HAPPINESS....... AN ILLUSION ?
"People confuse the source of their happiness. They become temporarily happy when they get a new car, or a new house, or a new marriage. And they think that they are suddenly happy because of this new thing in their life. In reality, they are happy because for a brief moment, they are without desire. But then soon another desire comes along. And the search continues."

THE LAW OF THE HARVEST

It was reputed that a very wise old man who lived on a hilltop overlooking the beautiful city of Venice, Italy, could answer any question anyone might ask him. Two local boys figured they could trick him, so they caught a bird and took it to the wise sage.

"Tell us," they asked, "is the bird in our hand dead or alive?"

The wise man replied, "Son, if I say the bird is alive, you will close your hands and crush it to death. Or, if I say the bird is dead, you will open your hands and it will fly away. You see, son, in your hands you hold the power of life and death."
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And so it is with life. Whether we succeed or fail, live a meaningful or empty life, it's all in our hands! For whatever we sow we reap.

CONFLICT

A man called his neighbor to help him move a couch that had become stuck in the doorway. They pushed and pulled until they were exhausted, but the couch wouldn't budge.

"Forget it," the man finally said, "we will never get this in."

The neighbor looked at him quizzically and said, "In?"

SHACKLES

The highly competent and capable senior manager in a multinational company explained how he valued people’s appreciation.

“That helps me do my work well. When my boss is happy with me it makes my day. If he is upset or angry I am down all day. It’s the same story at home.”

“You have mortgaged your freedom for the appreciation of other people,” warned the teacher. “You can’t live your life based on the reassurance you find in the eyes of another person and still hope to be happy.”

DETACHMENT

A foreign tourist made a special trip to the residence of the learned Polish rabbi, Hofetz Chaim. On entering the rabbi’s house, he was astonished to see it practically bare, except for a table, a work-bench, and some shelves of books.

“Rabbi, where is all your furniture?” asked the tourist

“Where is yours?” replied the rabbi.

“Mine? Why? I’m a visitor here. I’m only passing through,”

“So am I,” replied the rabbi.
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The greatest wealth is contentment with a little!

ONE YEAR TO LIVE

Anthony Burgess was 40 when he learned that he had only one year to live. He had a brain tumor that would kill him within a year. He knew he had a battle on his hands. He was completely broke at the time, and he didn't have anything to leave behind for his wife, Lynne, soon to be a widow.

Burgess had never been a professional novelist in the past, but he always knew the potential was inside him to be a writer. So, for the sole purpose of leaving royalties behind for his wife, he put a piece of paper into a typewriter and began writing. He had no certainty that he would even be published, but he couldn't think of anything else to do.

"It was January of 1960," he said, "and according to the prognosis, I had a winter and spring and summer to live through, and would die with the fail of the leaf."

In that time Burgess wrote energetically, finishing five and a half novels before the year was through (very nearly the entire lifetime output of E.M. Forster, and almost twice that of J. D. Salinger.) 

One year to live but Burgess did not die. His cancer had gone into remission and then disappeared altogether. In his long and full life as a novelist (he is best known for A Clock-work Orange), he wrote more than 70 books, but without the death sentence from cancer, he may not have written at all.
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Many of us are like Anthony Burgess, hiding greatness inside, waiting for some external emergency to bring it out. Ask yourself what you'd do if you had Anthony Burgess's original predicament. “If I had just a year to live, how would I live differently? What exactly would I do?"

ALWAYS ASK, NEVER ASSUME !!!

His request approved, the CNN News photographer quickly used a cell phone to call the local airport to charter a flight.

He was told a twin-engine plane would be waiting for him at the airport.

Arriving at the airfield, he spotted a plane warming up outside a hanger. He jumped in with his bag, slammed the door shut, and shouted, 'Let's go'. The pilot taxied out, swung the plane into the wind and took off.

Once in the air, the photographer instructed the pilot, 'Fly over the valley and make low passes so I can take pictures of the fires on the hillsides.'

'Why?' asked the pilot.

'Because I'm a photographer for CNN' , he responded, 'and I need to get some close up shots.'

The pilot was strangely silent for a moment. Finally he stammered, 'So, what you're telling me, is ... You're NOT my flight instructor?'