A young woman was sitting at her dining table, worried about taxes to be paid, house-work to be done and to top it all, her extended family was coming over for festival lunch the next day. She was not feeling very thankful at that time. As she turned her gaze sideways, she noticed her young daughter scribbling furiously into her notebook. “My teacher asked us to write a paragraph on “Negative Thanks giving” for homework today,” said the daughter. “She asked us to write down things that we are thankful for, things that make us feel not so good in the beginning, but turn out to be good after all.” With curiosity, the mother peeked into the book. This is what her daughter wrote: “I’m thankful for Final Exams, because that means school is almost over. I’m thankful for bad-tasting medicine, because it helps me feel better. I’m thankful for waking up to alarm clocks, because it means I’m still alive.”
It then dawned on the mother, that she had a lot of things to be thankful for! She thought again… She had to pay taxes but that meant she was fortunate to be employed. She had house-work to do but that meant she had a shelter to live in. She had to cook for her many family members for lunch but that meant she had a family with whom she could celebrate.
We generally complain about the negative things in life but we fail to look at the positive side of it. Yes there is a positive in every negative . What is the positive in your negatives? Look at the better part of life today and make everyday a great day.
I noticed a child monk—he can’t have been more than ten years old—teaching a group of five-year-olds. He had a great aura about him, the poise and confidence of an adult.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“We just taught their first class ever,” he said, then asked me, “What did you learn in your first day of school?”
“I started to learn the alphabet and numbers. What did they learn?”
“The first thing we teach them is how to breathe.”
“Why?” I asked.
“Because the only thing that stays with you from the moment you’re born until the moment you die is your breath. All your friends, your family, the country you live in, all of that can change. The one thing that stays with you is your breath.”
This ten-year-old monk added, “When you get stressed—what changes? Your breath. When you get angry—what changes? Your breath. We experience every emotion with the change of the breath. When you learn to navigate and manage your breath, you can navigate any situation in life.”
Every year Parents took their son to his Grandmother’s House for the Summer Break, and they would return Home in train after Two Weeks.
One Day the Boy tells
his Parents:
′′ I’m Grown Up now,
What if I go to Grandma’s House alone this Year ???”
After a Brief Discussion
Parents agree.
They were standing on the Railway Station, seeing him off,
Giving him Last Instruction through the Window,
As Boy continues to repeat:
′′ I know, you’ve already told me so many times…!”
Train is about to leave and Father whispers:
′ My Son,
If you suddenly feel Bad or Scared, this is for you !…… ′
And he slips something into his Pocket.
Now the Boy was all alone, sitting on the Train, without his Parents,
for the First Time…
He looks at the Scenery through the Window.
Around him Strangers Hustle, make Noise, Enter and Exit
the Compartment,
He gets that Feeling that he was alone..
A person even gives him a
Scary look…
The Boy felt uncomfortable…
And now he was frightened also.
He lowered his head, snuggled in a corner of the Seat,
tears rose to his Eyes.
At that Point he remembered his Father putting something in his pocket.
With a trembling hand he groped this piece of paper, and he opened it,
Son, “Don’t Worry,”
I am in the Next Compartment…
*Truth* :
This is How it is in Life…
When God has sent us in this World, all by ourselves,
HE has also slipped a note in our pocket,
*God Says:*
I am Travelling with you,
I am within your reach !
Call on Me…❗
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