Hot Chocolate And The Cup

One cold evening late in December, a group of alumni who were well established in their careers, got together to visit their old professor.

After arriving at his residence, each began to boast of their individual successes, and before long old rivalries began to surface. Their only common thread seemed to be bitter complaints about the stresses each of them experienced in their workplaces and in their daily lives. The professor listened quietly, then offered his guests a cup of hot chocolate. He went to the kitchen and returned with a large container and an assortment of cups, porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal; some plain looking, some expensive, some quite exquisite, telling them to help themselves to the hot chocolate.

When all of his former students had a cup of the chocolate in hand, the professor said: "If you noticed, all the nice looking expensive cups were quickly taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress. Be assured that the cup itself adds no quality to the hot chocolate. In most cases the cup is just more expensive and in some cases even hides what we drink. What all of you really wanted was the warm drink, not the cup, but you consciously went for the best, most attractive cup...and then you began eyeing and envying one another's cups."

"Now consider this: Life is the hot chocolate, the jobs, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain Life, and the type of cup we have does not define, nor change the quality of Life we live. Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the warm drink God has provided us. GOD MAKES THE DRINK, NOT THE CUPS. Enjoy your hot chocolate! And remember: The happiest people don't have the best of everything. They just make the best of everything."

AUTHOR UNKNOWN

The Gift Of Problems

I was sitting at my desk the other day pondering a pesky problem that I've been having. And frankly, it was all I could do to keep from letting negative thinking about it overwhelm me. When I went to check my email, my weekly message from my long-time friend Phil Humbert was in my box. The subject line of his email? The Gift of Problems. How timely and what a great piece that Phil wrote (he puts out some great writing and always has!). I contacted him right away and told him I wanted to share it with you. He graciously gave me permission so here it is in its original and uncut version: "When we're stuck or frustrated, I don't suppose anybody really likes problems. But problems are the source of wealth, fame, power, progress and most of the good things in life. Without problems, I fear we might still be living in caves. Thank goodness for the gift of problems! Do I really mean that? Yes, I do! But do I really feel that way all the time? No. I find it especially hard to appreciate problems when I have one of my own! But the truth is that most of us earn our living by solving other people's problems. In that sense, while I may be frustrated by my own problems, I am extremely thankful that other people have problems I can solve! We had a minor mishap with Mary's car this week. The passenger-side mirror got knocked off, and of course, it has the electric gizmo in it so there was no way I could fix it myself. We had a problem. And since it wasn't scheduled, and I didn't want to be bothered that particular day, it annoyed me. But I noticed the guy at the body shop saw it very differently! Turns out that with his knowledge, experience and tools, he didn't have a problem at all! For him, it was an easy way to make a couple hundred bucks! What a delight! Lucky him. In a diversified economy, problems make the world go 'round! When I have a problem with my car, the mechanic makes money. When I have a problem with my computer, the tech guy makes money. When my clients want to grow their businesses, enrich their lives or have difficulty achieving their most important goals, I get a call. Thank goodness for problems! The truth is, that if you want to make more money, you must (yes, I said, MUST) learn to solve more and bigger problems for more people. People pay to have problems solved. This is easy to understand when the problem is also a crisis. In an emergency we want a doctor to stop the pain. When they break down, we want our cars fixed. When we're travelling and need food or lodging for the night, we gladly pay someone to help us out. Those problems are obvious. But when we buy entertainment or furniture for our homes, or even a book to read on vacation, these are also problems we pay someone to solve for us. Whether your customer is one person called your "boss" or the thousand people who come to your restaurant every day, they all have problems to be solved. If you want them to pay you more, you must find ways to either solve the same problem for more people, or learn to solve bigger or more complex problems. Your income is always a pretty accurate reflection of the value customers put on the problems you solve for them. Thank goodness for problems! And as an extra bonus, consider the amazing gifts problems give us, free of charge! Problems challenge us. They stretch us. They make us creative. They teach us things and force us to learn from or collaborate with very smart people. Sometimes I think of problems as God's gift to the human race! When we are totally relaxed and comfortable, laying in the sun with no problems of any kind, we are unlikely to be motivated. Sometimes, we even doze off! Without problems we do very little. We invent nothing and build little of lasting value. Only when we are hungry, frustrated, worried or challenged by a problem do we rouse ourselves, rally our resources, and get to work. Problems (and their solutions) have created the world we enjoy every day. So, do I really enjoy problems? Well, not always. Like most people, I get frustrated or annoyed by unexpected problems. But I do see them as opportunities to learn new skills, to grow, and in some cases, to grow rich! Problems give me a chance to meet people with skills I don't have, to extend my network, and to learn from people with expertise in areas I can't handle myself. I think it was W. Clement Stone who observed that, "Every problem has within it an even greater opportunity." I think he was right. Examine every problem for the gold that lies within it. Problems make us stronger. They teach us skills, and over time, they make us rich!" If you enjoyed Phil's wisdom you can find more of it at: http://philiphumbert.com/ And I hope you're like me, and you feel a lot different now about that big "problem" that's been shadowing you. As always, thanks for supporting our site :-) Vic and Lisa Johnson If you believe you received this message as a result of SPAM, please forward the entire message to abuse@asamanthinketh.net . The sender of this email receives compensation when products and services featured herein are purchased. Results are unique. Your results will vary widely. This is an advertisement. AsAManThinketh.net LLC VicJohnson.com PO Box 1220 Melrose, FL 32666, USA

Life' journey

When one goes on a journey, one usually has a destination and when you get to that destination your journey ends.
But in life's journey, where is the destination? and when does the journey end?

The pleasure of life are usually found in the journey and not the destination, the joy, excitement, anger, pain and all the emotions you feel along the way makes the destination.

We should learn to appreciate the journey as we travel through life because their lies true fulfillment in life.

Learn to pick the diamond along the way

ACCEPT LIFE AND LIVE

The reason why most people are so afraid to live life to the fullest is the fear of lost. The fear of losing the one you gave your heart to, the fear of dying, the fear of losing that money in that investment. But come to think of it, in life you never loss, you only give away to be free – when you love someone with your whole heart you feel free and light, when you live life to the fullest way you can live it, you are ready to die- after all we all die.
I was reading a Stephen king novel- bags of bones, where he describe fear in the acronym FACE ALL AND RECOVER or FUCK EVERYTHING AND RUN
Those two acronyms suns up the two kind of people we have in this life, those who accept life and live and those who don’t.

The two sides

GOD, the devil
Head, tail
Good, bad
First, last
Hero, villain
Love, hate
Doer, critic
Encourage, discourage
Light, darkness
Gain, lost
Feelings, numbness
White, black
Here, there
Life, death
Celebrate, mourn
Live, die
Right, wrong
You are either one or the other

A year without rain

A year without rain

Living in the shadow of your dream
Waiting for sunrise in a place of no daylight

Waiting for love to return, to a city barricade by wall
Having faith in an unfathomable void of nothingness
Living each day with nothing to gain of loss

For the love of life is hope thereof and living without hope is like a year without rain

the attitide of the rich and poor nations

To reflect and . . .act
The difference between the poor countries and the rich countries is not the age of the country.
This can be shown by countries like India and Egypt that are more than 2000 years old and are poor.
On the other hand, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand that are 150 years old are inexpresive, today are developed countries and are rich.
The difference between poor and rich countries does not reside in the available natural resource.
Japan has limited territory, 80% mountainous inadequate for agriculture and cattle raising, but this is the second world economy. The country is like an immense floating factory, importing raw materials from the whole world and exporting manufactured products.
Another sample is Switzerland, which does not plant Cocoa but has the best chocolate of the world. In its territory, they raise animals and plant the soil during four months per year. That enough they produce dairy products of the best quality. It is a small country that transmit an image of security, order and labor which made it the world’s strong safe.
Executive from rich countries who communicate with their counterparts in poor countries show that there is no significance difference in intellect.
Face or skin color are also not important. Immigrants labeled lazy in their country of origin are the productive power in rich European countries.
What is the difference then?
The difference is the attitude of the people framed along the years by the education and the culture.
On analyzing the behavior of the people are rich and developed countries. We find that the great majority follows the principle in their life
1) Ethics as a basic principle
2) Integrity
3) Responsibility
4) Respect of the law and rulers
5) Respect of the rights of other citizen
6) Work loving
7) Strive for saving and investments
8) Will of super action
9) Punctuality
In poor countries only a minority follow these basic rules of life.
We are not poor because we lack attitude.
We lack the will to comply with and teach functional principle of the rich and developed societies.
If you love your country, let the message circulate for a major quantity of people and reflect about this and change. invite people to read this blog.