Stories for the body, mind and spirit

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Negotiations Can Sometimes Go Too Far 

Example: A businessman, fishing in the far north, reeled in a silver trout. Silver trout are magic.
This one said, "I'll die out of the water. Tell me your three wishes, throw me back, and I'll grant
them for you." "I want six wishes," said the businessman. 
"I don't have that much power," gasped the silver trout, "tell me your three wishes quickly!" 
"I'll settle for four wishes. Four is the lowest I'll go." 
"Please," gulped the silver trout. "I'm slipping away. I can only do three wishes. Say what you
want and I'll grant them." "All right," said the man, "You win, but you must grant the wishes before I throw you back. Will you agree to that?" But there was no response. The silver trout lay quietly on the floor of the boat—dead. 

The Jokesmith 
LIFE AS A JUGGLER

In a university commencement address several years ago, Brian
Dyson, CEO of Coca Cola Enterprises, spoke of the relation of work to
one's other commitments: "Imagine life as a game in which you are juggling
some five balls in the air.  You name them - work, family, health,
friends and spirit - and you're keeping all of these in the air.
 

You will soon understand that work is a rubber ball.  If you
drop it, it will bounce back. But the other four balls - family, health,
friends and spirit - are made of glass. If you drop one of these, they will
be irrevocably scuffed, marked,  nicked, damaged or even
shattered.  They will never be the same.
 

You must understand that and strive for balance in your life.
How? 

-Don't undermine your worth by comparing yourself with others.
It is because we are different that each of us is special.

-Don't set your goals by what other people deem important. Only
you know what is best for you.
 

-Don't take for granted the things closest to your heart. Cling
to them as you would your life, for without them, life is meaningless.

-Don't let your life slip through your fingers by living in the
past or for the future.  By living your life one day at a time, you
live ALL the days of your life

-Don't give up when you still have something to give. Nothing
is really over until the moment you stop trying.

-Don't be afraid to admit that you are less than perfect. It is
this fragile thread that binds us to each other.

-Don't be afraid to encounter risks. It is by taking chances
that we learn how to be brave.

-Don't shut love out of your life by saying it's impossible to
find. The quickest way to receive love is to give; the fastest way to
lose love is to hold it too tightly; and the best way to keep love is to
give it wings.

-Don't run through life so fast that you forget Not only where
you've been, but also where you are going.

-Don't forget, a person's greatest emotional need is to feel
appreciated. 

-Don't be afraid to learn.  Knowledge is weightless, a treasure
you can always carry easily.

-Don't use time or words carelessly.  Neither can be retrieved.

-Life is not a race, but a journey to be savored each step of the way.

The Power Of Positive Thinking
Norman Vincent Peale

A man once telephoned Norman Vincent Peale. He was despondent and told the reverend that
he had nothing left to live for. Peale invited the man over to his office. "Everything is gone,
hopeless," the man told him. "I'm living in deepest darkness. In fact, I've lost heart for living
altogether." 

The famous author of The Power of Positive Thinking smiled sympathetically. 

"Let's take a look at your situation," he said calmly. On a sheet of paper he drew a vertical line
down the middle. He suggested that they list on the left side the things the man had lost, and on
the right, the things he had left. "You won't need that column on the right side," said the man
sadly. "I have nothing left, period." 

Peale asked, "When did your wife leave you?" 

"What do you mean? She hasn't left me. My wife loves me!" 

"That's great!" said Peale enthusiastically. "Then that will be number one in the right-hand
column—Wife hasn't left. Now, when were your children jailed?" 

"That's silly. My children aren't in jail!" 

"Good! That's number two in the right-hand column—Children not in jail," said Peale, jotting it
down. 

After a few more questions in the same vein, the man finally got the point and smiled in spite of
himself. "Funny, how things change when you think of them that way," he said. 

A Simple Gesture

Mark was walking home from school one day when he noticed that the boy ahead of
him had tripped and dropped all the books he was carrying, along with two sweaters,
a baseball bat, a glove and a small tape recorder. Mark knelt down and helped the boy
pick up the scattered articles. Since they were going the same way, he helped to carry
part of the burden. As they walked, Mark discovered the boy's name was Bill, that he
loved video games, baseball and history, that he was having a lot of trouble with his
other subjects and that he had just broken up with his girlfriend. 

 Mark went home after dropping Bill at his house. They continued to see each other
   around school, had lunch together once or twice, then both graduated from junior high
  school. They ended up in the same high school, where they had brief contacts over the
years. Finally the long-awaited senior year came. Three weeks before graduation, Bill
asked Mark if they could talk. 

Bill reminded him of the day years ago when they had first met. "Do you ever wonder
why I was carrying so many things home that day?" asked Bill. "You see, I cleaned out
my locker because I didn't want to leave a mess for anyone else. I had stored away
some of my mother's sleeping pills and I was going home to commit suicide. But after
we spent some time together talking and laughing, I realized that if I had killed myself,
I would have missed that time and so many others that might follow. So you see, Mark,
when you picked up my books that day, you did a lot more. You saved my life."

By John W. Schlatter 
from Condensed Chicken Soup for the Soul 
Copyright 1996 by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen & Patty Hansen
Untitled
Chuang Tzu
Ancient Chinese Philosopher
300 BC

Hui-tzu to Chuang-tzu," The king of Wei gave me seeds of a giant gourd. 
I planted them and got a huge gourd. If i had filled it with water, 
it would not have been strong enough to be lifted, 
and if i had split it for a dipper it would have been too shallow to hold anything. 
It was certainly enormous, but I considered it useless and smashed it."

Chuang-tzu replied, "You are certainly inept when it comes to employing the great. 
There were people of Sung who were skilled at making a balm 
that prevented their hands from chapping; 
for generations they had worked as cotton bleachers. 
A traveler who had heard about this asked to buy the formula, 
offering a hundred piece of gold.

The clan of bleachers got together to discuss what to do. 
They said, "We have been cotton bleachers for generations, 
earning no more that a few pieces of gold.
Now we have a chance to make a hundred pieces of gold in one day. 
Let's give him the formula.

So the travel got the formula for the balm. 
He used it to gain the pleasure of the king of Wu, who made him a general. 
Then when the men of Wu fought the men of Yueh in a battle on the water in winter, 
the men of Wu (who had the balm to prevent chapping) routed the men of Yueh. 
Now the king of Wu rewarded the man who had brought the balm formula 
by enfeoffing him as lord of his own domain.

In either case, the ability to prevent chapping was the same, 
but there was a difference in the way it was employed : 
one man used it to be enfeoffed, the others were still cotton bleachers.

Now suppose you have a huge gourd : 
why not make a coracle out of it and use it to sail on the rivers and lakes,
instead of worrying about it being too shallow to hold anything? 
You are still confused, it seems."

Hui-tzu then said to Chuang-tzu, " I have a gigantic tree, 
but its trunk is too gnarled for the plumb line and its branches too twisted for the ruler : 
even it were set in the middle of the road, carpenters would pay no attention to it. 
Now what you say is grandiose but useless, rejected by everyone alike.

Chuang-tzu replied, "Have you not seen a wildcat?
It lowers itself close to the ground to watch for careless prey, 
it leaps this way and that, high and low, but then gets caught in a trap and dies.
A yak, on the other hand, is enormous, it can do big things but cannot catch a rat. 
Now you have a huge tree and worry that it is useless : 
why not plant it in the vast plain of the homeland of Nothing Whatsoever,
roaming in effortlessness by its side and sleeping in freedom beneath it? 
The reason it does not fall to the axe, and no one injures it, is that it cannot be exploited.
So what's the trouble?"

Notes

The huge gourd stands for the human being; its usefulness or otherwise depends on its use. 
To "make a coracle of it" means to "hollow" it out, 
in the sense of becoming inwardly empty and open; 
to "sail on the rivers and lakes" means to be free in the midst of the world. 
The enormous tree represents a mind beyond convention. 
To be "useless" means to be unexploitable.

P.S. If you know the meaning of enfeoff please let me know

The Essential Tao
Thomas Cleary
Harper Collins Publisher
1991

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Food For Thought
 
Sun Tzu The Art Of War
Encouraging Quotes And Excerpts
Encouraging Stories
Jokes
 A Page to Rest - 
Breathing Space
Main Page
 Free Downloads


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