Daddy, is that you?

God has a way of allowing us to be in the right place at the right time. I was walking down a dimly lit street late one evening when I heard muffled screams coming from behind a clump of bushes. Alarmed, I slowed down to listen, and panicked when I realised that what I was hearing were the unmistakable sounds of a struggle:
heavy grunting, frantic scuffling, and tearing of fabric.

Only yards from where I stood, a woman was being attacked. Should I get involved? I was frightened for my own safety, and cursed myself for having suddenly decided to take a new route home that night. What if I became another statistic? Shouldn't I just run to the nearest phone and call the police?

Although it seemed an eternity, the deliberations in my head had taken only seconds, but already the girl's cries were growing weaker. I knew I had to act fast. How could I walk away from this? No, I finally resolved, I could not turn my back on the fate of this unknown woman, even if it meant risking my own life.

I am not a brave man, nor am I athletic. I don't know where I found the moral courage and physical strength -- but once I had finally resolved to help the girl, I became strangely transformed. I ran behind the bushes and pulled the assailant off the woman.

Grappling, we fell to the ground, where we wrestled for a few minutes until the attacker jumped up and escaped. Panting hard, I scrambled upright and approached the girl, who was crouched behind a tree, sobbing. In the darkness, I could barely see her outline, but I could certainly sense her trembling shock. Not wanting to frighten her further, I at first spoke to her from a distance. "It's okay," I said soothingly. "The man ran away. You're safe now." There was a long pause and then I heard the words, uttered in wonder, in amazement. "Daddy, is that you?"

And then, from behind the tree, out stepped my youngest daughter, Katherine.

Author Unknown

Imagination is everything

Think of the following popular quote by Bruce Lee.

"The usefulness of the cup is in its emptiness"

What a great teachable quotes. But consider the following scenarios:  

~ when you need to place a candlelight on something, turning the cup upside down, it becomes a candle holder;
~ when you are forced to defend yourself from an attacker, breaking the cup into two or more pieces, it becomes a weapon;
~ when you want to entertain yourself, sitting the cup upside down on the table and hitting the bottom with a spoon, a fork, etc,  it becomes a musical instrument.

I'm sure you can think of many other uses of the cup depending on your imagination.

"Necessity," they say, "is the mother of invention." It lets us think and act outside the box. It drives creativity.

The Labour Illusion

An industrialist whose production line inexplicably broke down, costing him millions per day finally tracked down an expert. The expert arrived, pulled off his coat, brought out a screwdriver and turned one screw. The factory came back to life. Then, he presented a bill for £10,000.

Outraged, the factory owner demanded an itemised version. The expert was happy to oblige. He wrote: "For turning a screw: £1. For knowing which screw to turn: £9,999."

Adapted from an article titled, "Knowing which screw to turn" dated May 27, 2007 by Calvin Conaway

Thinking

When we outsource our thinking to others, we surrender our rights to think for ourselves and become their slaves

Selflessness

Selflessness is a way of thinking that comes from a deep inner awareness of the existence of a Being that is Bigger than self.

Between Stimulus And Response

Scientists have identified a specific region of the brain that processes fear, triggers anger, and motivates us to act in one way or another.  It's called the amygdala. This is the part of the brain that controls our fight, freeze or flight response whenever we are suddenly confronted with danger. The psychiatrist, Viktor E. Frankl, has the following to say about this amazing  human phenomenon: "Between stimulus and response there is space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom."

Truth

The truth will set you free, but will first trigger higher blood pressure