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The Wise Woman's Stone

A wise woman who was traveling in the mountains found a precious stone in a stream. The next day she met another traveler who was hungry, and the wise woman opened her bag to share her food. The hungry traveler saw the precious stone and asked the woman to give it to him. She did so without hesitation. The traveler left, rejoicing in his good fortune. He knew the stone was worth enough to give him security for a lifetime. But a few days later he came back to return the stone to the wise woman.

"I've been thinking," he said, "I know how valuable the stone is, but I give it back in the hope that you can give me something even more precious.
Give me what you have within you that enabled you to give me the stone." 

What the hungry traveler never knew is that goodness is innate within us and its not something we acquire, rather its something we are all born with and already obtain. Humans love doing good, its just that at the best of times our vision is clouded with other tasks and stresses that shut us off from expressing our pure goodness.
Make a slight change to your routine this week by showing a little care to someone who really needs it, even if its a little smile. You will be surprised how that little spark of goodness will light up your world and of course others.

Have an absolutely amazing and inspirational week!
Darren

This weeks quote...

“Do all the good you can, in all the ways you can, to all the souls you can, in every place you can, at all the times you can, with all the zeal you can, as long as ever you can”

 

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  The Oak and the Reed

I am sure some of you have seen this story before, but as it has got such a great message, its always good to be reminded of it again.

There was once a mighty oak tree that grew at the edge of a wood.
At the foot of this spreading giant grew a thin reed. With every breeze the reed would bend, swaying and sighing.
The oak looked down upon the thin reed and laughed.
"Look at me," boasted the oak. "See how strong I am. The wind may blow his hardest, but I will never bend."
Now it came to pass that there was a terrible storm. Never had the wind been wilder. It lashed at the oak tree, stiff and straight, and bent the reed.
Harder and still harder blew the wind, but the oak tree would not bend. Then, suddenly, with a great cracking and splitting, the oak tree fell over and lay uprooted on the ground.
When the wind died down, the little reed stood upright, as before. Sadly it looked down upon the fallen giant.
"Strength is not everything. It is a good thing to be able to bend when one has to," said the reed.

This is such a great story as it displays how important it is to be open, flexible and work 'with' situations that get handed to us on a daily basis in order to reach higher levels of success.
When things dont seem the way we want them, the natural reaction is to fight it. Like the oak tree you might just be uprooted and turned upside down. Being hubris and stubborn wont get you very far, but being gentle and flexible like the reed expresses humility and allows you to be fluid and work 'with' the flow of what's being dished to you. Once you can identify and practise this, bad situations will certainly be easier to overcome.

Have an awesome week and may you always have the wisdom to know when to apply stregnth and flexibilty!

Darren

This weeks quote...

“Humility is the only true wisdom by which we prepare our minds for all the possible changes of life.” - George Arliss                                                                                                                                          

Priceless Possessions

One day a father and his rich family took his son on a trip to the country with the firm purpose to show him how poor people can be. They spent a day and a night on the farm of a very poor family. When they got back from their trip, the father asked his son, "How was the trip?" "Very good Dad!" "Did you see how poor people can be?" the father asked. "Yeah!" "And what did you learn?" The son answered, "I saw that we have a dog at home, and they have four. We have a pool that reaches to the middle of the garden; they have a creek that has no end. We have imported lamps in the garden; they have the stars. Our patio reaches to the front yard; they have a whole horizon." When the little boy was finished, his father was speechless. His son added, "Thanks, Dad, for showing me how 'poor' we are!"

Isn't it true that it all depends on the way you look at things? If you have love, friends, family, health, good humor and a positive attitude towards life - you've got everything! You can't buy any of these things. You may have all the material possessions you can imagine, provisions for the future, etc, but if you are poor of spirit, you have nothing! Keep lifes finer things close to your heart and don't complain about the things you dont have, rather rejoice and be grateful for the things you do have!

Have an awesome week!!

Darren Zwiers

The ideals which have lighted my way, and time after time have given me new courage to face life cheerfully, have been Kindness, Beauty, and Truth. The trite subjects of human efforts, possessions, outward success, luxury have always seemed to me contemptible. -Albert Einstein

 

 

The Echo

"A son and his father were walking on the mountains.

Suddenly, his son falls, hurts himself and screams: "AAAhhhhhhhhhhh!!!"

To his surprise, he hears the voice repeating, somewhere in the mountain: "AAAhhhhhhhhhhh!!!"

Curious, he yells: "Who are you?"

He receives the answer: "Who are you?"

And then he screams to the mountain: "I admire you!"

The voice answers: "I admire you!"

Angered at the response, he screams: "Coward!"

He receives the answer: "Coward!"

He looks to his father and asks: "What's going on?"

The father smiles and says: "My son, pay attention."

Again the man screams: "You are a champion!"

The voice answers: "You are a champion!"

The boy is surprised, but does not understand.

Then the father explains: "People call this ECHO, but really this is LIFE.

It gives you back everything you say or do.

Our life is simply a reflection of our actions.

If you want more love in the world, create more love in your heart.

If you want more competence in your team, improve your competence.

This relationship applies to everything, in all aspects of life;

Life will give you back everything you have given to it."

YOUR LIFE IS NOT A COINCIDENCE. IT'S A REFLECTION OF YOU!"

Have an awesome week!

Darren Zwiers

 

When life gives you a hundred reasons to cry, show life that you have a thousand reasons to smile.

 

The Obstacle On our Path

In ancient times, a king had a boulder placed on a roadway. Then he hid himself and watched to see if anyone would remove the huge rock. Some of the king's wealthiest merchants and courtiers came by and simply walked around it. Many loudly blamed the king for not keeping the roads clear, but none did anything about getting the big stone out of the way. Then a peasant came along carrying a load of vegetables. On approaching  the boulder, the peasant laid down his burden and tried to move the stone to the side of the road. After much pushing and straining, he finally succeeded. As the peasant picked up his load of vegetables, he noticed a purse lying in the road where the boulder had been. The purse contained many gold coins and a note from the king indicating that the gold was for the person who removed the boulder from the roadway. The peasant learned what many others never understand... 

Every obstacle presents an opportunity to improve one's condition, you just need to make the effort to go the extra mile. At the end of the day it is you that gets the reward for all the effort and commitment which you put in to overcoming your challenges.

Have an incredible week and may you have the strength to shift every boulder that blocks your path!

Darren Zwiers

Challenges are gifts that force us to search for a new center of gravity. Don't fight them. Just find a different way to stand. - Oprah Winfrey

 

Two Seeds

Two seeds lay side by side in the fertile soil.

The first seed said, "I want to grow! I want to send my roots deep into the soil beneath me, and thrust my sprouts through the earth's crust above me ... I want to unfurl my tender buds like banners to announce the arrival of spring ... I want to feel the warmth of the sun on my face and the blessing of the morning dew on my petals!"

And so she grew...

The second seed said, "Hmmmm. If I send my roots into the ground below, I don't know what I will encounter in the dark. If I push my way through the hard soil above me I may damage my delicate sprouts ... What if I let my buds open and a snail tries to eat them? And if I were to open my blossoms, a small child may pull me from the ground. No, it is much better for me to wait until it is safe."

And so she waited...

A yard hen scratching around in the early spring ground for food found the waiting seed and promptly ate it.

What do we learn from this lesson? Never wait for something great to happen to you. The only way you will achieve something great is by actually being great, by seizing the moment and taking the bull by the horns and running with it. No one is waiting for you to make the big move to becoming awesome. This week may you all blossom with incredible opportunities and grow with them in order to reach your ultimate potential.

Have an awesome powerful week!

Darren Zwiers

"If I am for myself, who will be for me? But if I am only for myself, who am I? If not now, when?" - Hillel

Two Frogs

A group of frogs were traveling through the woods, and two of them fell into a deep pit. When the other frogs saw how deep the pit was, they told the two frogs that they were as good as dead. The two frogs ignored the comments and tried to jump up out of the pit with all their might. The other frogs kept telling them to stop, that they were as good as dead. Finally, one of the frogs took heed to what the other frogs were saying and gave up. He fell down and died.

The other frog continued to jump as hard as he could. Once again, the crowd of frogs yelled at him to stop the pain and just die. He jumped even harder and finally made it out. When he got out, the other frogs said, "Did you not hear us?" The frog explained to them that he was deaf. He thought they were encouraging him the entire time.

This story teaches two lessons:

1. There is power of life and death in the tongue. An encouraging word to someone who is down can lift them up and help them make it through the day.

2. A destructive word to someone who is down can be what it takes to kill them.

Be careful of what you say. Speak life to those who cross your path. The power of words... it is sometimes hard to understand that an encouraging word can go such a long way. Anyone can speak words that tend to rob another of the spirit to continue in difficult times. Special is the individual who will take the time to encourage another... Be that person!

Have an awesome powerful week!

Darren Zwiers

"Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they've been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It's an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It's a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing." - Adidas

 

Shake it off and Step Up

A story is told of a farmer who owned an old mule. The mule fell into the farmer's well. The farmer heard the mule 'braying' -- or whatever mules do when they fall into wells. After carefully assessing the situation, the farmer felt sorry for the mule, but decided that neither the mule nor the well was worth saving. Instead, he called his neighbors together and told them what had happened and asked them to help haul dirt to bury the old mule in the well and put him out of his misery.

Initially, the old mule was hysterical! But as the farmer and his neighbors continued shoveling and the dirt hit his back, a thought struck him. It suddenly dawned on him that every time a shovel load of dirt landed on his back: he should shake it off and step up! This is what the old mule did, blow after blow. "Shake it off and step up... shake it off and step up... shake it off and step up!" he repeated to encourage himself.

Reflection:

No matter how painful the blows, or distressing the situation seemed, the old mule fought "panic" and just kept right on shaking it off and stepping up! You guessed it! It wasn't long before the old mule, battered and exhausted, stepped triumphantly over the wall of that well! What seemed like it would bury him, actually end up blessing him. All because of the manner in which he handled his adversity.

May you have an incredible week of unlimited opportunities, if anything pulls you down, just ‘Shake it off and step up’ as a hindering moment is a blessing dressed in disguise, only revealing itself once you avoid panic.

Darren Zwiers

A champion is someone who gets up, even when he can't!

 

The Fence

There once was a little boy who had a bad temper. His father gave him a bag of nails and told him that every time he lost his temper, he must hammer a nail into the fence. The first day the boy had driven 37 nails into the fence. Over the next few weeks as he learned to control his anger, the number of nails hammered daily, gradually dwindled down. He discovered it was easier to hold his temper than to drive those nails into the fence.

Finally the day came when the boy didn't lose his temper at all. He told his father about it and the father suggested that the boy now pull out one nail for each day that he was able to hold his temper. The days passed and the young boy was finally able to tell his father that all the nails were gone.

The father took his son by the hand and led him to the fence. He said "you have done well, my son, but look at the holes in the fence. The fence will never be the same. When you say things in anger, they leave a scar just like this one." You can put a knife in a man and draw it out. It won't matter how many times you say I'm sorry, the wound is still there. Make sure you control your temper the next time you are tempted to say something you will regret later. 

Have an incredible week!

Darren Zwiers

This weeks quote...

Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass...its learning to dance in the rain.

Do Not Resist Chances

Take them like vitamins.
Let go of the brakes. 
See what happens if you go five more miles. 
Footbridges be damned, find your own way across. 
Don't worry about the bumps and bruises. 
Your body can take them. 
Don't steer around the bits that scare you, go over them, go through them. 
Do something the guys in the bowling league would be terrified of. You feel your chin rise up from your chest, and you'll be able to see what's around you. 
What's ahead of you. 
And there will be one less thing you cannot do. 
JUST DO IT.

How Do You See the World?

What do you immediately see when you see the below phrase?
Do you think its time to reframe your thinking or are you on the way to success?

OPPORTUNITYISNOWHERE

Powerful Beyond Measure

I want to open this weeks article with a beautiful quote taken out of Marianne Williamson’s book “A Return To Love:”

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.”

Don’t be afraid, don’t be nervous to achieve the things you believe are right. There is no need to feel inadequate and there is ALL the need to push your potential beyond measure. Some people are afraid of not achieving their potential in this world, they are in actual fact afraid of themselves and this make them feel week, it plugs them to their comfort zone, forgetting about their greater picture.

Don’t do that! Don’t think that someone else will fulfill your destiny for you by being complacent. Your potential wants to explode, it yearns for it. you need to work hard on activating your destiny and identify your talents, the things that make you truly happy, the things that when you doing it you feel connected to the core of why you really are doing it.

You need to believe in yourself and even more important believe in the people around you. Give them the push to open up their awesome chest of treasure.

Look at your family, your friends and indulge in their dreams and passions, give them the strength to assist in their beliefs, they just need you to say “you have the potential to fulfill it... go get it”.

You were born to make manifest the glory of G-D that is within you.

It's not just in some of us, it's in everyone and as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.

May you have a radiant week of complete fluffiness, may you identify your dreams, juice up your potential and satisfy your place in this magnificent world.

Forget the Monday Blues

So it has been a while since I have sat in front of a computer an taken the time to share tiny bits of inspiration with you all. I do apologise for the inconsistency. I'm back and I am about to share something with you that should make your week positively awesome...

Don't we hate the Monday blues? The weekends over and back on the grind we go, following the routine and at the beck and call of our colleagues, clients and bosses. Oh dear, we have a whole week of painful work ahead of us. The schmuck I have to see on the way to work and damn it i'm late again, darn the traffic, the tube the busses my week is a wreck already. aaaaaahhhhhh!!!!!

Here I am telling you it doesn't have to be that way, of course not otherwise what's the point of work... whew a sense of fresh air.

We spend about 80% of our adult life at work, so quite the moaning and start to embrace the reality that you as an individual are alive, awake alert and enthusiastic, every tiny contribution you make whilst working ads a large amount of the worlds positive progression. Imagine all of us stayed home for a week, things would fall apart.

Do what you do with love, do it with passion and do it the best that you could possibly do. There is nothing better in the world (besides me inspiring you) than results created out of passion and love for the game.

Forget about the negative things that occupy your mind things like ratty bosses, being underpaid, hard colleagues, painful clients, traffic, the list could go on. It's time right now to realise all these emotions are only created by yourself to sadly make you feel better, it's easy to complain, to gossip to curse and to stick your nose up. What rubbish! They make the situation worse and poison your awesome engine, limiting you from becoming a being of pure potential and talent. Think about this: without these negative emotions what would you be doing and where would you be today?

Make a point right now, today to smile at the person that irritates you most, engage in a friendly fashion with them, say hello to that random person you see everyday and see your current position as the greatest role in the world. You are truly a superhero in your own developed way. it is you who is going to make the world that much better for everyone. You are the one that's making the small differences setting an example for the ones around you spreading contagious inspiration and in turn bringing love and passion back to society.

So, I wish You a dynamic week full of all the desires and successes you deserve and may the pure essence of your ultimate existence bring you joy happiness and beauty, filling the earth with your very own signature radiant light

Positive Power: Pushed from behind

We are told that there is nothing limiting us, no force that holds us captive--other than a fiction of our imagination, an apparition of our own fears. But what then of the forces of nature, the limitations of a human body, the hard reality against which we smash while trying to walk through walls?

Yes, they are real. Often, they cannot be ignored. But they are not the brick walls they seem to be and you are not their prisoner.

Rather, they are devices to elicit the limitless powers of your soul. As you pull forward, they pull you inward, towards your deepest, strongest self.

Google your mind

Our minds and the effect it has on our lives is like google's search

engine, just like you type in certain words and you get specific

results so to can we achieve this in our ordinary lives, if you

program your brain to search wealth so it will go Through it's

database and pull out all thoughts, emotions and experiences

associated with wealth.

This is a good practise to do, because the more powerful things you

tell your brain to search and focus on the more amazing your life will

become. This is purely because you are teaching your mind to tap into

it's positive areas rather than dwell and lingure on the negative. The

Jewish oral tradition (talmud) teaches this to us beautifuly it says

we don't see things how they are, we see things how we are. So start

focusing on the beauty of life, the positive happy things and I can

guarantee you more of it will enter your world.

You can be sorrowful that roses have thorns or joyful that thorns have

roses, either way the choice is completely yours.

Take control

This article is to stress the fact that you need to stay as positive

as possible. We need to take control of our emotional state and rise

above it.

Everything we come into contact with in our day to day acitivities is

a relationship a bonding between you and another individual or between

you and a circumstance. Our emotions are projected into this

relationship so it's extremely important to control your emotions and

stay positive.

When you find yourself in a tough situation or with a difficult

person, it's easy to get through by altering your state and being

positive about it.

Yes this is easier said than done but practise makes perfect and the

more you practise this the easier it gets. Or you can even pretend to

be positive that still works ;)

Remember by turning negative emotions into positive ones you not only

honouring yourself but those around you, so do them a favour and

express a positive happy life.

Ayn Rand - Atlas shrugged

"Do not let your fire go out, spark by irreplaceable spark, in the hopeless swamps of the approximate, the not-quite, the not-yet, the not-at-all. Do not let the hero in your soul perish, in lonely frustration for the life you deserved, but have never been able to reach. Check your road and the nature of your battle. The world you desired can be won. It exists, it is real, it is possible, it is yours."

e.e Cummings Quote

To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best, night

and day, to make you everybody else means to fight the hardest battle

which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting.

e. e. cummings