APJ Abdul Kalam best quotes

HAVE NO FEAR

Best Motivational Video for Success in Life 

Building Your House

 An elderly carpenter was ready to retire. He told his employer-contractor of his plans to leave the house-building business to live a more leisurely life with his wife and enjoy his extended family. He would miss the paycheck each week, but he wanted to retire. They could get by.

 The contractor was sorry to see his good worker go & asked if he could build just one more house as a personal favor. The carpenter said yes, but over time it was easy to see that his heart was not in his work. He resorted to shoddy workmanship and used inferior materials. It was an unfortunate way to end a dedicated career.

When the carpenter finished his work, his employer came to inspect the house. Then he handed the front-door key to the carpenter and said, “This is your house… my gift to you.”

The carpenter was shocked!

What a shame! If he had only known he was building his own house, he would have done it all so differently.

So it is with us. We build our lives, a day at a time, often putting less than our best into the building. Then, with a shock, we realize we have to live in the house we have built. If we could do it over, we would do it much differently.

But, you cannot go back. You are the carpenter, and every day you hammer a nail, place a board, or erect a wall. Someone once said, “Life is a do-it-yourself project.” Your attitude, and the choices you make today, help build the “house” you will live in tomorrow. Therefore, Build wisely!

The Seasons of Life

 There was a man who had four sons. He wanted his sons to learn to not judge things too quickly. So he sent them each on a quest, in turn, to go and look at a pear tree that was a great distance away.

The first son went in the winter, the second in the spring, the third in summer, and the youngest son in the fall.

When they had all gone and come back, he called them together to describe what they had seen.

The first son said that the tree was ugly, bent, and twisted.

The second son said no – it was covered with green buds and full of promise.

The third son disagreed, he said it was laden with blossoms that smelled so sweet and looked so beautiful, it was the most graceful thing he had ever seen.

The last son disagreed with all of them; he said it was ripe and drooping with fruit, full of life and fulfillment.

The man then explained to his sons that they were all right, because they had each seen but one season in the tree’s life.

He told them that you cannot judge a tree, or a person, by only one season, and that the essence of who they are – and the pleasure, joy, and love that come from that life – can only be measured at the end, when all the seasons are up.

If you give up when it’s winter, you will miss the promise of your spring, the beauty of your summer, fulfillment of your fall.

Don’t judge a life by one difficult season. Don’t let the pain of one season destroy the joy of all the rest.

Improve difficult relationships

As usual a girl got married and went to live with her husband and mother-in-law.

In a very short time, she found that she couldn’t get along with her mother-in-law at all. Their personalities were very different, and she was angered by many of her mother-in-law’s habits. In addition, she criticized her constantly.

Days passed days, and weeks passed weeks. She and her mother-in-law never stopped arguing and fighting. But what made the situation even worse was that she had to bow to her mother-in-law and obey her every wish. All the anger and unhappiness in the house was causing the poor husband great distress.

Finally, she could not stand her mother-in-law’s bad temper and dictatorship any longer, and she decided to do something about it.

She went to see her father’s good friend who sold herbs. She told him the situation and asked if he would give her some poison so that she could solve the problem once and for all. He thought for a while, and finally said " I will help you solve your problem, but you must listen to me and obey what I tell you.”

She said, “Yes,  I will do whatever you tell me to do.

” He went into the back room, and returned in a few minutes with a package of herbs.

He told her, “You can’t use a quick-acting poison to get rid of your mother-in-law, because that would cause people to become suspicious. Therefore, I have given you a number of herbs that will slowly build up poison in her body. Every other day prepare some delicious meal and put a little of these herbs in her serving. Now, in order to make sure that nobody suspects you when she dies, you must be very careful to act very friendly towards her. Don’t argue with her, obey her every wish, and treat her like a queen.”

She was so happy. She thanked him and hurried home to start her plot of murdering her mother-in-law.

Weeks went by, months went by, and every other day, she served the specially treated food to her mother-in-law. She remembered what he had said about avoiding suspicion, so she controlled her temper, obeyed her mother-in-law, and treated her like her own mother. After six months had passed, the whole household had changed.

She had practiced controlling her temper so much that she found that she almost never got mad or upset. She hadn’t had an argument in six months with her mother-in-law, who now seemed much kinder and easier to get along with.

The mother-in-law’s attitude toward her changed, and she began to love like her own daughter. She kept telling friends and relatives that she was the best daughter-in-law one could ever find. She and her mother-in-law were now treating each other like a real mother and daughter.

Her husband was very happy to see what was happening.

One day, she came to see her father's friend and asked for his help again. She said, “please help me to stop the poison from killing my mother-in-law! She’s changed into such a nice woman, and I love her like my own mother. I do not want her to die because of the poison I gave her.”

He smiled and nodded his head. “ there’s nothing to worry about. I never gave you any poison. The herbs I gave you were vitamins to improve her health. The only poison was in your mind and your attitude toward her, but that has been all washed away by the love which you gave to her.”

Moral: Make a conscious choice to see the good qualities of the person in relationships, act it out, if necessary and gradually and surely let time heal relationships…

Inspirational Stories ~ Feelings ~ Emotions ~ Love & Life

Once upon a time all feelings and emotions went to a coastal island for a vacation. According to their nature, each was having a good time. Suddenly, a warning of an impending storm was announced and everyone was advised to evacuate the island.

The announcement caused sudden panic. All rushed to their boats. Even damaged boats were quickly repaired and commissioned for duty.

Yet, Love did not wish to flee quickly. There was so much to do. But as the clouds darkened, Love realised it was time to leave. Alas, there were no boats to spare. Love looked around with hope.

Just then Prosperity passed by in a luxurious boat. Love shouted, “Prosperity, could you please take me in your boat?”

“No,” replied Prosperity, “my boat is full of precious possessions, gold and silver. There is no place for you.”

A little later Vanity came by in a beautiful boat. Again Love shouted, “Could you help me, Vanity? I am stranded and need a lift. Please take me with you.”

Vanity responded haughtily, “No, I cannot take you with me. My boat will get soiled with your muddy feet.”

Sorrow passed by after some time. Again, Love asked for help. But it was to no avail. “No, I cannot take you with me. I am so sad. I want to be by myself.”

When Happiness passed by a few minutes later, Love again called for help. But Happiness was so happy that it did not look around, hardly concerned about anyone.

Love was growing restless and dejected. Just then somebody called out, “Come Love, I will take you with me.” Love did not know who was being so magnanimous, but jumped on to the boat, greatly relieved that she would reach a safe place.

On getting off the boat, Love met Knowledge. Puzzled, Love inquired, “Knowledge, do you know who so generously gave me a lift just when no one else wished to help?”

Knowledge smiled, “Oh, that was Time.”

“And why would Time stop to pick me and take me to safety?” Love wondered.

Knowledge smiled with deep wisdom and replied, “Because only Time knows your true greatness and what you are capable of. Only Love can bring peace and great happiness in this world.”

“The important message is that when we are prosperous, we overlook love. When we feel important, we forget love. Even in happiness and sorrow we forget love.

Only with time do we realize the IMPORTANCE OF LOVE. Why wait that long? Why not make love a part of your life today?”

Having a Best Friend

 

Two friends were walking through the desert. At one stage in their journey, they had an argument and one friend slapped the other one in the face.

 The one who got slapped was hurt, but without saying anything he wrote in the sand, “Today my best friend slapped me in the face.”

 They kept on walking until they found an oasis, where they decided to have a wash. The one who had been slapped got stuck in a mire and started drowning, but his friend saved him. After he had recovered from his shock, he wrote on a stone, “Today my best friend saved my life.”

 The friend who slapped and saved his best friend asked him, “After I hurt you, you wrote in the sand and now, you write in stone, why?”

 The other friend replied, “When someone hurts us we should write it down in sand where winds of forgiveness can erase it away. But, when someone does something good for us, we must engrave it in stone where no wind can ever erase it.”

Moral of the story: Don’t value the things you have in your life.Value those who you have in your life.

Value

A popular speaker started off a seminar by holding up a $20 bill. A crowd of 200 had gathered to hear him speak. He asked, “Who would like this $20 bill?”

200 hands went up.

He said, “I am going to give this $20 to one of you but first, let me do this.” He crumpled the bill up.

He then asked, “Who still wants it?”

All 200 hands were still raised.

“Well,” he replied, “What if I do this?” Then he dropped the bill on the ground and stomped on it with his shoes.

He picked it up, and showed it to the crowd. The bill was all crumpled and dirty.

“Now who still wants it?”

All the hands still went up.

“My friends, I have just showed you a very important lesson. No matter what I did to the money, you still wanted it because it did not decrease in value. It was still worth $20. Many times in our lives, life crumples us and grinds us into the dirt. We make bad decisions or deal with poor circumstances. We feel worthless. But no matter what has happened or what will happen, you will never lose your value. You are special – Don’t ever forget it!

The Elephant Rope

 

As a man was passing the elephants, he suddenly stopped, confused by the fact that these huge creatures were being held by only a small rope tied to their front leg. No chains, no cages. It was obvious that the elephants could, at any time, break away from their bonds but for some reason, they did not.

 He saw a trainer nearby and asked why these animals just stood there and made no attempt to get away. “Well,” trainer said, “when they are very young and much smaller we use the same size rope to tie them and, at that age, it’s enough to hold them. As they grow up, they are conditioned to believe they cannot break away. They believe the rope can still hold them, so they never try to break free.”

 The man was amazed. These animals could at any time break free from their bonds but because they believed they couldn’t, they were stuck right where they were.

Like the elephants, how many of us go through life hanging onto a belief that we cannot do something, simply because we failed at it once before?

Failure is part of learning; we should never give up the struggle in life.

Power of Silence

Janardhan was an old man aged 75 years. He lived very happily and formed a beautiful family. His children grew up and moved to different cities in pursue of good career and future. He lived in a small village carrying the memories of his deceased wife. Janardhan had 4 grand children and they used to visit him during their holidays.

And it was the vacation time and Janardhan was eagerly waiting for the arrival of his grand children.  He was preparing his home for the kids, cleaning the home, mowing the garden, rearranging the household items, buying the favourite foods, dresses for the children, etc. In the busy arrangements, he lost his favourite watch.

The watch was gifted by his dead wife when their first child was born. Janardhan treasured the watch and it became his sole companion after his wife’s death.

He forgot the watch missing and was happy receiving the kids at home. It was only the next day when he was about to take bath, he remembered that the watch was missing. He saw the watch last when he was arranging things in the barn. He was shocked and very upset.

His grandchildren asked him why he was so dull and asked him what troubled him.

Janardhan said, ‘Dear children, I lost the most precious watch I have ever had and I ever got in my life.

It was gifted by your grandma and I lost it while cleaning the home! I feel like I’m missing my heart.’

Janardhan was on tears and the children promised him that they would search the watch for him.

One granddaughter asked ‘grandpa, do you remember when you saw the watch last before it was missing?’

Janardhan told, ‘I guess when I was cleaning the barn!’

The children decided to search for the watch in the barn. The barn was full of waste materials, books, scraps, broken furniture, etc.

The children searched for more than 2 hours with help of Janardhan and a servant, but could not find it. Janardhan was completely shattered and asked the children to stop searching as they could not find anything.

The kids were also too sad, and consoled the grandfather.

One grandson again moved to the barn, and Janardhan asked why he was going there again. The little boy requested others not to follow him and remain silent.

While the others were little surprised, they still followed what he said. The little boy went to the barn and sat there in silence.

The other children reached him and asked him what he was doing and the little boy asked them not to make noise.

He sat there for about 15 minutes and then rushed to his grandfather. Yes, he got the watch and happily gave it to Janardhan.

He was surprised and asked how he was able to find it. The little boy replied, ‘I sat there without making a noise and the barn was so silent. After a few minutes, I heard the ‘tick tick’ sound and found the watch.

Janardhan hugged him and thanked the little boy.

This is the power of silence. If we stay calm, we can find the solution very easily!

Ego-Go

Samartha Ramdas Swamî was a great Saint from Maharashtra, India. He was the Guru of Shivajî Maharaj, a great and pious king of 17th century Maharashtra. One day, as the king and His Guru, were inspecting some construction in the royal palace, the king thought, "Indeed I am a great king, how well I take care of all my subjects!" The Guru, in His Omniscience, read His disciple's thoughts and decided to correct his thinking immediately.        

 There was a huge boulder nearby. Ramdas Swamî asked some of Shivajî's soldiers to break it into two. When His request was carried out, everyone present witnessed an incredible sight. They saw that the rock had a small water-filled cavity with a little frog in it! As soon as the boulder was split into two, the encaged frog jumped out, breaking free. 
       
 Samartha Ramdas Swamî now turned to Shivajî and asked, "If you feel that you are taking care of everybody in this kingdom, pray to tell me who was taking care of the frog trapped in the rock?" The king realized his mistake and felt remorse for his egotistical thinking.

He realized that it was God Who had created everything and took care of all His creation.

Moral: One should do everything, including spiritual practice, with humility. Spiritual practice done with an attitude of surrender would eventually give the experience of the truth that God alone is Almighty and the Creator of all.

Motivational Quotes That Will Inspire You to Be Successful

Read on to find the words of wisdom that will inspire your heart, motivate your mind in building your business, leading your life, creating success, achieving your goals, and overcoming your fears.

1. If you want to achieve greatness stop asking for permission. ~Anonymous

2. Things work out best for those who make the best of how things work out. ~John Wooden

3. To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong. ~Anonymous

4. If you are not willing to risk the usual you will have to settle for the ordinary. ~Jim Rohn

5. Trust because you are willing to accept the risk, not because it’s safe or certain. ~Anonymous

6. Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life - think of it, a dream of it, live on that idea. Let the brain, muscles, nerves, every part of your body, be full of that idea, and just leave every other idea alone. This is the way to success. ~Swami Vivekananda

7. All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them. ~Walt Disney

8. Good things come to people who wait, but better things come to those who go out and get them. ~Anonymous

9. If you do what you always did, you will get what you always got. ~Anonymous

10.Success is walking from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm. ~Winston Churchill

11. Just when the caterpillar thought the world was ending, he turned into a butterfly. ~Proverb

12. Successful entrepreneurs are givers and not takers of positive energy. ~Anonymous

13. Whenever you see a successful person you only see the public glories, never the private sacrifices to reach them. ~Vaibhav Shah

14. Opportunities don’t happen, you create them. ~Chris Grosser

15. Try not to become a person of success, but rather try to become a person of value. ~Albert Einstein

True Wealth

Once upon a time, there lived a very rich and wealthy man in a big town. He had all sorts of wealth and led a luxurious life. He had every luxury at his footstep and could afford to feed for the entire people of his town. He always boasted his luxurious life to his friends and relatives. 

His son was studying in a distant place and he returned home for vacation. The rich man wanted to show off to his son how rich his father was and how he made him very proud. But his son wasn’t ever fond of any luxurious lifestyle. However, the rich man wanted to make his son realize that his lifestyle was extremely rich and how the poor people did suffer. He planned for a day visit to the entire town to show him off the life of the poor people. 

The father and the son took a chariot and visited the entire town. They returned home after two days. The father was happy that his son was very quiet after seeing the poor people honoring the rich man and after seeing the sufferings of the poor ones due to lack of facilities. 

The rich man asked his son, ‘Dear boy, how was the trip? Have you enjoyed it?’

‘Yes my dad, it was a great trip with you.

’ The son replied. So, what did you learn from the trip? – The Father asked. The son was silent.  Finally, you have realized how the poor suffer and how they actually are – said the father.  No father – replied the son.  He added, ‘We have only two dogs, they have 10 dogs. We have a big pool in our garden, but they have a massive bay without any ends! We have luxurious and expensive lights imported from various countries, but they have countless stars lighting their nights. We have a house in a small piece of land, but they have abundant fields that go beyond the sight. We are served by servants, but they serve people. We are protected by huge and strong walls around our property, but they bond with each other and surround themselves. We only buy food from them, but they are so rich to cultivate their own food.’ The rich father was stunned to hear his son’s words and he was completely speechless.  Finally, the son added, ‘Dad thank you so much for showing me who is rich and who is poor and let me understand how poor we are!’ True wealth is not measured by money and property we have! It is in the friendship, relationship and good compassion we share with the others.

YOU TOO CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE

A lesson to learn

Her name was Smt. Sandhya. As she stood in front of her 5th-grade class on the very first day of school, she told the children a lie.

Like most teachers, she looked at her students and said that she loved them all the same. But that was impossible, because there in the front row, slumped in his seat, was a little boy named Prabir.

She had watched Prabir the year before and noticed that he didn't play well with the other children that his clothes were messy and that he constantly needed a bath. And Prabir could be unpleasant. It got to the point where She would actually take delight in marking his papers with a broad red pen, making bold X's and then putting a big "F" at the top of his papers.

At the school where Smt. Sandhya taught, she was required to review each child's past records and she put Prabir's off until last. However, when she reviewed his file, she was in for a surprise. Prabir's first-grade teacher wrote, " Prabir is a bright child with a ready laugh. He does his work neatly and has good manners...he is a joy to be around."

His second-grade teacher wrote, " Prabir is an excellent student, well liked by his classmates, but he is troubled because his mother has a terminal illness and life at home must be a struggle.

His third-grade teacher wrote, "His mother's death has been hard on him. He tries to do his best, but his father doesn't show much interest and his home life will soon affect him if some steps aren't taken."

Prabir's fourth-grade teacher wrote, " Prabir is withdrawn and doesn't show much interest in school. He doesn't have many friends and he sometimes sleeps in class."

By now, Smt. Sandhya realized the problem and she was ashamed of herself. She felt even worse when her students brought her Teachers' Day Presents, wrapped in beautiful ribbons and bright paper, except for Prabir's. His present was clumsily wrapped in the heavy, brown paper that he got from a grocery bag.

Smt. Sandhya took pains to open it in the middle of the other presents. Some of the children started to laugh when she found a rhinestone bracelet with some of the stones missing and a bottle that was one-quarter full of perfume. But she stifled the children's laughter when she exclaimed how pretty the bracelet was, putting it on, and dabbing some of the perfume on her wrist.

Prabir stayed after school that day just long enough to say, "Smt. Sandhya, today you smelled just like my Mom used to," After the children left she cried for at least an hour. On that very day, she quit teaching, reading, and writing, and arithmetic. Instead, she began to teach children. Smt. Sandhya paid particular attention to Prabir. As she worked with him, his mind seemed to come alive. The more she encouraged him, the faster he responded.

By the end of the year, Prabir had become one of smartest children in the class and, despite her lie that she would love all the children the same, Prabir became one of her "teacher's pets."

A year later, she found a note under her door, from Prabir, telling her that she was still the best teacher he ever had in his whole life.

Six years went by before she got another note from Prabir. He then wrote that he had finished high school, third in his class, and she was still the best teacher he ever had in his whole life.

Four years after that, she got another letter, saying that while things had been tough at times, he'd stayed in school, had stuck with it, and would soon graduate from college with the highest of honors. He assured Smt. Sandhya that she was still the best and favorite teacher he ever had in his whole life.

Then four more years passed and yet another letter came. This time he explained that after he got his bachelor's degree, he decided to go a little further. The letter explained that she was still the best and favorite teacher he ever had. But now his name was a little longer – the letter was signed, Dr. Prabir, MD.

The story doesn't end there. You see, there was yet another letter that spring. Prabir said he'd met this girl and was going to be married.  He explained that his father had died a couple of years ago and he was wondering if Smt. Sandhya might agree to sit in the place at the wedding that was usually reserved for the mother of the groom. Of course, she did.

And guess what? She wore that bracelet, the one with several rhinestones missing. And she made sure she was wearing the perfume that Prabir remembered his mother wearing on their last Diwali together. They hugged each other, and Dr. Prabir and whispered in Smt. Sandhya 's ear, "Thank you Smt. Sandhya for believing in me. Thank you so much for making me feel important and showing me that I could make a difference."

Smt. Sandhya, with tears in her eyes, whispered back.

She said, " Prabir, you have it all wrong. You were the one who taught me that I could make a difference. I didn't really know how to teach until I met you."

p.s. This Blog is not written by me, as I thought it Proper to Communicate the Story for a larger Audience.
 

Thinking Out of the Box

In a small Italian town, hundreds of years ago, a small business owner owed a large sum of money to a loan-shark. The loan-shark was a very old, unattractive looking guy that just so happened to fancy the business owner’s daughter.

He decided to offer the businessman a deal that would completely wipe out the debt he owed him. However, the catch was that we would only wipe out the debt if he could marry the businessman’s daughter. Needless to say, this proposal was met with a look of disgust.

The loan-shark said that he would place two pebbles into a bag, one white and one black.

The daughter would then have to reach into the bag and pick out a pebble. If it was black, the debt would be wiped, but the loan-shark would then marry her. If it was white, the debt would also be wiped, but the daughter wouldn’t have to marry the loan-shark.

Standing on a pebble-strewn path in the businessman’s garden, the loan-shark bent over and picked up two pebbles. Whilst he was picking them up, the daughter noticed that he’d picked up two black pebbles and placed them both into the bag.

He then asked the daughter to reach into the bag and pick one.

The daughter naturally had three choices as to what she could have done:

1. Refuse to pick a pebble from the bag.
2. Take both pebbles out of the bag and expose the loan-shark for cheating.
3. Pick a pebble from the bag fully well knowing it was black and sacrifice herself for her father’s freedom.

She drew out a pebble from the bag, and before looking at it ‘accidentally’ dropped it into the midst of the other pebbles. She said to the loan-shark;"Oh, how clumsy of me. never mind, if you look into the bag for the one that is left, you will be able to tell which pebbles picked"

The pebble left in the bag is obviously black, and seeing as the loan-shark didn’t want to be exposed, he had to play along as if the pebble the daughter dropped was white, and clear her father’s debt.

Moral of the story: It’s always possible to overcome a tough situation throughout of the box thinking, and not give in to the only options you think you have to pick from.

Inspiring quotes by Dhirubhai Ambani

Inspiring quotes which will give wings to your dreams:

1. If you don't build your dream, someone else will hire you to help them build theirs.

2. Think big, think fast, think ahead. Ideas are no one's monopoly.

3. If you’re born poor it’s not your fault but if you die poor it’s your fault.
   

4. Our dreams have to be bigger. Our ambitions higher. Our commitment deeper. And our efforts greater.

5. You do not require an invitation to make profits.

6. Pursue your goals even in the face of difficulties, and convert adversities into opportunities.

7. Meeting the deadlines is not good enough, beating the deadlines is my expectation.

8. We cannot change our rulers, but we can change the way they rule us.

9. Only when you dream it you can do it.

10. Challenge negative forces with hope, self-confidence and conviction. I believe that ambition and initiative will ultimately triumph.

11. Between my past, the present and the future, there is one common factor: Relationship and Trust. This is the foundation of our growth.

12. If you work with determination and with perfection, success will follow.

13. True entrepreneurship comes only from risk-taking.