The Tarahumara Indians of southwestern Chihuahua are the ones who can run 100 miles at a clip without it seeming to be a big deal. Then do it again the next day.
Some enterprising person brought them to the Olympics (Amsterdam, 1928) to compete in the Marathon and they didn’t even place.
The problem was no one had explained to them that the race was only 26 miles long. They thought they were just warming up.
Kategorie: Stories
Once upon a time there was a race of frogs. The goal was to reach the top of a high tower. Many people gathered to see and support them. The race began.
In reality, the people didn’t believe that it was possible that the frogs would reach the top of the tower, and all the phrases that one could hear were of this kind:
“What pain!!!. They’ll never make it!”
The frogs began to doubt themselves. The people continued:
“What pain!!!. They’ll never make it!”
And the frogs, one by one, admitted defeat, except for one frog that continued to climb. At the end he, alone, and with an enormous effort, reached the top of the tower.
One of the quitters approached him to ask him how he had done it, to actually finish the race. And he discovered that the frog was deaf!
Never listen to people who have the bad habit of being negative…because they steal the best aspirations of your heart. Always remind yourself of the power of the words that we hear or read – THINK POSITIVE!
Conclusion: Always be deaf to someone who tells you that you can’t and won’t achieve your goals or make your dreams come true.
In Ireland, there was a survey among people a few years ago asking them about their greatest wish. More than anything else – much much more, people wanted to … win the lottery.
And it is interesting to consider whether winning the lottery makes people happy. Research shows that the answer is a very restricted … yes. It makes them happy for a short time.
However, studies have shown that people get much more satisfaction by earning their money than winning it. In addition, the boost in happiness from a lottery win has been shown to dissipate over time. Studies of past lottery winners shows that happiness levels typically return to where they were prior to the big winning.
Even more surprising, one man who won $315 million in a lottery reported significant unhappiness and feeling of being „cursed.“
„Throw a pebble into the pond“ instructed the teacher. „Now try and stop the ripples“. And of course every move the student made to stop the water moving caused new ripples and so on and so on. „The only way to control the ripples“ said the teacher, „Is not to throw the stone in the first place“.
1. Most Important Question
During my second month of nursing school, our professor gave us a pop quiz. I was a conscientious student and had breezed through the questions, until I read the last one: „What is the first name of the woman who cleans the school?“ Surely this was some kind of joke. I had seen the cleaning woman several times. She was tall, dark-haired and in her 50s, but how would I know her name? I handed in my paper, leaving the last question blank. Before class ended, one student asked if the last question would count toward our quiz grade. „Absolutely,“ said the professor. „In your careers you will meet many people. All are significant. They deserve your attention and care, even if all you do is smile and say ‚hello‘. I’ve never forgotten that lesson. I also learned her name was Dorothy.
There is a tribe in Africa where the birth date of a child is counted not from when they were born, nor from when they are conceived but from the day that the child was a thought in its mother’s mind. And when a woman decides that she will have a child, she goes off and sits under a tree, by herself, and she listens until she can hear the song of the child that wants to come. And after she’s heard the song of this child, she comes back to the man who will be the child’s father, and teaches it to him. And then, when they make love to physically conceive the child, some of that time they sing the song of the child, as a way to invite it.
And then, when the mother is pregnant, the mother teaches that child’s song to the midwives and the old women of the village, so that when the child is born, the old women and the people around her sing the child’s song to welcome it. And then, as the child grows up, the other villagers are taught the child’s song. If the child falls, or hurts its knee, someone picks it up and sings its song to it. Or perhaps the child does something wonderful, or goes through the rites of puberty, then as a way of honoring this person, the people of the village sing his or her song.
In the African tribe there is one other occasion upon which the villagers sing to the child. If at any time during his or her life, the person commits a crime or aberrant social act, the individual is called to the center of the village and the people in the community form a circle around them. Then they sing their song to them.
The tribe recognizes that the correction for antisocial behavior is not punishment; it is love and the remembrance of identity. When you recognize your own song, you have no desire or need to do anything that would hurt another.
And it goes this way through their life. In marriage, the songs are sung, together. And finally, when this child is lying in bed, ready to die, all the villagers know his or her song, and they sing—for the last time—the song to that person.
You may not have grown up in an African tribe that sings your song to you at crucial life transitions, but life is always reminding you when you are in tune with yourself and when you are not. When you feel good, what you are doing matches your song, and when you feel awful, it doesn’t. In the end, we shall all recognize our song and sing it well. You may feel a little warbly at the moment, but so have all the great singers. Just keep singing and you’ll find your way home.
„It reminds me of a time in Florida. Mrs. Erickson and I entered a restaurant, took a seat in a booth. A young couple came in with an eighteen month old child . . . our waitress got a high chair and tried to butter up that eighteen month old baby and he turned his face down. And the parents said knowingly, „Oh baby is very shy, very timid, won’t even look at strangers.“ The meal was served to the parents … I know what babies do. Pretty soon the baby started to look around. He looked in my direction and I ducked, and very quickly I ducked again. Pretty soon the baby and I were having a nice game of peek-a-boo. We lingered, and when the parents left the baby waved bye-bye to me. The parents nearly fell over. But you meet the patient at the patient’s level.“
A wife gets woken by her husband bearing coffee and croissants.
She says to him, „There’s nothing better than honey on my croissants in the morning. There are so many different varieties of honey, each, like wine, has it’s own character. Honey is definitely my favorite breakfast spread.
Then she says, „But honey is so unhealthy, all those little insects manufacturing it in unhygienic conditions, and it can be bad for your blood sugar, on second thoughts I loathe honey“
Her bemused husband replies, „You can’t have it both ways, you need to make up your mind.“
„I quite agree,“ she replies „And I will make up my mind which opinion I want to hold once I know if we have any honey in the kitchen“
There once lived on the island of Cyprus a fine sculptor, named Pygmalion, who had decided to devote himself entirely to his art because he could not find a woman to match his idea of beauty. Soon a very pure piece of white marble came into his studio and from it he sculpted a beautiful woman—a figure which embodied all that he considered beautiful. Pygmalion was so smitten with his own creation that he prayed to Aphrodite to help him find a woman that would match his sculpture’s beauty. Aphrodite, however, realized that only the statue itself would answer for Pygmalion, and so she breathed into it the life that Pygmalion so fervently sought. Pygmalion called her Galatea and married her, his own creation.
Once upon a time, there was a beautiful ewe who wanted to be more than just a sheep. Although she lived in peaceful mountains and ate delicious clover from verdant green pastures, she wanted more.
The word around the fold was there was a charismatic Ram speaking to neighboring herds that everyone was flocking to hear. (Yes, the herd had heard him speak, and the ewe wanted to, too. Wouldn’t you?) He spoke of unlimited possibility, thinking „different“ and, yes, breaking from the herd and being an „Individual.“ Many sheep were shunning him because of these controversial views, but the ewe felt a tingling and excitement she had never experienced before. The ewe knew she had to take action.
She hitched a ride on a passing hay wagon (probably by calling out, „Hey, wagon!“) and traveled far and wide until she found where he was appearing. She pushed her way to the front and listened with rapt attention.
The Ram told stories of far away places and distant times, and lessons passed down from „the great pair-a-bulls.“ As he spoke the ewe closed her eyes and imagined herself in those far away places and living those daring adventures. Time seemed to stand still and yet flew by at the same time.
When she finally opened her eyes, she was back in her own field as if nothing had happened, and yet the whole world had changed. She wondered; had all been a dream? She told herself that she was destined for greatness, and decided to find a mentor that would allow her to learn powerful strategies for communicating with others.