Control Your Own Drawbridge

You must decide for yourself to whom you give access to your interior life. For years you have permitted others to walk in and out of your life according to their needs and desires. Thus you were no longer master in your own house and you felt increasingly used.You got tired, irritated,angry and resentful. Think of a medieval castle surrounded by moat. The drawbridge is the only access to the interior of the castle.The lord of the castle must have the power to draw the bridge and when to let it down.Without such power, he can become the victim of enemies and strangers. It is important for you to control your own drawbridge.There must be times you keep the bridge drawn and have the opportunity to be alone or only with those to whom you feel close.Never allow yourself to become public property,where anyone can walk in and out at will.You might think you are being generous in giving access to anyone who wants to enter or leave, but you soon find yourself losing everything. When you have the power over the drawbridge,you will discover new joy and peace in your heart and find yourself able to share that joy and peace with others.

Struggles help us grow

A man found a cocoon of a butterfly. One day a small opening appeared; he sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force its body through that little hole. Then it seemed to stop making any progress. It appeared as if it had gotten as far as it could and it could go no farther. Then the man decided to help the butterfly, so he took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bit of the cocoon. The butterfly then emerged easily. But it had a swollen body and small, shriveled wings. The man continued to watch the butterfly because he expected that, at any moment, the wings would enlarge and expand to be able to support the body, which would contract in time. Neither happened! In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around with a swollen body and shriveled wings. It never was able to fly. What the man in his kindness and haste did not understand was that the restricting cocoon and the struggle required for the butterfly to get through the tiny opening were nature's way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings so that it would be ready for flight once it achieved its freedom from the cocoon. Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our life. If we were allowed to go through our life without any obstacles, it would cripple us. We would not be as strong as what we could have been. And we could never fly.......

You can choose to Have A Good day

Are you having one of those days where things are just not happening according to your plan? Everything seems to be going topsy turvy inspite of your best efforts to make it a wonderful day.I know that at times these " so-called" bad days can erupt as a volcano just blowing away your peace and comfort, leaving us feel low and depressed.Then there are also times when we feel that many unpleasant and unwanted things happen simultaneously.All this makes it is impossible to have a good day everyday, but the reverse is also true, that everyday need not be a bad day either. Go out of your way to help someone who is already having a bad day.Seeing the other person's misery will make you forget about your own.As someone rightly said: "I complained because I had no shoes, until I saw a man who had no feet." Make a list of good things that you feel thankful about the entire day.By the time you have gone through it, you will already start feeling better.Probably once you start counting the blessings that has been showered on you, it will surprise you that God has been truly good to you. So courage my dear friend and Have a good day today.

Failure Is The Backdoor To Success

Anyone who is afraid of failure and afraid to face challenges will never taste success, so said our Professor in Marketing. I did laugh it off at that time but got cold feet when it actually happened in my life. I landed in this small tiny Arab State of Qatar in the Middle East to set up a joint Business venture. The project was to set up a world class Car Rental firm, possibly with an International tie up. Having decided on the project, I earnestly settled myself in getting into the details of registration, premises, stationery, finance, staff etc, etc. With a positive mind, I told myself nothing should stop me now. Having travelled miles away from home, I was more than keen to make this Business Venture a success. The name of the Company was chosen: SPEEDY Car Rental. We were into Business for about 2 months and the least expected thing happened. Iraq invaded Kuwait. I realized that we were in a tight spot now. Tension ran high in the region. Eventually the war broke out in January 1991, many people fled the country and the region leaving SPEEDY in deep trouble. As usual, "when things become difficult, and every effort seems to bring disappointment, it can be tempting to lower your expectations or even water down your goals and ambitions." It was no different with me. I thought of running away, hanging up my boots and calling it quits. I remembered the words of Thomas Edison, the famous scientist who said: "Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up." How I wished it was true in this case too! I decided to hang in. I kept telling myself, "I am not afraid of challenges and obstacles", after all they are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal! I stayed on through those grilling months of uncertainty and insecurity. Finances ran low, banks were up and above to get their dues. To add to all this, the banks even threatened to take all my vehicles that were hypothecated to them. In all this, I felt I made a wrong decision to move to the Middle East. I was now ready to face FAILURE. I was living against all hopes. I prayed that the war may end soon. After 2 months it did, but not before I piled up enough debts for me and my Company. Each day I kept believing that something good would happen. My Persistence and Perseverance paid off: as soon as the war was over, people started flooding back and the car bookings picked up. The company which was started off with 10 cars now grew five times over. It so happened that all who returned back to the country had no cars as they had already sold them off ! Speedy went on adding to its fleet and very soon entered the Top 5 bracket of Car Hire firms, which included the top names like Avis, Budget, Europcar & Hertz. We were invited by HONDA to visit their plant in Japan, which was a clear indication that the company had joined the big league. Things were not the same and easy for Speedy. We had to work hard and improve on our sales and service. In a short span of 2 years Speedy grew even more. There were newspaper articles both in the local & international media (Gulf times, Khaleej Times, TTG Middle East etc) about the Fastest growing Company in the region. Success, I believe, comes to the one who dares, even after failure, to think positively and look forward confidently. If I had to give up and do like others did, run from the troubled spot, I wouldn't be writing this article. After all, it's only the experience that makes a man tough. I have learnt 2 lessons from the above experience and would like to share them with you. 1. Failure doesn't mean you'll never make it. It means that it will take a little longer. 2. Failure doesn't mean that God has abandoned you. It means that He has a better plan for you. The so-called Failure is sometimes good; it provides us with a learning experience.

Don't be afraid of failure - it is a necessary step on the way to success.

Don't be afraid of failure - it is a necessary step on the way to success.

Kindness - a language deaf people can hear and blind see

Very often I bump into this young boy named Robin.He smiles and then extends his hand for a good handshake.He is truly special, literally. Besides being a special child of God, Robin also has another friend who is actually deaf and dumb.I see them exchange pleasantries just as we would do. They shake hands,they smile, they laugh and they even cry together.As I look at them, it just amazes me, how two friends who cannot communicate verbally but yet understand and love each other. It so happened that Robin wanted help with his homework. His friend though deaf and dumb, was at hand to help Robin with his work.The way they communicated with each other was out of this world, Robin would pat him and just sort of smile at his friend who was doing all he could to make Robin happy. At the end of it all, Robin with all kind gestures,thanked his friend. The friend could not reciprocate verbally but all he did was join his hands and then embrace Robin.They embraced each other for sometime.I guess that embrace said it all for these two special children who knew no language and yet conveyed everything through their kindness to each other. Truly, Kindness is a language deaf can hear and even blind can see.

ONE DAY AT A TIME - THIS IS ENOUGH

We keep living our precious life one day at a time. We come across people who tell us to live one day at a time.Left with no choice we got to live it everyday and I would say live “one moment at a time”. It is so very important to live every moment as if that is the only moment that is available for us. Jane Crosby, the English author once wrote: “One day at a time – this is enough. Do not look back and grieve over the past, for it is gone; and do not be troubled about the future, for it has not yet come. Live in the present and make it beautiful.” How very true, can we add an extra span to our life by worrying, be it regarding the past or the present and worse still about our future. Be satisfied with fully living the present moment, trying to solve the problems within our reach. Know how to profit by the joys that God has in store for us today and leave the rest to His goodness. Remember that you have done what you could today; some blunders may have crept in, forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day, you can do much better if you leave the burden of your past behind and forge ahead with courage. One day at a time – that is enough.