A Tree Is A Sum Of Its Parts

The Leaf: "I'm the Hand. I provide the tree with energy by turning sunlight into food. I am also the beauty of the tree. Without me, the tree is ugly and cannot survive."

The Branch: "I'm the Arm. I grow the Hands that provide the tree with food. I give variety to the tree. Without me, the tree will be a lonely figure and cannot survive."

The Trunk: "I am the Pillar. I carry water and nutrients from the root to all parts of the tree. I also give the tree its shape and stability . Without me, the tree has no strength and cannot survive."

The Root: "I'm the Anchor and the Source of water and nutrients to the tree. Without me, the tree will starve to death."

The Tree: "We are the tree. Without the presence of each of you, there is no tree."

How We Define Our Problem

What is the connection between: (a) an aeroplane, (b) a donkey and (c) an escalator? For a person whose problem is a means of getting from one place to another, the solution is a means of transport. The three happen to be different means of transport. That is why they say, "How we define a problem could be the problem." It could also be the solution.

Merry Christmas

"Love,” they say, "is the affinity of being with being." I send Love and Peace to all my contacts and wish you a very merry Christmas and a self-fulfilling 2013.

Stepping out of our comfort zones.

According to Buddhist tradition, the Buddha achieved enlightenment after he had encountered four events during his four journeys outside his father's palatial mansion:

1. He saw a very old man
2. He saw a very sick man
3. He saw a corpse
4. He saw a religious mendicant

The prince left his home and family for ever to become a mendicant monk at the age of 35.

Lesson: Some of the things that have the greatest potentials to change our lives, for good or bad, do not necessarily reside within our immediate and familiar environments. They are outside. To find them, we must step out of our comfort zones.

BARRY THE BOOK: THE SPIRIT OF CHRISTMAS

Bobby was getting cold sitting out in his back yard in the snow. Bobby didn't wear boots; he didn't like them and anyway he didn't own any. The thin sneakers he wore had a few holes in them and they did a poor
job of keeping out the cold.

Bobby had been in his backyard for about an hour already. And, try as
he might, he could not come up with an idea for his mother's Christmas
gift. He shook his head as he thought, "This is useless, even if I do
come up with an idea, I don't have any money to spend.

Ever since his father had passed away three years ago, the family of five
had struggled. It wasn't because his mother didn't care, or try, there
just never seemed to be enough. She worked nights at the hospital, but the small wage that she was earning could only be stretched so far.

What the family lacked in money and material things, they more than made
up for in love and family unity. Bobby had two older and one younger
sister, who ran the household in their mother's absence.

All three of his sisters had already made beautiful gifts for their
mother. Somehow it just wasn't fair. Here it was Christmas Eve already, and he had nothing.

Wiping a tear from his eye, Bobby kicked the snow and started to walk
down to the street where the shops and stores were. It wasn't easy being
six without a father, especially when he needed a man to talk to.

Bobby walked from shop to shop, looking into each decorated window.
Everything seemed so beautiful and so out of reach. It was starting to
get dark and Bobby reluctantly turned to walk home when suddenly his
eyes caught the glimmer of the setting sun's rays reflecting off of
something along the curb. He reached down and discovered a shiny dime.

Never before has anyone felt so wealthy as Bobby felt at that moment.
As he held his new found treasure, a warmth spread throughout his entire
body and he walked into the first store he saw. His excitement quickly
turned cold when salesperson after salesperson told him that he could not buy anything with only a dime.

He saw a flower shop and went inside to wait in line. When the shop owner
asked if he could help him, Bobby presented the dime and asked if he could buy one flower for his mother's Christmas gift. The shop owner looked at Bobby and his ten cent offering. Then he put his hand on Bobby's shoulder and said to him, "You just wait here and I'll see what I can do for you."

As Bobby waited, he looked at the beautiful flowers and even though he was a boy, he could see why mothers and girls liked flowers.

The sound of the door closing as the last customer left, jolted Bobby back to reality. All alone in the shop, Bobby began to feel alone and afraid.

Suddenly the shop owner came out and moved to the counter. There, before
Bobby's eyes, lay twelve long stem, red roses, with leaves of green and
tiny white flowers all tied together with a big silver bow. Bobby's heart sank as the owner picked them up and placed them gently into a long white box.

"That will be ten cents young man," the shop owner said reaching out his
hand for the dime. Slowly, Bobby moved his hand to give the man his dime.
Could this be true? No one else would give him a thing for his dime!
Sensing the boy's reluctance, the shop owner added, "I just happened to have some roses on sale for ten cents a dozen. Would you like them?"

This time Bobby did not hesitate, and when the man placed the long box
into his hands, he knew it was true. Walking out the door that the owner was holding for Bobby, he heard the shop keeper say, "Merry Christmas, son."

As he returned inside, the shop keeper’s wife walked out. "Who were you
talking to back there and where are the roses you were fixing?" Staring out the window, and blinking the tears from his own eyes, he replied, "A strange thing happened to me this morning. While I was setting up things to open the shop, I thought I heard a voice telling me to set aside a dozen of my best roses for a special gift. I wasn't sure at the time whether I had lost my mind or what, but I set them aside anyway. Then just a few minutes ago, a little boy came into the shop and wanted to buy a flower for his mother with one small dime.

When I looked at him, I saw myself, many years ago. I too was a poor boy
with nothing to buy my mother a Christmas gift. A bearded man, whom I never knew, stopped me on the street and told me that he wanted to give me ten dollars.

When I saw that little boy tonight, I knew who that voice was, and I
put together a dozen of my very best roses."

The shop owner and his wife hugged each other tightly, and as they stepped out into the bitter cold air, they somehow didn't feel cold at all.

- Barry the Book

Relationship Business

Starting a new loving and sustainable relationship is like starting a new business. Just as you start a new business with a minimum initial financial outlay known as the investment capital, you can also start a new relationship with a minimum initial outlay known as a TRUST fund. This is made up of five relationship portfolio:

T - Truthfulness
R - Reliability
U - Understanding
S - Steadfastness

T - Tolerance

As you cannot start a new business with the expectation of an immediate return on your investment, so you cannot start a new relationship based on an expectation of an immediate withdrawal from your Relationship TRUST fund.

The initial investment you bring into either takes time to grow. At the initial stage, you will need to treat both as your PET. This means you must exercise great Patience. You must Endure the ups and downs. Most importantly, you must allow Time to bring out the best in them.

Who says starting and building a new relationship is not a business?

A great example of loving self and others.

Before you make a decision to do anything, consider which of the following 5 categories it falls into:

✓ Something that benefits others as well as yourself;

✓ Something that is helpful to others and is not damaging to you;

✓ Something that may take advantage of others but no real harm is done;

✓ Something that is harmful to others and not beneficial to you.

Not doing anything that harms you and or others is a great example of loving self and others.

Extracted from 8000 Years of Wisdom Book 1 by Hua-Ching Ni

Trusting your Instinct

Before you take any new step in any areas of your life, ask yourself one question: Does this fall naturally within that aspect of my life?

If your answer is "Yes," then follow your First Nature. This is your basic instinct. It does not analyse but hardly goes wrong. As Ralph Waldo Emerson once noted: "Trust your instinct to the end, though you can render no reason."

However, if your answer is "No," then follow your Second Nature. This gives you your reason for taking the step. It gives you time to think, analyse and reflect on the step you are about to take. You will hardly go wrong with your final decision.

Let nature nurture your existence

Let go of your daily resistance
And let nature nurture your existence
Be at peace with your Source
And flow with Him like a water course
It does not matter how long it takes
Your future is great whatever it takes

19 Negative Affirmative Statements you should avoid saying to yourself:

1. "I have a poor memory"
2. "I look awful"
3. "I am good for nothing"
4. "I can never change"
5. "I am just stupid"
6. "People don't like me"
7. "People hate me"
8. "I am a looser"
9. "I am always late for meetings"
10. "It's always my fault"
11. "I can never win"
12. "I'm too scared"
13. "I am too lazy"
14. "No body will help me"
15. "I am not smart enough"
16. "I am not clever enough"
17. "I am not handsome/beautiful"
18. "I cannot pass the test"
19. "I am a failure"

Each time you find yourself immersed in any of these negative self-talks, stop and ask yourself, "Is it true?"

The law of probability makes it impossible for you to say, "yes" with absolute certainty. Given the benefit of the doubt, you can now rephrase the negative self-affirmative statement to a positive one. As Earl Nightingale said, "The strangest secret is that we become what we think about, most of the time."

Attitude! Attitude!! Attitude!!!

When life is moving you through a period of personal challenges and you start to think and act as if it is all over for you, before you write your life off, just wait to hear what your next door 'smiley' neighbour is going through.

It's not what you are going through that is your problem. Your real problem is your attitude to it. Once you've changed your wrong attitude, hard as it may be, you've changed your life....forever.

How to add credits to your Relationship Trust Fund

Adding credits to your Relationship Trust Fund on a daily basis in three simple steps:

1. Think of at least three simple things you can do or say to your partner that would make him or her feel special and loved. You can include as many things as you want based on your knowledge of your partner.

2. Write them down on a piece of paper in order of how special your partner would feel each time you do or say it.

3. Every day, do at least one thing that makes your partner feels really special and loved by you. Try and do this to your partner on daily basis no matter how you feel about him or her on that day.

11 simple ways to avoid withdrawals from your Relationship Trust Fund.

1. Showing deep respect for the needs and aspirations of your partner;
2. Saying "I'm sorry," even when you know you're right;
3. Avoid talking down on your partner;
4. Becoming naturally honest with your partner"
5. At the earliest possible time, apologising when you know you are wrong;
6. Making only the promises you are sure to keep;
7. Discussing issues face to face;
8. Spending regular quality times with your partner;
9. Developing realistic expectation of your partner;
10. Taking personal responsibility for your own action;
11. Never going to bed without revolving minor misunderstandings.

Note: Each of these gives you an opportunity to add credit to the fund.

Overcoming Obstacles of Life and Living

The journey of life gives us no choice but to accept that it is full of ups and downs. If the journey was meant to be smooth-sailing, nature would have provided no space on earth for things like the mountains we must climb or the rivers we must cross or the dark valleys we must walk through.

The challenge for mankind is that we all want to have the good things on the mountain without having to go through the pain of climbing it. We all desire to possess the riches in the land across the river without experiencing the hardship that goes with crossing it. We all dream of experiencing the peace and tranquillity of a valley without the patience to walk through it.

In the journey of life, our real mountains, our real rivers, our real valleys are inside each one of us. They are not physical. They are not visible. They are not touch-able. However, they are changeable. They are moveable. They are relocate-able. You can even make them disappear altogether. They are spirituals.

However, as we make our journeys through life and living, we will come across their counterparts in the real world. These are the natural mountains, the natural rivers, or the natural valleys. They are physical. They are visible. They are touch-able. We cannot change where nature has chosen to place them on the surface of the earth. Therefore as individuals, we have very little control over them.

What nature has kindly given to abundantly is the natural ability to use our invisible mountains, the untouchable rivers or the non-physical valleys that reside in each of us to control their counterparts in the real world. This awareness can help us overcome any obstacles that come our ways as we make our journeys through life.

Success and Failure give birth to each other

As long as you keep blaming yourself for your failures, in my opinion, you have no right to keep giving yourself the credit for your successes. There is an intrinsic and fundamental relationship between 'success' and 'failure.' They give birth to each other. The effect of failure is not to cause another failure but to cause you to learn how to succeed later. So, why should you blame yourself for doing something that was meant to ensure your success in the long run? Enter your Life Awareness Zone by welcoming both your successes and failures with real gratitude and thanksgiving.

The source of life

The source of life on earth is still a mystery. The key to the mystery is not yet available to humanity. It lies in a fortress impregnable by human mind. This tells me a great deal of story about the nature of God as the Supreme Head of the Universe.

Turning of our wantings into our needings.

Whenever you are having a bad feeling thinking that life is not fair because it is not giving you what you want, ask yourself, is life giving you what you need? This let you remember that there is a huge difference between needing something and wanting it. To keep expressing gratitude for what you have is to keep knowing that you lack nothing. The root cause of human suffering, in my opinion, is the turning of our wantings into our needings.