There was a millionaire who was bothered by severe eye pain. He consulted so many physicians and was getting his treatment done. He did not stop consulting galaxy of medical experts; he consumed heavy loads of drugs and underwent hundreds of injections. But the ache persisted with great vigour than before.
At last a monk who was supposed to be an expert in treating such patients was called for by the millionaire. The monk understood his problem and said that for sometime he should concentrate only on green colors and not to fall his eyes on any other colors.
The millionaire got together a group of painters and purchased barrels of green color and directed that every object his eye was likely to fall to be painted in green color just as the monk had directed.
When the monk came to visit him after few days, the millionaire's servants ran with buckets of green paints and poured it on him since he was in red dress. Their master can't see any other color and his eye ache would come back.
Hearing this, the monk laughed and said "if only you had purchased a pair of green spectacles, worth just a few dollars, you could have saved these walls, trees, pots and all other articles and also could have saved a large share of his fortune. You cannot paint the world green."
Let us change our vision and the world will appear accordingly. It is foolish to shape the world, let us shape ourselves first.
Are you
feeling alone, down and lonely? Are you fed up with everything? All of us go
through loneliness, depression, loss, brokenness, hate and fear – it’s
a part of life.
Now,
imagine yourself for a moment without any limbs –
meaning you lack the ability to walk and care for your daily basic needs. You
can’t even embrace your loved ones because you don’t have arms.
You may also think that life without
limbs means a limited or no life at all. You are absolutely wrong! Nicholas
‘Nick’ Vujicic has beaten all the odds. He is a great example to everyone who
has given up on life.
Read his
story below to learn how Nick was able to overcome the overwhelming obstacles
around him.
Evangelist, international
motivational speaker and New York Times best-selling author, Nick Vujicic was
born in 1982 in Melbourne, Australia. Without any medical explanation or
warning, Nick came into the world with neither arms nor legs. Three sonograms
failed to reveal complications. And yet, the Vujicic family was destined to
cope with both the challenge and blessing of raising a son who refused to allow
his physical condition to limit his lifestyle.
The early days were difficult. Throughout
his childhood, Nick not only dealt with the typical challenges of school and
adolescence, such as bullying and self-esteem issues, he also struggled with
depression and loneliness. Nick constantly wondered why he was
different than all the other kids. He questioned the purpose of life, or if he
even had a purpose.
As Nick grew up, he learned to deal
with his disability and gradually accomplished more on his own. A janitor at
his high school inspired him to start speaking publicly about overcoming
adversity, so Nick started speaking to small groups of students when he was 17.
After high school, Nick went onto
tertiary education and obtained a double Bachelor's degree, majoring in
Accounting and Financial Planning, from Griffith University in Logan,
Australia. By the age of 19, Nick started to fulfil his dream of encouraging
other people by giving speeches revolving around his life story. He found the
purpose to his existence, and also the purpose in his circumstance.
Nick eventually made the move from
Brisbane, Australia to Los Angeles, California, where he is the founder and
president of an international non-profit organization, Life Without Limbs, and
owns the motivational speaking company, Attitude is Altitude. He married the
love of his life, Kanae, in 2012, welcoming their first son, Kiyoshi, in
February 2013, their second son Dejan, in September 2015, and twin daughters,
Olivia and Ellie, in December 2017.
Since his first motivational speaking
engagement back when he was a teenager, Nick has traveled to over 57 countries,
sharing his story with over 400 million of people. Nick is the author of Life
Without Limits, Unstoppable (a New York Times best-seller), Limitless, Stand
Strong and Love Without Limits. His books have been translated into over 30
different languages and have sold more than a million copies internationally.
Nick’s story continues to resonate
worldwide, and he has been featured on “CBS Sunday Morning,” “Oprah’s
LifeClass,” “PBS Religion & Ethics News Weekly,” USA Today, NewsMax, “Life
Today” and “The 700 Club,” and twice on “60 Minutes Australia.” Christianity
Today magazine named him one of the “33 under 33” who are shaping the next
chapter in American faith.
It’s not an
easy life. Every human being goes through suffering. If you are down, try
counting your blessings, and focus on the things that you are thankful for.
Find a way to serve another person without expecting to receive anything back.
It is always a blessing to give than to receive.
Never lose
hope and have faith in God. Be thankful for what you have instead of being
angry for what you don’t have. Always remember that God is on your side.
One day, a professor entered his classroom and asked his students to prepare for a surprise test. They all waited anxiously at their desks for the exam to begin.
The professor handed out the exams with the text facing down, as usual. Once he handed them all out, he asked the students to turn over the papers.
To everyone’s surprise, there were no questions–just a black dot in the center of the paper. The professor, seeing the expression on everyone’s faces, told them the following: “I want you to write about what you see there.”
The students, confused, got started on the inexplicable task. At the end of the class, the professor took all the exams, and started reading each one of them out loud in front of all the students. All of them, with no exception, defined the black dot, trying to explain its position in the center of the sheet.
After all had been read, the classroom silent, the professor started to explain: “I’m not going to grade you on this, I just wanted to give you something to think about. No one wrote about the white part of the paper. Everyone focused on the black dot – and the same thing happens in our lives. However, we insist on focusing only on the black dot – the health issues that bother us, the lack of money, the complicated relationship with a family member, the disappointment with a friend. The dark spots are very small when compared to everything we have in our lives, but they are the ones that pollute our minds.”
Take your eyes away from the black dots in your lives. Enjoy each one of your blessings, each moment that life gives you. Be happy and live a life filled with love!
Have you ever observed the behavior of birds in the face of adversity?
For days and days they make their nest, sometimes gathering materials brought from far away. And when they have completed the nest and are ready to lay eggs, the weather or the work of humans, or some animal, destroys it, and it falls to the ground, all that they have done with so much effort.
Do they stop? Bewildered, and leave their work? No Way!!
They start over building the nest again and again until they have eggs in the nest again. Sometimes, and very often before the chicks are hatched, an animal, a child, or a storm destroys the nest once again, but this time with its valuable contents. It hurts to go back and begin again.....Even so, the birds do not stop, they continue to sing and build , and keep singing and building.
Do you sometimes get the feeling that your life, your work, your family is not what you had dreamed?
Do you sometimes want to say 'ENOUGH', the effort is not worthwhile? It is all too much for me! Are you tired of it all?
Do you feel that the daily struggle is a waste of time, your trust has been betrayed, your goals not reached just as you were about to get them?
Life strikes you down sometimes, but keep moving, say a prayer, put your faith in hope, not darkness. Do not worry. Gather yourself together and rebuild your life, so that it runs well again.
No matter what happens... never give up till you are alive.
In ancient times, a King had a boulder placed on a roadway. He then hid himself and watched to see if anyone would move the boulder out of the way.
Some of the king’s wealthiest merchants and courtiers came by and simply walked around it. Many people loudly blamed the King for not keeping the roads clear, but none of them did anything about getting the stone out of the way.
A peasant then came along carrying a load of vegetables. Upon approaching the boulder, the peasant laid down his burden and tried to push the stone out of the road. After much pushing and straining, he finally succeeded. After the peasant went back to pick up his vegetables, he noticed a purse lying in the road where the boulder had been. The purse contained many gold coins and a note from the King explaining that the gold was for the person who removed the boulder from the roadway.
Every obstacle we come across in life gives us an opportunity to improve our circumstances, and whilst the lazy complain, the others are creating opportunities through their kind hearts, generosity and willingness to get things done.
A gentleman was walking through an elephant camp, and he spotted that the elephants weren’t being kept in cages or held by the use of chains. All that was holding them back from escaping the camp, was a small piece of rope tied to one of their legs.
As the man gazed upon the elephants, he was completely confused as to why the elephants didn’t just use their strength to break the rope and escape the camp. They could easily have done so, but instead they didn’t try to at all.
Curious and wanting to know the answer, he asked a trainer nearby why the elephants were just standing there and never tried to escape.
The trainer replied; “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 only reason that the elephants weren’t breaking free and escaping from the camp was because over time they adopted the belief that it just wasn’t possible.
No matter how much the world tries to hold you back, always continue with the belief that what you want to achieve is possible. Believing you can be successful is the most important step in actually achieving it.
