It is easier to criticize, but difficult to improve..!

Once upon a time there was a painter who had just completed his course. He took 3 days and painted beautiful scenery. He wanted people's opinion about his caliber and painting skills.

He put his creation at a busy street-crossing. And just down below a board which read -"I have painted this piece. Since I'm new to this profession I might have committed some mistakes in my strokes etc. Please put a cross wherever you see a mistake."

While he came back in the evening to collect his painting he was completely shattered to see that whole canvass was filled with X's (crosses) and some people had even written their comments on the painting.

Disheartened and broken completely he ran to his master's place and burst into tears.

This young artist was breathing heavily and master heard him saying “I’m useless and if this is what I have learnt to paint I'm not worth becoming a painter. People have rejected me completely. I feel like dying"

Master smiled and suggested "My Son, I will prove that you are a great artist and have learnt flawless painting. Do as I say without questioning it. It WILL work."

Young artist reluctantly agreed and two days later early morning he presented a replica of his earlier painting to his master. Master took that gracefully and smiled.

"Come with me." master said.

They reached the same street-square early morning and displayed the same painting exactly at the same place. Now master took out another board which read -"Gentlemen, I have painted this piece. Since I'm new to this profession I might have committed some mistakes in my strokes etc. I have put a box with colors and brushes just below. Please do a favor  If you see a mistake, kindly pick up the brush and correct it."

Master and disciple walked back home.

They both visited the place same evening. Young painter was surprised to see that actually there was not a single correction done so far.

Next day again they visited and found painting remained untouched. They say the painting was kept there for a month for no correction came in!

Conclusion:

It is easier to criticize, but DIFFICULT TO IMPROVE!

So don't get carried away or judge yourself by someone else’s criticism and feel depressed...

Judge yourself...You are Your best Judge!!

Even crazy looking problems are sometimes real

A complaint was received by the Pontiac Division of General Motors:

'This is the second time I have written to you, and I don't blame you for not answering me, because I sounded crazy, but it is a fact that we have a tradition in our family of Ice-Cream for dessert after dinner each night, but the kind of ice cream varies so, every night, after we've eaten, the whole family votes on which kind of ice cream we should have and I drive down to the store to get it. It's also a fact that I recently purchased a new Pontiac and since then my trips to the store have created a problem.

You see, every time I buy a vanilla ice-cream, when I start back from the store my car won't start. If I get any other kind of ice cream, the car starts just fine. I want you to know I'm serious about this question, no matter how silly it sounds "What is there about a Pontiac that makes it not start when I get vanilla ice cream, and easy to start whenever I get any other kind?"

The Pontiac President was understandably skeptical about the letter, but sent an engineer to check it out anyway.

The latter was surprised to be greeted by a successful, obviously well educated man in a fine neighborhood. He had arranged to meet the man just after dinner time, so the two hopped into the car and drove to the ice cream store. It was vanilla ice cream that night and, sure enough, after they came back to the car, it wouldn't start.

The engineer returned for three more nights. The first night, they got chocolate. The car started. The second night, he got strawberry. The car started. The third night he ordered vanilla. The car failed to start.

Now the engineer, being a logical man, refused to believe that this man's car was allergic to vanilla ice cream. He arranged, therefore, to continue his visits for as long as it took to solve the problem. And toward this end he began to take notes: He jotted down all sorts of data: time of day, type of gas used, time to drive back and forth etc.

In a short time, he had a clue: the man took less time to buy vanilla than any other flavor. Why? The answer was in the layout of the store. Vanilla, being the most popular flavor, was in a separate case at the front of the store for quick pickup. All the other flavors were kept in the back of the store at a different counter where it took considerably longer to check out the flavor.

Now, the question for the engineer was why the car wouldn't start when it took less time. Eureka - Time was now the problem - not the vanilla ice cream!!!! The engineer quickly came up with the answer: "vapor lock".

It was happening every night; but the extra time taken to get the other flavors allowed the engine to cool down sufficiently to start. When the man got vanilla, the engine was still too hot for the vapor lock to dissipate.

 
Even crazy looking problems are sometimes real and all problems seem to be simple only when we find the solution, with cool thinking. What really matters is your attitude, perception and sincere efforts.

Nail In The Fence : Anger Control

Once upon a time there was a little boy who was talented, creative, handsome, and extremely bright. A natural leader. The kind of person everyone would normally have wanted on their team. But he was also self-centered and had a very bad temper. When he got angry, he usually said, and often did, some very hurtful things. In fact, he seemed to have little regard for those around him. Even friends. So, naturally, he had few. “But,” he told himself, “that just shows how stupid most people are!”

As he grew, his parents became concerned about this personality flaw, and pondered long and hard about what they should do. Finally, the father had an idea. And he struck a bargain with his son. He gave him a bag of nails, and a BIG hammer. “Whenever you lose your temper,” he told the boy, “I want you to really let it out. Just take a nail and drive it into the oak boards of that old fence out back. Hit that nail as hard as you can!”
Of course, those weathered oak boards in that old fence were almost as tough as iron, and the hammer was mighty heavy, so it wasn’t nearly as easy as it first sounded. Nevertheless, by the end of the first day, the boy had driven 37 nails into the fence (That was one angry young man!). Gradually, over a period of weeks, the number dwindled down. Holding his temper proved to be easier than driving nails into the fence! Finally the day came when the boy didn’t lose his temper at all. He felt mighty proud as he told his parents about that accomplishment.

“As a sign of your success,” his father responded, “you get to PULL OUT one nail. In fact, you can do that each day that you don’t lose your temper even once.”
Well, many weeks passed. Finally one day the young boy was able to report proudly that all the nails were gone.

At that point, the father asked his son to walk out back with him and take one more good look at the fence.

“You have done well, my son,” he said. “But I want you to notice the holes that are left. No matter what happens from now on, this fence will never be the same. Saying or doing hurtful things in anger produces the same kind of result. There will always be a scar. It won’t matter how many times you say you’re sorry, or how many years pass, the scar will still be there. And a verbal wound is as bad as a physical one. People are much more valuable than an old fence. They make us smile. They help us succeed. Some will even become friends who share our joys, and support us through bad times. And, if they trust us, they will also open their hearts to us. That means we need to treat everyone with love and respect. We need to prevent as many of those scars as we can.”

A most valuable lesson, don’t you think? And a reminder most of us need from time to time. Everyone gets angry occasionally. The real test is what we DO with it.

If we are wise, we will spend our time building bridges rather than barriers in our relationships.

Biggest Weakness can become Biggest Strength

This story is especially for those people who think that they are weak in something or feel that they cannot do something because they are weak.

A 10-year-old boy decided to study judo despite the fact that he had lost his left arm in a devastating car accident.

The boy began lessons with an old Japanese judo master. The boy was doing well, so he couldn't understand why, after three months of training the master had taught him only one move. 

Boy asked teacher, "Shouldn't I be learning more moves?" "This is the only move you know, but this is the only move you’ll ever need to know, “Teacher replied.

Not quite understanding, but believing in his teacher, the boy kept training. Several months later, Teacher took the boy to his first tournament. Surprising himself, the boy easily won his first two matches. The third match proved to be more difficult, but after some time, his opponent became impatient and charged; the boy deftly used his one move to win the match. Still amazed by his success, the boy was now in the finals.

This time, his opponent was bigger, stronger, and more experienced. For a while, the boy appeared to be over-matched, concerned that the boy might get hurt, the referee called a time-out. He was about to stop the match when the teacher intervened. "No," the teacher insisted, "Let him continue." Soon after the match resumed, his opponent made a critical mistake: he dropped his guard. Instantly, the boy used his move to pin him. The boy had won the match and the tournament.
He was the champion. On the way home, the boy and teacher reviewed every move in each and every match. Then the boy summoned the courage to ask what was really on his mind.

"Teacher, how did I win the tournament with only one move?"

"You won for two reasons," the teacher answered. "First, you've almost mastered one of the most difficult throws in all of judo. And second, the only known defense for that move is for your opponent to grab your left arm."

The boy’s biggest weakness had become his biggest strength.

Moral: Sometimes we feel that we have certain weaknesses and we blame God, the circumstances or ourselves for it but we never know that our weaknesses can become our strengths one day. Each of us is special and important, so never think you have any weakness, never think of pride or pain, just live your life to its fullest and extract the best out of it!

What We Want ? Cup or Coffee

A group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old university professor.

Conversation between them soon diverted towards complaints about stress in work and their life.

The professor went into the kitchen and came with a large pot of coffee and had different kinds of cups with him. The cups were made up of plastic, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some glittering. The professor asked the students to have coffee.

After some time all the students had a cup of coffee in their hand. The professor said: 'If you would have noticed, all the nice looking, glittering and expensive cups were taken up firstly, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. Although it is normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the actual source of your problems and stress. Actually all of you really just wanted was the coffee, not the cup, but you consciously went for the best and nice looking cups and were staring each other's cups.
Now if the life is coffee, then the money, job and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain Life, but the quality of Life doesn't change. Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee in it.'

Don't let the cups drive you, enjoy the coffee instead.

Most Beautiful Heart

One day a young man was standing in the middle of the town proclaiming that he had the most beautiful heart in the whole valley. A large crowd gathered and they all admired his heart for it was perfect. There was not a mark or a flaw in it. Yes, they all agreed it truly was the most beautiful heart they had ever seen. The young man was very proud and boasted more loudly about his beautiful heart.

Suddenly, an old man appeared at the front of the crowd and said, "Why your heart is not nearly as beautiful as mine.”

The crowd and the young man looked at the old man's heart. It was beating strongly, but full of scars, it had places where pieces had been removed and other pieces put in, but they didn't fit quite right and there were several jagged edges.   In fact, in some places there were deep gouges where whole pieces were missing.

The people stared - how can he say his heart is more beautiful, they thought?

The young man looked at the old man's heart and saw its state and laughed.

"You must be joking," he said. 

"Compare your heart with mine, mine is perfect and yours is a mess of scars and tears.”

"Yes," said the old man, 

"Yours is perfect looking but I would never trade with you. 

You see, every scar represents a person to whom I have given my love - I tear out a piece of my heart and give it to them, and often they give me a piece of their heart which fits into the empty place in my heart, but because the pieces aren't exact, I have some rough edges, which I cherish, because they remind me of the love we shared. Sometimes I have given pieces of my heart away, and the other person hasn't returned a piece of his heart to me. These are the empty gouges giving love is taking a chance. Although these gouges are painful, they stay open, reminding me of the love I have for these people too, and I hope someday they may return and fill the space I have waiting. So now do you see what true beauty is?"

The young man stood silently with tears running down his cheeks. He walked up to the old man, reached into his perfect young and beautiful heart, and ripped a piece out. He offered it to the old man with trembling hands. The old man took his offering, placed it in his heart and then took a piece from his old scarred heart and placed it in the wound in the young man's heart. It fit, but not perfectly, as there were some jagged edges. The young man looked at his heart, not perfect anymore but more beautiful than ever, since love from the old man's heart flowed into his. They embraced and walked away side by side.

How sad it must be to go through life with a whole heart.

Love Life and Ego

"Sometimes love is for a moment, sometimes love is for a lifetime
Sometimes a moment is a lifetime."

Once upon a time there was an island, where all the feelings lived together.

One day there was a storm in the sea and the island was about to get drowned.
Every feeling was scared but Love made a boat to escape.
Every feeling boarded the boat. Only 1 feeling was left.
Love got down seeing who it was...
It was EGO...

Love tried and tried but ego wasn't moving also the water was rising.
Every one asked love to leave him and come in the boat, but love was made to love.

At last all the feelings escape and Love dies with ego on the island...

Love Dies because of EGO.

So,
Kill ego
and
Save Love...

I Love You Not

Boy: Baby, we need to talk.
Girl: Ricardo, what do you mean?
Boy: Something has come up...
Girl: What? What's wrong? Is it bad?
Boy: I don't want to hurt you, baby.
Girl: *Thinks* Oh my God, I hope he doesn’t break up with me... I love him so much.
Boy: Baby, are you there??
Girl: Yeah, I'm here. What is so important??
Boy: I'm not sure if I should say it...
Girl: Well, you already brought it up, so please just tell me.
Boy: I'm leaving...
Girl: Baby, what are you talking about?? I don't want you to leave me, I love you.
Boy: Not like that, I mean I'm moving far away.
Girl: Why? All of your family lives over here.
Boy: Well, my father is sending me away to a boarding school far away.
Girl: I can't believe this.

[FATHER: (Picks up the other phone, interrupts & yells furiously
ERICA! what did I tell you about talking to boys?!!!... Get off the
damn phone!! (And hangs up)]

Boy: Wow, your father sounds really mad.
Girl: You know how he gets, but anyways, I don’t want you to go.
Boy: Would you run away with me?
Girl: Baby, you know I would, I would do anything for you, but I can't... You don't know what would happen if I did. My dad would kill me!
Boy: *Sad* It's okay.. I understand, I guess..
Girl: *Thinking*I can't believe what's going on.
Boy: I need to give you something tonight, because I am leaving on
flight 1-80 in the morning, so I need to see you now.
Girl: Okay, I will sneak out & meet you at the park.
Boy: Okay, I'll meet you there in 20 minutes.
[They meet at a nearby park, they both hug each other. And he gives
her a note.]
Boy: Here you go, this is for you. I got to go.
Girl: *Tear* (Begins to cry.)
Boy: Baby, don’t cry, you know I love you... But I have to go.
Girl: Okay (Begins to walk away.)

[They both go back home. And Erica begins to read the letter he gave her]
It says...
"Erica,

You probably already know that I'm leaving; I knew this would be better if I wrote a letter explaining the truth about how much I care about you. The truth is, is that I never loved you, I hated you so much, you are my b**** and don’t you ever forget that. I never cared about you, and never wanted to talk to you, and be around you. You really have no clue how much I hate you. Now that I'm leaving I thought you should know that I hate you, b****. You never did the
right thing, and you were never there. I didn’t think I could hate someone as much as I hate you. And I never want to see you, for the rest of my life, I will never miss kissing you like before, I never want to cuddle up, how we used to. I will not miss you and that's a promise. You never had my love, and I want you to remember that. B****, you keep this letter because this may be the last thing you have from me. F***, I hate you so much. I will not talk to you soon bitch... Goodbye.
- Ricardo"

[Erica begins to cry, she throws the paper in the garbage & cries for hours]
... A day passes, she is sad, depressed and she feels so lonely... Then she gets a phone call....
Friend: How are you feeling?
Girl: I just can’t believe this happened... I thought he loved me.
Friend: Oh, about that. Ricardo left me a message, a few days ago. He told me to tell you to look in your jacket pocket or something...
Girl: Umm... Okay.
[She finds a piece of paper in the jacket,
It says:
"Baby I hope you find this before you read my letter. I knew your dad might read it, so I switched a few words...
Hate = Love
Never = Always
B**** = Baby
Will not= will
.... I hope you didn't take that seriously because I love you with all my heart, and it was so hard to let you go that’s why I wanted you to run away with me... -Ricardo"]
Girl: Oh my God! It's a letter... Ricardo does love me! He must have slipped it into my pocket when he hugged me. I can't believe how stupid I am!!

Friend: lol Okay but I got to go... Call me later.
Girl: *happy*okay, bye, I'll be at home waiting for my baby to call me!

... Erica turns the T.V. on......
[Breaking news] "An airplane has crashed. Over 47 young boys died, we are still searching for survivors... This is a tragedy we will never forget; this plane was flight 1-80... it was on its way to an all boys boarding school..." the Reporter says.
[She turns off the T.V. ... 3 days later, she kills herself, because of the fact that Ricardo was dead & she had nothing to live for...]

... A day after that the phone rings. Nobody answers. It was Ricardo; he called to leave a message. "Its Ricardo, I guess you're not home so, I called to let you know that I'm alive, I missed my flight because I had to see you one last time. So, I hope you are not worried. I am staying for good.

Learn to Forgive in Difficult Times

A boy was born to a couple after eleven years of marriage. They were a loving couple and the boy was the apple of their eyes.

When the boy was around two years old, one morning the husband saw a medicine bottle open. He was late for work so he asked the wife to cap the bottle and keep it in the cupboard. The mother, preoccupied in the kitchen, totally forgot the matter.

The boy saw the bottle and playfully went to the bottle and, fascinated with its color, drank it all. It happened to be a poisonous medicine meant for adults in small dosages. When the child collapsed, the mother hurried him to the hospital, where he died. The mother was stunned. She was terrified how to face her husband.
 

When the distraught father came to the hospital and saw the dead child, he looked at his wife and uttered just four words.
 

What do you think were the four words?
 

The husband just said "I Love You Darling"
 

The husband's totally unexpected reaction is proactive behavior. The child is dead. He can never be brought back to life. There is no point in finding fault with the mother. Besides, if only he have taken time to keep the bottle away, this will not have happened. No point in attaching blame. She had also lost her only child. What she needed at that moment was consolation and sympathy from the husband. That is what he gave her.
 

Sometimes we spend time asking who is responsible or who to blame, whether in a relationship, in a job or with the people we know. We miss out some warmth in human relationship in giving each other support. After all, shouldn't forgiving someone we love be the easiest thing in the world to do? Treasure what you have. Don't multiply pain, anguish and suffering by holding on to forgiveness.
 

If everyone can look at life with this kind of perspective, there would be much fewer problems in the world.

Take off all your envies, jealousies and unwillingness to forgive, selfishness, and fears and you will find things are actually not as difficult as you think.

I broke up with her...!!!

Boy:I broke up with her...
His Best Friend:What happened?
 

Boy:She’s just too much for me.
His Best Friend:What makes you say that? What did she do wrong?
 

Boy:Well, ...for one.. She only cared about her appearance. Always had to look good,
always took forever to get dressed! So insecure..
His Best Friend:So, you broke her heart because she wanted to keep your eyes
locked on her? She wanted you to see that you have the prettiest girl
under your sleeve and not think otherwise? I see..
 

Boy:Oh.. Well..
She’d often call me or text me asking where I am, who I’m with, telling
me not to smoke, not to drink. She’s so clingy!
His Best Friend:So,
you broke her heart because she cares about your well being? Because she
cares about you a lot? And her greatest fear is losing you. I see..
 

Boy:But.. Uh.. Well, she’d always cry when I say something slightly
mean. She can’t handle anything. She’s a cry-baby!
His Best Friend:So,
you broke her heart because she has feelings? And because she just
wanted to hear you say you love her? I see..
 

Boy:I.. Well! You know,
she’d get jealous easily. I could barely talk to other girls! She’s so
annoying! I had to hide it from her.
His Best Friend:So, you broke
her heart because she just wanted you to commit to her? She thought you
were faithful, but you lied so she could find out later and hurt even
more? She just wanted the guy she loves the most to love only her. I
see..
 

Boy:Well, she..
His Best Friend:You broke up with her
because she’s good for you? She just wanted the best for you? She’s
broken now because you were selfish. Are you proud?
 

Boy:I broke her heart.. Because I couldn’t see what was happening.. What happened to me?
His Best Friend:You lost the girl that loved you like no one else could.
You see?

You didn’t want her when all she ever wanted was you, that's what happened...!!!

Butterflies Love

Two butterflies were in love.........

One day; they decided to play Hide n Seek.......
During the play.....
Boy Butterfly - "A small game within us"
Girl Butterfly - "OK"
Boy Butterfly - "The one who sits in this flower tomorrow early in the morning.....that one loves the other one more....."
Girl Butterfly - "OK"
Next morning, the boy butterfly waits for the flower to open so that he can sit before the girl butterfly does......
Finally, the flower opened.....

What did he see.....?????........

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

The girl butterfly had died inside the flower.....
She stayed there all night......so that early in the morning......as soon as she sees him.......she can fly to him and tell him how much she loved him........
This is true LOVE…..
Life is LOVE…..

Part of Love

A girl was sitting on a chair at the gas station she worked at. She looked up and saw her boyfriend walk in. 

As he was looking at snacks, a man walked in and pointed a gun at her. He had been admiring her ring her boyfriend had given to her as a token of his love. When he asked her to give it to him, she said no. Her boyfriend looked up just in time to see her shot. He ran over to the killer and beat him over the head with a hammer that was for sale. 

Then he ran and called 911. When the ambulance came, he was sobbing uncontrollably near his girlfriend.
The doctor came over and felt for her pulse. Then he stood up and said she was still alive. Later at the hospital, as he was sitting beside her, he asked “Why didn't you just give him the ring?" and then she softly spoke “Because when you gave it to me, you said it was part of your love for me and I knew if I gave him the ring, I would lose that love." The next day, she was pronounced dead.