Giving away the special marble.

A boy and a girl were playing together; the boy had a collection of marbles. The girl had some sweets with her.

The boy told the girl that he will give all his marbles in exchange for her sweets. The girl agreed.

The boy kept the biggest and the most beautiful marble aside and gave the rest to the girl. The girl gave him all her sweets as she had promised.

That night, the girl slept peacefully, but the boy couldn't sleep as he kept wondering if the girl had hidden some sweets from him the way he had hidden his best marble.

Author: If you don't give hundred percent in a relationship, you'll always keep doubting if the other person has given his/her hundred percent... this is applicable for any relationship like love, friendship, employer-employee relationship etc.

Give hundred percent to everything you do and sleep peacefully.

A race from within

It was his first week in the army. He had just completed his engineering and amongst his colleagues in the army were a host of young men who had come through the National Defence Academy. Not engineers, but men exposed to the physical conditioning so essential for success in the armed forces.

It was a Sunday morning, the task ahead was rather simple, they had to run ten miles. He recalls starting enthusiastically, and then quickly tiring out. After running half the distance, he felt he couldn't continue any longer. He felt his legs would fold up and he'd collapse and just as he was about to give up and stop, he heard his commanding officer say to him: "Come on, young man. Up till now you've been running with your legs. Now run with your mind!"

And those words seemed to work like magic.

While my friend doesn't quite recall what happened thereafter, all he remembers is that he kept running and finished the entire ten mile run. And to this day, he often hears the officer's words echoing in his mind.

'Don't just run with your legs. Run with your mind.'

It's been the motto that's inspired him through everything he's done in his life ever since, and it's a line we would all do well to remember.

Success in life is not defined by talent and physical ability -- but by the mental strength to stay the course, and run the extra mile. When you run with your legs, you allow the pressures to weigh you down.

You allow obstacles to come in the way of your progress. You find yourself saying "I can't!" But when you run with your mind, you become unstoppable. Your mind says "I can!"

Take Soichiro for instance.

He was a Japanese engineer who dreamt of a career in the automobile industry, he applied for a job with the Toyota Motor Corporation, but was rejected.

He remained jobless for a long time -- and the temptation to give up on the automotive dream and take up a non-automotive job -- any job -- was huge.

He then tried making scooters at home, but he had no money. His caring neighbours contributed their mite to fund his enterprise.

And thus was born the billion-dollar Honda Motor Company.
Had Soichiro (Honda was his surname) merely run with his legs, he'd have given up long ago and a Honda may have never hit the roads

And then there's the story of Colonel Sanders.

He ran a modestly successful restaurant serving some chicken dishes -- until the construction of a new road put him out of business.
He decided to try and sell his unique chicken recipes to other restaurants, he met over a thousand restaurant-owners and they all turned him down.
But the Colonel didn't give up. On his 1009th call, one restaurant owner agreed to buy his recipe, and thus was born the world's first Kentucky Fried Chicken outlet.

Soon KFC's were opening up all over the world. Just seven years after he started the first KFC, Colonel Sanders sold his business for over 15 million dollars.

Clearly, running on your mind can be rewarding!

Stay the course. Don't give up. And at all times, remember the officer's line.

Don't just run with your legs. Run with your mind!

Excellence

A tourist once visited a temple under construction where he saw a sculptor making, an idol of God.

Suddenly he noticed a similar idol lying nearby.
Surprised, he asked the sculptor Do you need two statues of the same idol ?

"No said the sculptor without looking up, We need only one, but the first one got damaged at the last stage.

The gentleman examined the idol and found, no apparent damage.
Where is the damage? he asked.

"There is a scratch on the nose of the idol, said the sculptor still busy with his work.

"Where are you going to install the idol ?"

The sculptor replied that would be installed on, a pillar twenty feet high.

"If the idol is that far who is going to know, that there is a scratch on the nose"?
the gentleman asked....

The sculptor stopped his work, look up at the, gentleman smiled and said I will know it"

The desire to excel is exclusive of the fact whether someone else appreciates it or not.

"Excellence " is a drive from inside not outside...

Excellence is not for someone else to notice but for your own satisfaction and efficiency.

Are you the Elephant ?

Although more humane methods are now employed, for years, the method for training elephants was very harsh.

As soon as a baby elephant was old enough to leave its Mother, it was taken from its family to a special training area.

It was then placed inside a small enclosure for three days that was just large enough for it to turn from side-to-side.

At the end of three days, it was taken from this enclosure in the pitch dark to a large bonfire area. A big, strong rope was tied around the elephant's leg and then tied to a huge post that's driven deep in the ground.
All night, the people around the elephant would shout and jump around.

Every time the baby elephant tried to move, they would hit him with Bamboo sticks. After several hours of this, the baby elephant quits trying to move.

Now, all he needs to hold him is a small piece of rope and a piece of wood the size of a tent stake to hold him.

This big powerful creature who could crush a car with his foot, can't pull a small stake out of the ground.
It's not because he doesn't have the power, it's because the elephant has been convinced that he doesn't have the power.

Duck in the Farm

There was a little boy visiting his grandparents on their farm. He was given a slingshot to play with; out in the woods.

He practiced in the woods; but he could never hit the target Getting a little discouraged, he headed back for dinner. As he was walking back he saw Grandma's pet duck.

Just out of impulse, he let the slingshot fly, hit the duck square in the head and killed it.

He was shocked and grieved! In a panic, he hid the dead duck in the wood pile; only to see his Sister watching! Sally had seen it all, but she said nothing.

After lunch the next day Grandma said, 'Sally, let's wash the dishes' But Sally said, 'Grandma, Johnny told me he wanted to help in the kitchen.' Then she whispered to him, "Remember the duck?'

So Johnny did the dishes.

Later that day, Grandpa asked if the children wanted to go fishing and Grandma said, 'I'm sorry but I need Sally to help make supper.'

Sally just smiled and said, 'well that's all right because Johnny told me he wanted to help? She whispered again, 'Remember the duck?' So Sally went fishing and Johnny stayed to help.

After several days of Johnny doing both his chores and Sally's; he finally couldn't stand it any longer. He came to Grandma and confessed that he had killed the duck. Grandma knelt down, gave him a hug and said, 'Sweetheart, I know. You see, I was standing at the window and I saw the whole thing, but because I love you, I forgave you.

‘I was just wondering how long you would let Sally make a slave of you.'

You have two choices

Jerry is the manager of a restaurant. He is always in a good mood. When someone would ask him how he was doing, he would always reply: "If I were any better, I would be twins!"
Many of the waiters at his restaurant quit their jobs when he changed jobs,  so they could follow him around from restaurant to restaurant  Why?
Because Jerry was a natural motivator.
If an employee was having a bad day, Jerry was always there, telling him how to look on the positive side of the situation.
Seeing this style really made me curious, so one day I went up to Jerry and asked him: "I don't get it! No one can be a positive person all of the time. How do you do it?"
 Jerry replied, "Each morning I wake up and say to myself, I have two choices today. I can choose to be in a good mood or I can choose to be in a bad mood.
I always choose to be in a good mood. Each time something bad happens, I can choose to be victim or I can choose to learn from it. I always choose to learn from it.  Every time someone comes to me complaining, I can choose to accept their complaining or I can point out the positive side of life. I always choose the positive side of life."
"But it's not always that easy," I protested.
"Yes it is," Jerry said.  "Life is all about choices. When you cut away all the junk every situation is a choice. You choose how you react to situations.  You choose how people will affect your mood.  You choose to be in a good mood or bad mood. It's your choice how you live your life."
Several years later, I heard that Jerry accidentally did something you are never supposed to do in the restaurant business. He left the back door of his restaurant open and then in the morning, he was robbed by three armed men. While Jerry trying to open the safe box, his hand, shaking from nervousness, slipped off the combination, the robbers panicked and shot him.
Luckily, Jerry was found quickly and rushed to the hospital.
After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, Jerry was released from the hospital with fragments of the bullets still in his body.…
I saw Jerry about six months after the accident. When I asked him how he was, he replied, "If I were any better, I'd be twins. Want to see my scars?"
I declined to see his wounds, but did ask him what had gone through his mind as the robbery took place.
"The first thing that went through my mind was that I should have locked the back door," Jerry replied.
"Then, after they shot me, as I lay on the floor, I remembered that I had two choices: I could choose to live or could choose to die.  I chose to live."
Jerry continued, "The paramedics were great. They kept telling me I was going to be fine.
But when they wheeled me into the Emergency Room and I saw the expression on the faces of the doctors and nurses, I got really scared. In their eyes, I read  'He's a dead man'.
I knew I needed to take action."
"What did you do?" I asked.
"Well, there was a big nurse shouting questions at me," said Jerry. "She asked if I was allergic to anything."
'Yes,' to bullets, I replied.
Over their laughter, I told them: "I am choosing to live. Please operate on me as if I am alive, not dead."
"Jerry lived thanks to the skill of his doctors, but also because of his amazing attitude.
I learned from him that every day you have the choice to either enjoy your life or to hate it.
The only thing that is truly yours - that no one can control or take from you – is your attitude, so if you can take care of that, everything else in life becomes much easier.

The Parable Of The Prickly Porcupines

It was the coldest winter ever – so cold that many animals froze to death.

In an effort to save themselves from this icy fate, the porcupines decided to gather together to fend off the chill.

They huddled close to each other, covered and protected from the elements, and warmed by their collective body heat.

But their prickly quills proved to be a bit of a problem in close proximity – they poked and stabbed each other, wounding their closest companions.

 The warmth was wonderful, but the mutual needling became increasingly uncomfortable. Eventually, they began to distance themselves one from the other, scattering in the forest only to end up alone and frozen. Many died.

It soon became clear that they would have to choose between solitary deaths in the frigid wilderness and the discomfort of being needled by their companions' quills when they banded together.

Wisely, they decided to return to the huddle. They learned to live with the little wounds caused by the close relationship with their fellows, in order to benefit from the collective heat they generated as a group. In this way they were able to survive.

Possible morals of the story

    * We all hurt each other from time to time, it's an inevitable part of being in relationship and community. But in the end we're often better off together than we might be apart.
    * Learning to accept each other's imperfections can be a successful survival strategy.
    * People are not perfect. Accepting and living with our own imperfections as well as those of others, is one of the greatest gifts we can give ourselves and those close to us.
    * A little needling can be a good thing.
    * Learn to live with the pricks in your life – they may be serving some higher purpose :)