YOUR STRENGTH LIES WITHIN YOU!

“I never met a man so unknowledgeable. I could not learn something from him.”–Galileo Galilei

Humming bird is the smallest bird but has the distinction to fly backward too. Kangaroos can run fast but cannot go far. Tortoise cannot run but can go far.

Penguins and Kiwis are the birds which cannot fly, but they are also the birds who are blessed with something which is restricted to them only. For instance, Penguins can jump as high as six feet in the air and can also move faster than a submarine, while Kiwis have the distinction to hunt with their sense of smell.

Birds can differentiate between colours, they use this ability to choose their food, whereas animals are colour blind, they have a better sense of smell.

We humans are no different if one falls short in one field; he of course has something other special ability which is limited to him only. We all have that seed within us, which awaits our attention and which has the potential to blossom into a full-fledged plant one day.

Even a weak is capable

A king once wanted to get his only daughter married. Unable to decide on the person, he got the two rooms of his palace filled with the gold bars of equal weight and size. He made an announcement, “Whoever succeeds in getting the most number of gold bars from the two rooms of my palace, would marry my daughter. The only condition is, no one is allowed to enter the palace twice.”

People from many different fields came forward to take part in the offer. Everyone, in his own way, tried to walk out with as many bars with him as he could. Some even tried to tie the bars around their body in order to increase the numbers. 

Some professional weightlifters had also tried and had managed to get a decent number of bars with them. This way, one after another, everyone tried their best to defeat each other at numbers .

The king, after the competition, realised that there was not much difference among the numbers each participant had obtained. Unsatisfied with the score, the king let the offer remain open.

A few days later, a skinny person came to the palace and participated in the competition and later it was known that he managed to come out with all the gold bars, leaving not a single bar in any of the two rooms. Everyone was curious to know about his strength .

The king asked, “How could you do what no one else succeeded in doing?” He replied, “Your majesty, had this competition been of checking one’s physical strength alone, one could have easily won by this time. The competition required one to prove his both physical and mental ability. I just brought all the bars to the exit gate before throwing them out. I stepped out only when I had thrown the last bar I had brought to the exit gate!” Listening this, the king happily made his intentions clear of marrying his daughter with him .

So we see, even a weak person has the skills to take on the heaviest. If slender people can fall with a lesser force, they are also blessed with the ability to get up faster than plump people.

It is said that everyone is gifted with at least one special distinguishing characteristic, but not many in their lifetime succeed in deciphering it. We slide into the rut of life so easily and comfortably that we hardly give space and time for our talent to show up. We start concentrating on routine and trivial issues so much so that we literally make a life out of them, thus failing to concentrate on wider perspective of life. Oliver Wendall Holmes was right when he echoed, “Most people go to their graves, with music still in them.”

TALENT—FINDING YOUR NICHE

A king once wanted to shorten the length of all coming years, so that he could celebrate his daughter’s birthday, every year more frequently. In order to decide which month to delete, he called all the months and asked them to prove their worth or risk facing a burial into the pages of history The bemused months asked for a week’s time to defend themselves.

A week later all the months, in order, lined up in front of king. January, being the first defended himself by saying, “Your majesty I am the beginning, without me people would be deprived of a new year”

The next in line, February said, “Children cry less in my presence as I have the least number of days, besides I give people a chance to come closer and celebrate love on my 14 th day”

March defended himself by saying, “I bring in the season of spring, giving a sense of freshness to the atmosphere”

April squealed, “Only I am traditionally authorised to have a specific day for people to play fool on one another, if I am gone, people would miss the opportunity to make themselves and others laugh”

May put, “Flowers begin to blossom during my presence.”

June said, “People are always eager to choose me as their wedding month, if I am gone, people would fret for having lost the opportunity to get married in my presence.”

July and August echoed in equal voice, “We are the only months to be bundled together with 31 days; deleting one would mean breaking our association and uniqueness”

September reminded the king, “It’s during my presence that most crops get harvested”

October was comfortable to put, “Your daughter loves me most. I am her birthday’s month!”

November eagerly said, “The universal children’s day is celebrated in my presence, if I am removed, many countries would be in dilemma to celebrate their children’s day.”

Finally December defended himself by saying, “If I get deleted, people would be confused of the ending of a year, and would also be deprived of a Christmas each year”

In this way all the months, one after another, defended themselves for a survival. The king, who had been patient with everyone, noticed that they all had a valid point in their favour. Eventually, he announced, “Though you all are different from each other, yet all of you are equally worth in your own right and none can face an execution; you all are safe”

So we see, the months who were ignorant of their own self, discovered and made out their worth when the situation demanded of them. Similarly, we humans, like animals, birds and even trees— which are positively unique among themselves—have something special within us, only waiting to be tapped. This ‘something’ can take us higher, stretch us longer and make us stronger and faster. This ‘something’ is our talent.

By Anchit Barnwal; WINNERS PODIUM—Everyone fits on it.

CHARACTER —AN INVESTMENT TO SUCCESS

To be successful in life is everyone’s natural desire. Achieving Success means getting something desired or planned in the field one chooses and then moving forward to be ahead from others.

Success gives you the following advantages:

• Recognition in the Society
• Respect and Regard
• When a successful person attends a function or a gathering, he is recognised by all without any introductions
• One can earn money and it provides him comforts and conveniences
• Society remembers him for a long time

However, achieving success is not an easy task. One has to work hard, face difficult situations, hardships and should be disciplined.

Amitabh Bachchan, Kapil Dev, Sunil Gavaskar, Sachin Tendulkar, Dhirubhai Ambani, Steven Spielberg, Ram Gopal Varma, Mani Ratnam, R.D Burman, A.R Rahman, Steffi Graf, Madhuri Dixit, etc are some of the many well‒known personalities who belong to different fields but have one aspect or quality common in all of them and that is Success! Victory!!

All these people are successful in their respective fields and have reached to the highest positions in their lives.

However, one may wonder, what methods did they follow, or what acts did they do to reach to that level??

In fact, when you study the lives of all the above mentioned great personalities, you can notice some common qualities such as ‒

• They all have a goal in their lives, an ambition. Until they achieve their ambition, they do not rest.
• They have a strong personality to face any difficult situation or problem in their path of achieving success.
• They are not overwhelmed with trivial initial results and struggle till the end until they achieve complete success.
• They set a plan and move forward until they achieve their goal.
• They are all workaholics, and follow the principle, ‘Work is Worship’.

All the above‒mentioned achievers of success are Genius! And we all know that some may be born Genius, but most of them are not born Genius, but made.

When we talk of a Genius, we immediately recall Einstein, one of the greatest scientists of the world. Here’s an amazing story behind his genius.

One day some scientists met Einstein and asked his permission to examine his brain after his death. He accepted their request with a small condition.

The condition was that he wanted to place a letter in a sealed cover which was to be opened only after receiving the report prepared on his brain examination!

They accepted his condition.

Later, Einstein passed away. Scientists conducted a thorough examination of his brain and prepared a report, and then they remembered his letter and opened it before all.

There were two sentences written in Einstein’s own handwriting:

First sentence ‒ “You have examined my Brain? My brain has nine billion cells like other human brains.”

Yes, even the scientists’ report said so.

Second sentence ‒”I alone know what the difference between others and me is.”

When they read those two sentences, they were astonished.

Actually, what Einstein intended to say was that he had the same brain what others have, but the only difference was that he had sharpened it with constant use, logical thinking and experimentation.

That is why Intellectuals say that if you want to become a genius, you need 80% perspiration, and 10% inspiration.

Perspiration means‒determination, attention, efforts, sincerity and hard work to reach the goal.

To become a genius, or to achieve success in any sphere of life, such as education, profession, love, marriage, etc, one has to put one’s efforts or hard work along with the desire and determination to fulfil one’s goal. Of course, self‒confidence and belief in oneself are compulsory!

In a recent survey conducted in the United States of America, regarding persons who achieved success, or reached to the top in their respective fields revealed that 85% of them attained success by improvising their personalities and the remaining 15% with their experience and talents in their respective fields.

So, in order to succeed, or achieve success in one’s field, be it 

literature, politics, cinema, journalism or any other field, one must first shape one’s personality and character. Your personality, character and individuality act as a passport leading your journey towards success. Hence, to achieve shape and groom your character, what all do you have to do??

Here is a famous saying by the well‒known scientist, Albert Einstein:

“There are only two ways to live your life.

One is as though nothing is a miracle.

The other is as though everything is a miracle.” You can adopt any one of the two ways.

HOW WILL YOU BE REMEMBERED???

Every day, all day long, we are presented with choices: simple ones, like “Should I hit the snooze button on my alarm one more time?”; more complex ones, like “How ought I to respond when someone I care for fails to live up to my expectations?” And every day, all day long, we make these choices. We do the best we can with the information and experience we have, and we try to make choices that reflect our deepest values and are consistent with the sort of person we would like to be.

Every choice we make goes into creating who we are. With every move we make—every action, every inaction, every thought that flashes through our minds—more sand trickles from the top of life’s hourglass into the bottom. Each grain of sand—every single instant we’re alive—builds up to form an afterimage of who we were, where we came from, what we did, and how we loved. This afterimage is our legacy, our gift to the future, the story of our life to be told after we’ve gon

When your children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and beyond talk about you, what will they say? Who is the person they will see when they examine the afterimage you have left behind?

Think of your own recollections of those who have preceded you: family members, friends, co-workers and colleagues, public figures great and small, the well- and the little-known. What remains of them when they are no longer here?

Possessions are disbursed, projects taken over, vital statistics catalogued away until all that’s left of who we were is who we were.

OUR CHARACTER

Our character is our legacy. And our legacy is ultimately a moral legacy. It is the story of the good and bad things we did to and for other people.

Our bequest to tomorrow will not primarily be monetary or physical or even spiritual; that is, it won’t be something beyond this earthly plane. What we will grant to others in our absence is what we have granted to them in our presence: how we have met our obligations to them as family members, lovers, neighbors, colleagues, and fellow human beings.

As we proceed through life, this can be hard to see. The day-today responsibilities of making a living, raising a family, keeping up with the Joneses—not to mention rooting for one’s favorite sports team, downloading the latest Internet software, and keeping tabs on the extramarital dalliances of world leaders—incline us to perceive ourselves as individual, autonomous agents whose legacy is more about what we produced than how we lived. While few people really believe that whoever dies with the most toys wins, many of us do live our lives as if our acquisitions will have a more lasting effect than our offerings.

But when we look back upon things, it becomes obvious how much more enduring is what we give than what we take. And we can see better how our legacy—both individually and as a society—is most clearly forged by the moral choices we have made.

It doesn’t take a wise old person to recognize this; even a child (even a teenager!) can recognize how enduring our moral legacy really is—and how unforgettable are the choices that lead to its creation.

From the book CHOOSING THE RIGHT THING TO DO by DAVID A. SHAPIRO

SOMETIMES YOU WIN AND SOMETIMES YOU LEARN

By Luke Dancy

The title of this article above says a lot in just a few words, think about it for a sec. One of the things I bring up a lot is that by changing your perspective you can change the way you live your life. It's true that sometimes you're going to hit home-runs while other times you will strike out BUT as long as you walk away with the knowledge on how to do better next time then you've already succeeded.

The next time things don't seem to go the way you had hoped ask yourself a few questions...

• What could I have done better?
  
• Where did I go wrong?
  
• Did I ask for the help that I need?
  
• What did I learn?
  

Open up the ole notepad on your computer, or grab a piece of real paper, and start answering these questions. Every experience, good or bad, should be a learning experience so don't sell yourself short but hanging your head and blindly jumping into something else.

Things aren't always supposed to work out the first time around. It sounds cliche but remember nothing that's worth having is easy to get. Listen to your heart and follow your dreams with a clear head that will lead you to big things.

DEALING WITH LIFE'S PROBLEM

How often have you been living life, happy and content, and then suddenly life slaps you in the face with something unexpected? We all have problems, and the truth of the matter is that problems will never go away. They will just change form.

One time you may be struggling with health, the next with money, and still the next with relationships. That is both the curse and blessing of life.

However, you don’t have to suffer because everything isn’t perfect in your life.

Behind the Scenes of Problems

Nothing becomes a problem until you label it so. You’ve probably noticed that different people have different opinions of what problems are, and how much attention should be given to any one thing. This means that problems exist in our heads, and that we create them, define them, and fear them.

The Most Overlooked Secret

The secret to dealing with life’s problems is to realize that they are illusions of our imagination. Sure, they feel very real.

Let’s say you’re driving your car merrily down the highway, until someone cuts you off. You might fly off the handle, or you might not. It will depend on how you perceive the situation. It’s an excellent example of how some people create something to complain about where others are completely fine.

Life will always have “problems” and the way to deal with them is to let them be. You don’t have to try to analyze, fantasize, or figure out your problems. Let them figure themselves out. The more you try, the more you fuel the problem, and the more miserable you become.

52 INSPIRATIONAL QUOTES THAT WILL TRANSFORM YOUR LIFE

“Don’t let a bad day make you feel like you have a bad life.” – Unknown

“Never give up on something that you can’t go a day without thinking about.” – Winston Churchill

“ Failures are part of life, if you don’t fail, you don’t learn. If you don’t learn, you don’t change. If you don’t change, you don’t grow.” – Unknown

“You can have results or excuses. Not both.” – Unknown

“Someone’s opinion of you doesn’t have to become your reality.” – Les Brown

“Accept responsibility for your life. Know that it is you who will get you where you want to go, no one else.” – Les Brown

“Challenges are what make life interesting and overcoming them is what makes life meaningful.” – Joshua J. Marine

“You are confined only by the walls you build yourself.” –

Andrew Murphy

“Be who you are and say what you feel because those who matter don’t mind and those who mind don’t matter.” – Dr Seuss

“One person can make a difference and everybody should try.” – John Kennedy

“Failure doesn’t come from falling down. Failure comes from not getting up.” – Unknown

“Its hard to wait around for something you know might never happen; but its harder to give up when you know its everything you want.” – Unknown

“Good things come to those who wait… greater things come to those who get off their ass and do anything to make it happen.” – Unknown

“To hell with circumstances, I create opportunities.” –

Bruce Lee

“Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, or worn. It is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace & gratitude.” – Denis Waitley

“Don’t worry about failures, worry about the chances you miss when you don’t even try.” – Jack Canfield

“If you don’t build your dreams, someone else will hire you to help them build theirs.”

“Being happy doesn’t mean that everything is perfect. it means that you’ve decided to look beyond the imperfections.” – Unknown

“When you wake up in the morning you have two choices; go back to sleep and dream your dreams or wake up and chase your dreams.” – Unknown

“You can never cross the ocean until you have the courage to lose sight of the shore.” – Christopher Columbus

“Ask and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock and the door will be opened for you.” – Jesus

“The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be.” –Ralph Waldo Emerson

“We can do anything we want to do if we stick to it long enough.” – Helen Keller

“Don’t wait for extraordinary opportunities. Seize common occasions and make them great.” – Orison Swett Marden

“I cannot give you the formula for success, but I can give you the formula for failure–which is: Try to please everybody.” – Herberd Bayard Swope

“Welcome every new and difficult problem in life as a new opportunity to wrestle and win — and to gain new experience and new power.” – L H. Murlin

“Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.” – Harriet Tubman

“Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.” – Arthur Ashe

“Too many of us are not living our dreams because we are living our fears.” – Les Brown

“All men dream but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity; but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dream with open eyes to make it possible.” – T.E. Lawrence

“Three things you cannot recover in life: the WORD after it’s said, the MOMENT after it’s missed and the TIME after it’s gone. Be Careful!” – Unknown

“There is only one person who could ever make you happy, and that person is you.” – David Burns

“A problem is only a problem when viewed as a problem.” – Unknown

“The difference between who you are and who you want to be is what you do.” – Unknown

“In the end we only regret the chances we didn’t take.” –

Unknown

“It doesn’t matter where you are coming from. All that matters is where you are

going.” – Brian Tracy

“The only person you should try to be better than is the person you were yesterday.” – Unknown

“You can make excuses all you want. But at the end of the day all you’ll have are poor excuses and another wasted day.” – Unknown

“If you can imagine it, you can achieve it; if you can dream it, you can become it.” – William Arthur Ward

“Even the darkest nights will end and the sun will rise.” – Unknown

“ Limitations live only in our minds. But if we use our imaginations, our possibilities become limitless.” – Jamie Paolinetti

“The beautiful thing about fear is that when you run to it, it runs away.” – Robin Sharma

“Life is short, live it. Love is rare, grab it. Anger is bad, dump it. Fear is awful, face it. Memories are sweet. Cherish them…” – Unknown

“Worrying does not empty tomorrow of its troubles. It empties today of its strength.” – Corrie Ten Boom

“It’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years.” –Abraham Lincoln

“Our greatest glory lies not in never failing but in rising every time we fail.” – Confucius

“Our plans miscarry because they have no aim. When a man does not know what harbor he is making for, no wind is the right wind.” – Seneca

“The brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want it badly enough. They are there to stop the other people!” – Randy Pausch

“Don’t be afraid to stand up for what you believe in, even if it means standing alone.” – Andy Biersack

“Forget all the reasons it won’t work and believe the one reason that it will.” – Unknown

“Nobody ever wrote down a plan to be broke, fat, lazy, or stupid. Those things are what happen when you don’t have a plan.” – Larry Winget

“The biggest failure you can have in life is making the mistake of never trying at all.” – Unknown

“ You only live once , but if you do it right, once is all you

need.” – Unknown

BEST MOTIVATIONAL STORIES OF REAL PEOPLE THAT WILL LEAVE YOU INSPIRED!!!

Even the most laidback ones among us can motivate themselves by understanding the heartache, passion, commitment and perseverance that scripted the real-life success stories of people such as Thomas Edison and well, for aspiring writers like me, Stephen King!

Here is a short collection of motivational stories from real life that touched me to keep going when faced with never-ending obstacles. After all, what’s better than knowing that you are not alone?

You may have heard some of these stories before or they may be new to you, but go ahead, read them and get inspired. Share these with someone you think is in urgent need of a push forward. You never know, you may just motivate someone to change their lives and reach for their true destiny.

Motivational Story 1 — Michael Jordan

“I can accept failure, everyone fails at something. But I can’t accept not trying.” ~ Michael Jordan.

How can I talk about motivation and not mention Michael Jordan? Jordan suffered his first set-back in his sophomore year when he was left out of the varsity basketball team. Reason? He was only 5’9” at that time. His taller classmate Leroy Smith had won the last spot on the team.

He made up his mind that he would never have to face a similar situation ever again and started practicing every day after that, making it a point to take out time for his practice daily without fail. He soon shot up to 6’3”, made the team the next year and never had to look back after that.

From being a part of two gold-medal winning teams at the Olympics to winning NBA’s Most Valuable Player Award five times in his career, Jordan dominated the sports field for more than a decade in the ‘90s.

Motivational Story 2 — Lance Armstrong

Diagnosed with advanced testicular cancer at the age of 25, doctors gave Lance Armstrong less than a 40 percent chance of recovery. Tumors were discovered in his lungs and stomach along with multiple lesions on the brain.

His biking career was over or so everyone thought; but no one counted on the indomitable belief Armstrong had in himself and the lessons which his mother, Linda Walling had taught him.

One of the first things that he did was to acknowledge the disease that had captured him in its talons and learn everything he could about it. He devoured books, resources and found help in support groups with people going through similar difficulties.

Lance sought strength in three things his mother had instilled in him

“ Make every obstacle an opportunity ” , “ Always work hard and good things will happen ” and “Don’t believe it when other people say you can’t ”.

His first comeback after beating cancer was not a success and he finished fourteenth in the race. He even thought about retirement but constant support from his fiancée, mother and buddy Chris Carmichael soon had him training for his next race in the Appalachians.

He returned from his training a transformed man and never let the constant difficulties plough him down again.

True, the doping scandals have destroyed Lance’s reputation as a professional biker. But one cannot but admire his sheer will power and dedication through which he turned the odds in his favor at a time when everyone thought his life was over.

Motivational Story 3 — J.K. Rowling

From living as a single mother on state benefits to a multi-millionaire today , J.K. Rowling has come a long way from her early days of struggle and is a true epitome of the ‘rags to riches’ story.

Many a times, Rowling has attributed her considerable achievements to her ability to focus all her attention on the things that mattered to her the most.

The success of Harry Potter series is a tribute to her story-telling abilities and a reminder that everyone has a hidden talent within him or her. You just have to reach out for it and allow it to bloom.

FEAR OF DEATH

One day a young man asked his Master, “I fear death. How can I get rid of this fear?”

“Tell me,” the old man answered, “When you borrow a few coins, are you afraid to give them later back?”

“Of course not,” the student answered with surprise, “but what does this have to do with my fear?”

The teacher picked up a small piece of soil from the ground and continued, “You have received your body in debt with required return. And every bite of bread eaten by you, every sip of water drank by you increases that debt. You are made from dust on which you walk and the ground is your main creditor, constantly reminding you of this debt. It is pulling you down towards it. In the end, the ground will swallow you whole, without any remains.”

The old man threw the soil into the air, after attaining its fall, he finished, “No matter how high you rise, how long you are in the flight, you will still need to fall down. That is given. And to cope with the fear of this fall is very easy – stop thinking about yourself as the master of your body. Face the thought that you are just a tenant. And because you don’t know the length of your rent, remember that it can end at any second. We are all debtors, and our debts will certainly be recovered, no matter if we are afraid of it or not. So is there a point of being afraid?”

INSPIRATION ON DESTINY!

Someone asked a wise man:

– It is said that everyone’s destiny is determined.

The wise man nodded:

– Yes. For those who believe in it. If they think so, they believe that the circumstances of life are inevitable, consciously submitting to them and to those who created them. But there are people who do not believe in predestination, preferring to be the predestination of others.

The one who asked grunted sceptically:

– And how would then God know everything beforehand if there was no predestination? – And triumphantly looked at the wise man.

He simply raised his hands:

– I don’t know about God… He did not instruct me to answer on his behalf. But if I were him, I would be extremely bored knowing everything beforehand; it would be the same as you would be playing giveaway with yourself. I would most likely come up with a game, that would entertain me endlessly, and I would never know what the next move will be...