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Showing posts with the label Stories

Sick cat

A friend of mine asked me how not to worry about the cat, which had some mild symptoms of illness, but nothing that looked severe enough to take the cat to the veterinarian. She also thought the symptoms were so subtle that they might not be easy to describe to the vet, but still she worried. I finally said to her, "You must do something." "That's just the problem, there's nothing to do," she said. "Take some kind of action," I said. "Call the vet and talk to him." "That doesn't make sense because the vet wouldn't know anything from what I told him, and he'd probably ask me to take her in to see him, and I know it's not that serious," she said. "Yes, I understand," I said, "But you should take the action for you, not for the car or the vet. By not doing anything you're keeping yourself trapped in worrying." "Okay," she said. "I see what you mean." When she called ...

California Gold Rush

There's a California gold rush story that tells of two brothers who sold all they had and went prospecting for gold. They discovered a vein of the shining ore, staked a claim, and proceeded to get down to the serious business of getting the gold ore of the mine. All went well at first, but then a strange thing happened. The vein of gold disappeared! They had come to the end of the rainbow, and the pot of gold was no longer there. The brothers continued to pick away, but without success. Finally, they gave up in disgust. They sold their equipment and claim rights for a few hundred dollars, and took the train back home. Now the man who bought the claim hired an engineer to examine the rock strata of the mine. The engineer advised him to continue digging in the same spot where the former owners had left off. And three feet deeper, the new owner struck gold. A little more persistence and the two brothers would have been millionaires themselves. There is gold in you, too. Do you need...

Impossible is nothing

Take a certain goal of yours and double it. Or triple it. Or multiply it by 10. And then ask yourself, quite seriously, what you would have to do to achieve that new goal. I used this game recently with a friend who holds a position in sales. He came to see me because he was selling $100,000 worth of product each month, the most on his team, and wanted to somehow get to %140,000. I asked him to tell me what is would take for him to sell $200,000 worth of equipment each month. "2000,000!" he shouted. "That's impossible. I'm leading the team already with $100,000, and nobody thought that could be done." "What would have to do?" I persisted. "No," he said. "You don't understand. I want to hit $140,000 a month, and even that is so hard that I don't know how I'll do it." I finally told him the theory behind this game. If you seriously look at an outrageous goal, such as $200,000." it will open things up for you...

Life is a Cafeteria

A friend's grandfather came to America from Eastern Europe. After being processed at Ellis Island, he went into a cafeteria in lower Manhattan to get something to eat. He sat down at an empty table and waited for someone to take his order. Of course nobody did. Finally, a woman with a tray full of food sat down opposite him and informed him how a cafeteria worked. "Start out at that end," she said. "Just go along the line and pick out what you want. At the other end they'll tell you how much you have to pay." "I soon learned that's how everything works in America," the grandfather told a friend. "Life's a cafeteria here. You can get anything you want as long as you are willing to pay the price. You can even get success, but you'll never get it if you wait for someone to bring it to you. You have to get up and get it yourself."

Self Confidence

There was a business executive who was deep in debt and could see no way out. Creditors were closing in on him. Suppliers were demanding payment. He sat on the park bench, head in hands, wondering if anything could save his company from bankruptcy. Suddenly an old man appeared before him. “I can see that something is troubling you,” he said. After listening to the executive’s woes, the old man said, “I believe I can help you.” He asked the man his name, wrote out a check, and pushed it into his hand saying, “Take this money. Meet me here exactly one year from today, and you can pay me back at that time.” Then he turned and disappeared as quickly as he had come. The business executive saw in his hand a check for $500,000, signed by John D. Rockefeller, then one of the richest men in the world! “I can erase my money worries in an instant!” he realized. But instead, the executive decided to put the uncashed check in his safe. Jus...

On the Top of the Mountain

Two travellers went to the mountains. When they crossed the half-way already, the beginner looked at the undergrowth and began to lament: – And where is the beautiful scenery, which you were talking about all the time? His experienced companion smiled and answered: – You’re in the centre of it, what you will be convinced in, when we reach the top of the mountain.

The Elephant Rope

As a man was passing the elephants, he suddenly stopped, confused by the fact that these huge creatures were being held by only a small rope tied to their front leg. No chains, no cages. It was obvious that the elephants could, at anytime, break away from their bonds but for some reason, they did not. He saw a trainer nearby and asked why these animals just stood there and made no attempt to get away. “Well,” trainer said, “when they are very young and much smaller we use the same size rope to tie them and, at that age, it’s enough to hold them. As they grow up, they are conditioned to believe they cannot break away. They believe the rope can still hold them, so they never try to break free.” The man was amazed. These animals could at any time break free from their bonds but because they believed they couldn’t, they were stuck right where they were. Like the elephants, how many of us go through life hanging onto a belief that we cannot do something, simply because we failed at ...

A Dish of Ice Cream

In the days when an ice cream sundae cost much less, a 10 year old boy entered a hotel coffee shop and sat at a table. A waitress put a glass of water in front of him. “How much is an ice cream sundae?” “50 cents,” replied the waitress. The little boy pulled his hand out of his pocket and studied a number of coins in it. “How much is a dish of plain ice cream?” he inquired. Some people were now waiting for a table and the waitress was a bit impatient. “35 cents,” she said brusquely. The little boy again counted the coins. “I’ll have the plain ice cream,” he said. The waitress brought the ice cream, put the bill on the table and walked away. The boy finished the ice cream, paid the cashier and departed. When the waitress came back, she began wiping down the table and then swallowed hard at what she saw. There, placed neatly beside the empty dish, were 15 cents – her tip.

Shake off Your Problems

A man’s favorite donkey falls into a deep precipice; He can’t pull it out no matter how hard he tries; He therefore decides to bury it alive. Soil is poured onto the donkey from above. The donkey feels the load, shakes it off, and steps on it; More soil is poured. It shakes it off and steps up; The more the load was poured, the higher it rose; By noon, the donkey was grazing in green pastures. After much shaking off (of problems) And stepping up (learning from them), One will graze in GREEN PASTURES.

Everyone Has a Story in Life

A 24 year old boy seeing out from the train’s window shouted… “Dad, look the trees are going behind!” Dad smiled and a young couple sitting nearby, looked at the 24 year old’s childish behavior with pity, suddenly he again exclaimed… “Dad, look the clouds are running with us!” The couple couldn’t resist and said to the old man… “Why don’t you take your son to a good doctor?” The old man smiled and said…“I did and we are just coming from the hospital, my son was blind from birth, he just got his eyes today. Every single person on the planet has a story. Don’t judge people before you truly know them. The truth might surprise you.