Thinking Park

The easiest way to live more: Stay focused

2010-02-20T05:34:40Z

I was watching an episode of documentary called ' Life' by BBC. That was about hunters, the smart hunters of the jungle. Even proud looking lions and stylish cheetahs were there, it's this little fellow attracted my mind called ' Stoat'.

It's a very flexible, agile animal which can be found almost everywhere throughout the northern temperate, subarctic and arctic regions of Europe, Asia and North America.

The guy was getting ready for a hunt. He was giving witty looks at something and reaching for it carefully, quietly. I thought it was a mouse and screen hadn't shown the animal yet.

Suddenly camera was turned towards his target.

" Oh! My gosh! "

Target was at least 3 - 4 times larger than the stoat. It was a huge rabbit.

And the game was begun as our guy jumped. Rabbit started to run at its top speed. It was running rounds across the grassy land where it was having its supper. It was taking sharp bends to miss the stoat but it wasn't that easy.

Then only I noticed that there were dozens of other rabbits, with watchful eyes and ready to run at any moment. And most interesting thing was during his chase, stoat happened to pass several rabbits those were close to him but seemed like he didn't care. His eyes were glued to the rabbit he chose and that was that.

Still the rabbit was far away from him and I thought he would have to give up. But it was not him.

Chase was there for sometime and slowly stoat started closing in. Finally he managed to reach for a paw and rabbit happened to slow down as the stoat bit its paw. Then he clung on to rabbits' bod and slowly reached his target, the neck and the final bit was fatal.

I was amazed by his focus and discipline. All that time his eyes were on the rabbit but he could have been distracted by other rabbits. If he started chasing after another one he would have to stay hungry because then he would have to start the chase from the beginning no matter how close they were, rabbits are good runners.

In that way he hunted down the rabbit which was 3 - 4 times large than him.

Unlike the stoat, most of us are running after several rabbits at a time. The result is quite clear. We end up with being tired and empty handed. What are these rabbits ? Those are our tasks in day to day life.

The complain most of us make is that 24 hours is not enough for us to finish our ' must do' s in a day. But the truth is it's more than enough. We run after this rabbit and that rabbit until our time is gone.

How did they do that?

You and me have 24 hours per a day. The owner of the world famous ' Virgin' brand, Richard Branson owns more than 360 companies. But still he manages to reply for the all mails which send to him by his employees, by himself while looking after all the other businesses. But does he have 48 or 72 hours per a day ? I doubt that.

All of you know about Leo Babuta @ Zen Habits. He is a full time blogger with massive 1, 60, 000+ subscribers and a writer who's been published both online and offline. In his early days he had to work at his 9 - 5 as well as writing to his blog. Yet he managed to post 3 - 5 times a week plus 1 - 3 guest posts on other blogs. And I didn't mention about working as a free lance writer for magazines. And apart from that he had a big family to care about with 6 kids. So how did he do all these things in 24 hours ?

One rabbit at a time

What makes all these difference? It's the power of focusing. Remember the stoats' rule, One rabbit at a time. If we can focus our mind on an one task at a time, it will boost our efficiency.

You love examples.don't you? Imagine you are writing a blog post and your browser stays minimized with inbox opened. Suddenly you get a mail.So you stop writing to peep into inbox. But after reading the mail you decide that you can reply to the mail later because you have this post to finish. Then you move to the post again but by then you've lost your flow so now getting back on the flow consumes your precious time. And when you start replying to that mail later, you find you have to go through it again to reply. If you open the mail after finishing the post it will save you a lot of time.

" I had limited time for writing. But I blocked that time off, in the early morning, during lunch, and a little after work. And I learned that I had to cut out all the distractions during this time, and focus, and just write."

That's how Leo Babuta has mentioned about the way he used to focus.

Improve the ability to concentrate

We must improve our ability to focus along with some discipline. It will help us to stay focused without distractions. There are some simple methods to improve concentration of your mind. Simple meditation methods can help you a lot with concentration. I tried this and it is really easy to follow. It worked for me. Try it and it's totally for FREE.

Be determined to have some disciplines and to continuously practice on concentration. The more you practice on focusing more you live.

Simple acts of kindness

2010-02-10T14:05:53Z

In that night he understood the power of simple acts which can change lives, which can create big differences.

My uncle works for Commercial Bank and he is the responsible person for ATM machines and networks. Always he has to travel around the country to work on issues of networks.

It was almost midnight and he was working on some issue in a ATM machine at Polonnaruwa branch. He was concentrating on what he was doing and there came this bloke who wanted to know the time which the machine would be corrected.

But unfortunately he couldn't tell him an exact time because it was some serious fault. The guy was crestfallen and my uncle had asked him the reason for being so desperate. There was no other ATM machines in the area and and he needed to go to the hospital as soon as possible because his mom was badly ill at there. But he didn't have any money in hand at that night to go there.

My uncle was so upset that he took his wallet out and checked. He too didn't have much money in hand because a vehicle and all the other facilities were provided to him by his bank. He asked that guy to took those money he had. For few seconds there were mixed feelings on his face; worry, amazement and gratitude. Then he had thanked him and left.

Few weeks later my uncle was asked to meet his boss. Do you know why?

That man who was amazed by the generous act in that night has reported about his act to the head office and it was thoroughly appreciated by the bank management.

That man could get to his mom on time and he was really impressed about the bank and its officers. It was a very little amount of money but his act won't be forgotten.

" Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless"

~ Mother Teresa

Some simple acts can create big impacts. It depends on our will to help or give. They always have the potential to change things because through them, common languages to universe;love and affection, speaks. These languages can change and create impressions and change people and their hearts.

Have you thrown pebbles into still waters ever ? Those curvy waves spreads while getting bigger and bigger. Simple acts of kindness are like that. Sometimes they bring solace to dozens of hearts.

Though these acts are small they are wrapped with generosity and kindness. That's why they have all this power to change things, creating differences.

We always come across the situations which we can give out ourselves in our day to day life. But must sensitive enough to see them and act. Share your smiles of kindness with world out side.That would light up the souls of some people and they'll feel it as the light which shines from the heaven on their lives.

Hard journeys will pay you back

2010-02-07T17:28:29Z

Have you ever seen a person who never wanted to be successful? Well, I haven't. All of us dream about success, work towards it and strive for it according to what it means to us.

But while some people live happily achieving their success some spend their whole life only dreaming about it, seeking for it and complaining about the things they lack to be successful.

Think about this difference. Why some can and why some can't? And I saw something common among the crowd who seems to be not much successful in the quest for success. They always go for the short cut. They always need the easiest way. They wait someone to figure out things for them. They wait for the right moment so that they can easily achieve whatever they want which will never comes.

As an example, people who go for the lotteries fall into this category. They buy lotteries; some people spend on few lotteries daily, so that one day they will win and millions of money will be theirs which is their key to success. But it's all about simple mathematics, probability. Millions of people buy lotteries and handful of them will win. They are waiting for the day which they will fall into that group of handful of people which will never happens sometimes. But the truth is if they win those millions of money, then also they can't achieve success because they don't know how to manage it. So it will be wasted in matter of time. The reason is according to laws of nature money doesn't belong to them. Because they didn't work and they didn't prove that they own it in front of the nature.

Most of the people who have given something to this world, who've been successful, found their own way to got there by themselves. Because they wanted it so bad and they strove for it at any cost. But after the ways revealed to achieve success, most of the people who try fail. Because they are the crowd who go for the easiest way and they wait someone to find an easy way and it also still too hard for them so they give up in the middle of their effort.

"Do not follow where the path my lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail"

~Bernard Shaw

I have a close friend of mine whose dad is a multi millionaire. His father has enough connections, power, money and everything. But my friend didn't wait his father to find him an easy way; a short cut, to success. Instead he started his own business on something he felt passionate about, web developing. Some people laughed at him. He could have got anything easily but why is he dying on this business? He worked so hard and is working so hard. But now all his frank efforts and hard working is paying him back. He has gained a huge knowledge about this business and now no one can stop him and he is on the highway to the success and I'm proud of him.( I'm really thankful to him because his company is the one which hosts my blog also )

Once I asked him why he was working so hard and his reply was " This is something you can really enjoy. You get hands on experience, you learn as hell and you feel proud about yourself because of all of these achievements you made and you are you own boss". That's the blessing you get back for your honest efforts and all of the hard work.

The most interesting thing about striving and thriving towards ones own success is the way he or she follows, the bends of the road he/she takes, molds his/her life and flourish it with all the courage and motivation which will be the certificate of never failing.

Truth about this nature is, survival of the fittest is guaranteed. So by taking up the challenge of being successful at stake of any cost, we are getting stronger and getting closer to our targets step by step. Not only that but also some other people will learn lessons from our stories which means we'll write histories and we'll make tales of victory.

Developing the achievement muscle

2010-01-30T04:06:44Z

"Nothing stops the man who desires to achieve. Every obstacle is simply a course to develop his achievement muscle. It's a strengthening of his powers of accomplishment"

~ Eric Butterworth

Once I had to run in a road race for my house in the school inter house sports meet. I finished the race as 3rd and from hundreds of competitors one of my friends became 1st. I was really happy because I made it to the line as 3rd and wanted to congratulate champion.

But when I got to him where he was with some of his friends; to wish him about his victory, he said " you guys can't compete with me" in a harsh voice and I felt like I was being shot. But didn't want to show it to the out side and I grinned and bear.

After some days of that incident, games captain of our house came to my classroom to meet me. He wanted to tell me that they have decided to put me also to the 3000 m race. At that moment my mind ran back to the day that incident happened and in the next second I knew that he would be my main competitor. This time I wanted to win badly not because I hate him but I needed to prove myself that I also can win.

It was a Friday and the race was on a Monday so I had got two days to do whatever I could do. There was not much time for a training session but I wanted to be confident as hell. So I went to the ground in the Saturday morning, did some warm up exercises and completed running 3000 m, went home slightly confident. On the next day also I did the same thing except taking 6000 m instead of 3000 m.

It was Monday afternoon and I was standing behind the starting line and unlike previous race my every nerve believed in victory even before the race started. Race started. Though my muscles had started to get tired I knew that I was gonna win from inside. Opponents were passed one by one and finally I was passing the champion of the road race in a moment which I felt like end line was stretching towards me.

After this experience I started believing in myself. Have you ever wanted to win something challenging so badly ? Then this is dedicated for you.

Burning Passion

Before trying in achieving something challenging, you need to have a burning passion on it. As the passion blooms in your mind, mind starts its engine to process towards it. You don't want to worry about how it processes but just believe in that and you will understand. After all mind has the power to surprise you; when you are not expecting it.

I just remembered a little story I've read. This is about Socrates; one of the greatest thinkers Ancient Greek got.

Once a student came to learn from Socrates. He used to be a teacher and there were dozens of great minds who lit up their minds under Socrates in those days. Anyway this student was a pretty curious one and he was impatient as well.

He asked Socrates" What is the quickest way to learn? " and Socrates maintained the silence.

But later Socrates went to the river with him to had a bath. And when they got into the river Socrates grabbed student's neck and head and pushed him hard under the water. Scared student fought back so hard but couldn't win over Socrates' stalwart hands. Finally he was released and he came onto the surface with reddish eyes, breathing heavily.

Socrates smiled and said " If you have the same concern on studies as the concern to breath under the water, it is the quickest way to learn"

Just believe in yourself

Until we believe in ourselves no one will believe us. But when we start believing then all of the others will follow. Therefore first we must start believe in ourselves.

And don't forget to start dreaming about your goal. Dream about the way you achieve it. Dream that you've already achieved it and the way others wish you.Feel the happiness. Just think big because you are bigger than you think.

Let your mind jump over the obstacle first

One of the famous athletic coach has said that " Let your mind jump over the obstacle first then your body will easily come with it".

This is all about fear. Fear of failure. We all have that in somewhere in our mind. We need to win, win need get over with the challenges but this ugly fellow called 'fear' peeping in nowhere and ask from our mind " can you do this for sure? " and that's where our confidence shatters.

Therefore we must not let him peep inside. He is not coming alone. He comes along with the pressure and stress. So we must stop doubting our strengths and let our minds jump over the obstacle first.

Use a red light

This is a successful way of dealing with fear and pressure.I read this in somewhere, have used and have got successful results.

Every time when some negative thoughts or fear comes to your mind close your eyes and see a 'red' light from your mind. In this case the big red lights in the traffic control systems are better. And ask your mind to stop as you seeing the red light from the mind. After trying several times you'll see how it works. Mind will stop as you ask, avoiding those negative thoughts which can devour your courage.

Plan with available resources and stick to the plan

We must first understand where we are. Then we can plan our way to get there with the resources available. Plan maybe a simple and plain one. But the most important thing is stick to the plan until you achieve your goal, you win your challenge.This is where we all get lost. We plan everything but after 3-4 days we forget sticking to it. Because we find reasons to justify our inability to stick. In other words we find our own ways of fleeing from it. This is where we must be careful. We must stay focused and be inspired. Try some good readings when you feel like that. It works.

Well if you use these tips you'll feel overflowing confidence which will help you to win any challenge and you'll be a different personality who can face any challenge successfully.

Stay motivated !

Think Big

2009-08-11T11:44:18Z

"Those were the very first days of my carrier and I was 19 year old guy who was not earning much"

I was sitting in the classroom listening to a lecture which was delivering by one of lecturers I've ever liked most.

And the voice continued....

" ...and I used to wear a "TAG heuer" "

" Oooooo...... "

Class was astounded. Well, how do you avoid the surprise? It was one of the top branded wrist watches.

"And it was a fake one which I had bought for Rs. 500 " ( equal to $ 5)

Sighs of relief.....

And further more he mentioned that sometimes he had used to had his dinner at five star hotels with his small salary dreaming of the life he would like to live.

What do you gonna call him? A day dreamer? Well. Don't be too quick to make any judgments. Today he has become the man he wanted to be.The man of his dreams. He is playing a top role in a prominent bank and he also is a marketing specialist and a confident, influential speaker.

So what I needed was to convince you about the importance of this concept. In other words the importance of "thinking big". This is one f the top secrets from the safes of most successful people in the society.

It has been revealed that your thoughts create who you are. Some people play big roles in the society while living luxurious lives and some stay poor and unhappy without knowing how to achieve their dreams. They grumble about society, government and even about themselves and their inabilities. Using their negative thoughts they repulse their powers though they unaware of it.

Few years ago, after releasing the movie " The Secret", this topic has been widely discussed all over the world.People became aware of this concept of think big and by following it a lot of people achieve their targets, owned the lives they dream t of.

In that movie they've discussed something called vision boards which is directly related to the power of attraction.

Vision board is some kind of a board which contains your dreams as forms of pictures, texts, drawings and anything. In other words the house you like to live in, the car you hit paddles in your dreams etc. You can simply create a vision board using a stack of old magazines and a poster board( or any kinda board like that). For your information, you can find a nice and descriptive post on How to make a vision board @ Christine Kane's blog.

So once you've created your vision board, hang it in a place which you can see frequently. So after that what you have to do is spending few minutes everyday looking at your vision board and dreaming of the life you gonna have. You'll have to wonder at the results at the end.

In the film an enterprenuere called John Assaraf speaks. He tells us about an unforgettable experience of his life.

He had used to use this concept of vision boards and some years later he was working in his office room at his newly pursued house.Suddenly his little son came in and trying to play with some boxes in there.

"What's in this box daddy? " Little one asked him when he asked him to stop making noise.

"Those are my vision boards and I was used to put my dreams and goals in there" While replying to son he opened the box.

Suddenly he was shocked by what he had seen and he began to cry sitting on his bed.

"Why crying?" Little one was curious as you.

Then he showed a vision board to kid which contained a picture of an adorable house which was the same house they've pursued lately.

That was not a fairy tale but a true story.

I hope you've understood about the power of thinking big and that's where you gonna start achieving.Use this great concept in your life and live your dream while others are dreaming.

Fatherly love

2009-07-24T13:44:18Z

Do your parents or grand parents live with you? Then sometimes you may have seen the edge of your patience.Yeah. They always give you chances to comprehend your limits.

As their old age comes they become children again. They can't understand how you loss your temper at their innocent behavior.

But can you remind that good old days you passed as a child? Can you remember the ways you tried to make them go mad at you.But they never got angry with you. Because they loved you too much to do so.

Today I've got an awesome video to share with you.Watch it and try to understand about their love towards you.

Treat them with more love and make their adulthood an unforgettable one.

Brick walls are there for a reason

2009-07-11T11:09:54Z

Recently while I was in an online chat, got to hear an inspiring story from a close friend of mine. And the story was so inspiring that I thought of writing a post on that.Read on.

Her father is a businessman and when he first started some business after waving to job, he failed badly.He had started it with some of his friends and due to their tactlessness that business was gone.It was reasonable to get panicked because he had left the job already and destiny slapped across his face at his first effort to stand on his feet.But he started another business. He bought a bus and hired it. But what happened was he hit bottom again. Driver and conductor of the bus stole money. As I got to know, his own relations used them to stole money. Maybe of their jealousy towards the rising man.

So did he fall flat on the ground? No.Not him.At least not mentally.He was a man of courage. He was kind of a boat which couldn't sink. So again he turned up in the business world. This time with an enterprises business which named after him and his wife.

Ah..! I forgot to mention that all this time no one was there to help him but his wife was pumping out all the energy which he was spreading.

And do you know what happened next? Again it went down. By that time there was too much to give it all up to an ordinary guy. But not to him. He arose like the phoenix who rise from the ash.

Some construction business was his new path and this time it rocked the business world by giving profits by 8 digit numbers. He was paid to all the effort he made with the interest although it had taken sometime.

We all have tried or trying to win our life through many plans. Some of us have tried in business and some people are trying to rise high in their job. We plan everything and then await overnight success. But most of the times what happens is we go down in our first effort.So we give up our plans and think " that dream is not for me".

But we all have the power in our selves. It can't be seen from the surface and it lies beneath it until you pull it up to the surface. But the thing is we are not ready to use it. Some of us doesn't even know whether it exists.The people who know about the existence of it also are scared by the fear of failure.

Why do we afraid to live in our own dreams and make them come true. Don't forget that the times we stumble across are the bright times of our lives. Those are the times that we learn about the pathways which drive towards the defeat. By facing them we learn how avoid them. Maybe we have to learn them the hard way. But who cares?

Brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls aren't there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to show us how badly we want things...the brick walls are there to stop the people who don't want it badly enough!

-- Randy Pausch

Remember that before handing over something to you, life checks whether you are worth it. So it be proved be proved that you are the deserving one and in the next moment dream will be yours. So don't hesitate to live in your dream until it becomes true. Stand back on your feet at every time you fall. Because every time you become aware of one more way which you can be failed. Knowing it makes you strengthened.

Thomas Alva Edison was the man who failed most number of times in the history. Do you know why? Because he tried.(The people who don't try fail hardly). But world knows him as the greatest scientist and the inventor who invented the most number of new inventions. World recognizes you not from your failures but from achievements you made.

So do not give up on trying ever. Let your courage and determination to glitter your name in sky of the success.

Photo is by anguila40/Alejandro Groenwold's

The power of focusing

2009-07-03T18:40:24Z

You've seen a lot of singing competitions. But most of the times best singer or winner fades away with the time. And someone who scored lesser than that or someone who never turned up in a competition becomes the star. Have you ever noticed this?

"Smoking kills" doctors say. A lot of people quit smoking on their birthdays or on the first day of the year with a determination which could be enough to flatten a mountain. But tobacco businesses are going strong and have become profit springs. Have you noticed that?

There's nothing to be surprised about. This is human's nature. They don't focus on something for a long time. When we are about to start a something, we are curious about it. So our interest is arisen by the curiosity. But after few days we get used to it and there's nothing to be curious about. At this point that interest start to fade even before we notice it. So this ends up with loosing our new habit. This is the brief version of the sad story.

But if we can bear the little boredom that comes after we've got used to something, if we can develop the ability of focusing by a little bit, we'll stand out in the crowd becoming attractive personalities. Despite how simple our talents are we'll become experts of them and it will ends up with leaving dozens of people wanting to be us. If you turn towards the history you can see dozens of evidences to this.

Just think about Michael Jordan. Everyone talks about him and his magical shoots. What that applauding crowd doesn't know is how hard the way he got there to be the miracle in the court. His magical shoots and his ability to focus on his purpose is actually inextricable.

The six times tour de France titler- Lance Armstrong;I hope all of you've heard of him. He won all those titles while he was badly suffering from a lung cancer. But most of the people are not aware of the way he got there.As he has mentioned his autobiography called "Every second counts", he was doing his extremely hard trainings in cold snowy days too which other people were off the cycles and resting.

Once in a snowy morning he was climbing a mountain in order to got his timing improved. And after he returned his doctor was amazed to found something wrong with the equipments. Timing had recorded twice in the machine. But Lance said replying to his queries that he had to climbed that peak for the second time in a row because he wasn't satisfied about his first timing. That's how heroes born. The are focusing on their purpose consistently while others were resting too.

Mike Tyson didn't get his killer punch or those stalwart muscles in a day or two.Only he knows is how hard he had to focus on.

And the pop king who departed from us recently Michael Jackson; there were 12 people had committed suicide after his death. He had won peoples love for such an extent and he had such an influence on them. But he had focused on music since he was 5.

That's the story of power of focusing. It will cost you nothing other than commitment and determination. The harder you focus on whatever you do the larger the reward you get. So it's up to you whether to focus on or not.

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When your happiness bubble bursts

2009-05-17T12:18:20Z

My PC is a pretty old one.When few tabs are open in my browser and I'm shifting between them it goes frozen and I used to say that bad four letter word.It happens frequently when I read some blogs at night and it drives away my happy thoughts like a surge but couldn't help it.couldn't afford for a proper upgrade too.And yesterday when I said this with a friend he asked me does it remain frozen that I have to restart when it happens every time.And I said "No". "Oh! Not that bad." That's his words.And I was thinking to my self " yes of course.Not that bad."At least I do not have to restart it.do I ?"

So now when this happens I simply let it go saying "Not that bad".Yeah.It doesn't speed up my machine.But it save peace in my mind.

We come across lots of times like this in our day to day life which irritates us.Like when a stone thrown into a clear,still stream, it crashes the peace of our mind.Does it do any better? Absolutely not.So we need to find a way out of this.

Not that bad.

One thing we can do is the thing my friend said."Oh! not that bad". Please do remember that it's not the worst thing that could happen to you.As an example if you are jobless, be thankful to the destiny.Because it's not that bad.Still you are a healthy person and there are people in this world who are ready to pay any cost to be healthy.Count your blessings at that moment. If you start counting them you'll be surprised and your sorrows would be kicked away.

Everything do happen for a reason.

The second thing you can do is think that it happened for a reason.It worked for me in numerous times.Once I lost a relationship which I valued a lot.I hit the bottom of the emotions and I was broken from inside but couldn't afford showing it to the outside world because of my ego or whatever it is.But it showed.After suffering all the way eventually I read the magic words somewhere. "Everything happens for a reason". And after few months, surprisingly I found that it's true which means I saw a side which I've never seen before and understood that if she was with me I could have suffer more than this.

Everything do happen for a reason and sooner or later it will become visible.It's just a matter of time.So have a little faith when when you are down.

You've seen streams which flows in comfortable ways.And also you've seen streams with lots of bends and rocks covering its way.Which picture has carved into deep in your mind? Yeah.But you know it's the hard way to flow.That's life.When you face and got over the troubles, it adds more colors to the picture of your life.So do not let little ants devour your piece of cake called happiness.

People who need your love most

2009-04-28T13:11:51Z

Some children come to this world in the same way that others come.They cry like others,laugh like others.When others grow day by day,they too grow from their physical bodies.But the problem is their minds grow slowly.They are called "children with mental disabilities".They are different from other children without even knowing it.They wonder why people stare at them when they walk on a road.They have to bear unacceptability with wet eyes among friends.All this for a wrong they've never done.

Lately I've got this story from an email. Just read it.

At a fund raising dinner for a school that serves children with learning disabilities, the father of one of the students delivered a speech that would never be forgotten by all who attended.After extolling the school and its dedicated staff, he offered a question:

"When no interfered with by outside influences, every thing nature does, is done with perfection. Yet my son, Shay, cannot learn things as other children do.He cannot understand things as other children do. Where is the natural order of things in my son? "

The audience was stilled by the query.

The father continued. "I believe that when a child like Shay, who was mentally disabled comes into the world and opportunity to realize true human nature presents itself, and it comes in the way other people treat that child."

Then he told the following story:

Shay and I had walked past a park where some boys Shay knew were playing baseball.Shay asked, " Do you think they'll let me play? " I knew that most of the boys would not want someone like Shay on their team, but as a father I also understood that if my son were allowed to play, it would give him a much-needed sense of belonging and some confidence to be accepted by others in spite of his handicaps.

I approached one of the boys on the field and asked (not expecting much) if Shay could play. The boy looked around for guidance and said, "We're losing by six runs and the game is in the eighth inning. I guess he can be on our team and we'll try to put him in to bat in the ninth inning."

Shay struggled over to the team's bench and, with a broad smile, put on a team shirt. I watched with a small tear in my eye and warmth in my heart.The boys saw my joy at my son being accepted.

In the bottom of the eighth inning, Shay's team scored a few runs but was still behind by three.

In the top of the ninth inning, Shay put on a glove and played in the right field. Even though no hits came his way, he was obviously ecstatic just to be in the game and on the field, grinning from ear to ear as I waved to him from the stands.

In the bottom of the ninth inning, Shay's team scored again.Now, with two outs and the bases loaded, the potential winning run was on base and shay was scheduled to be next at bat.

At this juncture, do the let Shay bat and give away their chance to win the game?

Surprisingly, Shay was given the bat.Everyone knew that a hit was all but impossible because Shay didn't even know how to hold the bat properly, much less connect with the ball.

However, as Shay stepped up to the plate, the pitcher, recognizing that the other team was putting winning aside for this moment in Shay's life, moved in a few steps to lob the ball in softly so Shay could at least make contact.

The first pitch came in,Shay swung at the ball and hit a slow ground ball right back to the pitcher.The game would now be over.The pitcher picked up the soft grounder and could have easily thrown the ball to the first baseman.

Shay would have been out and that would have been the end of the game.

Instead, the pitcher threw the ball right over the first baseman's head, out of the reach of all team mates.

Everyone from the stands and both teams started yelling,

"Shay, run to first! run to first! "

Never in his life had Shay ever run that far, but he made it to first base.He scampered down he baseline, wide-eyed and startled.

Everyone yelled, "run to second, run to second!"

Catching his breath, Shay awkwardly ran towards second, gleaming and struggling to make it to the base.

By the time Shay rounded towards second base, the right fielder had the ball.The second smallest guy on their team who now had his first chance to be the hero for his team.

He could have thrown the ball to the second-baseman for the tag, but he understood the pitcher's intentions so he too intentionally threw the ball high and far over the third baseman's head.

Shay ran toward third base deliriously as the runners ahead of him circled the bases toward home.

All were screaming, " Shay, Shay , Shay, all the way Shay"

Shay reached third base because the opposing short stop ran to help him by turning him in the direction of third base, and shouted, "Run to third! Shay, run to third!"

As shay rounded third, the boys from both teams, and the spectators were on their feet screaming, " Shay, run home! run home!"

Shay ran to home, stepped on the plate, and was cheered as the hero who hit the grand slam and won the game for his team.

"That day", said the father softly with tears now rolling down his face, "the boys from both teams helped bring a piece of true love and humanity into this world.I smelled divine fragrance of the humanity with wet eyes".

"Shay didn't make it to another summer. He died that winter, having never forgotten being the hero and making me so happy, and coming home and seeing his mother tearfully embrace her little hero of the day! "

That's the story and I'm moved by it totally. Are you too?

An one thing is clear.They are innocent children who deserve our love more than everyone. They too have a right to live and enjoy of their lives like you and me.We'll help them to make it with our love, care and acceptance.

A wise man once said "every society is judged by how it treats it's least fortunate amongst them". So we are the people who can create a heaven or hell on this earth.

Photo is by CampASCCA

Expect Ingratitude

2009-04-16T15:46:45Z

I was thinking about writing a post on something very rare on this earth. "Gratitude" . That's how we call it.I'm sure that we all have experiences about this.But most of them are incidents which we didn't get any gratitude though we deserved it.Am I correct?

Yeah.That's how things work.You can call it " God's will" if you like.As human beings we can't live without each others help.You have to agree with me for that.But the thing is after someone helping us we must pay him/her some gratitude.Actually no one can arrest you or shoot you for not paying any feelings for that.But as human beings we have an obligation.

Sometimes you might have heard that people say " they won't remember anything you do for them.There's no point of bothering to help them" or some dialogues like that.( my mom also has said the things like that) Do we expect any gratitude for a help that we do to some one? Ask from your heart. Some of you will say "yes" whilst others are saying "no". But though we say "no" sometimes our heart says "yes". Do we really need to expect any gratitude?

Once Jesus Christ healed ten lepers as you all know.But there was only one person had stopped to thank him. So who are we? Do we aspire anything more than Jesus Christ got ?

A criminal defense attorney Samuel Leibowitz saved 78 people from sitting on the electric chair. But how many of them had sent him at least a Christmas card ? Answer is 0 .

I hope you all have heard about Andrew Carnegie.It was a real "rags to riches" story.He was born to a poor Scottish family that immigrated to the United States and later he became a powerful businessman and a leading force in the American Steel industry.And he was also a great philanthropist who believed that the wealthy had an obligation to give back to the society.In his last will he had given a million dollars to his relations. But if he got up from his sepulcher after sometime, he would have a chance to get an heart attack by hearing his relations curses. Do you know the reason? He had donated 365 million dollars for charity allowances.What a grateful society?

That's how few of famous people got gratitude from the society.But does that say we do not help somebody? Of course not. We must do our best to help somebody when a chance comes. But if we expect any feeling from them in return it's better not to help them than to be broken hearted after helping out.We don't need to think about ourselves as fools when we have to face an ungratefulness. You can't hide anything for natural law. It sees all through. Nature will fill our hearts with glee which will never fade when it see our good deeds. If you believe in god, in gods mansion your name will be carved as indelible.

We can't change people. Especially their natures.Only what we can do is wetting their hearts with our love. We will love them from bottom of our hearts.So that we will be able to help them without getting hurt from ungratefulness.

N.B- This post is inspired by an incident which I had to face recently which was painful.But I I'm not writing it here in case I embarrass the person who caused it.I'm just writing this to express my feelings and thoughts and to get a relief.

Photo is by BidWiya

Uncovering

2009-04-08T19:25:00Z

Since recently the serene lady Lisis @ Quest For Balance ( as she says since it's Costa Rican "i" you have to pronounce it as Leecees :) ) has tagged me in her blog with 6 other bloggers, I have to write 7 things about myself. And I haven't written anything about myself in my " about me " section too. So I'm joining this chain of fun and from the other hand it helps to know better the bloggers around.

OK. Let's start. But once you've been tagged, you have to follow some rules in this game.

Link to your original tagger and list these rules in your post.
Share 7 things about yourself in the post ( you can maximize the fun by sharing the facts that others do not know.)
Open the door to 7 other fellow bloggers to join the fun from tagging 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names and links to their blogs.
Let them know they've been tagged.

Alright.Here we go. Here I mention 7 things that you may not know about me.

I'm a Sri Lankan undergraduate student in Material Science Engineering who is younger than my all the other blogger friends.Well you can guess my age if you like :)

My dad has passed away when I was 10 and 3 months later from his death, I was able to made my way to the best school in Sri Lanka through a scholarship, fulfilling his wish.

At the age of 5, once I was standing in the middle of a busy main road( everyone had forgotten to look after me for a while and I was making the best out of that moment :) ) until my grandma came and tugged me out of it.Otherwise this blog wouldn't have exist :) . And still no one knows how the hell that road was empty at that time. (Granny says I owe her for that :) )

Most of my blog posts I write while traveling in the bus to the university using my phone since I have to be damn busy with the university studies and my day to day bucks earning job.

I have a lust to fly all over the world though I've never gone out from this country still :) (But one day I do so for sure )

One of the things I enjoy most is trying to understand different kinds of people and their behaviors. Maxim Gorky has once said " We are discovering deep bottoms of the sees and stars and planets.But still we have not finished discovering human beings." ( That's not exactly his words but the idea as far as I can remember )

I believe in equality of all of the human beings despite the nations, cultures and religions since the same red blood runs through all of our veins.

Ok.done. After you have enjoyed( or not ) the 7 things about me what I have to do now is tag 7 of my favorite bloggers. But one thing. Though I can't mention in the list( because someone else has taken the chance from me ) , there are two bloggers who I need to mention especially. Nadia : a kind hearted great friend and Michael : Also a great friend who have a good sense of humor and who gives me courage.

Here are 7 of kind hearted great souls who you can find in the blogsphere.

Lance @ Jungle Of Life
Daphne @ Joyful Days
Robin @ Let's Live Forever
Babara @ Blogging Without A Blog
Jocelyn @ I take off the mask
Keheliya @ Galpotha
Sara @ the Sharing Connection

Top secrets from children's world

2009-04-02T02:55:08Z

Have you ever thought that you deserve a happier life than this? Yes.You are. Just follow children's top secrets to make your life a happier one. Well. Don't laugh at me for saying that. But have you ever seen a child who wears a worrying face over a long time? I too haven't .I am wondering about their behaviors. May be they are the happiest creatures on the planet. Why don't they worry about tings like we do? Why don't they suffer from stress or depression? How can they be always seen with those curious, smiling faces?

Here are the top-secrets which I have found among children whilst in quest of spices we need to add up to the soup of life to get best essence out of it.

1.They know how to get happiness out even from simplest things.

Most of us are striving to find happiness in our day to day life and we spend lot of bucks on that. But children are specialists of finding happiness from simple things. You'll say " They are just kids. What do they know about the life?" It's true that they are just kids but at leas they know that it's something to feel( not to suffer). As we grow older, we start to struggle with the life and our own problems. Our desires become complicated and we are not satisfied anymore from simple things like moon light or a slab of chocolate. See this picture.

I took this photo of my little cousin brother while we were on a journey. Can you see the smile on his face? Can you see his happiness? It was just for two packets of biscuits that he loved. He has neither much hopes nor burning desires. Why we can't feel the joy of sunrise, music of singing birds or clouds in the clear blue sky?

2.They cry for a while and let sorrows go forever.

Grieves and sorrows... We know how much they love us. Because they come to stay in our minds and never leave us though we need them to. No one has found a remedy against these diseases. I mean we can't eliminate them.So what do we do? When we have to face such incidents most of us try to bear it up through our gritted teeth but we never gonna quit worrying even after some time.
But behold a child's behavior. They cry until their sorrows get faded, until they get satisfied and after that they never worry about the things which made them suffer anymore. Never ending smiles can be seen again in their faces. See how simply they handle the difficult situations?

3. They don't worry about the days that have passed or days which have to come.

Well. I haven't seen a child who was crying for his toys which were broken some time ago. After a cry which suits to the situation they continue with their flow of joy. And I don't think that you know about a child who is worrying about the things he is gonna do if someday his parents quit buying him cookies that he love. They are wise enough to not to worry about things which has happened already which can't be undone or about the things which never happen yet.
But what about us? If you jot down our most recent worries, you'll see that most of them belong to the categories called 'past' and 'future'.
Don't let worries of days that have passed or days which have to come to leak through your umbrella and wet you. Just live in the moment. Then joyful days will come on your way.

4. They don't allocate their memory locations to keep grudges.

In adult's world, there's a room for hate and grudge. They stumble at forgiving even though neither of them perfect to not to happen any mistakes. They try to get revenge and they do not forget a thing easily. Jealousy exists among them that is why they can't be happy at happiness of others. Sometimes they get armed against their own men for the sake of religions which do not exist forever. And sometimes their fists are clenched due to poor concepts so called rationalism.
Put your glasses away and peep into the children's world. They want to play with any child despite their skin color or other things. They don't bother to care at all. And they play, they fight but after few minutes again they are friends.No grudges. No one hates. See how amazing they are?

See how many top secrets they have :) .No wonder how they are living so happy in this jungle of life. But the unpleasant thing is one day they too will be grown into adults and their secrets of happiness will be buried with their childhood. But if you care enough to be childish, ( I mean to think about these facts and get them added to your lives. he hee...) I assure all of us will live a happier life than this.

N.B - If you come across more top secrets than this please feel free to drop them in the comments section so that other readers will too aware of them. And other comments too are welcome :)

photo is by Kumi

Living in the moment

2009-03-21T13:47:03Z

Have you ever honked the horn grumpily and cursed to yourself and other people and the government whilst stuck in a traffic jam? Well if the answer is 'Yes' , this post is just for you.There are sometimes that we can do nothing against the situation we face.

There's a little story.Once a man was walking across a jungle for some reason and suddenly he came across a tiger which went infuriated by seeing him.So the tiger jumped on him but barely missed him under salivary jaws.Peaceful walk turned into a run for the sake of life and tiger was right behind snarling ferociously.Poor fellow was at his maximum speed and cold sweat was running through his back created by the fatality of the moment.His foot slipped suddenly and in the next moment he was falling into something bit dark inside.He hit something and he reached for it from a single hand.It was a root of a tree which were leaned towards the pit and now he was swinging somewhat below from the opening of the pit.

So what about the tiger?Unfortunately it was kinda positive thinker.Though somewhat disappointed, it didn't leave him.It was on the verge of the pit grumbling from his throat. (maybe it was scolding at his destiny for taking his chances away from him like most of us do :) ) But still it hadn't given up hopes about the party.It was trying to clench and pull him up by using his stalwart paw.

And by that moment man's eyes were getting use to the darkness inside.It was an abandoned well which was out of water and he looked down intending to jump there. Oh Gosh! What was there? A huge snake which were coiling to attack him as soon as he landed.He bit the tongue through his clenched teeth and tightened the grip and now he was shimmering from the utmost fear. Blood circulation was raising under his veins.And then he saw something which left his hair straightened.Two mice had started to countdown his last seconds on earth by starting to cut that root away.And there's a bee hive in a lair of a tree and some honey was leaking through the root he was hanging on.

One death was ready to give him a warm welcome by its sharp teeth,on the verge of the well and the other death was summoning him from down by hissings.So can you guess the thing he did?Did he blame god saying " WTF? Can't you see what's happening to me?". No.He said nothing like that.Instead of that what he did was licking the honey which were leaking and said " Hmm....Yummy....".

Well that's the end of the story.Whether you like it or not it's the story of all of us in real life. We can do nothing against some of the disasters we are facing.But still we can taste our life.Needless to worry about anything because our worries can't change things.Would that tiger go away if that man cried?But still we can't give up our hopes.Who knows what will happen in the future.What if that tiger tries to jump on him and ends up with crash with the snake which would have caused to death of both of them?So the man will be able to climb up to his life again.No one can predict future.

So this story gives us a lesson for a happier life.We don't need to worry about uncontrollable things which happen in our life.Because it's a waste of time which remains us to enjoy and feel the life.

Don't blame at anything when you stuck in a traffic jam.Try to listen to a song or just open up the cubby hole and grab some chocolates.See how simple it is?

If our souls are strong enough to live right in this moment despite all the storms which rumbling from distance we will live a better life, a happier life someone will dream of.

This post is inspired by a preaching by Ajan Brahmawanso Thera.

photo credit : Ferdinand

My Personal Creed

2009-03-11T18:08:41Z

Lately in Daphne's awesome blog "Joyful Days" I read some posts about personal creeds. "What are these personal creeds?" me too was curious just like you. And in there she has discussed about it clearly and not only that but also she has given her own creed as an example. She says "When you know where you are headed,you walk purposefully, quickly,with big strides. You may enjoy the scenery as you pass by, but every step you take has a meaning because it brings you one step closer to your purpose".

The post "How to write a personal creed" was so inspiring that I couldn't help myself to writing my own one.(If you read it you too will feel so :-) ) Though I was bit busy, finally put some thoughts together and created my own one(half of it was created inside a bus when I was returning home from the university :-) )Thanks Daphne for the wonderful idea.

So just enjoy reading and think what your creed is.

I won't shatter at grief or sorrow
since they are sent to us
by divine mercy
for our own perfecting

I cremate all defeats and frustrations
which are nothing than history
resurrect as a phoenix
who rise from the ash

I carve my name in people's hearts
by trying my best to
make this earth a better place
by being unforgettable
before I leave to the
womb of the earth

I love everyone
at least I try to do so
because all of us are human beings and
neither me nor you are perfect
so we must learn to forgive

I simply live my life
whilst filling others' lives with happiness
each day is a gift to me
from the heaven....

Photo credit : B Tal
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