1. Accept Your Ignorance With Humility
The celebrated duval,
librarian of francis I was considered a
very learned person. One day, an egoistic person, jealous of the librarian
asked him many impertinent questions to which duval replied, i don’t know.
Annoyed by this, the man snapped at him and said, why sir, you ought to know! The emperor pays you for your knowledge. ”To this question duval answered…
QUESTIONS
1. What was Duval’s answers?
2. What is the implication of this story?
ANSWERS
1. Duval answered, “The
Emperor pays me for what I know. If he
were to pay me for what I don’t know, even the treasures of the entire empire
would not be sufficient.”
2. The realization that there is so much to learn would only make a person learn more and more.
2. Remember Things Through Association
One chronically forgetful
instructor at a college was known as an absent-minded professor. One day, one
of his students found his car key on the lid of a cake box inside the departmental
refrigerator.
The student took the keys and
dangled them in front of the instructor. On seeing this, the instructor insisted
that the keys be put back right where the student had found them.
“But, how will you remember
them?” questioned the student.
The instructor replied…
QUESTIONS
1. What was the instructor’s reply?
2. What is the implication of this story?
ANSWERS
1. It’s not the keys I’m
worried about, he replied. “It’s my wife’s birthday cake. Unless the car keys are
on it, I’ll forget to take it.”
2. Three factors contribute to effective
memory. They are interest, emotions and
association. The instructor applied the principle of association. While going
home, he had to go by car, for which he would definitely search for the keys.
He knew that he had kept them in the refrigerator. While taking the keys, he would easily remember to take the cake for his wife. In this way, we may be able to remember many things by creating our own associations.
3. Beautify Your Life With Inner Glow
Lincoln
was not very good looking. But people admired him, not for his looks but for the
kind of person he was. Once, a man who had painted Lincoln’s portrait was
introduced to him. This painter was a big fan of Lincoln’s. He brought the
portrait to show to him.
All
those who were present at the moment, admired the portrait as remarkably
beautiful. When Lincoln saw the portrait, he was absolutely speechless, for the
portrait was truly beautiful. He went up to the painter, shook his hands and
said…
QUESTIONS
1. What did Lincoln
say to the painter?
2. What is the implication of this story?
ANSWERS
1. Lincoln said to the painter, “I presume, Sir, while painting this portrait, you took your idea of me from my principles and not from my person.”
2. Beautify your life with inner glow rather than outer show. True beauty comes from the principles and character of a person, and not from mere appearance.
4. How To Reduce Stress And Tension
A stockbroker
who had lost a huge fortune was disconsolate and in a very bad state. He tried
his best to be his usual self again, but nothing helped. After a lot of
persuasion by others in the family, he came in search of peace to a monastery.
But he was
too distraught to even meditate. In the monastery, he did not get what he
wanted — peace of mind. Therefore, he left the monastery with total
dissatisfaction. After he had gone, the Master had only a single sentence by
way of wry comment.
QUESTIONS
1.
What was the
Master’s comment?
2.
What is the
implication of this story?
ANSWERS
1. The Master
commented, “Those who sleep on the floor, never fall down from their beds.”
2. ‘Sleep on the floor’ refers to development of the virtue of humility. There is no feeling of hurt where there is humility. Loss of money hurts the ego. The stockbroker lost his money.
That might not have been a big loss for him, but in the eyes of the society, his position was lowered. The greater the ego, the higher would be the fall of the person. Develop humility and there will never be an occasion for stress, tension, worries and loss of sleep.
5. Never Make Prayer A Ritual
This is the story of two
little girls who were recently taught the meaning and power of prayer at
school. One day, both were in danger of getting late for school, something they
absolutely dreaded. One said, “Let’s stop and pray to God to get us there on
time, so that we are not punished.”
The other immediately said ‘no’.
QUESTIONS
1. Why did the other one say
‘no'?
2. What is the implication of this story?
ANSWERS
1. The other said ‘no’, because she felt that stopping and praying would further delay their reaching school. She thought running and praying at the same time was a better idea.
2. For most, prayer has become a ritual. The objective of prayer is to become more and more virtuous. Pray to God to be more pure, humble and honest.
That kind of prayer will be answered. To pray for rain is ridiculous and even more ridiculous is to pray for money or for a transfer from one place to another.
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