Joys and Sorrows..

This is a story which I read the other day..

I have in my hands two boxes Which God gave me to hold He said, "Put all your sorrows in the black, And all your joys in the gold." I heeded his words, and in the two boxes Both my joys and sorrows I store But though the gold became heavier each day The black was as light as before. With curiosity, I opened the black I wanted to find out why And I saw, in the base of the box, a hole Which my sorrows had fallen out by. I showed the hole to God, and mused aloud, "I wonder where my sorrows could be." He smiled a gentle smile at me. "My child, they're all here with me." I asked, "God, why give me the boxes, "Why the gold, and the black with the hole?" "My child, the gold is for you to count your blessings, the black is for you to let go."

---

What a nice way to say,"Count your blessings..let go your sorrows" Inspiring!!

Family day

Today is family day.Every Third Monday of February is celebrated as Family day in Alberta. This started from the year 1990 in order to celebrate the values of family..I once read something, a funny yet true quote about family.It goes like this,"Families are like fudge-sweet with a few nuts".

Today I wish to dedicate the following poem to my parents.

For the very special parents
As the years go by, I realize more and more
How lucky I am to be part of a wonderful family like ours
And I know that, from the very beginning
You both have worked to make it that way.
Both of you have always shown such caring and affection
You made home such a warm and happy place to be
I'm grateful for that..
And grateful for the countless
other little things and Big things too
you've done to make our family special..

I love you both.

Today I had our favorite mamas, mamis, their daughter and grandsons over at our house for lunch.. Had a wonderful time with them..Family day was sure wonderful. Above are a few pictures of the same..

Arent they wonderful!!

Positive thoughts and power of words!

Watch your thoughts; they become words. Watch your words; they become actions. Watch your actions, they become habits. Watch your habits; they become character. watch your character; it becomes your destiny.

This is one of my favorite quotes. Positive thinking always helps in life for it anticipates joy and happiness in every walk of our life. I have always been fascinated by puranas where the rishis lead a life of purity and exhibit such great concentrations and have the power to attain something just by saying that. I have wondered about the power of words that we utter in everyday life. I read the book,"Autobiography of a Yogi" longtime back. But I keep reading it again and again. In this, Paramahansa Yogananda has stressed on the power of words.

When Yogananda was small, he and his sister Uma were seated and she complained of a boil in her arm and fetched an ointment.Yogananda also applied the ointment on his forearm.When his sister asked him why he did so, he replied saying that he was going to get a boil in the same spot and was testing the ointment there. His sister accused him of lying. So he got indignant and said,"By the power of will in me, I say that tomorrow I shall have a fairly large boil in this exact same place on my arm and your boil will swell to twice its size" And the next morning found him with a boil in his arm and his sister's boil had doubled. His sister was rather frightened and ran to his mother who gravely instructed him never to use the power of words for doing harm.

The power of words is explained further in the book as follows,"The infinite potencies of sound derive from the Creative word, AUM,the cosmic vibratory power behind all atomic energies.Any word spoken with clear realization and deep concentration has a materializing value.Loud or silent repetition of inspiring words have been found effective in various systems of psychotherapy;the secret lies in the stepping up of the mind's vibrations"

I have also found that when you pray deeply or meditate and then utter something important, it always works. I think that is the reason we have all these mantras and prayers in Hinduism as also in various other religions. Mantras create a divine vibration and a positive force and when uttered with concentration make things work in our favor. A mantra is said to be even more effective when chanted in your mind.

Hence, seeing the power of words, well, I feel we would be doing ourselves and others a favor if we speak only good things.Dont you?

Nice message!!

One of my former colleagues sent this mail to me and I thought its worth sharing with everyone.

Health:

Drink plenty of water.

Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a beggar.

Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants and eat less food that is manufactured in plants.

Live with the 3 E's -- Energy, Enthusiasm, and Empathy.

Make time to practice meditation, yoga, and prayer.

Play more games.

Read more books than you did in 2008.

Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day.

Sleep for 7 hours.

Take a 10-30 minutes walk every day. And while you walk, smile.

Personality:

Don't compare your life to others'. You have no idea what their journey is all about.

Don't have negative thoughts or things you cannot control. Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment.

Don't over do. Keep your limits.

Don't take yourself so seriously.. No one else does.

Don't waste your precious energy on gossip.

Dream more while you are awake.

Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.

Forget issues of the past. Don't remind your partner with his/her mistakes of the past. That will ruin your resent happiness.

Life is too short to waste time hating anyone. Don't hate others.

Make peace with your past so it won't spoil the present.

No one is in charge of your happiness except you.

Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn. Problems are simply part of the curriculum that appear and fade away like algebra class but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime.

Smile and laugh more.

You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree

Society:

-->Call your family often.

Each day give something good to others.

Forgive everyone for everything.

Spend time with people over the age of 70 & under the age of 6.

Try to make at least three people smile each day..

What other people think of you is none of your business.

Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will.

Stay in touch.

Life:

Do the right thing!

Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.

GOD heals everything.

However good or bad a situation is, it will change.

No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.

The best is yet to come.

When you awake alive in the morning, thank GOD for it.
Your Inner most is always happy. So, be happy

I read out this to my husband and he was also extremely impressed and wants to read this every day..So I have kept this ready on my desktop..U can do that too!!