Two Questions
Ancient Egyptians believed that upon death they would be asked two questions and their answers would determine whether they could continue their journey in the afterlife. The first question was, “Did you bring joy?” The second was, “Did you find joy?” Remember that “True happiness Is the spontaneous feeling of joy that comes from knowing […]
The World Needs More Of That
A mother, wishing to encourage her son’s progress at the piano, bought tickets to a performance by the great Polish pianist Ignace Paderewski. When the evening arrived, they found their seats near the front of the concert hall and eyed the majestic Steinway waiting on the stage. Soon the mother found a friend to talk […]
Hubris vs Humility
In continuation of yesterday’s message… On the morning of the Battle of Waterloo on Sunday, 18 June 1815, Napoleon Bonaparte who was leading the French Army against the British army under the command of the Duke of Wellington, assured his soldiers, “I tell you Wellington is a bad general, the English are bad soldiers; we […]
Humility
One of the most important traits that you must develop, whatever your achievements or level of success, is Humility – the wonderful quality of having a modest or low view of one’s importance. As they say, when pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble is wisdom. God opposes the proud but gives grace […]
Story of successful executive
A young and successful executive was traveling down a neighborhood street, going a bit too fast in his new Jaguar. He was watching for kids darting out from between parked cars and slowed down when he thought he saw something. As his car passed, no children appeared. Instead, a brick smashed into the Jag’s side […]
What if I told you, 10 or 20 years from now, your life will be exactly the same, Will you be happy?
31/05/21 What if I told you, 10 or 20 years from now, your life will be exactly the same, Will you be happy? I doubt it very much, so why be afraid of change. Albert Einstein made a very strong remark when he said that “doing the same thing and expecting a different result is […]
There once was a farmer who discovered that he had lost his watch in the barn. It was no ordinary watch because it had sentimental value for him. After searching high and low among the hay for a long while; he gave up and enlisted the help of a group of children playing outside the barn.
30/05/21 He promised them that the person who found it would be rewarded. Hearing this, the children hurried inside the barn, went through and around the entire stack of hay but still could not find the watch. Just when the farmer was about to give up looking for his watch, a little boy went up […]
We are always on the Hedonic treadmill, which simply means that as a person makes more money, expectations and desires rise in tandem, which results in no permanent gain in happiness. Isn’t that ironic?
29/05/21 Daniel Kahneman makes this point when discussing how bad we are at predicting happiness. We dream about different circumstances in a vacuum while ignoring negative factors that come along with those circumstances. Dreaming about sitting on a beach brings more joy than actually being on a beach, because in the dream you’re not thinking […]
The man in the Arena
27/05/21 Here is an excerpt from a 110-year old lecture from former US President Theodore Roosevelt. I believe this passage provides a great perspective on the current times – The idea of empathising with people, with honest, hard-working Covid warriors, those facing the action. The lecture was titled “Citizenship in a Republic”, and this notable […]
Whenever someone asks me about, ‘What should you ask for in prayer from God,’
26/05/21 Whenever someone asks me about, ‘What should you ask for in prayer from God,’ I am reminded of a story: A king was once roaming the streets of the city as part of an annual religious procession. He saw that some people looked happy while others looked tense and forlorn. The king suddenly felt […]