Motivate Yourself

A little girl went to her bedroom and pulled a glass jelly jar from its hiding place in the closet. She poured the change out on the floor and counted it carefully. Three times, even. The total had to be exactly perfect. No chance here for mistakes. Carefully placing the coins back in the jar and twisting on the cap, she slipped out the back door and made her way 6 blocks to Rexall's Drug Store with the big red Indian Chief sign above the door. She waited patiently for the pharmacist to give her some attention, but he was too busy at this moment. Tess twisted her feet to make a scuffing noise. Nothing. She cleared her throat with the most disgusting sound she could muster. No good. Finally she took a quarter from her jar and banged it on the glass counter. That did it! "And what do you want?" the pharmacist asked in an annoyed tone of voice. I'm talking to my brother from Chicago whom I haven't seen in ages," he said without waiting for a reply to hi...

Once upon a time....... A certain shopkeeper sent his son to learn about the secret of happiness from the wisest man in the world. The lad wandered through the desert for 40 days, and finally came upon a beautiful castle, high atop a mountain. It was there that the wise man lived. Rather than finding a saintly man, though, our hero, on entering the main room of the castle, saw a hive of activity: tradesmen came and went, people were conversing in the corners, a small orchestra was playing soft music, and there was a table covered with platters of the most delicious food in that part of the world. The wise man conversed with everyone, and the boy had to wait for two hours before it was his turn to be given the man's attention. The wise man listened attentively to the boy's explanation of why he had come, but told him that he didn't have time just then to explain the secret of happiness. He suggested that the boy look around the palace and return in two hours. ...

One day the tortoise met the elephant, who trumpeted, Out of my way, you weakling “I might step on you!". The tortoise was not afraid and stayed where he was, so the elephant stepped on him, but could not crush him. Do not boast Mr. Elephant, I am as strong as you are! said the tortoise, but the elephant just laughed. So the tortoise asked him to come to his hill the next morning. The next day, before sunrise, the tortoise ran down the hill to the river where he met the hippopotamus, who was just on his way back to the water after his nocturnal feeding. Mr Hippo! Shall we have a tug-of-war? I bet I'm as strong as you are!� said the tortoise. The tortoise laughed at this ridiculous idea, but agreed. The tortoise produced a long rope and told the hippo to hold it in his mouth until the tortoise shouted�. Then the tortoise ran back up the hill where he found the elephant, who was getting impatient. He gave the elephant the other end of the rope and said, When I s...

It was the gloomy winter of 2005. My interest in philosophy and arts was growing. As a reaction of my rebellious nature and artistic romanticism, I had moved out of my house and started living in a small room in old Lahore. My mornings were dedicated to riaz (practice) of classical music and I either painted or read the whole day. Exactly like some typical ‘crazy artist’ character portrayed by Dostoevsky. One day while playing the harmonium, I saw a little girl who was peeping inside from the old, wooden window. Upon realizing that I had noticed her, she smiled shyly and ran away. She was hardly 12 years old. I can never forget the glimpse of those curious, lively eyes. The next day, I saw her again playing with other children in the street. I remember I was holding a canvas and other painting material. We had an eye contact for a split second and exchanged a smile. I entered my room and as I was putting my things away, someone knocked at the door and I heard a ...

This is a good story and is true, please read it all the way through until the end! (After the story, there are some very interesting facts!):   I am a mother of three (ages 14, 12, 3) and have recently completed my college degree. The last class I had to take was Sociology. The teacher was absolutely inspiring with the qualities that I wish every human being had been graced with. Her last project of the term was called, 'Smile.'    The class was asked to go out and smile at three people and document their reactions. I am a very friendly person and always smile at everyone and say hello anyway. So, I thought this would be a piece of cake, Literally.   Soon after we were assigned the project, my husband, youngest son, and I went out to McDonald's one crisp March morning. It was just our way of sharing special playtime with our son.. We were standing in line, waiting to be served, when all of a sudden everyone around us began to back away, and then...

A wealthy man and his son loved to collect rare works of art. They had everything in their collection, from Picasso to Raphael. They would often sit together and admire the great works of art. When the Viet Nam conflict broke out, the son went to war. He was very courageous and died in battle while rescuing another soldier. The father was notified and grieved deeply for his only son. About a month later, just before Christmas, there was a knock at the door. A young man stood at the door with a large package in his hands. He said, "Sir, you don't know me, but I am the soldier for whom your son gave his life. He saved many lives that day, and he was carrying me to safety when a bullet struck him in the heart and he died instantly. He often talked about you, and your love for art. The young man held out his package. "I know this isn't much. I'm not really a great artist, but I think your son would have wanted you to have this." The father ope...

“ When Steve Jobs was born February 24, 1955, in San Francisco, California , his unwed mother decided to put him for adoption because she wanted a girl. So in the middle of the night, his mother called a lawyer named Paul Jobs and said, “We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?” His mother felt very strongly that he should be adopted by college graduates and when she found out that both his future parents had never graduated from colleges, she refused to sign the adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when his future parents promised that they would send Jobs to college. He went to college but decided to drop out because it was too expensive. Recalling his time there he said, I didn’t have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends’ rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. Jobs and Apple At 20, ...

A Mother was reading a magazine and her cute little daughter every now and then distracted her. To keep her busy, she tore one page on which was printed the map of the world. She tore it into pieces and asked her to go to her room and put them together to make the map again. She was sure her daughter would take a lot more time and probably whole of day to get it done. But the little one came back within minutes with perfect map. When he asked how she could do it so quickly, she said, "Oh Mom, there is a man's face on the other side of the paper. I made the face perfect to get the map right." she ran outside to play leaving the mother surprised.? Moral : Perhaps there is always the other side to whatever you experience in this world. This story indirectly teaches a lesson. That is, whenever we come across a challenge or a puzzling situation, look at the other side...and will be surprised to see an easy way to tackle the problem or an acute difficulty.

Once upon a time an old man spread rumors that his neighbor was a thief. As a result, the young man was arrested. Days later the young man was proven innocent. After been released he sued the old man for wrongly accusing him. In court the old man told the Judge: 'They were just comments, didn't harm anyone..' The judge, before passing sentence on the case, told the old man: 'Write all the things you said about him on a piece of paper. Cut them up and on the way home, throw the pieces of paper out. Tomorrow, come back to hear the sentence.' The next day, the judge told the old man: 'Before receiving the sentence, you will have to go out and gather all the pieces of paper that you threw out yesterday.' The old man said: 'I can't do that! The wind spread them and I won't know where to find them.' The judge then replied: 'The same way, simple comments may destroy the honor of a man to such an exten...

Standing for what you believe in regardless of the odds against you, and the pressure that tears at your resistance .. .is Courage. Keeping a smile on your face when inside you feel like dying, for the sake of supporting others ... is Strength . Stopping at nothing and doing what's in your heart that you know is right ... is Determination . Doing more than is expected, to make another's life a little more bearable, without uttering a single complaint .. .is Compassion . Helping a friend in need, no matter the time or effort, to the best of your ability .. .is Loyalty. Holding your head high And being the best you know you can be when life seems to fall apart at your feet, ... is Fortitude. Facing each difficulty with thoughts that time will bring you better tomorrows, And never giving up... .. .is Confidence.

I was walking around in a Target store, when I saw the lady in the cashier hand this little boy some money back. The boy couldn't have been more than 8 or 9 years old. The Cashier said, 'I'm sorry, but you don't have enough money to buy this doll.' Then the little boy turned to the old woman next to him: ''Nanny, are you sure I don't have enough money?'' The old lady replied: ''You know that you don't have enough money to buy this doll, my dear.'' Then she asked him to stay there for just 5 minutes while she went to look around for a cheaper one. She left quickly The little boy was still holding the doll in his hand. Finally, I walked toward him and I asked him who he wished to give this doll to 'It's the doll that my sister loved most and wanted so much for Christmas. She was sure that Santa Claus would bring it to her.' I replied to him that maybe Santa Claus would bring it to her after all,...