He gently opened his eyes and the warm sun beat upon his face.. He lay among the soft caress of the grass and a gentle wind embraced him..
His father sat underneath a tree a few feet way beside the babbling brook.. You are awake,, his father smiled., I fell asleep dad.,, ”You did my son.”. ”I had a dream dad.”. His father rose and sat beside him.. ”Do you want to tell me about it ?”. ”It was so real dad., I dreamt of missiles falling from the sky and little kids,. even younger than I getting killed and maimed., The world was in a bad state.. Millions were poor dad,, not even with enough to eat.. There were homeless people and destitute,. There were huge storms and hurricanes and all types of disasters happening,. People were fighting all of the time over land, possessions, oil and money.. Rainforests were dying dad and animals of all types were in danger and the earth was actually heating up! And I dreamt of growing up in this world and I was having happy times and sad times.,. And I lived a life dad.. I did!, I had a wife and kids and it was crazy fast you know.
Everything went so quickly.. And I felt so much., I was scared, full of joy,, there was fear and hope,. And so many times I felt helpless. And a lot of the time I felt so lonely. Worst of all dad,, I didn’t know where you were. I kinda knew you were there somewhere and I kept calling out for you. In fact sometimes I gave up hope and told myself that you didn’t exist at all.. But deep down I had a feeling you were somewhere.. As I grew older I stopped searching for you out there and started looking within. Which was strange really but I kinda felt you were a part of me dad just as I was a part of you. It was full on dad and then I just woke up ! His father looked at him with love in his wise eyes.. ”That’s some dream son !” ”How long was I asleep dad ?” ”Mmmmmm perhaps 5 minutes,. not much more.” ”Wow! All of that in 5 minutes ?”
The son looked knowingly at his dad for awhile.. ”Dad that was my first dream.,” ”I know son,. and your last,.. if you so choose.” ”Dad ?” ”Yes my son ?” ”Did you know I was dreaming ?” ”Why yes, of course.”
The son reflected on this for a moment.. ”So dad, during the bad parts of the dream did you know I was suffering ?” ”My son, you may have appeared to be suffering in the dream but were always perfectly safe with me here.” ”You could have woken me ?” ”I could, but I didn’t. You would have woken with a start.. It would have been a little frightening for you that way.. You gently came out of the dream yourself.. You choose to enter the dream state.. It is best if you choose to exit.” The son stretched out on the grass.. ”Dad” ”Yes my son.” ”I love you.” ”I know, my child. We are love.”
A jobless man applied for the position of ‘office boy’ at a very big company. The employer interviewed him, then a test. clean the floor..
You are hired.. the employer said. Give me your email address, and I’ll send you the application to fill, as well as when you will start..
The man replied, I don’t have a computer, neither an email..
I’m sorry, said the employer, if you don’t have an email that means you do not exist.. And who doesn’t exist, cannot have the job..
The man left with no hope.. He didn’t know what to do, with only $10 USD in his pocket..
He then decided to go to the supermarket, bought a 10kg tomato crate, then sold the tomatoes door to door.. In less than two hours, he succeeded and doubled his capital..
He repeated the operation 3 times and returned home with $60 USD..
The man realized that he could survive by this way, and started to go everyday earlier, and returned late..
Thus, his money doubled or tripled everyday.. Shortly later, he bought a cart, then a truck, and then he had his own fleet of delivery vehicles..
Five years later, the man’s company was one of the biggest food retailers.. He started to plan his family’s future, and decided to have a life insurance..
He called an insurance broker and chose a protection plan.. When the conversation was concluded, the broker asked him his email.. The man replied; I don’t have an email.. The broker replied curiously, You don’t have an email, and yet have succeeded to build an empire.. Do you imagine what you could have done if you had an email?. The man paused for a while, and replied; An office boy!.
Don’t be discouraged if something is not in your favor today.. Better opportunities are waiting ahead..
Once a group of 50 people was attending a seminar.. Suddenly the speaker stopped and started giving each person a balloon.. Each one was asked to write his\/her name on it using a marker pen.. Then all the balloons were collected and put in another room..
Now these delegates were let in that room and asked to find the balloon which had their name written., within 5 minutes..
Everyone was frantically searching for their name, pushing, colliding with each other, and there was utter chaos..
At the end of 5 minutes, no one could find their own balloon..
Now each one was asked to randomly collect a balloon and give it to the person whose name was written on it. Within minutes everyone had their own balloon..
The speaker began; This is exactly happening in our lives.. Everyone is frantically looking for happiness all around, not knowing where it is.. Our happiness lies in the happiness of other people.. Give them their happiness, you will get your own happiness..
There was once a big wax candle who had the highest opinion of his merits.. I, he said, am made of the purest wax, cast in the best mold.. I burn more brilliantly than any other candle, and I outlast them all.. I belong in the high chandelier or the silver candlestick..
What a delightful life you must lead, the tallow candle admitted.. I am only tallow.. Just a tallow dip.. But it’s a comfort to think how much better off I am than the taper.. He’s only dipped twice, while I am dipped eight times to make a thick and respectable candle of me.. I’ m satisfied..
To be sure it would be better to be born of wax than of tallow, and a lucky thing to be shaped in a mold, but one isn’t asked how he wants to be born.. Your place is in the big rooms with glass chandeliers.. Mine is in the kitchen.. But kitchen is a good place too.. All the food in the house comes from there..
There are more important things in the world than food, the wax candle boasted.. There’s the glitter of good society in which I shine.. Why, I and all my family are invited to a ball that’s being given here this very evening..
No sooner had he said this than all the wax candles were sent for.. But the tallow candle was not left behind.. The mistress of the house took it in her own hand and carried it to the kitchen, where a poor boy waited with his basket full of potatoes and a few apples that she had given him..
And here’s a candle for you too, my little friend,. she told him.. Your mother can use it to work by when she sits up late at night..
The lady’s small daughter stood close beside her mother, and when she heard the magic words late at night, she forgot to be shy..
I’m going to stay up late tonight too!. she exclaimed. ” We are to have a ball this evening, and I’m to wear my big red ribbon.. No candle ever could shine like the eyes of a child..
Happiness is a blessed thing to see, the tallow candle thought to himself.. I mustn’t forget how it looks, for I certainly shan’t see it again.. They put him in the basket and closed the lid.. Away the boy went with it..
Where can he be taking me?. the candle wondered.. I may have to live with poor people who don’t even own a brass candlestick, while the wax candle sits in silver and beams at all the best people.. How fine it must be to shine in good company.. But this is what I get for being tallow, not wax..
And the candle did come to live with poor people.. They were a widow and her three children, who had a low ceilinged room across the way from the well to do house..
God bless our neighbor for all that she gave us, the widow said.. This good candle will burn far into the night..
She struck a match to it.. Fut, fie, he sputtered.. What a vile smelling match she lights me with.. Would anyone offer such a kitchen match to the wax candle, in the well to do house across the way?.
There the candles were lighted too.. They made the street bright as carriages came rumbling with guests dressed in their best for the ball. The music struck up.. Now the ball’s beginning..
The tallow candle burned brighter as he remembered the happy little girl whose face was more shining than the light of all those wax candles.. I’ll never see anything like that again.. The smallest of the poor children reached up, for she was very small, and put her arms around the necks of her brother and sister.. What she had to tell them was so important that it had to be whispered.. Tonight we’re going to have just think of it warm potatoes, this very night..
Her face beamed with happiness and the candle beamed right back at her.. He saw happiness again, and a gladness as great as when the little girl in the well to do house said, We’re having a ball this evening, and I’m to wear my red ribbon.. Is it such a treat to get warm potatoes?. the candle wondered.. Little children must manage to be happy here too.. He wept tallow tears of joy, and more than that a candle cannot do.. The table was spread and the potatoes were eaten.. How good they tasted!. It was a real feast.. There was an apple for everyone, and the smallest child said grace..
Now thanks, dear Lord, I give to Thee That Thou again hast filled me. Amen..
And didn’t I say it nicely?. the little girl asked..
Don’t say such things, her mother told her.. Just thank the good Lord for filling you up..
The children went to bed, were kissed good night, and fell fast asleep.. Their mother sat up late and sewed to make a living for them and for herself.. From the well to do house came light and music.. But the stars overhead shone on all the houses, rich or poor, with the same light, clear and kind..
This has been a wonderful evening, the tallow candle told himself.. Can the wax candle have had any better time of it in his silver candlestick?. I’d like to know that before I’m burned out..
He remembered the two happy children, one face lighted up by the wax candle, the other shining in the tallow candle’s light..
One was happy as the other. Yes, that is the whole story!.
Chuan and Jing joined a wholesale company together just after graduation.. Both worked very hard.. After several years, the boss promoted Jing to sales executive but Chuan remained a sales rep..
One day Chuan could not take it anymore, tender resignation to the boss and complained the boss did not value hard working staff, but only promoted those who flattered him..
The boss knew that Chuan worked very hard for the years, but in order to help Chuan realize the difference between him and Jing, the boss asked Chuan to do the following.. Go and find out anyone selling water melon in the market?. Chuan returned and said yes.. The boss asked how much per kg?. Chuan went back to the market to ask and returned to inform boss the $12 per kg..
Boss told Chuan, I will ask Jing the same question?. Jing went, returned and said, boss, only one person selling water melon.. $12 per kg, $100 for 10 kg, he has inventory of 340 melons..
On the table 58 melons, every melon weighs about 15 kg, bought from the South two days ago, they are fresh and red, good quality.. Chuan was very impressed and realized the difference between himself and Jing..
He decided not to resign but to learn from Jing.. My dear friends, a more successful person is more observant, think more and understand in depth.. For the same matter, a more successful person sees several years ahead, while you see only tomorrow.. The difference between a year and a day is 365 times, how could you win?.
Think! how far have you seen ahead in your life?. How thoughtful in depth are you?.
Here we are, afraid of losing what we have all the time, holding on to it so tight that not a soul can touch it.. We think by hiding it from the world, it’s hidden and it’s ours. Nothing is. Nothing ever will be.. For, nothing ever was..
If you think there is anything that you have, that’s yours, be it money, a house, a job, or a girlfriend.. it’s nothing but an illusion.. It’ll all disappear.. in one blow .
One blow, my man. Here we are, so insecure that we are afraid of re-starting our lives, so we just carry on trying to sort out the current mess.. The thought that we should give it all up and just start all over with nothing might cross our minds some time, sure, but we get scared and we push away anything that scares us..
There is nothing I can ever achieve or gain that I cannot lose, in a matter of seconds.. You have never gained enough to not be able to lose it all, in just a few minutes..
What you think is yours, was never yours and will never be yours.. Whatever you make here, you leave here.. You came naked and you’re going to go back naked..
So what are you afraid of ? Let all be lost.. Let them take away everything.. As long as you have your heart beating strong, as long as you have your nostrils working fine, as long as the blood flows in your veins, you will live, you will breathe and you can get it all back.. again and again.. For, if you can do it once, you can damn well do it again.. It’s just a game we play Life..
There may be days when you get up in the morning and things aren’t the way you had hoped they would be…
That’s when you have to tell yourself that things will get better.. There are times when people disappoint you and let you down…
But those are the times when you must remind yourself to trust your own judgments and opinions, to keep your life focused on believing in yourself..
There will be challenges to face and changes to make in your life, and it is up to you to accept them..
Constantly keep yourself headed in the right direction for you.. It may not be easy at times, but in those times of struggle you will find a stronger sense of who you are..
So when the days come that are filled with frustration and unexpected responsibilities, remember to believe in yourself and all you want your life to be.. Because the challenges and changes will only help you to find the goals that you know are meant to come true for you..
