MIND POWER FORUM

There lived a very poor Brahmin. He got one calf in gift. After few years it grew up to in a strong ox. The Brahmin had no family. He was also very old now and he use to think that he will die in this poor state only. One day this ox said to his owner, “Sir! You have brought me up like your own son. I have not done anything for you. Now, I would like to do something for you that bring you some money.

The Brahmin wondered, still he asked, “ How it is possible?” The ox said, “ Sir! You tell all the villagers that I can drag a Bullock Cart loaded with 100 bags of 40 Kgs each. You bet with them. Put a bet of Rs 10 against Rs1. Tell them that they if get 10 rupees against each one rupees if I could not drag the bullock cart. Nobody will believe you. But I promise that you will win the bet and become rich”. Brahmin became very happy and he announced at all places. The villagers could not believe that an ox can pull such a weight. So, the villagers agreed to bet immediately.

The day of bet arrived. 100 bags of loaded rice were stocked in the Bullock Cart. The poor ox kept trying and trying but the bullock cart did not move an inch. The Brahmin started to curse and abuse the ox. The ox became sad. Brahmin lost the bet and he has to give away all possessions he had. Looking at the condition of his master ox had tears in his eyes. The Brahmin shouted at ox, “Why are you crying now. Its me who should cry.”

The ox said, “ Sir! You did not behaved well with me. You shouted at me. I was about to pull the bullock cart but you started to abuse me. That’s why I am crying. After listening to your harsh words I lost my courage and we lost the bet.” Brahmin immediately realized his mistake. Then the ox said, “ Believe me sir. This time I will pull the Bullock Cart loaded with 200 bags of 40 Kgs each. You bet with the villagers. Put a bet of Rs 20 against Rs1. After lots of thought, the Brahmin agreed to take the biggest risk in his life to bet. Villagers thought that this Brahmin has gone mad and yet they agreed to bet again.

Next Sunday the crowd gathered. 200 bags of loaded rice were stocked in the Bullock Cart. The ox tried hard to pull the bullock cart. Even after 5 minutes of try he could not move the bullock cart. Villagers thought that again this Brahmin would loose the bet. Now the Brahmin went near to his ox and said, “ Son! This is a tuff job, but I have full faith on you that you can do it. Try once more.”

After listening to such words of praise and faith the ox tried once more with all his energy and the much-awaited amazement happened, the bullock cart started to move. Everybody was surprised. Brahmin won the bet and became very rich in few moments.

MORALE : IF YOU TRUST PEOPLE, PEOPLE WILL KEEP YOUR TRUST. MOTIVATION CAN DO WONDERS.

Article by Dr. John C. Maxwell

Sir Ernest Shackleton was a great explorer who found himself and his crew in a life-or-death crisis when they had to abandon ship in the icy waters around Antarctica.It was 1914, and Shackleton's expedition had planned an unprecedented land crossing of the frozen continent. When the ship got stuck in the ice and sank, the crew began an unscheduled 18-month survival test.

They stayed alive as they moved among the drifting ice floes until they eventually found an island, where they established a camp. When their provisions began to run low, Shackleton and several crewmembers boarded one of their salvaged lifeboats and made a daring 800-mile voyage to a whaling station. They returned with a ship, and all 27 men survived the ordeal.

There are two types of people during a crisis - those who freeze and those who focus. Shackleton might have been stranded in one of the coldest places on the planet, but his creativity never froze. Instead, it was critical to the team's survival.As I studied Shackleton's experiences, three principles about leading with creativity during crisis came to mind.

1. Creative activity increases creative ability.As you become active in creativity, you gain more creative ability. Many people would love to have creative ability, but they've never done creative activities. When we freeze, we stop creating. Shackleton practiced "routine" creativity, for himself and for his crew. So when problems presented themselves, he and his crew never gave up on their ability to come up with creative solutions.

2. The rulebook no longer rules.Everybody wants to give you the rulebook. David Kelley was right when he said, "The most important thing I learned from big companies is that creativity gets stifled when everyone's got to follow the rules." And Thomas Edison, probably the greatest inventor ever, would tell people who visited his laboratory that, "There ain't no rules around here! We're trying to accomplish something." Structure and rules serve us well, but legalism can choke our creative spirit to its death.

3. God is the Great Creator.It doesn't make sense not to bring God - the Creator of the universe - into the creative process. No matter how much natural talent God has given us, God always can make it greater, better, bigger. That's why I pray for creativity. And when I pray for creativity, I ask for two things - I ask God to give me an idea or give me an example.In our fast-paced, competitive marketplace, few resources are more valuable to organizations than creativity. But during a crisis, which is when real leadership either rises or falls, creativity often finds itself swallowed by urgency. Who has time to think outside the box when the box is collapsing around you?Shackleton, however, saw beyond the problems to the big picture.

He recognized creativity's importance in keeping him and his crew alive and functioning as a team when they had little margin for error in the bitter cold and isolation of Antarctica. More than a skill, creativity was an attitude in his life that enabled him to find solutions to the obstacles they faced. When others would have frozen - literally as well as figuratively, in this case - Shackleton focused creatively on surviving the crisis.

-- John Maxwell

By Jason Hartman
17 ways rich people think and act differently from poor and middle class people, so let’s get into these 17 great tips and I hope you enjoy them.

No. 1, rich people believe that I create my life. Poor people believe life happens to me. So obviously, the difference there is being the creator and the source or being the victim and the bystander. So take control of your life.

No. 2, rich people play the money game to win and poor people play the money game not to lose. Big difference in thinking here. When you play the money game to win, you play out of abundance because it really is a very abundant world where we all have numerous opportunities in front of us and we’ve just gotta pursue them out of abundance and out of opportunity, rather than out of fear and scarcity. So the poor people are trying to conserve what they have, while rich people are trying to create more and more. And so the abundant attitude and the prosperous attitude is obviously, where we want to be as real estate investors, and real estate allows numerous opportunities to act, think, and create our lives that way, in terms of making the money game win for us and for others.

No. 3, rich people are committed to being rich, whereas poor people want to be rich. There’s a big difference between a commitment and a wish. A commitment means that you jump in with both feet and you make it happen. You take action rather than being a bystander, a spectator, and a critic who’s on the sidelines. So play the game to win, be committed to it, jump in and do it. Don’t just sit there and wish and dream about it. Make it happen. Start to today by taking some action. There’s an old saying that the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

No. 4, rich people think big. There’s a great classic book called The Magic of Thinking Big, and I’d recommend it to any of you. I can’t remember who the author is off the top of my head, but it’s terrific. Look it up on Amazon. No. 4, rich people think big and poor people think small, so keep that in mind when every opportunity in life presents itself and how you want to handle it and take advantage of it.

No. 5, rich people focus on opportunities. Poor people focus on obstacles. There’s a great old quote I remember by I think it was Jack Paar who said, “My life seems to be one long obstacle course with me as the chief obstacle.” So get out of your own way, focus on opportunities, and create what you want in your life.

No. 6, rich people admire other rich and successful people, whereas poor people resent rich and successful people. Huge difference here, again, acting out of abundance or acting out of scarcity. Do you secretly see successful people and are you jealous of them, are you envious? Make sure you do not have those destructive beliefs because they will keep you from the abundance you could have. Always admire rich and successful people and try to use them as role models to create more in your life.

No. 7, rich people associate with positive, successful people, whereas poor people associate with negative people. You know, a long time ago, I was reading a book by one of the great philosophers on business and success in life, Jim Rohn. Maybe you’ve heard of Jim Rohn, but he is a phenomenal, phenomenal speaker and philosopher about business and success. And he said that the people you associate with are so vitally important because when you have something good happen or you’re thinking positive and you wanna move forward in life and make things happen and create success and abundance, and then you go back to your friends and associates and start talking to them about it, and it’s like getting in an elevator where you’re pushing the up button and they’re pushing the down button. So make sure that you are not associating with negative people and you are associating only with positive, successful people that can enrich your life.

No. 8, rich people are willing to promote themselves and their value. Poor people are not. So you know the old saying about shameless self-promotion. Well, that’s kind of a joke because really, if you have value, you should share it with the world. I was out Thursday night and I was talking to another real estate investor, actually in a bar of all places, and he said, “You know, Jason, you seem like a real go giver.” And I thought that was a really neat thing that he said, rather than a go-getter. A go-giver. So share your value, promote yourself; don’t be that type of person that is not out there promoting what they have to offer the world. Share what you’ve learned, share your knowledge, share your experiences with others so you enrich your life and their lives. You’ll never learn something better than you will by teaching it. That is the best way to learn.

No. 9, rich people are bigger than their problems, whereas poor people are smaller than their problems. It makes us stronger. Every obstacle we overcome makes us a better, stronger person. The poet Sophocles said 2000 years ago ‘one must wait until evening to see how splendid the day has been.’ So remember, always be bigger than your problems. In fact, seek out challenges so you can overcome them and become a stronger, better person for it.

No. 10, rich people are excellent receivers, whereas poor people are poor receivers. Well, when someone gives you something, do they give you a gift, a compliment? Make sure you receive it graciously and appreciate it, and don’t feel guilty about receiving it. The world should be enriching us and should give us things, so take advantage of them, appreciate them, be grateful for them, and move on and the world will give you more.

No. 11, rich people choose to get paid based on results, whereas poor people choose to get paid based on time. Another great business philosopher and speaker, Dan Sullivan, the Strategic Coach – he’s a popular speaker on the YEO, Young Entrepreneurs Organization circuit – and he says that there are two economies. There is the results economy and there is the time and effort economy. So make sure that you are, as much as possible, in the results economy because when you’re in the results economy, you can leverage your efforts and create more value more quickly, rather than being in the time and effort economy. Professionals, lawyers, accountants, employees are selling or trading their time for money, whereas entrepreneurs and sales people are trading their results for money. And when you trade results for money, you can create a lot more value a lot more quickly. You get a lot more leverage over things.

No. 12, rich people think both. Poor people think either/or. And that’s back to what I said earlier is that think abundance rather than scarcity. The world is an extremely abundant place, so think both, think inclusively, think abundantly, rather than out of scarcity, out of choice either/or. I can have this or that. Why not have both?

No. 13, rich people focus on their net worth, while poor people focus on their working income. Robert Kiyosaki, the Rich Dad, Poor Dad author, talks a lot about this. He talks about how working income or earned income is taxed and burdened at the highest rate by our government, so you wanna create investment income, portfolio income, and passive income because, again, it offers you leverage and it offers excellent, excellent tax treatment. So focus on your net worth rather than your working income, being in the results economy rather than the time and effort economy.

No. 14, rich people manage their money well, while poor people mismanage their money well. Do I really need to say anything about that one? Manage your money well.

No. 15, rich people have their money work hard for them while poor people work hard for their money. So again, make your money work. The Richest Man in Babylon, that classic, old book, they talk about how your money is like your offspring. Put your offspring to work so that it can multiply. Don’t constantly keep working and trading your time for money. Make your money work. Learn how to manage money, learn how to understand the nature of money, and learn how to make it grow.

No. 16, rich people act in spite of fear, while poor people let fear stop them and keep them from acting. You know the old saying: There’s nothing to fear but fear itself. Go in, jump in, face fear with gusto, and you’ll find you’ll grow and you’ll just overcome things as you constantly take on one challenge and one fear after another. And suddenly they won’t be fearful at all.

No. 17 and finally, rich people constantly learn and grow while poor people think they already know. You know what I’ve noticed about rich and successful people over the years is that they are teachable, they are curious, and they are interested in learning, while poor people are arrogant, intellectual snobs, and know-it-alls. Always be learning; always be growing. You will never know everything. There’s always something more to learn and as Ray Crock, the founder of the McDonald’s franchise – not the original McDonald’s restaurant – always liked to say, as long as you’re green, you’re growing. As soon you’re ripe, you start to rot. So keep on learning and growing.

A young man decided to visit a country known for its uniquely gifted artists. Over the last few years a growing sense of feeling incomplete had stalked him, and the hope behind his journey was to find someone, something, to help him release the great, but still latent forces he knew lived in his heart.

After settling in at a small hostel, he went walking through an expansive outdoor bazaar where hundreds of artisans displayed their works. However, everything seemed commonplace; just another dead-end. What now?

He kept walking, leaving the noisy bazaar far behind him. And that’s when his ear caught a light tapping sound from the other side of an old wooden fence. Coming upon an open gate, he peered inside.

A young woman was seated in an open courtyard surrounded by various stone sculptures of wild animals. Although these creations were in various stages of completion, they already exuded a remarkable presence.

Just then the young lady stood up, and pulling a little hammer out of her apron pocket, she walked toward a large stone that was perched on a work pedestal. After careful examination of one small area she rapped it – just once – with her small hammer. She used so little force, he felt sorry for her timidity. Surely, he thought, she must be a novice; but his eyes couldn’t believe what happened next.

Suddenly dozens of small pieces of stone broke away. At first he thought she made a mistake and had cracked the whole stone; a moment later he knew otherwise. She had not ruined the stone; instead, she had released it secret character. With that one blow she had not only uncovered a beautiful white marble- like material, but had shaped it to resemble the graceful neck of a great swan. He was stunned. What magic was this? He longed to know.

"Please forgive me,"he said, entering the courtyard, "but how in the world did you do that with a single blow from your tiny hammer?"

"Oh,"she laughed. "I’m guessing you’ve only been there for the last few minutes. Before you began watching me I had delivered hundreds of similar small blows to the exact same spot on that stone. You saw the result of many days of careful work coupled with a special kind of quiet consideration.

"That’s how all great things are achieved…consistent attention coupled with persistent effort - a little bit at a time - until the right time comes when that work is rewarded. Then nothing can stand in the way of what must be released. The practice of this knowledge, in whatever one intends to do, must produce a subsequent revelation that is the heart of liberation itself.”

As they shared a smile and said goodbye, the young man knew he had learned an important secret: With consistent attention and persistent effort you can release whatever now stands between you and the freedom for which your heart seeks.

The ABC of life By Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Awareness, Belongingness and Commitment hold the key to success. That’s the ABC of life. In any field you need the ABC. Are we aware of what we are telling ourselves?

This level of awareness is vital for a society because this is what can prevent a crime. With this level of awareness, it is impossible for a criminal to commit a crime. There was a thief. He went to meet a saint. He told the saint that he had a compulsion to steal. The saint said, “I am not going to tell you not to steal. But when you steal, do it with awareness.” Three months later, the thief came back to the saint and said, “With awareness, I could not steal.” It is the same with anger. It comes with a burst, you lose it.

But what have you actually lost? You lost awareness. You smile starts shrinking. I measure success by the smile. How strong your smile is will show how secure you are. And that is what, I think, indicates success in your career. To be able to smile through any situation in life, you need a little knowledge about yourself, about your mind and your consciousness. You need to learn a little bit about your breath. We need to know a little bit about all the layers of our existence, that is, body, breath, mind, intellect, memory, ego and the self. This is what I call Art of Living, learning a little bit about yourself, the seven layers of our life. And that makes us be in the present moment and it helps us to maintain the innocence that we are all born with, and feel at home with everybody, anywhere.

Breath and mind

Neither at school nor at home does anybody teach you what to do when you are upset or angry or depressed. Learning something about our breath is very important. Our breath has a great lesson for us which we have forgotten. For every rhythm in the mind, there is a corresponding rhythm in the breath; for every rhythm in the breath, there is a corresponding emotion. So, when you cannot handle your mind directly, you can do it through breath. The rhythm in breath can help you get in touch with the depth of yourself, your soul, your consciousness.

The ABC of life brings expansion. It brings an awareness of existence, belongingness to the whole creation and commitment to human values in life. This will help broaden our vision and deepen our roots. can arouse a passion, and that passion can become an impulse to destroy. But to be creative you don’t need to arouse a passion, you need to be focused and most importantly, you need to be aware. Now, how is one to bring up one’s awareness? You start with simple and small things in life. Things that seem insignificant like hearing the birds singing, seeing the sunset and so forth.

This would bring up your awareness. Awareness nurtures intellect. Belongingness nurtures the heart. And commitment nurtures life. The problem is that creators are only a few and they succeed because they have a lot of commitment.

If we are observing the ABC, then we can make a big change in society. Ask yourself the question, do all people in the world belong to me? The day you ask that your spiritual journey has begun. With this context of awareness, you can understand cosmology. Sankalpa In some temples, there is a tradition called sankalpa. They remind you how old this universe is, and then from there they bring you into this moment. Cosmology brings awareness.

Other methods for raising awareness are meditation, breathing and pranayama. You need energy and you will not get that only from food and sleep. Meditation and a silent state of consciousness will also give you energy. C is also for commitment and compassion. Smile more. A bit of humor can keep you out of trouble. Look into the mirror everyday and smile. I measure success by the smile. How strong your smile is will show how secure you are. And that is what, I think, indicates success in your career.