out, roots and all. “Now pull out that one,” said the wise man pointing to a bush. The boy had to use all his strength to pull it out.

“Now take this one out,” he said, indicating a guava tree. The youth grasped the trunk and tried to pull it out. But it would not budge. “It’s impossible,” said the boy, panting with the effort.

“And so it is with bad habits,” said the sage. “When they are young it is easy to pull them out but when they take hold they cannot be uprooted.” That walk through the garden changed the boy’s life.

Moral: Don’t wait for bad habits to grow within you. Release them while you have control over them or else they will get control over you.

The Trouble Tree

The Trouble Tree

A carpenter I hired to help me restore an old farmhouse has just finished a rough day on the job. A flat tire made him lose an hour of work, his electric saw quit and now his ancient truck refused to start. While I drove him home, he sat in stony silence. On arriving, he invited me in to meet his family. 

As we walked toward the front door, he paused briefly at a small tree, touching the tips of the branches with both hands.  When opening the door, he underwent an amazing transformation. His tanned face was wreathed in smiles, and he hugged his two small children and gave his wife a kiss. Afterward, he walked me to the car. We passed the tree, and my curiosity got the better of me, so I asked him about what I had seen him do earlier. 

'Oh, that's my trouble tree,' he replied. 'I know I can't help having troubles on the job, but one thing for sure, troubles don't belong at home with my wife and the children. So I just hang them up on the tree every night when I come home. Then in the morning I pick them up again.' 

'Funny thing is,' he smiled, 'when I come out in the morning to pick them up, there aren't nearly as many as I remember hanging up the night before.’

MORAL: We should all create our own symbolic ‘Trouble Tree’ so we can leave our problems outside the door instead of carrying them inside. All we have to do is get into the habit. Whether you take a minute to practice some deep breathing, handle a stone, or reach out to a tree, there’s something we can do to keep from carrying our troubles inside our comfort zone.

Wooden Bowls

A frail old man lived with his son, his daughter-in-law, and his four-year-old grandson. His eyes were blurry, his hands trembled, and his step faltered. The family would eat together nightly at the dinner table. But the elderly grandfather's shaky hands and failing sight made eating rather difficult. Peas rolled off his spoon and dropped to the floor. When he grasped his glass of milk, it often spilled clumsily onto the tablecloth.

With this happening almost every night, the son and daughter-in-law became irritated with the mess. "We must do something about grandfather," said the son. "I've had enough of his milk spilling, noisy eating, and food on the floor," the daughter-in-law agreed. So the couple set a small table in the corner.

There, grandfather ate alone while the rest of the family enjoyed their dinner at the dinner table. Since grandfather had broken a dish or two, his food was served in wooden bowls. Sometimes when the family glanced in grandfather's direction, he had a tear in his eye as he ate alone. Still, the only words the couple had for him were sharp admonitions when he dropped a fork or spilled food. The four-year-old watched it all in silence.

One evening, before supper, the father noticed his son playing with wood scraps on the floor. He asked him: "What are you making?" The boy replied, "Oh, I'm making bowls for you and mama to eat your food from when I grow up." The four-year-old smiled and went back to work.

The parents were speechless. Then tears streamed down their cheeks. Though no words were spoken, both knew what must be done. That evening, the husband took his grandfather's hand and gently led him back to the family table.

For the remainder of his days, grandfather ate every meal with the family. And for some reason, neither husband nor wife seemed to care any longer when a fork was dropped, milk was spilled, or the tablecloth was soiled.

Rainy Day, Sunny Day

There was once an elderly lady who cried all the time. Her oldest daughter was married to an umbrella merchant, while the younger daughter was married to a noodle vendor. On sunny days, she worried, "Oh no! The weather is so nice and sunny. No one is going to buy any umbrellas. What will happen if the shop has to be closed?" These worries made her sad. She just could not help but cry. When it rained, she would cry for her younger daughter. She thought, "Oh no! My younger daughter is married to a noodle vendor. You cannot dry noodles without the sun. Now there will be no noodles to sell. What should we do?" As a result, the old lady lived in sorrow every day. Whether sunny or rainy, she grieved for one of her daughters. Her neighbors could not console her and jokingly called her "the crying lady."

One day, she met a monk. He was very curious as to why she was always crying. She explained the problem to him. The monk smiled kindly and said, "Madam! You need not worry. I will show you a way to happiness, and you will need to grieve no more.”

The crying lady was very excited. She immediately asked the monk to show her what to do. The master replied, "It is very simple. You just need to change your perspective. On sunny days, do not think of your elder daughter not being able to sell umbrellas, but of your younger daughter being able to dry her noodles. With such good, strong sunlight, she must be able to make plenty of noodles, and her business must be very good. When it rains, think about the umbrella store the elder daughter runs. With the rain, everyone must be buying umbrellas. She will sell a lot of umbrellas and her store will prosper."

The elderly lady saw the light. She followed the monk’s instructions. After a while, she did not cry anymore; instead, she was smiling every day. From that day on she was known as "the smiling lady."

Teacher’s Mistake

One day in math class, the teacher wrote on the board, the multiplication table by the number 9.  9x1=9 9x2=18, and so on. But in the last entry, she wrote 9x10-89.  After writing this, she faced the children and noticed they were all laughing. She asked them the reason why they were laughing at her. First, the students hesitated but then one of them stood up and still giggling said, “Teacher, you wrote the last line of the table wrong.  9 x 10 is not 89.  9 x 10 is 90.”  

Listening to this the teacher smiled and said, “I have written the last line incorrectly for a reason because I wanted to teach you something very important.  You can see that I have written this table correctly 9 times, but no one appreciated that. Every one of you noticed the mistake I made and laughed at me because of that. Our math lesson is a life lesson.  This is how the world is. People don’t appreciate all the things you do right and all the good you do, but as soon as you make one mistake, they may criticize you or get angry at you.  

MORAL:  No one is perfect and we all make mistakes. Always do good deeds and help others, even if no one notices.  A small good deed done by you will be a big help to a person in need.

Placing Label on Someone

Placing Label on Someone

One day, a student in school thought it would be fun to play a prank on one of his classmates.   He took a paper and wrote on it – I am Stupid.  He then took that paper and stuck it on the back of his classmate, without getting noticed. When other students saw this, he asked them not to tell him about it.

The last class of the day was mathematics. The professor wrote a very difficult problem on the board and asked who thought they could answer it. No student raised their hand, except for one —the boy who had a paper stuck to his back.

The professor called him to come to the front of the class and solve that problem before him on the blackboard. While the student was walking towards the front, all the students were making fun of him behind his back. The professor noticed the note but said nothing.

While the students were snickering, the boy solved that problem.  He was about to go back to his seat when the professor stopped him and praised him for solving such a difficult problem.  He then removed the paper that was stuck on his back.  He gave it to the boy and said, “This was stuck to your back.”  When the student saw that paper, he felt embarrassed.

Then the professor faced towards the rest of the class and said, “Let me tell you something… Throughout your life, people will put labels on you… you are stupid, you are too old, your too small…yes, they will put labels on your back with many bad things written on it to stop your from growing or succeeding or being happy.  If this student had known about paper on his back, that he would not have gotten up to solve the problem. All you have to do in life is ignore these labels people give you and use every chance you have to learn, grow and improve yourself, then you will find happiness.”

Group of Frogs

As a group of frogs were traveling through the woods, two of them fell into a deep pit. When the other frogs crowded around the pit and saw how deep it was, they told the two frogs that there was no hope left for them.

However, the two frogs decided to ignore what the others were saying and they proceeded to try and jump out of the pit. Despite their efforts, the group of frogs at the top of the pit were still saying that they should just give up. That they would never make it out.

Eventually, one of the frogs took heed to what the others were saying and he gave up, falling down to his death. The other frog continued to jump as hard as he could. Again, the crowd of frogs yelled at him to stop the pain and just die.

He jumped even harder and finally made it out. When he got out, the other frogs said, “Did you not hear us?”

The frog explained to them that he was deaf. He thought they were encouraging him the entire time.

Moral of the story: People’s words can have a big effect on others’ lives. Think about what you say before it comes out of your mouth.

Office Boy

A jobless man applied for the position of ‘office boy’ at a very big company.

The employer interviewed him, then a test: clean the floor.

“You are hired,” the employer said. “Give me your email address, and I’ll send you the application to fill out, as well as when you will start.”

The man replied, “I don’t have a computer, and I don’t have  email.”

“I’m sorry,” said the employer, “if you don’t have an email, that means you do not exist. And who doesn’t exist cannot have the job.”

The man left with no hope. He didn’t know what to do with only $10 USD in his pocket.

He then decided to go to the supermarket, bought a 10kg tomato crate, and then sold the tomatoes door to door. In less than two hours, he succeeded and doubled his capital.

He repeated the operation 3 times and returned home with $60 USD. The man realized that he could survive by this way, and started to go every day earlier and returned late. Thus, his money doubled or tripled every day. Shortly after, he bought a cart, then a truck, and eventually had his own fleet of delivery vehicles.

Five years later, the man’s company was one of the biggest food retailers. He began planning his family’s future and decided to purchase a life insurance policy.

He called an insurance broker and chose a protection plan. When the conversation was concluded, the broker asked him for his email. The man replied: “I don’t have an email.”

The broker replied curiously, “You don’t have an email, and yet have succeeded in building an empire. Do you imagine what you could have done if you had an email?”

The man paused for a while and replied: “Yeah, I could have been an office boy!”

Each Person Shines In Their Own Way

A samurai who was known for his nobility and honesty went to visit a Zen monk to ask him for his advice.  He saw that the monk was meditating.  He watched him and waited until he was finished.  He then walked up to the monk and said, “Why do I feel inferior? I have faced death so many times, and have defended those who are weak. Nevertheless, upon seeing you meditating, I felt that my life had absolutely no importance whatsoever.”

The monk said, “I have to attend to all those who have come to see me today. Wait for me here, and when I am done, I shall answer you.” 

The samurai spent the whole day sitting in the temple gardens, watching the people go in and out in search of advice. He saw how the monk received them all with the same patience and illuminating smile on his face.

At nightfall, when everyone had gone, he asked: “Now can you teach me?”

The monk walked over to him in the garden and told him to look up at the sky.  As they both looked up, they saw a full moon shining in the darkness.  The atmosphere was one of profound tranquility.

“Do you see the moon; how beautiful it is? It will cross the entire sky tonight, and tomorrow the sun will shine once again. The sunlight is much brighter and can show the details of the landscape around us: the trees, the mountains, the clouds. I have contemplated this for two years and I have never heard the moon say: why do I not shine like the sun? Is it because I am inferior?”

“Of course not.”- Answered the samurai. “The moon and the sun are different things; each has its own beauty. You cannot compare the two.”

 “So, you know the answer,” the monk said. We are two different people, each trying to make the world a better place in our own way.

Time With Someone You Love

A man came home from work late, tired, and irritated. He had a really difficult day at the office. As he walked into the house, he found his 5-year-old daughter waiting for him at the door.

‘Daddy, may I ask you a question?’

‘Yeah sure, what it is?’ replied the man.

‘Daddy, how much do you make an hour?’

‘That’s none of your business. Why do you ask such a thing?’ the man said angrily.

‘I just want to know. Please tell me, how much do you make an hour?’

‘If you must know, I make $50 an hour.’

‘Oh,’ the little girl replied, with her head down.

‘Daddy, may I please borrow $25?’

The father was furious, ‘If the only reason you asked that is so you can borrow some money to buy a silly toy or some other nonsense, then you march yourself straight to your room and go to bed. Think about why you are being so selfish. I don’t work hard every day for such frivolous things.’  The little girl quietly went to her room and shut the door.  The man sat down and started to get even angrier about the little girl’s questions. How dare she ask such questions only to get some money?

After about an hour or so, the man had calmed down, and started to think:

Maybe there was something she really needed to buy with that $25.00 and he really didn’t ask for money very often the man went to the door of the little girl’s room and opened the door.

‘Are you asleep?’ He asked.

‘No daddy, I’m awake,’ replied the girl.

‘I’ve been thinking, maybe I was too hard on you earlier’ said the man. ‘It’s been a long day and I took out my aggravation on you. Here’s the $25 you asked for.’

The little girl sat straight up, smiling. ‘Oh, thank you daddy!’ he yelled. Then, reaching under her pillow she pulled out some crumpled-up bills.

The man saw that the girl already had money, started to get angry again.

The little girl slowly counted out her money, and then looked up at her father.

‘Why do you want more money if you already have some?’ the father grumbled.

‘Because I didn’t have enough, but now I do,’ she replied.

‘Daddy, I have $50 now. Can I buy an hour of your time? Then you can come home early tomorrow and have dinner with me and then after dinner, we can have some time to play together.’

The father was crushed. He put his arms around his little girl, and he begged for her forgiveness.

Luck Favors Those Who Help Themselves

A flood was threatening a small town and everyone was evacuating, heading for a safe place to weather the flood. Everyone left except one man who said, "God will save me. I have faith."

As the water level rose a jeep came to rescue him, the man refused, saying "God will save me. I have faith."

As the water level rose further, he went up to the second story of his house, and a boat came to help him. Again, he refused to go, saying, "God will save me. I have faith."

The water kept rising and the man climbed on to the roof. A helicopter came to rescue him, but he said, "God will save me. I have faith."

Well, finally the man drowned. When he reached his Maker he angrily questioned, "I had complete faith in you. Why did you ignore my prayers and let me drown?"

The Lord replied, "Who do you think sent you the jeep, the boat, and the helicopter?”

Ubuntu

An Anthropologist proposed a game to the children of an African tribe. He placed a basket of fruits near a tree and made them stand 100 meters away.

The anthropologist then announced that whoever reaches the tree first will get all the fruits in the basket.

When he said Ready, set, go…Do you know what these small children did?

They all took each other’s hands and ran towards the tree together, divided the fruits among them, and enjoyed eating them all.

When the Anthropologist asked them why they did that, they said, “Ubuntu, which meant:

‘How can one be happy when all the others are sad?’ Ubuntu in their language means:

‘I am because we are!’

Moral: Let us all always carry this attitude within us and spread happiness, wherever we go…!

Finding Happiness

200 people attended a seminar on mental and physical health. At one point, the speaker told the group they were going to do an activity. He gave each attendee one balloon and told them to write their name on it. Then, the balloons were collected and moved into a very small room. The participants were then asked to go into the other room and were given 2 minutes to find their balloon.

It was chaos…

People were searching frantically for their balloon, pushing each other and running into one another while they grabbed a balloon, looked at it, and inevitably tossed it to the side.

At the end of the 2 minutes, no one had found the balloon that had their name on it.

Then, the speaker asked the participants to pick up one balloon at random, look at the name, and return it to its owner. Within minutes, everyone had been reunited with their original balloon.

The speaker then told the group, “This is what it’s like when people are frantically searching for their own happiness in life. People push others aside to get the things that they want and that they believe will bring them happiness. However, our happiness actually lies in helping other people and working together as a community.”

The Moral: Happiness and fulfillment rarely come from selfish pursuits, but almost always come from doing good deeds for others. By helping others we help ourselves.

Three Rich Men and Their Kindness

Once upon a time, there was a very poor village.  One day, three rich men and their servants were traveling on the same road and came upon this poor village.  Seeing how poor everyone was, all three men decided to help the people.

The first man couldn’t see their poverty, so he took all the gold and silver from his wagons and shared them among the villagers. He wished them all the best and left.

The second rich man, seeing the poverty and condition of the village, decided to help them. So, he gave away all his food and drink. He thought that money couldn’t be of much use to them. He made sure that each one in the village got enough food and drink to last for a long time. Then he left.

The third rich man, after seeing the poverty of the villagers, sped up and traveled straight through the village without stopping.  The other two rich men saw this from a distance and commented to each other how the third rich man lacked decency and compassion, and it was good that they helped those villagers.

Three days later, the two rich men met the third rich man, who was traveling back to the village. His wagon was now filled with farming equipment, tools, and sacks of seeds and grains. He was heading to the village of poor people to help them out.  There are some generous people who give only so that people can see how generous they are, but in reality, they don’t want to know anything about the people they are giving to.  But some generous people don’t care what others think of them. Instead, they are truly concerned and think about the best ways to improve the lives of those whom they are helping. They give things much more valuable than money; they give their time, vision, and their lives.

Moral:  If we see someone in need, we should try to know their problem and find the best way to help them solve their own problem.

The Wise Sage

There once was a wise sage who wandered the countryside. One day, as he passed near a village, he was approached by a woman who told him of a sick child nearby. She beseeched him to help this child.

So the sage came to the village, and a crowd gathered around him, for such a man was a rare sight. One woman brought the sick child to him, and he said a prayer over her.

"Do you really think your prayer will help her, when medicine has failed?" yelled a man from the crowd.

"You know nothing of such things! You are a stupid fool!" said the sage to the man.

The man became very angry with these words and his face grew hot and red. He was about to say something, or perhaps strike out, when the sage walked over to him and said: "If one word has such power as to make you so angry and hot, may not another have the power to heal?"

And thus, the sage healed two people that day.


Moral: Language does have the power to change reality. Therefore, treat your words as the mighty instruments they are - to heal, to bring into being, to nurture, to cherish, to bless, to forgive.

Improving Self Confidence

One day, a boy was called upon to recite in front of his class at school. He had hardly begun when the teacher interrupted with an emphatic, “No!” He started over and again the teacher thundered, “No!” Humiliated, Henry sat down.

The next boy rose to recite and had just begun when the teacher shouted, “No!” This student, however, kept on with the recitation until he completed it. As he sat down, the teacher replied, “Very good!”

The first boy was irritated. “I recited just as he did,” he complained to the teacher.

But the instructor replied, “It is not enough to know your lesson, you must be sure. When you allowed me to stop you, it meant that you were uncertain. If the world says, ‘No!’ it is your business to say, ‘Yes!’ and prove it.

Moral: The world will say, ‘No!’ in a thousand ways.

‘No! You can’t do that.’
‘No! You are wrong.’
‘No! You are too old.’
‘No! You are too young.’
‘No! You are too weak.’
‘No! It will never work.’
‘No! You don’t have the education.’

‘No! You don’t have the money.’
 ‘No! It can’t be done.’

And each ‘No!’ you hear has the potential to erode your confidence bit by bit until you quit altogether. Though the world says, ‘No!’ to you today, you should be determined to say, ‘Yes!’ and prove it! ”

Pointing Out Other’s Mistakes

Once a Master was sitting with his four students, teaching them a lesson. After he completed that lesson he said to his disciples, “All four of you should learn this lesson yourselves and remember that no one should speak until come back. I will be back in an hour and then we will discuss the meaning of this lesson.”

After saying this, the master left. The students sat there and started to read and learn their lesson.  After a while, sky got cloudy and they heard thunder in the distance.  Seeing this, one of the students said, “Uh oh, it is going to rain today.”  The second student responded, “Why are you talking? Master has asked us to stay silent until he comes back and now you have disobeyed him. The” third student said to the second one, “See, now even you are speaking...!”

Those three students spoke in master’s absence, but the fourth student still didn’t say anything and silently kept studying that lesson.  After an hour master came back.  As soon as the disciples saw the master, they all started pointing at each other.  The second student pointed to the first student and said, “Master, he spoke in your absence.”  The first student said, “So what?? You spoke as well.”  The third student said, “Master, they both disobeyed you.”  Just then the first one said, “Who are you to say so? Even you spoke in master absence at that time.”

Seeing this master silenced all of them and said, “It means all three of you spoke in my absence. The only one who obeyed me was the fourth student.  He was the only one to follow my instructions properly. Surely, he will become a better person in the future.  I am not sure about the three for you. You all disobeyed me just to complain about the other one and because of this you didn’t realize your own mistake.”

After listening to the master those three disciples felt very ashamed about the way they acted and accepted their mistake. They asked for forgiveness and promised to never repeat that mistake again.

Moral:  This happens with most of us. We focus so much on pointing out other people's mistakes that we don’t realize that we ourselves are making the same mistake.  For a peaceful mind and a happy heart, instead of pointing out others' mistakes be on the lookout for your own mistakes and correct them.

The Best Tailor In Town

A man wanted to have a suit made. So, he went to the best tailor in town, who was named Zumbach. Zumbach took his measurements and ordered the best material.
The man went in for the final fitting, and he put on the suit. One sleeve was two inches longer than the other. He said, “Zumbach I don’t want to complain. It’s a beautiful suit. But this sleeve is two inches longer than that sleeve.” Zumbach looked affronted. He said, “There’s nothing wrong with the suit. It’s the way you are standing.” And he pushed one of the man’s shoulders down and the other one up, and he said, “See if you stand like that, it fits perfectly.”
The fellow looked in the mirror again, and there was all this loose material behind the collar. He said, “Zumbach what’s all this material sticking out?” Zumbach said, “There is nothing wrong with that suit. It’s the way you are standing.” And he pushed in the man’s chin and made him hunch his shoulders. “See, it’s perfect.”
Finally, the suit fit perfectly, and the man left. He was walking to the bus in his new, perfectly fitting suit, and somebody came up to him and said, “What a beautiful suit! I bet Zumbach, the tailor, made it.”
The man said, “How did you know?”
“Because only a tailor of Zumbach’s skill could make a suit fit so perfectly on somebody as crippled as you are.”

Moral:  Like the man in the story, many of us spend our lives twisting ourselves into roles, positions and careers that are unnatural and uncomfortable.  We hope to gain acceptance from our parents, friends, spouses, clients, colleagues, and others whose approval we desire. Sometimes, some degree of accommodation is necessary, but if we try to fit into the Zumbach suit too often, eventually, we will damage our integrity and lose our sense of self-worth.
Heed the warning signs. Stop focusing on what you think others expect of you and start recognizing what it is that you deeply desire for yourself and search for the truth within your own heart. 

Another Side To The Story

A father was reading his favorite magazine. His little daughter was playing loudly and distracting him. Trying to keep his daughter busy, he tore out a page in the magazine which showed a map of the world. He then tore the page into pieces and asked her to go to her room and put them together to make the map again. Having done this, the father was now convinced he would read his magazine without any disturbance and also that it would take his daughter hours to get it done.

Five minutes later, the little girl came back into the room with the map put together perfectly. The curious and confused father asked his daughter how she could do it so quickly. She giggled and said, "Oh…Dad, there was a picture of Buddha’s face on the other side of the page. I made His face perfect to get the map right.” Satisfied with the answer, she ran outside to play leaving the father quite surprised.

Moral of the story: In life, there is always the other side to whatever you experience. Whenever we encounter a challenge or puzzling situation, look at the other side, you will be surprised to see an easy way to tackle the problem.