Macro photography is all about capturing things up close. There are special lenses designed specifically for this task, and they are very good at capturing the smallest of details on tiny objects.
There is so much detail around us that goes unnoticed by the naked eye, but thanks to this type of photography, we get to see and appreciate all that detail. So here are 30 Incredible Examples of Macro Photography for your enjoyment.
Charles Darwin is right , only those who adopt survive and others perish . Adaption is the key ingredient in successful peoples life style and it makes a huge difference in life .
We have different phases in life and in every phase there are many more phases and roles and those who adopt to every situation will have a wonderful life , and most common mistake is comparison between different situation and between people.
And most simple solution to most of our exterior problems lies in adaptation ,when our mind understands that we are in a situation and there is no escape from it that's when we really start adapting ourselves to it .
Till then we resist avoid and escape from situations making them more complicated and tougher for mind to accept them . See it as it is adapt it and use it to your advantage and not the other way around .
We want things and people as we want them to be not how they are and this is one root cause of many Problems , People say we wont compromise or adjust to situations ,conditions and people and instead expect these to adjust according to our mentalities and paradigms.
Its hard to digest but this is not right way to approach towards life , after all what is life ,all the people whom you meet and how you make them feel and how they make you feel . isn't it ?
P.S Enjoy every second of life and forget what others think about you and adopt your self to your full potential and Inject life in every second !
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The young man was at the end of his training, soon he would go on to be a teacher. Like all good pupils, he needed to challenge his teacher and to develop his own way of thinking. He caught a bird, placed it in one hand and went to see his teacher.
‘Teacher, is this bird alive or dead?’
His plan was the following: if his teacher said ‘dead’, he would open his hand and the bird would fly away. If the answer was ‘alive’, he would crush the bird between his fingers; that way the teacher would be wrong whichever answer he gave.
‘Teacher, is the bird alive or dead?’ he asked again.
‘My dear student, that depends on you,’ was the teacher’s reply.
‘We have no doors in our monastery,’ Shanti said to the visitor, who had come in search of knowledge.
‘And what about troublesome people who come to disturb your peace?’
‘We ignore them, and they go away,’ said Shanti.
‘I am a learned man who has come in search of knowledge,’ insisted the foreigner. ‘But what do you do about stupid people? Do you just ignore them as well until they go away? Does that work?’
Shanti did not reply. The visitor repeated his question a few times, but seeing that he got no response, he decided to go and find a teacher who was more focused on what he was doing.
‘You see how well it works?’ said Shanti to himself, smiling.
Nasrudin, the wise fool of Sufi tradition, passes in front of a cave, sees a yogi in deep meditation, and asks him what he is seeking.
- I am contemplating the animals, and I learn many lessons from them which can transform a man’s life – says the yogi.
- Teach me what you know. And I will teach you what I have learned, because a fish has already saved my life – answers Nasrudin.
The yogi is surprised: only a saint can have his life saved by a fish. He decides to teach everything he knows.
When he finishes, Nasrudin says:
- Now I have taught you everything, I would be proud to know how a fish saved your life.
- It is simple. I was almost dying of hunger when I caught it, and thanks to it I was able to survive three days.
Buddha told his disciples: whoever makes an effort can attain enlightenment in seven days. If he can’t manage it, certainly he will attain it in seven months, or in seven years. The young man decided that he would attain it in one week, and he wanted to know what he should do: “concentration” was the reply.
The young man began to practice, but in ten minutes he was already distracted. Little by little, he began paying attention to everything that distracted him, and thought that he was not wasting time, but was getting used to himself.
One fine day he decided it was not necessary to arrive at his goal so fast, because the path was teaching him many things.
It was at that moment that he became an Enlightened one.
Nasrudin appeared at court wearing a magnificent turban and asking for money for charity.
‘You come here asking for money, yet you are wearing an extremely expensive turban on your head. How much did that extraordinary thing cost?’ asked the sultan.
‘Five hundred gold coins,’ replied the wise Sufi.
The minister muttered: ‘That’s impossible. No turban could cost such a fortune.’
Nasrudin insisted:
‘I did not come here only to beg, I also came to do business. I paid all that money for the turban because I knew that, in all the world, only a sultan would be capable of buying it for six hundred gold coins, so that I could give the surplus to the poor.’
The sultan was flattered and paid what Nasrudin asked. On the way out, the wise man said to the minister:
‘You may know the value of a turban, but I know how far a man’s vanity can take him.’
Nadia spent the whole autumn sowing and preparing his garden. In the spring, the flowers opened, and Nadia noticed a few dandelions that he had not planted.
Nadia pulled them up. But the seeds had already spread, and others grew. He tried to find a poison that would kill only dandelions. An expert told him that any poison would end up killing all the other flowers too. In despair, Nadia sought help from a gardener.
‘It’s just like marriage,’ said the gardener. ‘Along with the good things, there are always a few inconveniences.’
‘What should I do, then?
‘Nothing. They may not be the flowers you intended to have, but they are still part of the garden.’
‘How can we purify the world?’ asked a disciple.
Ibn al-Husayn replied:
‘There was once a sheik in Damascus called Abu Musa al-Qumasi. Everyone respected him because of his wisdom, but no one knew for certain that he was a good man.
One evening, the house where the sheik and his wife lived collapsed, apparently because of some fault in the construction. The neighbours began desperately digging amongst the rubble. At one point, they managed to find the sheik’s wife.
She said: “Don’t bother about me. Save my husband first, he was sitting more or less over there.”
The neighbours shifted the rubble in the place she had indicated and found the sheik. He said: “Don’t worry about me. Save my wife first, she was lying more or less over there.”
When people act as that couple did, they are purifying the whole world.
Walking down the street, the prophet asked: “aren’t we all children of the same Eternal Father?”
The multitude agreed. And the prophet went on: “and if that is so, why do we betray our brother?”
A boy who was watching asked his father: “what does betray mean?”
“It means to trick your companion in order to gain a certain advantage.”
“And why do we betray our companion?” insisted the boy.
“Because in the past somebody began all that. Ever since then, nobody knows how to stop the wheel. We are always betraying or being betrayed.”
“Then I won’t betray anyone,” said the boy.
And so he did. He grew up and suffered a lot during his life, but kept his promise.
His children suffered less and endured fewer hardships.
His grandchildren did not suffer at all.
When she was eleven years old, Anita went to her mother to complain. “I can’t manage to have friends. They all stay away from me because I’m so jealous.”
Her mother was taking care of newly-born chickens, and Anita held up one of them, which immediately tried to escape. The more the girl squeezed it in her hands, the more the chicken struggled.
Her mother said: “try holding it gently.”
Anita obeyed her. She opened her hands and the chicken stopped struggling. She began to stroke it and the chicken cuddled up between her fingers.
“Human beings are like that too,” said her mother. “If you want to hold onto them by any means, they escape. But if you are kind to them, they will remain for ever by your side.”
Chen Ziqin asked Confucius’s son: “does your father teach you something that we don’t know?”
The other answered: “No. Once, when I was alone, he asked if I read poetry. I said no, and he told me to read some, because poetry opens the soul to the path of divine inspiration.
“On another occasion he asked whether I practiced the rituals of adoration of God. I said no, and he told me to do so, because the act of adoring would make me understand myself. But he never kept an eye on me to see if I was obeying him.”
When Chen Ziqin left, he said to himself:
“I asked one question and was given three answers. I learned something about poetry. I learned something about the rituals of adoration. And I learned that an honest man never spies on the honesty of others.”
After four years of drought in the little village, the parish priest gathered everybody to make a pilgrimage to the mountain; there they would join in communal prayer to ask for rain.
In the middle of the group the priest noticed a boy all wrapped up in warm clothes and covered by a raincoat.
“Are you crazy?” he asked. “It hasn’t rained in this region for five years and you’ll die of the heat climbing the mountain!”
“I’ve got a cold, father. If we are going to pray to God for rain, can you imagine the climb back down? The downpour is going to be so heavy that it’s better to be prepared.”
At that very moment a loud roar was heard in the sky and the first drops began to fall. The faith of a boy was enough to work a miracle that thousands of men were praying for.
In the middle of a storm, a pilgrim reaches an inn and the owner asks where he is going.
“I’m going to the mountains,” he answers.
“Forget it,” says the innkeeper, “it’s a risky climb, and the weather is awful.”
“But I’m going up,” answers the pilgrim, “if my heart gets there first, it will be easy to follow it with my body.”
“Is the price of living a dream much higher than the price of living without daring to dream?” asked the disciple.
The master took him to a clothes store. There, he asked him to try on a suit in exactly his size. The disciple obeyed, and was very amazed at the quality of the clothes.
Then the master asked him to try on the same suit – but this time a size much bigger than his own. The disciple did as he was asked.
“This one is no use. It’s too big.”
“How much are these suits?” the master asked the shop attendant.
“They both cost the same price. It’s just the size that is different.”
When leaving the store, the master told his disciple, “Living your dream or giving it up also costs the same price, which is usually very high. But the first lets us share the miracle of life, and the second is of no use to us.”
“I am willing to leave everything. Please, take me as a disciple.”
“How does a man choose his Path?”
“Through sacrifice. A path that demands sacrifice is a true path.”
The abbot bumped into a bookcase. A very rare vase fell down and the young man threw himself to the floor to pick it up. He fell the wrong way and broke his arm. But he was able to save the vase.
“Which sacrifice is greater, to see the vase breaking down our breaking an arm to save it?”
“I don’t know.”
“So then, do not try to guide your choice through sacrifice. The path is chosen by our capacity of compromising with each step we make while we walk.”
A Zen master had hundreds of disciples. They all prayed at the right time, except one, who was always drunk.
The master was growing old. Some of the more virtuous pupils began to wonder who would be the new leader of the group, the one who would receive the important secrets of the Tradition.
On the eve of his death, however, the master called the drunkard disciple and revealed the hidden secrets to him.
A veritable revolt broke out among the others.
“How shameful!” they cried in the streets, “We have sacrificed ourselves for the wrong master, one who can’t see our qualities.”
Hearing the commotion outside, the dying master remarked, “I had to pass on these secrets to a man that I knew well. All my pupils are very virtuous, and showed only their qualities. That is dangerous, for virtue often serves to hide vanity, pride and intolerance. That is why I chose the only disciple whom I know really well, since I can see his defect: drunkenness.”
Reader Gerson Luiz tells the story of a rose that longed for the company of the bees, but none would come to her.
Even so, the flower was still capable of dreaming. When she felt all alone, she would imagine a garden filled with bees that came to kiss her. And so she managed to resist until the next day, when she opened her petals again.
“Aren’t you tired?” someone must have asked her.
“No. I have to go on fighting,” answered the flower.
“Why?”
“Because if I don’t open up, I wither.”
Buddha gathered his disciples and showed them a lotus flower.
“I want you to tell me something about what I hold in my hand.”
The first gave a whole treaty on the importance of flowers. The second composed a lovely poem about its petals. The third invented a parable using the flower as an example.
Now it was Mahakashyap’s turn. He came up to Buddha, smelt the flower, and caressed his face with one of the petals.
“This is a lotus flower,” said Mahakashyap. “Simple, like everything that comes from God. And beautiful, like everything that comes from God.”
“You were the only one who saw what I hold in my hand,” was Buddha’s comment.
For days the couple traveled almost without speaking. Finally they arrived in the middle of the forest, and found the wise man.
“My companion said almost nothing to me during the whole journey,” said the young man.
“A love without silence is a love without depth,” answered the wise man.
“But she didn’t even say that she loved me!”
“Some people always claim that. And we end up wondering if their words are true.”
The three of them sat down on a rock. The wise man pointed to the field of flowers all around them.
“Nature isn’t always repeating that God loves us. But we realize that through His flowers.”
The woman was strolling through a shopping mall when she noticed a poster announcing a new flower shop. When she went in, she got a shock; she saw no vases, no arrangements, and it was God in person who stood behind the counter.
“You can ask for whatever you want,” said God.
“I want to be happy. I want peace, money, the capacity to be understood. I want to go to heaven when I die. And I want all this to be granted to my friends too.”
God opened a few pots that were on the shelf behind him, removed some grains from inside, and handed them to the woman.
“Here you have the seeds,” He said. “Begin to plant them, because here we don’t sell the fruits.”
“Why do you live in the desert?”
“Because I can’t be what I want to be. When I begin to be myself, people treat me with a reverence that’s false. When I am true to my faith, then they begin to doubt. They all believe they are holier than I, but they pretend they are sinners, afraid to insult my solitude. They try all the time to show that they consider me a saint, and in this way they become emissaries of the devil, tempting me with Pride.”
“Your problem isn’t trying to be who you are, but accepting others the way they are. And acting in this way, it’s better to stay in the desert,” said the gentleman, walking off.
The abbot asked his favorite pupil how his spiritual progress was coming along. The pupil answered that he was managing to dedicate to God each and every moment of the day.
“Then all that’s left now is to forgive your enemies.”
The young man was shocked:
“But I’m not angry at my enemies!”
“Do you think God is angry at you?”
“Of course not!”
“And even so you ask Him to forgive you, don’t you? Do the same with your enemies, even though you don’t feel hatred for them. Those who practice forgiveness wash and perfume their own hearts.”
A group of wise men gathered to discuss the work of God; they wanted to know why he had left it to the sixth day to create man.
“He thought about first organizing the Universe well, so that we could have all the marvels available to us,” said one of them.
“First of all He wanted to run some tests on animals, so that He would not make the same mistakes with us,” argued another.
One wise Jew showed up at the meeting. They told him the theme of the discussion: “in your opinion, why did God leave it to the last day to create man?”
“Very simple,” commented the wise man. “So that when we were moved by pride, we would remember that even a simple mosquito enjoyed priority in the work of the Divine.”
An old hermit was once invited to visit the court of the most powerful king of the day.
“I envy a holy man, who is content with so little,” commented the sovereign.
“I envy Your Majesty, who is content with less than I. I have the music of the celestial spheres, I have the rivers and mountains of the whole wide world, I have the moon and the sun, because I have God in my soul. Your Majesty, however, has only this kingdom.”
When they asked Abbot Antonio if the path of sacrifice led to heaven, he answered:
- There are two paths of sacrifice. The first is taken by the man who mortifies the flesh and pays penance because he believes that we are condemned. The man who follows this path feels guilty and judges himself unworthy of living happily.
- The second path is taken by the man who, even though he knows that the world is not as perfect as we would like, prays, does penance and offers up his time and toil to improve the world around him. So he understands that the word sacrifice comes from sacro ofício, holy work. In this case the Divine Presence helps him all the time and he obtains results in heaven.”
The young man crossed the desert and finally reached the Sceta monastery. There he asked – and was given permission – to attend one of the abbot’s talks.
That afternoon the abbot spoke about the importance of farm work.
When the talk came to an end, the young man commented to one of the monks:
“That really impressed me. I thought that I was going to hear an illuminated sermon on virtues and sins, but the abbot only spoke about tomatoes, irrigation and things like that. Where I come from, everyone believes that God is mercy: all you need to do is pray.”
The monk smiled and answered:
“Here we believe that God has already done His part; now it’s up to us to continue the process.”
I was feeling very lonely when I left Mass in Saint Patrick’s Cathedral right in the heart of New York.
Suddenly I was approached by a Brazilian:
“I very much need to talk to you,” he said.
I was so enthused by this meeting that I began to talk about everything that was important to me. I spoke of magic, God’s blessings, love. He listened to everything in silence, thanked me and went away.
Instead of feeling happy, I felt lonelier than before. Later on I realized that in my enthusiasm I had not paid any attention to what that Brazilian wanted.
Talk to me.
I tossed my words to the wind, because that was not what the Universe was wanting at that moment: I would have been much more useful if I had listened to what he had to say.
Ever since we are children, we are asked: do you love daddy? Do you love auntie? Do you love your teacher?
Nobody asks: do you love yourself?
And we end up spending a good deal of our life and energy trying to please others. But what about ourselves? Jesuit Anthony Mello has a fine story on this subject.
Mother and son are at a snack-bar. After taking the mother’s order, the waitress turns to the boy:
“And what will you be wanting?”
“A hotdog.”
“Nothing of the sort,” says the mother. “He wants a steak and salad.”
Ignoring the comment, the waitress asks the boy:
“Do you want that with mustard or ketchup?”
“Both,” answers the boy.
And then he turns to the mother in surprise:
“Mother! SHE THINKS THAT I’M FOR REAL!”
As tradition dictates, upon entering his Zen master’s house, the disciple left his shoes and umbrella outside.
“I saw through the window that you were arriving,” said the master. “Did you leave your shoes to the right or the left of the umbrella?”
“I haven’t the least idea. But what does that matter? I was thinking of the secret of Zen!”
“If you don’t pay attention in life, you will never learn anything. Communicate with life, pay each moment the attention it deserves – that is the only secret of Zen.”
A young man said to the abbot from the monastery, “I’d actually like to be a monk, but I haven’t learned anything in life. All my father taught me was to play chess, which does not lead to enlightenment. Apart from that, I learned that all games are a sin.
“They may be a sin but they can also be a diversion, and who knows, this monastery needs a little of both,” was the reply.
The abbot asked for a chessboard, sent for a monk, and told him to play with the young man.
But before the game began, he added, “Although we need diversion, we cannot allow everyone to play chess the whole time. So, we have the best players here; if our monk loses, he will leave the monastery and his place will be yours.”
The abbot was serious. The young man knew he was playing for his life, and broke into a cold sweat; the chessboard became the center of the world.
The monk began badly. The young man attacked, but then saw the saintly look on the other man’s face; at that moment, he began playing badly on purpose. After all, a monk is far more useful to the world.
Suddenly, the abbot threw the chessboard to the floor.
“You have learned far more than was taught you,” he said. “You concentrated yourself enough to win, were capable of fighting for your desire. Then, you had compassion, and were willing to make a sacrifice in the name of a noble cause. Welcome to the monastery, because you know how to balance discipline with compassion.”
The Rabbi Nahum of Chernobyl was always being insulted by a shopkeeper. One day, the latter’s business began to go badly.
“It must be the Rabbi, who is asking for God’s revenge,” he thought. He went to ask for Nahum’s forgiveness.
“I forgive you in the same spirit you ask for forgiveness.” replied the Rabbi.
But the man’s losses just kept increasing, until he was reduced to misery. Nahum’s horrified disciples went to ask him what had happened.
“I forgave him, but he continued to hate me deep down in his heart.” said the Rabbi. “Therefore, his hatred contaminated everything he did, and God’s punishment became more and more severe.”
At a small Moroccan village an imam was thinking about the only well of the entire region. Another Muslim approached him and asked:
“What is in there?”
“God is hidden in there.”
“God is hidden inside this well? That is a sin! What you may be seeing is an image left by the unfaithful!”
The imam asked him to get closer and lean out on the edge. Reflected on the water, he could see his own face.
“But that is me!”
“Right. Now you know where God is hidden.”
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Facial exposure does not constitute as big a threat to Muslim women and their religious rights as gender bias.
France's obsession with the burqa continues. Its lower house, the National Assembly, has voted to ban it by an overwhelming margin of 335 to 1 despite an official advice from the Conseil d'État, France's constitutional watchdog, not to pursue “the bill to forbid concealing one's face in public” as it violates the principle of laïcité (secularism) recognised in the French Constitution.
But France is not the only country suffering from burqaphobia. For several years now, Belgian MPs have been demanding a ban on the voile intégral which resulted in the lower chamber of the Belgian Parliament approving an anti-burqa bill. Spain, Italy and the Netherlands too are contemplating a ban on the full veil, and a week ago British MP Phillip Hollobone sought to include Britain in this group when he tabled a private member's bill to ban “certain face coverings” in public.
The present European stance against the Muslim attire seems hypocritical when compared to the huge support the Danish cartoonist got across that continent for his criminal act of depicting Prophet Muhammad as a promoter of terrorism. And interestingly, “freedom of expression” was the reason cited by government after government for not proscribing the provocative cartoons.
Nonetheless, all is not lost for the European Muslims yet. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) last month unanimously opposed a general EU ban on the burqa saying although the veiling of women is often perceived as “a symbol of the subjugation of women to men,” a general ban would deny women “who genuinely and freely desire to do so” the right to cover their face.
But the question is: Does facial exposure constitute such a big threat to Muslim women and their religious rights that they should expend so much time and energy debating this issue? The truth is that most Muslims are unaware of the fact that the word “burqa” is not part of the Koran's sartorial terminology. The terms used by the Koran are jilbaab, an outer wrapping garment which is to be worn around the body (33:59), and khimaar, a kind of covering for the head and the bosom (24:31). It may be noted here that jilbaab and khimaar denote just modest clothing and not a head-to-toe shroud like the burqa with just a small opening for the eyes. Had this been the case, the Koranic instruction to Muslim men to “lower their gaze” (24:30-31) would have made no sense. For how could a fully shrouded woman be gazed at? And what does one say of hadith in Bukhari which asks women not to cover their faces during Haj?
Another word that is equated with the burqa is hijaab. It occurs eight times in the Koran (7:46, 17:45, 19:17, 33:53, 38:32, 41:5, 42:51 and 83:15) but interestingly, not once in the traditional meaning of burqa as understood by Muslims today. Hijaab actually refers to an imaginary or real barrier between people or things. For instance, verse 17:45 talks of a hidden barrier (hijaaban mastoora) between the non-believers and the Prophet, and verse 33:53 teaches social etiquette to the not-so-literate Arab guests of the Prophet by instructing them not to confront the women of his household directly for their requirements but to talk to them from behind a curtain (min waraayi hijaab) as a mark of respect.
Why then this insistence on the full veil in some Muslim societies? The answer lies in the fact that some of the widely read translations of the Koran are not exactly honest on this issue. For example, in The Noble Quran, an English translation authorised by Saudi Arabia, a perusal of 24:31 would reveal that an attempt has been made to introduce, without any basis, an extra-Koranic meaning to the following text concerning the dress code; walaa yubdeena zeenatahunna illa ma zahara minha wal yazribna bi khumurihinna ala juyoobihinna. The Noble Quran translates this as: “[Tell the believing women]…not to show off their adornment except only that which is apparent [like both eyes for necessity to see the way, or outer palms of hands or one eye or dress like veil, gloves, head cover, apron], and to draw their veils all over juyoobihinna [i.e. their bodies, faces, necks and bosoms].”
The meaning that is sought to be conveyed in the parentheses is a clear addition to what is contained in the Arabic text wherein “khumurihinna ala juyoobihinna” only means “to put a covering over the bosoms” and not the face. The translators of The Noble Quran have also tried to support their views by mistranslating a hadith from the Bukhari which quotes Hazrath Aisha as saying that when verse 24:31 was revealed women tore off pieces from their waist sheets (murooth) to use them as a covering for their “heads and faces.” Once again, the words “heads and faces” are not found in the original hadith text, shaqqaqna muroothahunna faqtamarna biha, which means “they tore off the murooths to cover themselves up.”
The aforementioned facts coupled with the Prophetic saying (in Abu Dawood) advising women not to reveal any part of their bodies “except the face and the palms” clearly prove that neither the Koran nor the hadith forces a woman to conceal her face. Muslim women, therefore, need not worry over a French ban on the burqa because wearing a niqab minus the face veil does in no way violate the Koran or the Prophet's teachings.
What Muslim women really need to take cudgel against is the gender bias prevalent in their societies. They must realise that Muslim patriarchy rallies around them when they demonstrate against issues such as the proposed ban on burqa (which could be easily circumvented), but the medievalists are conspicuously absent when it comes to pressing problems like instant triple talaq, hedonistic polygyny or child marriage.
Unless Muslim women recognise this truth they would not be able to claim their legitimate Islamic rights.
From Editorial of The Hindu (The author A. Faizur Rahman is the secretary-general of Forum for the Promotion of Moderate Thought among Muslims. He may be reached at faizz@rocketmail.com)
Junior high school students in Chicago were studying the Seven Wonders of the World. At the end of the lesson, the students were asked to list what they considered to be the Seven Wonders of the World. Though there was some disagreement, the following received the most votes:
While gathering the votes, the teacher noted that one student, a quiet girl, hadn't turned in her paper yet. So she asked the girl if she was having trouble with her list. The quiet girl replied, "Yes, a little. I couldn't quite make up my mind because there were so many." The teacher said, "Well, tell us what you have, and maybe we can help."
The girl hesitated, then read, "I think the Seven Wonders of the World are:
The room was so quiet, you could have heard a pin drop. May this story serve as a gentle reminder to all of us that the things we overlook as simple and ordinary are often the most wonderful - and we don't have to travel anywhere special to experience them.Enjoy your gifts! ~Author Unknown
A famous guru lived in Mysore, in India. He managed to gather a good number of followers, and spread his wisdom generously.
When he reached middle age, he contracted malaria, but religiously continued to fulfill his ritual: bathing in the morning, giving classes at mid-day, and praying in the temple during the afternoon.
When fever and the tremors prevented him from concentrating, he took off the upper part of his garments and tossed them in a corner. His power was such that the clothes continued to tremble – while he, free from any contractions, was able to say his prayers in peace.
When he finished, he put on his clothes again, and the symptoms returned.
“Why don’t you give up those clothes once and for all, and get rid of the sickness?”, asked a journalist who saw the miracle.
“It is already a blessing to be able to do calmly what I have to do,” answered the man. “The rest is part of life; it would be cowardly not to accept it.”
People at the top of every profession share one quality — they get things done. This ability supercedes intelligence, talent, and connections in determining the size of your salary and the speed of your advancement.
Despite the simplicity of this concept there is a perpetual shortage of people who excel at getting results. The action habit — the habit of putting ideas into action now — is essential to getting things done. Here are 7 ways you can grow the action habit:
1. Don’t wait until conditions are perfect – If you’re waiting to start until conditions are perfect, you probably never will. There will always be something that isn’t quite right. Either the timing is off, the market is down, or there’s too much competition. In the real world there is no perfect time to start. You have to take action and deal with problems as they arise. The best time to start was last year. The second best time is right now.
2. Be a doer - Practice doing things rather than thinking about them. Do you want to start exercising? Do you have a great idea to pitch your boss? Do it today. The longer an idea sits in your head without being acted on, the weaker it becomes. After a few days the details gets hazy. After a week it’s forgotten completely. By becoming a doer you’ll get more done and stimulate new ideas in the process.
3. Remember that ideas alone don’t bring success – Ideas are important, but they’re only valuable after they’ve been implemented. One average idea that’s been put into action is more valuable than a dozen brilliant ideas that you’re saving for “some other day” or the “right opportunity”. If you have an idea the you really believe in, do something about it. Unless you take action it will never go anywhere.
4. Use action to cure fear – Have you ever noticed that the most difficult part of public speaking is waiting for your turn to speak? Even professional speakers and actors experience pre-performance anxiety. Once they get started the fear disappears. Action is the best cure for fear. The most difficult time to take action is the very first time. After the ball is rolling, you’ll build confidence and things will keep getting easier. Kill fear by taking action and build on that confidence.
5. Start your creative engine mechanically – One of the biggest misconceptions about creative work is that it can only be done when inspiration strikes. If you wait for inspiration to slap you in the face, your work sessions will be few and far between. Instead of waiting, start your creative motor mechanically. If you need to write something, force yourself to sit down and write. Put pen to paper. Brainstorm. Doodle. By moving your hands you’ll stimulate the flow of ideas and inspire yourself.
6. Live in the present - Focus on what you can do in the present moment. Don’t worry about what you should have done last week or what you might be able to do tomorrow. The only time you can affect is the present. If you speculate too much about the past or the future you won’t get anything done. Tomorrow or next week frequently turns into never.
7. Get down to business immediately – It’s common practice for people to socialize and make small talk at the beginning of meetings. The same is true for individual workers. How often do you check email or RSS feeds before doing any real work? These distractions will cost you serious time if you don’t bypass them and get down to business immediately. By becoming someone who gets to the point you’ll be more productive and people will look to you as a leader.
It takes courage to take action without instructions from the person in charge. Perhaps that’s why initiative is a rare quality that’s coveted by managers and executives everywhere. Seize the initiative. When you have a good idea, start implementing it without being told. Once people see you’re serious about getting things done they’ll want to join in. The people at the top don’t have anyone telling them what to do. If you want to join them, you should get used to acting independently.
Note: This list was inspired by The Magic of Thinking Big by David Schwartz. The book is highly recommended.
Meditation is the art of silencing the mind. When the mind is silent, concentration is increased and we experience inner peace in the midst of worldly turmoil. This elusive inner peace is what attracts so many people to meditation and is a quality everyone can benefit from.
I’ve been meditating twice a day for the past 9 years because I enjoy it. It may seem strange, but I feel happiest when sitting in perfect silence. The experience is difficult to express in words. It is akin to the “peace that passeth understanding”. It is also true that every meditation is not the same. Sometimes meditation is a struggle to control the mind, while at other times it feels effortless.
These are some of the benefits of meditation:
The great thing about meditation is that our philosophy/religious belief is not important. Meditation is about consciousness. The beliefs of the mind become trivial. We dive deep into the heart of the matter to gain access to our soul – our inner reality. Therefore, mediation can (and is ) practiced by people of different religions or no religion.
But I don’t have time To Meditate
Many people like the idea of meditation, but feel they don’t have enough time. When you really want to do something you can find time. Get up earlier or watch 30 minutes less TV. Meditation requires an investment of time, but clearing the mind makes the the rest of the day more productive. Nothing is better than the feeling of inner peace. What is the point in being tremendously busy but unable to enjoy it? Meditation is not about retreating from the world; it gives us inspiration. Whatever you do, if you have peace of mind, your work will be more enjoyable and productive.
Like anything worthwhile, meditation requires practice. To get the most from meditation you need to do it every day. This requires a place and time where you will not be disturbed.
However you learn to meditate, you must learn to concentrate on one thing at a time. Usually, the mind tries to hold several different thoughts and ideas at once. When you sit down to meditate for the first time, you realize how cluttered the mind is. Mediation teachers have described the mind as a “mad monkey”. However, the mind can be tamed and forced to concentrate on a single thought.
One helpful technique is concentrating on a candle flame. Narrow your gaze to the small tip and block out all other thoughts. When you get distracted, go back to focusing on the candle flame. You can also use other objects like a small dot or flower. The important thing is that you concentrate only on one thing at a time.
Mantra
Another way to learn concentration is through the use of mantra. A mantra is the repetition of a sacred word. For example, you might repeat the mantra AUM a certain number of times. Repeating a mantra forces the mind to focus on a single thought.
Silent Mind
After you’ve practiced concentration and learned to focus on one thing at a time, you can proceed to the next stage: no thought at all. Achieving a silent mind is difficult, but when to attain it the experience is powerful. A technique I advise is viewing your thoughts as separate from your self. When a thought appears, make a conscious decision to throw it out of your mind. Over time you realize that you are capable of allowing or rejecting thoughts. Your real “I” is not a collection of thoughts, but something far deeper. This is the most significant realization of meditation – that you do not have to be a slave to your thoughts.
Through meditation, you attain the power to control your thoughts, and on occasion stop them completely. Don’t be discouraged if you can’t attain a silent mind straightaway. It takes time and practice. There is nothing really else to it; meditation is a simple and spontaneous action. Unfortunately, our mind is used to complication and it takes time to unlearn bad habits.
Tejvan Pettinger is a member of the Sri Chinmoy Meditation Centre. He lives in Oxford where he works as a teacher. He also offers mediation classes as a community service and updates a blog at Sri Chinmoy Inspiration, a collection of articles on meditation and spirituality.
In a certain village in Umbria (Italy), there lived a man who was always bewailing his lot. He was a Christian, and found the weight of his cross too heavy to bear.
One night, before going to sleep, he begged God to let him change his burden.
That night he had a dream; the Lord led him to a warehouse. “Go ahead and change it,” he said. The man saw crosses of all sizes and shapes, with the names of their owners. He picked an average size cross – but when he saw the name of an old friend written on it, he left it aside.
Finally, as God had permitted, he chose the smallest cross he could find.
To his surprise, he saw his own name written on it.
Legend has it that right after his Enlightenment, Buddha decided to go for a walk in the country. On the way he came upon a farmer, who was impressed at the light shining from the master.
“My friend, who are you?” asked the farmer. “Because I have the feeling that I am standing before an angel, or a God.”
“I am nothing of the sort,” answered Buddha.
“Maybe you’re a powerful sorcerer?”
“Not that either.”
“So, what makes you so different from the others that even a simple peasant like me notices it?”
“I am just someone who has awoken to life. That’s all. But I tell everyone that, and nobody believes me.”
A violent samurai who was known for picking fights for no reason at all arrived at the door of a Zen monastery and asked to speak to the master.
Without a moment’s hesitation, Ryokan came out to meet him.
“They say that intelligence is more powerful than strength,” said the samurai. “I wonder if you could explain to me the meaning of heaven and hell.”
Riokan remained silent.
“You see?” roared the samurai. “I could explain that very easily: to show what hell is, all I need to do is beat someone up. To show what heaven is, just let a person go free after menacing him a lot.”
“I don’t argue with stupid people like you,” said the Zen master.
This made the samurai’s blood boil. His mind was filled with hatred.
“Now, that is hell,” said Ryokan, smiling. “Letting yourself be angered by silly things.”
The monk’s courage disconcerted the warrior, and he relaxed.
“And that is heaven,” added Ryokan, inviting him in. “Not reacting to silly provocations.”
Comfort and luxury are usually the chief requirements of life for your ego—its top priorities tend to be accumulations, achievements, and the approval of others. Consider a new alternative for what makes you happy, one that soars beyond the superficial demands of the ego. The only thing that you need for this state of joy is something to be passionate about. Something that speaks only to you…that gets you tingling inside with excitement…that will not go away…that radiates within you…that sends you into a frenzy of good feeling because it makes you feel purposeful and connected to your Source of being. It doesn’t matter what it is. The only requirement is that you feel intensely about it and are willing to act with enthusiasm, awakening the sleeping God within you.
As Abraham Maslow once observed about self-actualizing people:
“They must be what they can be.”
Take a moment to think about what you can be, and contrast that with what you’ve chosen to be up until now. So what can you be? Perhaps you have an idea you’ve been carrying around with you for decades, such as a book that you know needs to be written, which only you have the wisdom to create. Can you get so passionate about realizing your vision that you activate the presence of God to assist you in co-creating your dreams? Remember, the mere presence of that passion, nothing more, is evidence that the energy of the Divine creating spirit is alive and well in you. That’s all you need—just the willingness to allow your passion to speak up and awaken from its dormant status. You don’t have to know how to activate your long-buried enthusiasm or precisely what to focus on. What you need is the willingness to say yes to signals from within you, the God within you that wants to be active.
I’ve always treasured the observations of the famous Greek scholar Nikos Kazantzakis, who is one of my favorite authors. In page after page of his wonderful novel Zorba the Greek, Kazantzakis details what a truly passionate man looks, sounds, and feels like, as the title character simply lives his bliss and feels the presence of God in every waking moment. And I’ve had these words by Kazantzakis posted in my home for more than a decade now, yet I still read and contemplate them every day:
“By believing passionately in something that does not yet exist we create it. The nonexistent is whatever we have not sufficiently desired.”
BLOG by Dr. Wayne W. Dyer
“It isn’t easy being the devil. When I talk, I have to use enigmas so that people don’t perceive the temptation. I always need to appear smart and intelligent, so that people can admire me. I spend a great deal of energy convincing a few disciples that hell is more interesting. Now I am old, I would like to send you some of my pupils.”
Buddha knew that this was a trap: if he accepted the deal, he would become the devil, and the devil would become Buddha.
“You think it’s fun to be Buddha,” he answered. “Besides having to do the same things that you do, I also have to stand what my pupils do to me! They put in my mouth words that I never said, hold me to my teachings, and insist that I be wise the whole time! You would never stand a life like mine!”
The devil was convinced that changing roles was really a bad idea, and Buddha avoided the temptation.
Rabbi Wolf happened to walk into a bar one day; some people were drinking, others were playing cards, and the whole atmosphere seemed to be a bit heavy.
The rabbi left without saying a word; a young man followed him out.
“I know you didn’t like what you saw,” said the young man. “Only sinners live in there.”
“I liked what I saw,” said Wolf. “Those are men learning to lose everything. When they have nothing material left in this world, all that will remain for them to turn to is God. And from then on, what excellent servants they will be!”
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Every body loves a blog well written and story well told ,but not every one can be Stephen King. But you can develop that skill by practice .Here are writing habits of 7 amazing writers .There’s no one way that works. Do what works for you .But maybe you’ll get some inspiration from these greats, as I have.
By Kahoota
1. Stephen King. In his book On Writing, King says that he writes 10 pages a day without fail, even on holidays. That’s a lot of writing each day, and it has led to some incredible results: King is one of the most prolific writers of our time.
2. Ernest Hemingway. By contrast with King, “Papa” Hemingway wrote 500 words a day. That’s not bad, though. Hemingway, like me, woke early to write to avoid the heat and to write in peace and quiet. Interestingly, though Hemingway is famous for his alcoholism, he said he never wrote while drunk.
3. Vladimir Nabokov. The author of such great novels as Lolita, Pale Fire and Ada did his writing standing up, and all on index cards. This allowed him to write scenes non-sequentially, as he could re-arrange the cards as he wished. His novel Ada took up more than 2,000 cards.
4. Truman Capote. The author of “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” and “In Cold Blood” claimed to be a “completely horizontal author.” He said he had to write lying down, in bed or on a couch, with a cigarette and coffee. The coffee would switch to tea, then sherry, then martinis, as the day wore on. He wrote his first and second drafts in longhand, in pencil. And even his third draft, done on a typewriter, would be done in bed — with the typewriter balanced on his knees.
5. Philip Roth. One of the greatest living American writers, Roth works standing up, pacing around as he thinks. He claimed to walk half a mile for every page he writes. He separates his work life from personal life, and doesn’t write where he lives — he has a studio built away from his house. He works at a lectern that doesn’t face the view of his studio window, to avoid distraction.
6. James Joyce. In the pantheon of great writers of the last century, Joyce looms large. And while more prolific writers set themselves a word or page limit, Joyce prided himself in taking his time with each sentence. A famous story has a friend asking Joyce in the street if he’d had a good day writing. Yes, Joyce replied happily. How much had he written? Three sentences, Joyce told him.
7. Joyce Carol Oates. This extremely prolific writer (see her bibliography on her Wikipedia page!) has won numerous awards, including the National Book Award. She writes in longhand, and while she doesn’t have a formal schedule, she says she prefers to write in the morning, before breakfast. She’s a creative writing professor, and on the days she teaches, she says she writes for an hour or 45 minutes before leaving for her first class. On other days, when the writing is going well, she can work for hours without a break — and has breakfast at 2 or 3 in the afternoon!
post originally written by Leo Babauta For Zen Habits is a Inspiration for all those aspiring writers out there.What are your writing habits? Share in the comments!
Some times in life we all wish if we get another chance . but life is a cruel unexplainable thing . This post reminded me how wonderful life is and how blessed we all are .. Found on If I Had My Life To Live Over this is one of those post which gave me Goosebumps.
In the own word of Diana Adams this is how she explains her post :
When my life gets overwhelming and hectic, when I’m not spending as much time with my family as I know I should, when I feel like I’m missing the important things – I read this poem and instantly return to a place of love, forgiveness and peace. I feel grounded.This is beautiful. Enjoy!
Read the : Wonderful poem If I Had My Life To Live Over by Erma Bombeck
(written after she found out she was dying from cancer)
When you think of improving your health and happiness, what do you think about? Is it diet? Is it money? Or is it even having that dream house with a nice car? We all have different dreams, but the thing that connects us all is the fact that we believe these dreams will make us happy.
Happiness is something that has been studied for a long time. It's something that we cannot fully grasp. We may see happy people walking past us, but we never know why they're so happy and what their secret is.
As the Buddhists say the secret of happiness lies in the minds release of worldly ties, but do we really need to do that? I've gathered five simple ways you can improve your health and happiness without giving up that which makes our lives interesting.
1. Yogic Breathing
One of the five principles of Yoga is Pranayama. It is a breathing exercise that promotes proper breathing. Pretty simple, right? Proper breathing in the Yogic sense is to bring more oxygen to your brain and blood, while also controlling the Prana (life force energy).
Yogic breathing can seem mystical at first, but once you learn and try it a few times its just like regular breathing with a few modifications.It is believed that practicing the Asanas (yoga poses) with Pranayama (proper breathing) is the highest form of purification and self-discipline.
Yogic breathing has been proven to help improve your lungs and when combined with yoga can do wonders for your health.
2. Sungazing
Sungazing is an interesting concept, which involves gazing at the sun to give your body the nourishment it requires. It is somewhat controversial and if you read about it, you will no doubt run into a man called Hira Ratan Manek.
He has been followed and studied by scientists, but there is still an aura of controversy around this particular subject, and rightly so. Hira Ratan Manek claims to live mostly on the nourishment from the sun. He says that he occasionally drinks tea, coffee and buttermilk for hospitality and social purposes.
Whether this is true or not, I do not know, but it is always fascinating to expand your mind and read about new things. Dr Shah, which was one of the people who followed and documented Hira Ratan Manek wrote a synopsis on the whole matter.
3. Sauna
it has some pretty impressive health benefits, and then you have the infrared sauna, which is often believed to be more powerful than the regular one.
It has even been shown that taking cold showers in conjunction with a sauna challenges your immune system and reduces stress hormones. If you ever have the possibility of trying a real sauna, where it can get very hot, make sure you check it out. It can get uncomfortable, so its a useful way to build discipline as well.
4. Oil Pulling
Oil pulling is an Indian folk remedy, where you take an oil, such as sunflower oil, and you swish it in your mouth in the morning before eating anything for about 10-20 minutes. The Hindu Business Line has written an interesting article on this.
A few smaller studies have shown that oil pulling can help against certain bacteria in your mouth, but other than that oil pulling is often thought of as something that doesn't work. Although there are no official studies done, you can find many personal reports all around the web.
5. Finding Your Passion
Passion is critical to happiness and although I have found no large studies done on the effects of passion on peoples health and happiness, but it has been shown that happier people live longer.
Finding your passion is not an easy task. If it was, more people would be following their hearts and living out their dream life. I recently decided to take the plunge and start pursuing one of my passions, which is writing and helping people improve their lives.
If you haven't read about the worlds oldest case study on happiness, you might want to check it out, because it can really open your eyes and remind you that it is the simple things in life that improve your health and happiness.Post by Henri Junttila
“I have always wanted to know if I was able to love like you do,” said the disciple of a Hindu master.
“There is nothing beyond love,” answered the master. “It’s love that keeps the world going round and the stars hanging in the sky.”
“I know all that. But how can I know if my love is great enough?”
“Try to find out if you abandon yourself to love or if you flee from your emotions. But don’t ask questions like that because love is neither great nor small. You can’t measure a feeling like you measure a road: if you act like that you will see only your reflection, like the moon in a lake, but you won’t be following your path.”
A young man said to the abbot from the monastery, “I’d actually like to be a monk, but I haven’t learned anything in life. All my father taught me was to play chess, which does not lead to enlightenment. Apart from that, I learned that all games are a sin.
“They may be a sin but they can also be a diversion, and who knows, this monastery needs a little of both,” was the reply.
The abbot asked for a chessboard, sent for a monk, and told him to play with the young man.
But before the game began, he added, “Although we need diversion, we cannot allow everyone to play chess the whole time. So, we have the best players here; if our monk loses, he will leave the monastery and his place will be yours.”
The abbot was serious. The young man knew he was playing for his life, and broke into a cold sweat; the chessboard became the center of the world.
The monk began badly. The young man attacked, but then saw the saintly look on the other man’s face; at that moment, he began playing badly on purpose. After all, a monk is far more useful to the world.
Suddenly, the abbot threw the chessboard to the floor.
“You have learned far more than was taught you,” he said. “You concentrated yourself enough to win, were capable of fighting for your desire. Then, you had compassion, and were willing to make a sacrifice in the name of a noble cause. Welcome to the monastery, because you know how to balance discipline with compassion.”
The Rabbi Nahum of Chernobyl was always being insulted by a shopkeeper. One day, the latter’s business began to go badly.
“It must be the Rabbi, who is asking for God’s revenge,” he thought. He went to ask for Nahum’s forgiveness.
“I forgive you in the same spirit you ask for forgiveness.” replied the Rabbi.
But the man’s losses just kept increasing, until he was reduced to misery. Nahum’s horrified disciples went to ask him what had happened.
“I forgave him, but he continued to hate me deep down in his heart.” said the Rabbi. “Therefore, his hatred contaminated everything he did, and God’s punishment became more and more severe.”
At a small Moroccan village an imam was thinking about the only well of the entire region. Another Muslim approached him and asked:
“What is in there?”
“God is hidden in there.”
“God is hidden inside this well? That is a sin! What you may be seeing is an image left by the unfaithful!”
The imam asked him to get closer and lean out on the edge. Reflected on the water, he could see his own face.
“But that is me!”
“Right. Now you know where God is hidden.”
Via [ Religions and Sin ]
I put all my genius into my life; I put only my talent into my works. -Oscar Wilde
Your work is to discover your world and then with all your heart give yourself to it. -Buddha
The only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary. -Donald Kendall
Work is the refuge of people who have nothing better to do. -Oscar Wilde
The sum of wisdom is that time is never lost that is devoted to work. -Ralph Waldo Emerson
The harder I work the more I live. -George Bernard Shaw
Work is either fun or drudgery. It depends on your attitude. I like fun. -Colleen C. Barrett
We work to become, not to acquire. -Elbert Hubbard
Find something you love to do and you’ll never have to work a day in your life. -Harvey MacKay
Men for the sake of getting a living forget to live. -Margaret Fuller
Nothing will work unless you do. -Maya Angelou
The best preparation for good work tomorrow is to do good work today. -Elbert Hubbard
There is no substitute for hard work. -Thomas A. Edison
Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work. -Aristotle
When your work speaks for itself, don’t interrupt. -Henry J. Kaiser
Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing. -Theodore Roosevelt
Derive happiness in oneself from a good day’s work, from illuminating the fog that surrounds us. -Henri Matisse
I’m a great believer in luck and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it. -Thomas Jefferson
Never work just for money or for power. They won’t save your soul or help you sleep at night. -Marian Wright Edelman
Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work. -Stephen King
The big secret in life is that there is no big secret. Whatever your goal, you can get there if you’re willing to work. -Oprah Winfrey
The true way to render ourselves happy is to love our work and find in it our pleasure. -Francoise de Motteville
They weren’t lying when they said science is stranger than fiction. Catch up on your head-scratch-inducing trivia with Marcus Chown’s eleven jaw-dropping facts about the universe. See three below:
Can you believe that?
Learn more about all eleven mind-blowing facts at The Huffington Post.