December 2006
By Life Positive
Time out with Ananda
Winner all the Way
All the children, dressed in their best clothes, sang a song each. Ananda had announced a ‘music competition’ and each of them had practised hard to do well. At the end of the programme, Ananda announced, ‘The winner is Sheela.’Sheela jumped up, smiling.’And Arun,’ Ananda continued.
Arun smiled too. ‘And Tanya, and Shruti, and Rahul…’
He announced all the participants’ names. Puzzled, Sheela asked, ‘Ananda, we have never attended a competition of this type. There are no first, second, third places. Does it mean all are winners? ‘
‘Of course,’ replied Ananda. ‘Each of you did your best, and each of the songs had a unique beauty.’
Ananda continued, ‘Look around in the garden. Can we decide which is the best flower? The rose, the lily, the lotus or the daffodil? All of them have their own unique charm.’
‘So, should we not compete?’ asked Arun.
‘By all means, compete, but compete with your own self and strive to improve every day, in every way. This will keep you happy at your own efforts and also make you appreciate others.’
‘Can we then have a competition every day?’ asked Tanya, running to Ananda. ‘Why not?’ replied Ananda, as he picked her up and did a little jig with her.
Fable
How Angulimala was Saved
Angulimala was a highway robber who attacked people, stole their belongings and cut off their fingers, stringing them in a fearsome necklace around himself, thereby earning the name of ‘Anguli-mala’.
One day, he saw the Buddha approaching, and set out after him, his knife raised. The Buddha kept moving ahead of him. Angulimala just could not catch up with him. Finally, he cried out, ‘O Bhikkhu (monk), stop, stop!’ The Buddha replied calmly, ‘I have stopped. It is you who has not stopped.’ Angulimala did not understand this and asked, ‘O bhikkhu! Why do you say that you have stopped while I have not?’
The Buddha replied, ‘I say that I have stopped because I have given up killing all beings. I have given up ill-treating all beings, and have established myself in universal love, patience, and knowledge through reflection. But you have not given up killing or ill-treating others and you are not yet established in universal love and patience. Hence, you are the one who has not stopped.’
The wise words of the Buddha and his calm, brave manner made Angulimala realise how wrong his path was. He threw away his weapons and asked the Buddha to admit him to the Order of the Bhikkhus (monks), which the Buddha did.
In Buddha’s order, he meditated, helped many others with love and compassion and became a totally peaceful man. Seeing this, the Buddha told the other bhikhus, ‘Love and compassion can overcome any evil.’
Laugh out Loud
A man wishes to have a pet who can do all his jobs and gets a centipede home. He is happy to see the centipede quickly doing all the jobs in his house perfectly. One day, he asks the centipede to run down to the corner and get him a newspaper.
The centipede walks out the door and doesn’t return for 45 minutes.
Opening the door to look for it, he finds the centipede still outside the door. He says, ‘Hey!!! I sent you down to the corner store 45 minutes ago to get me a newspaper. What’s the matter?!’
The centipede says, ‘I’m goin’! I’m goin’! I’m just puttin’ on my shoes!’
Young boy: Can I buy some bird seed, please?
Petshop owner: How many birds have you got?
Young boy: None, I want to grow some!!
What would happen if everyone in the country bought a pink car?
Answer: We would have a pink carnation (car nation).
When is the vet busiest?
Answer: When it rains cats and dogs.
Why should you never tell secrets in a garden?
Answer: Because the corn has ears, the potatoes have eyes, and the beans talk (beanstalk).
Which is more important, the sun or the moon?
Answer: The moon. It shines when it is dark, but the sun shines when it is light, anyway.
Poems that Please
Only Love Can Heal
My child, in this world you will find
People by the score,
Who with words, intentional or not,
May hurt you to the core.
At times like those,
remember that
Over and above
Other’s opinion of you, my child,
Evaluate yourself with love.
Sure Papa’s there, and so am I,
But we won’t always be kind and sweet,
The pressures of the world are great
We have deadlines to meet.
An occasional ‘mean’ word here and there
Could chip your self-esteem,
If you do not haul yourself up
With ‘love’ that exists within.
Correctly must you love yourself,
And pray for wisdom too,
To accept both censure and praise
That the world will throw at you.
The censure will help you improve your ways
The praise will provide the balm.
And the Lord within…that Love incarnate
Will provide the peace and calm.
Recognise, child, that the Lord is
Of that wonderful Love…the Source
Which when given away, spreads infinite cheer
And lifts you when you are morose.
So Love yourself… but with Humility and Grace
And then allow yourself to feel…
Only that which you have can be given away
Only then can Love truly heal.
By Archana Sawnal
Courtesy: The Chitrapur Sunbeam
Technique
Change your Mind
Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) sounds very complex, doesn’t it? Well, it is not really so. Basically, it believes that each of us is by a set of ‘programmes’ and by knowing them better, we can be more creative, successful and yes, even more happy.
For example, the next time you find yourself being creative, i.e., you find it easy to generate a lot of ideas or to elaborate on an idea, notice the position of your body and observe everything around you. Maybe, it was when you were listening to your favourite song, or when you were outside in open space, or when you were swimming or riding. Record as much as you can about how you ‘made yourself’
creative. You can then use that information (the more details, the better) to set the stage for being creative in the future, by putting yourself in a matching body posture and in a similar situation as before. Behold, ideas will flow!
Sudoku
The origin of sudoku may be traced to the Swiss mathematician Leonhard Euler, who devised ‘Latin Squares’ in 1783.
The game is to place each one of the digits 1 to 9 in each row, column and the nine 3×3 grids which make the 9×9 grid. Sounds extremely simple, but it does involve concentration and logic building. Let’s see how quickly you can solve this one.
Contributed by B. Narayanan Nair
Kudos
Towards a Better World
Every Sunday, from 8.30 am to 9.30 am, in villages across Nizamabad district of Andhra Pradesh, radios and transistors are set to AIR’s FM station. Most families gather in the village centre to listen to the Telugu community radio programme, ‘Allari Muchchatlu (mischevious chatter)’ which is written and produced by village children.
The programme has jokes, songs, skits and talks on historical figures, but everyone’s favourite segment is the success stories told by children who are determined to transform their communities.
Take the children of Chikarpally village, who witnessed a villager die of stomach cancer caused by gutka (locally manufactured tobacco product). Mehboob, 14, says: ‘We protested in front of shops selling gutka, organised rallies and burned packets. We wrote 6,000 letters against gutka to the President, the Prime Minister, the Chief Minister and the District Collector. They did not write back, but the radio people were interested.’
Hats off to these little heroes!
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