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Inspiration: The Path Of Destiny
“It is in your moments of decision that your destiny is shaped” Anthony Robbins
Inspiration: The Path Of Destiny
If one day you feel like crying, call me. I don’t promise to make you laugh but I can cry with you.
If one day you want to run away don’t be afraid to call me. I promise to be there running beside you.
But if one day you call me and there’s no answer, come to me, perhaps I need you. Anon
What does Destiny/Fate mean to you? Early this morning, my sister sent me a story that I feel compelled to share with you. What I know for sure is that our actions, good/bad, bear fruit. An action might not bear consequences in the same way but, it does create future outcomes. The story below has been modified but it is based on a true story. Read the rest below.
A Story: AD’s Path To Destiny
AD was born into a wealthy home in KCity. He got his first degree in a neighboring country. He had always loved trading and reports say he hawked sweets even as a primary school child; even though his family was wealthy. AD has been described as a very humble person by many people who interacted with him. and he is… In reality, he is not the only hardworking, humble person around. He is probably not the most business savvy person either but, he is certainly one of the richest men in the world. His companies employ over 11, 000 people directly – not to mention, distributors, contractors and other vendors who depend on his businesses to thrive. AD is a blessing to humanity. In his native country, there isn’t a family that doesn’t have an AD product in their home. If it is not sugar, then it is salt or the home people live in that was built with one of his products. In some direct or indirect way, everyone has something to do with his business. So, like Job, he earns a little off everyone and that is the way he got wealthy…. by serving the needs of many.
AD is one of the top 50 richest people in the world and is said to be the second most powerful man alive in his continent. The question is how did AD attain such a height? Yes, you can’t take away his hard work and business acumen, but that is only the starting point. The answer will not be found in Forbes Magazine or on Wikipedia. The answer is in this verse: If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the good of the land. Treat all who cross your path with care and consideration. They could be the lifeline you need on your path to destiny some day.
“Questioner: How are we to treat others? Ramana Maharshi: There are no others” R. Maharshi
Inspiration: The Path Of Destiny
Sometime in the early 90s, AD had an encounter that set his foot on the path of destiny. A well-respected local Minister had some guests who needed to travel back urgently from a village to the mainland to catch up their flight back to the US. Unfortunately, by the time the Minister took his guests to the airport they were told that the last flight for the day was overbooked and not a single seat was available. As a matter of fact, the passengers have boarded the plane and were about to take off. The minister asked for the plane to be delayed for a few minutes and he walked across the tarmac to address the passengers on the plane. He pleaded with them about the desperate situation of his guests and asked that two people should donate their seats for his guests to get to their connecting flight. Everyone in that plane was a Christian. Not one of them batted an eyelid. Some pretended to be asleep, and some pretended to be praying and the minister stood waiting. From the back of the plane, a young man asked the person sitting next to him to get up and together they vacated their seats for the visitors. The minister stopped AD in the aisle of the plane and asked,
“Young man, what is your name and what do you do?”
“My name is AD and this is my assistant. I am a trader; a businessman.”
It was there and then, that the minister blessed him and informed AD that one day, “others will get up for you.” He prayed that his business will prosper beyond his locale and bless him beyond measure. Today that prayer is answered as AD was destined to receive the blessing meant for someone seated on that plane that evening. AD’s wealth was not meant for any of the Christian businessmen who were too proud, too fixated in their critical minds to offer the “flamboyant minister” or as some said, the “prosperity preacher” a seat. My question is, if you were there on that plane, would you have taken the blessing? Enjoy your day!
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“The voyage of discovery is not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.” Marcel Proust
Motivation Mondays: DISCOVERY – Our planet Earth, Mars, Expedition ship Discovery, Hubble Outer space, dreams and beyond
What can we gain by sailing to the moon if we are not able to cross the abyss that separates us from ourselves? This is the most important of all voyages of discovery, and without it, all the rest are not only useless, but disastrous. Thomas Merton
The greatest discovery of all time is that a person can change his future by merely changing his attitude. Oprah Winfrey
The only history is a mere question of one’s struggle inside oneself. But that is the joy of it. One need neither discover Americas nor conquer nations, and yet one has as great a work as Columbus or Alexander, to do. D. H. Lawrence
What does Discovery mean to You? Have you discovered what motivates you? In life, we take daily actions to get results that help us achieve one aim or another. We try to discover new ways to accomplish our goals and when we do, we rejoice … only to start all over again reaching for new dreams and horizons. We are on a journey to discover ourselves; to find our limits, face our failures, and overcome our fears. Often, we find ourselves rushing from task to task with little thought about what prompts our actions. What triggers our behavior and what creates the urgency to complete a task? We are motivated by three key factors: Sadness/Anger, Hope/Happiness, Fear/Competition. Think about it. For every action we take, there are a combination of factors that come into play. As we hurtle forward like a shooting star, motivated by our wants and desires, we are discovering facets of ourselves; our will, drive, ethics and more. We want to accomplish our aims for a wide range of reasons and anyone or anything that attempts to support or thwart our effort will trigger some of these emotions either right away or over a period of time. What is imperative is that we must discover ways to harness our dreams and handle our triggers. We must dive deep within ourselves for the answers. As we learn and grow, we will discover that others will elevate or castigate us. Treat all with equanimity. We are the messengers not the message.
A Story: We Are The Messengers Not The Message
“Tattoo inside your eyelids this reminder: ‘You are the messenger, not the message. You are just like
everyone else.’ ” This was the advice given by a charismatic Zen teacher to a class of Zen teachers-in-training.
“What do you mean?” they asked her.
“I’ll begin with a story about a besieged town that was surrounded by enemies who would slaughter all the inhabitants if help didn’t arrive. Just when things looked hopeless, a messenger slipped through enemy lines with the message that the army of the Shogun would attack in the morning and drive off the invaders.
“The townspeople were so enraptured with this news that they treated the messenger like a hero. And after the Shogun’s army left, they elected the messenger mayor. Though a pleasant fellow, the messenger turned out to be a thoroughly inept leader and was soon sent away in disgrace.
“The lesson here is never confuse the message–which is a precious gift–with the messenger. You are only a messenger. “When you stun an audience with the wisdom of a lecture, when your students cede to you the molding of their minds, when you are treated as someone special, focus on the message inside your eyelids: You are the messenger, not the message. You are just like everyone else.” Zen Stories via Read.Goodweb
“The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitudes.” William James
Motivation Mondays: DISCOVERY – Our planet Earth, Mars, Expedition ship Discovery, Hubble Outer space, dreams and beyond
Motivation Mondays: DISCOVERY – Our planet, dreams and beyond
Mistakes are the portals of discovery. James Joyce
What everyone in the astronaut corps shares in common is not gender or ethnic background, but motivation, perseverance, and desire – the desire to participate in a voyage of discovery. Ellen Ochoa
The history of exploration has never been driven by exploration. But Columbus himself was a discoverer. So was Magellan. But the people who wrote checks were not. They had other motivations. Neil deGrasse Tyson
What does Columbus Day mean to you? There are different interpretations of what Columbus did on his way to discovering the new world. Was he a tyrant or a voyager? Were his actions to get there just or criminal? Like Columbus, we are on a voyage of discovery; we have dreams we wish to achieve and character traits and depths we must face and address. Sometimes, on our way there, we get caught up in other actions that might not be part of our dream. What do we discover about ourselves and how do we work to address them? When we lose a job either by attrition, being undermined or due to our incompetence, we are sad and angry, and we fight back by searching for new employment or seeking legal action. When we are hired to a new position with increased income, we are happy that our hope to achieve more has been attained. While we are working hard to earn a living for our family at our new job, a new hire comes on board. They might come on in a position we cherished or they might join the company as a coworker at the same level. Typically, we become fearful of what it all means and so we become competitive to prove that we are better than the new hire or at least up to par. We might not stop to discover the impetus behind our actions but, these emotions or some combination of them, come into play on a daily basis and the key is to discover ways to master and manage them. Whenever we bump heads with annoying people, bosses or coworkers, some aspect of all three factors come into play. But what does this say about us and our approach to life? What have we discovered about ourselves and how can we shift gears to make the outcomes less stressful? Discover what is beyond Your limited expectations, Your fears and Your competitiveness… the answer lies there.
A Story: Discover What Is Beyond The Dream
In ancient India there was a King called Janaka, who was also a sage. One day Janaka was taking a nap on his flower-strewn bed with his servants fanning him and his soldiers standing guard outside his door. As he dozed off, he had a dream in which a neighboring King defeated him in battle, took him prisoner, and had him tortured. As soon as the torture began, Janaka woke with a start to find himself lying on his flower-strewn bed with his servants fanning him and his soldiers on guard. Once again he dozed off and had the same dream. And once again he woke up to find himself safe and comfortable in his palace.
Now Janaka began to be disturbed by several thoughts: While he was asleep, the world of his dreams had seemed so real. Now that he was awake, the world of the senses seemed real. Which of these two worlds is the real one, he wanted to know. None of the philosophers, scholars, and seers he consulted could give him an answer.
And for many years he searched in vain, till one day a man called Ashtavakra knocked at the door of the palace. Now, Ashtavakra means “entirely deformed or crooked,” and he got that name because that is exactly what his body had been from birth. At first the King was not disposed to take this man seriously. “How can a misshapen man like you be the carrier of a wisdom denied to my seers and scholars?” he asked.
“Right from my childhood, all avenues have been closed to me – so I avidly pursued the path of wisdom,” was Ashtavakra’s reply.
“Speak, then,” said the King. So this is what Ashtavakra said: “O King, neither the waking state nor the dream state is real. When you
are awake, the world of dreams does not exist and when you dream the world of the senses does not exist. Therefore, neither is real.”
“If both the waking and the dream states are unreal, then what is real?” asked the King.
“There is a state beyond these two. Discover that. It alone is real.”Zen Stories via Read.Goodweb
The details for Motivation Mondays are below. Join in! The themes for September and October are:
09/07 – LABOR & LITERACY
09/14 – POSITIVE THINKING
09/21 – PEACE/INTERNATIONAL PEACE
09/28 – GOOD NEIGHBORS/GOODWILL
10/05 – SMILE – World Smile Day
10/12 – DISCOVER – Columbus Day
10/19 – COMMUNITY – UN Day & Make A Difference Day
10/26 – FEAR – Halloween Day
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Haiku: Columbus Day
“Nay, be a Columbus to whole new continents and worlds within you, opening new channels, not of trade, but of thought.” Henry David Thoreau
Haiku: Columbus Day – First Landing of Columbus on the Shores of the New World; painting by Dióscoro Puebla
A discovery
What we know of Columbus…
Tyrant? Voyager?
History meets myth
A Columbus Day debate
We choose our poison
What do you know about Columbus Day?
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