The easiest way to live more: Stay focused

By Vikum Jayarathne on February 20, 2010 11:34 AM | 9 Comments | 0 TrackBacks
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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.

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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.
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Simple acts of kindness

By Vikum Jayarathne on February 10, 2010 8:05 PM | 7 Comments | 0 TrackBacks

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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. 
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Hard journeys will pay you back

By Vikum Jayarathne on February 7, 2010 11:28 PM | 7 Comments | 0 TrackBacks
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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. 
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Developing the achievement muscle

By Vikum Jayarathne on January 30, 2010 10:06 AM | 1 Comment | 0 TrackBacks
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"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 ! 

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Think Big

By Vikum Jayarathne on August 11, 2009 6:44 PM | 11 Comments | 0 TrackBacks
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"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. 

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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

By Vikum Jayarathne on July 24, 2009 8:44 PM | 6 Comments | 0 TrackBacks
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

By Vikum Jayarathne on July 11, 2009 6:09 PM | 34 Comments | 0 TrackBacks
where the dreams go.jpgRecently 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.

The power of focusing

By Vikum Jayarathne on July 4, 2009 1:40 AM | 13 Comments | 0 TrackBacks
484800700_9b12b949cf.jpgYou'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.

When your happiness bubble bursts

By Vikum Jayarathne on May 17, 2009 7:18 PM | 12 Comments | 0 TrackBacks
47850783_60fe276f35.jpgMy 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

By Vikum Jayarathne on April 28, 2009 8:11 PM | 13 Comments | 0 TrackBacks
717514658_fbeaf40585.jpgSome 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

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