Inspirational Story: "The Bamboo and the Oak"

🌟 Inspirational Story: "The Bamboo and the Oak" 🌳

Once upon a time in a dense forest, there stood a mighty oak tree and a small bamboo shoot growing beside it. The oak tree would often laugh at the bamboo, saying,
"You’re so weak and thin. Look at me—I stand tall, strong, and unshakable."

The bamboo remained quiet and kept growing slowly but steadily, rooted deep in the soil. For years, the oak basked in the sun, proud of its size, while the bamboo silently endured storms, droughts, and wind.

One day, a powerful storm hit the forest. The oak stood proud against the wind, refusing to bend. But as the wind grew stronger, the oak cracked and fell to the ground. The bamboo, however, bent with the wind, swayed with grace, and when the storm passed, it stood tall again—unbroken.

People from the nearby village came and marveled at the bamboo. “How did you survive when the great oak fell?” they asked.

The bamboo replied,
“I do not resist life’s challenges. I learn to bend. Strength is not in standing tall—but in rising every time we bend.”

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💬 Inspirational Quote:

"In the face of the fiercest storms, it is not the tallest that survives, but the one who learns to bend and rise again."

Let me know if you'd like this in a poster or video form!

Real problem in coalition govt in India

Before decide whom to Vote kindly read this once the real problem in coalition govt...

You may Vote to Non-BJP parties( Minority Cong+CPI+CPM+TMC+SP+BSP+RJD+DMK+TRS+AIMIM+AIDUF+INLD+RSP+JDS+PPI+RLD+MD+KCongress++IUML+AAP) who are joining hands to each other, not for country, but for their own vested interests.

1- Political parties which join coalition ministry at the centre has basically parochial and vested interests.

2- Their leaders are more interested in getting positions of ministers and ministries of their own choice which can help them in getting more money and power, rather than serving the national interests. So automatically it will pull more corruption.You must have seen during UPA rule how corruption was at peak.

3- A weak ministry with several coalition parties fails to pay attention to continuity in the pursuit of policies, both internal and external. This will create problem in Development of Country.( You must have noticed how there was Zero development during Devegowda and IK Gujral time)

4- If the political parties fail to get favours, they withdraw their support from Govt which fails. This was happened during Vajapayee's 18 days Govt. and for that again Elections happened and all tas payers money was wasted due to this election continuously.

5- This degeneration of political parties has caused politics in In­dia to become an incredibly lucrative career for unqualified and incompetent people instead of being a channel of service to the country.

6- People who are given party tickets to stand for elections from various constituencies are not the candidates chosen by the people of the constituency but peo­ple imposed almost arbitrarily by the outside authority.

7- If the main object of any Indian political party is to attain and maintain political power for the benefit of the patronage it can dole out to its members, it follows that the party must ensure that every centre of power is brought under its control.Where Govt cant take any action on its corruptied Coaliation parties.

8- As a result of this, Coalition government try to have hold on all centres of political power, such as police, universities, student organisations, local bodies, etc. Linked with this desire of controlling power is the idea of giving party tickets even to smugglers and criminals. The criminalisation of politics has thus affected the functioning of the political parties.

9- A coalition government is less efficient by nature. Compromises that satisfies everyone is time consuming and certain issues is difficult to negotiate.

10- A coalition government is very poor in Decision making or Time consuming process of decision making .. Right now since BJP is with full majrity, Modiji is able to take full decision which is benefit for our country.

11- Sometimes National interest is kept aside for accomplishing regional interest. Happened when UPA government was in centre it didnt concluded water sharing agreement with Bangladesh because West Bengal regional party was of the veiw that it will hamper WB development.

12- Generally appeasement policies are considered rather developmental policy.

13-Can lack clear objectives, or be difficult to agree common objectives.

Forming and managing a coalition can be a very time-consuming and bureaucratic process that can take away time from working directly on campaign issues and organizational tasks.

14- May be dominated by one powerful organization. Power is not always distributed equally among members; larger or richer organizations can have more say in decisions.

15- May require you to compromise your position on issues or tactics. Shared decision-making can be slow and may paralyze progress.Can often be constrained by a lack of resources.

16- Potential for donor interference (e.g. a donor is interested in funding certain activities but there is a danger of planning activities only because you know you can get the funds).

17- You may not always get credit for your work. Sometimes the coalition as a whole gets recognition rather than individual members. Or certain members get or claim more recognition than others, causing conflict and resentment.

18- If the coalition process breaks down it can harm everyone's advocacy by damaging members' credibility.Coalition activities can be difficult to monitor and evaluate.

Now choice is yours.. Do you want to vote to BJP with a stable decision making govt or do you want a govt which is controlled by an Italian who never likes Indian and feels Indians are Slaves( read the book written by ex president of India Mr Pranab Mukherjee)

Your Vote is important to build a nation.

- Bimal

Extremist are Threat to India

An Eye Opener . Must Read and Share..

Rohingyas entered our country begging for food and shelter, they got place to live with safety and facilities But now these people consider themselves owners of the land and are behaving like goons and criminals and attacking our own people.

Just 2 days back, 3 journalists from Republic TV, News X and Indian News were attacked by illegal Rohingya immigrants for questioning the authenticity of the documents they hold. Since many days, there were reports on how Rohingyas are posing security threat in the region of Jammu by joining hands with terrorists and working against the Indian Army. The recent Sunjuwan terror attack on Army camp clearly indicated how Rohingyas helped terrorist escape from the police. Reports suggested that terrorists took shelter with Rohingyas before the attack.

It was very well known that Rohingyas in Jammu were being settled in strategic locations and not just in random places. Around 40 families have occupied a place near Nagrota area which is in close proximity to the 16 corps headquarters of the Indian Army. Another 48 families of Rohingyas have occupied lands near Sunjuwan area, exactly where the military headquarters was attacked.
Rohit Choudhary the journalist from Republic TV had applied for RTI seeking information on the number of Rohingyas living in Jammu region and the documents they hold. The investigations revealed that the 27 illegal Rohingyas immigrants were given phone numbers. Shockingly, they even carried AADHAR, voter IDs and ration cards. The big question is when these illegal immigrants have not even got refugee status, how were they able to get AADHAR cards??? How did they get VOTER IDs?How are they claiming to be Indian citizens.
They could not have got these benefits without the support of local administration and some government officials. When the three journalists from Republic TV, News X and India News raised the issue with locals and questioned them of fake documents, the criminal Rohingyas have attacked them and thrashed them on the streets. They have threatened the journalists not to enter the Rohingya occupied areas claiming that the land belongs to them.
So, these Rohingyas have now reached a stage where no one can question them. They have gone to the extent of attacking people who are raising concerns about Rohingyas. They are claiming to be Indians producing fake documents and are snatching government benefits meant for poor people. These developments are not just random, but is a well planned strategy by terrorists and some pseudo secular party to change the demography of the Jammu region just like how they did in Kashmir.

28 years back, all Kashmiri Pandits were either killed or chased away by these terrorists and political parties who changed the demography of the state and then started demanding AZADI from India. Now, the Jammu region is heading the same way where Hindus are being attacked on daily basis and ultimately they will turn the situation unbearable for Hindus and make them flee from state. This is the standard operating procedure which is being followed since many years and now these terror supporters are using Rohingyas for the job.

If we do not see the threat coming, India will have to lose peace in Jammu just like Kashmir and soon the entire state of Jammu Kashmir will turn out to be a Jihadi hub posing threat to entire country.

For Someone Special ...Why do I Love You Still ...

          I love you because I do. I love you because the Universe showed me the way to you. I love you because my heart beats your name, my mind drowns in your eyes, my soul feels yours even when we are miles apart.

        I love you because I have no choice; I didn’t ask to love you. I didn’t need to love you, but I love you just the same. My arms aren’t filled unless you’re in them and my thirst is not quenched unless you are the drink.

           I love you because I feel comfort in being out of my comfort zone with you by my side. I love you because every cell of my body responds to your touch, to your look, to the way you move and the way you sound. I love you because something, somewhere, directed me to you.

            It was my soul and you are its mate.I simply need you every moment ...

           Through the paths we have taken to one another, I have loved you. I’ve played in comfortable places among comfortable people until I had no choice but to leave there to come to you here. I battled the gods themselves and faced the raging storms of hell until, one day, the clouds parted and your eyes met mine.

          I am waiting impatiently, for you until that shock from my heart announced your coming in my life.

           I know you are scared, my sweet Angel. I know you feel the pangs of fear and the dread of a journey of which no arrival is guaranteed. But I promise you this: when the demons come I will stand strong with you at my back and you will be protected. When the brimstone comes raining from the sky I will shield you until each storm passes. When the swine and malcontent arrive, I will fight them and when the battles are over and the storm clouds are gone I will hold your face, look into your eyes,and you will know why I love you.

           You loved me instantly. Before you even knew me. You already knew.You never faltered and you had faith in us. Even when I stumbled slightly in the very beginning. You never swayed. You accept me. My light and my shadow. Even though we are different, you never try to change me. I am me when I am with you. You show me you. You opened yourself up, cracked your heart wide open and you allowed me in.

          I love your voice. It somehow resonates deeply in my soul. Because you know me even when I struggle to know myself.How your fantasies blend with mine. Because when we fight it is never traumatic because we both know it will never be the end.And how you are never stubborn in making up. Well, at least not for too long…  I love how you tell me that this is like nothing you have experienced before.And I believe you. I believe it all. I trust you with my life and my heart. I know I am safe in your arms.And you would protect me with your life. How every day you teach me something new. And you allow me to teach you things that I know you have little interest in. I love the way you sing to me, especially when it is our song that plays. And how you tell me stories about your childhood and I imagine how you were back then. How still your kiss does crazy things to my insides.And when you share in video to me, I forget the rest of the world exists And how I feel like I’ve known you the whole of my life.I love how you are present with me, and you absorb me completely.How I miss you the second you leave. And even before sometimes. How you call me out when I try to push the boundaries. And how you tell me without any doubt that I am the only one in the world for you. I love how you get mad with me when I question your love. Because it frustrates you that I would ever question how devoted you are. And how you forgive me so quickly for everything else that I say and do that hurts you. And you never mention it again. I love how you allow me to put my cold hands and feet on your warm body.I love the way you look at me in videos. And also how you look at me when we have made extra special love.I hate it when we fight but love that our making up makes everything better. I love how we imagine a wild and wonderful future together. And then make the plans to make it happen. How when I act a little crazy you smile and soothe my aches.  And I love the way I catch you watching me as though you are in awe at what you see. I love how quickly I turn you on and how easily you pleasure me.

                I love how I often fail to understand you. You puzzle my mind. And that’s good. And how I often know your thoughts when no words have been spoken. I love how when I ask you how much you love me you tease me and give the most ridiculous replies.And did I tell you… I love you because I love you. I love you.I want to marry you and i need you always and always..everything i wrote in one breadth and now you to decide about this.. 

Only Last... I Love You.....

A Moral Story : A Wise Counting

Emperor Akbar was in the habit of putting riddles and puzzles to his courtiers. He often asked questions which were strange and witty. It took much wisdom to answer these questions. 



Once he asked a very strange question. The courtiers were dumb folded by his question. 



Akbar glanced at his courtiers. As he looked, one by one the heads began to hang low in search of an answer. It was at this moment that Birbal entered the courtyard. Birbal who knew the nature of the emperor quickly grasped the situation and asked, "May I know the question so that I can try for an answer". 



Akbar said, "How many crows are there in this city?" 



Without even a moment's thought, Birbal replied "There are fifty thousand five hundred and eighty nine crows, my lord". 



"How can you be so sure?" asked Akbar. 



Birbal said, "Make you men count, My lord. If you find more crows it means some have come to visit their relatives here. If you find less number of crows it means some have gone to visit their relatives elsewhere". 



Akbar was pleased very much by Birbal's wit. 

In life, things happen around us, things happen to us, but the only thing that truly matters is what happens within us.

Once upon a time a daughter complained to her father that her life was miserable and that she didn’t know how she was going to make it. She was tired of fighting and struggling all the time. It seemed just as one problem was solved, another one soon followed.Her father, a chef, took her to the kitchen. He filled three pots with water and placed each on a high fire. Once the three pots began to boil, he placed potatoes in one pot, eggs in the second pot, and ground coffee beans in the third pot.He then let them sit and boil, without saying a word to his daughter. The daughter, moaned and impatiently waited, wondering what he was doing.After twenty minutes he turned off the burners. He took the potatoes out of the pot and placed them in a bowl. He pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl.He then ladled the coffee out and placed it in a cup. Turning to her he asked. “Daughter, what do you see?”“Potatoes, eggs, and coffee,” she hastily replied.“Look closer,” he said, “and touch the potatoes.” She did and noted that they were soft. He then asked her to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard-boiled egg. Finally, he asked her to sip the coffee. Its rich aroma brought a smile to her face.“Father, what does this mean?” she asked.He then explained that the potatoes, the eggs and coffee beans had each faced the same adversity– the boiling water.
However, each one reacted differently.The potato went in strong, hard, and unrelenting, but in boiling water, it became soft and weak.The egg was fragile, with the thin outer shell protecting its liquid interior until it was put in the boiling water. Then the inside of the egg became hard.However, the ground coffee beans were unique. After they were exposed to the boiling water, they changed the water and created something new.“Which are you,” he asked his daughter. “When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a potato, an egg, or a coffee bean? “Moral:In life, things happen around us, things happen to us, but the only thing that truly matters is what happens within us.Which one are you?

Shake off Your Problems

A man’s favorite donkey falls into a deep precipice; He can’t pull it out no matter how hard he tries; He therefore decides to bury it alive.

Soil is poured onto the donkey from above. The donkey feels the load, shakes it off, and steps on it; More soil is poured.

It shakes it off and steps up; The more the load was poured, the higher it rose; By noon, the donkey was grazing in green pastures.

After much shaking off (of problems) And stepping up (learning from them), One will graze in GREEN PASTURES.

Everyone Has a Story in Life

A 24 year old boy seeing out from the train’s window shouted…

“Dad, look the trees are going behind!”

Dad smiled and a young couple sitting nearby, looked at the 24 year old’s childish behavior with pity, suddenly he again exclaimed…

“Dad, look the clouds are running with us!”

The couple couldn’t resist and said to the old man…

“Why don’t you take your son to a good doctor?”The old man smiled and said…“I did and we are just coming from the hospital, my son was blind from birth, he just got his eyes today.Every single person on the planet has a story. Don’t judge people before you truly know them. The truth might surprise you.

The Elephant Rope

As a man was passing the elephants, he suddenly stopped, confused by the fact that these huge creatures were being held by only a small rope tied to their front leg. No chains, no cages. It was obvious that the elephants could, at anytime, break away from their bonds but for some reason, they did not.

He saw a trainer nearby and asked why these animals just stood there and made no attempt to get away. “Well,” trainer said, “when they are very young and much smaller we use the same size rope to tie them and, at that age, it’s enough to hold them. As they grow up, they are conditioned to believe they cannot break away. They believe the rope can still hold them, so they never try to break free.”

The man was amazed. These animals could at any time break free from their bonds but because they believed they couldn’t, they were stuck right where they were.

Like the elephants, how many of us go through life hanging onto a belief that we cannot do something, simply because we failed at it once before?

Failure is part of learning; we should never give up the struggle in life.

A Dish of Ice Cream

In the days when an ice cream sundae cost much less, a 10 year old boy entered a hotel coffee shop and sat at a table. A waitress put a glass of water in front of him.

“How much is an ice cream sundae?”

“50 cents,” replied the waitress.

The little boy pulled his hand out of his pocket and studied a number of coins in it.

“How much is a dish of plain ice cream?” he inquired. Some people were now waiting for a table and the waitress was a bit impatient.

“35 cents,” she said brusquely.

The little boy again counted the coins. “I’ll have the plain ice cream,” he said.

The waitress brought the ice cream, put the bill on the table and walked away. The boy finished the ice cream, paid the cashier and departed.

When the waitress came back, she began wiping down the table and then swallowed hard at what she saw.

There, placed neatly beside the empty dish, were 15 cents – her tip.

You should be observant, talk less but listen more. This will make you a wise person.

There was an old owl that lived in an oak. Everyday he saw incidents happening around him. Yesterday he saw a boy helping an old man to carry a heavy basket. Today he saw a girl shouting at her mother. The more he saw the less he spoke. 


As he spoke less, he heard more. He heard people talking and telling stories. He heard a woman saying that an elephant jumped over a fence. He also heard a man saying that he had never made a mistake. 


The old owl had seen and heard about what happened to people. Some became better and some became worse. But the old owl had become wiser each and every day. 

You should be observant, talk less but listen more. This will make you a wise person. 

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EVERY SUCCESS STORY IS ALSO A STORY OF GREAT FAILURE

Failure is the highway to success. Tom Watson Sr. said, "If you want to succeed, double your failure rate." If you study history, you will find that all stories of success are also stories of great failures. But people don't see the failures. They only see one side of the picture and they say that person got lucky: "He must have been at the right place at the right time."


Let me share someone's life history with you. This was a man who failed in business at the age of 21 ; was defeated in a legislative race at age 22; failed again in business at age 24; overcame the death of his sweetheart at age 26; had a nervous breakdown at age 27; lost a congressional race at age 34; lost a senatorial race at age 45; failed in an effort to become vice-president at age 47; lost a senatorial race at age 49; and was elected president of the United States at age 52.
This man was Abraham Lincoln.Would you call him a failure? He could have quit. But to Lincoln, defeat was a detour and not a dead end.


In 1913, Lee De Forest, inventor of the triodes tube, was charged by the district attorney for using fraudulent means to mislead the public into buying stocks of his company by claiming that he could transmit the human voice across the Atlantic. He was publicly humiliated. Can you imagine where we would be without his invention?

A New York Times editorial on December 10, 1903, questioned the wisdom of the Wright Brothers who were trying to invent a machine, heavier than air, that would fly. One week later, at Kitty Hawk, the Wright Brothers took their famous flight.
Colonel Sanders, at age 65, with a beat-up car and a $100 check from Social Security, realized he had to do something. He remembered his mother's recipe and went out selling. How many doors did he have to knock on before he got his first order? It is estimated that he had knocked on more than a thousand doors before he got his first order. How many of us quit after three tries, ten tries, a hundred tries, and then we say we tried as hard as we could?


As a young cartoonist, Walt Disney faced many rejections from newspaper editors, who said he had no talent. One day a minister at a church hired him to draw some cartoons. Disney was working out of a small mouse infested shed near the church. After seeing a small mouse, he was inspired. That was the start of Mickey Mouse.

Successful people don't do great things, they only do small things in a great way. 

One day a partially deaf four year old kid came home with a note in his pocket from his teacher, "Your Tommy is too stupid to learn, get him out of the school." His mother read the note and answered, "My Tommy is not stupid to learn, I will teach him myself." And that Tommy grew up to be the great Thomas Edison. Thomas Edison had only three months of formal schooling and he was partially deaf.

Henry Ford forgot to put the reverse gear in the first car he made.

Do you consider these people failures? They succeeded in spite of problems, not in the absence of them. But to the outside world, it appears as though they just got lucky.

All success stories are stories of great failures. The only difference is that every time they failed, they bounced back. This is called failing forward, rather than backward. You learn and move forward. Learn from your failure and keep moving.

Below are more examples of the failures of successful people:
1. Thomas Edison failed approximately 10,000 times while he was working on the light bulb.
2. Henry Ford was broke at the age of 40.
3. Lee Iacocca was fired by Henry Ford II at the age of 54.
4. Young Beethoven was told that he had no talent for music, but he gave some of the best music to the world.

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. 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. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

STRUGGLE

                       A biology teacher was teaching his students how a caterpillar turns into a butterfly. He told the students that in the next couple of hours, the butterfly would struggle to come out of the cocoon. But no one should help the butterfly. Then he left.

The students were waiting and it happened. The butterfly struggled to get out of the cocoon, and one of the students took pity on it and decided to help the butterfly out of the cocoon against the advice of his teacher. He broke the cocoon to help the butterfly so it didn't have to struggle anymore. But shortly afterwards the butterfly died.

When the teacher returned, he was told what happened. He explained to this student that by helping the butterfly, he had actually killed it because it is a law of nature that the struggle to come out of the cocoon actually helps develop and strengthen its wings. The boy had deprived the butterfly of its struggle and the butterfly died.

                             Apply this same principle to our lives. Nothing worthwhile in life comes without a struggle. As parents we tend to hurt the ones we love most because we don't allow them to struggle to gain strength.

What matters is saying yes.

Do not be critics, you people, I beg you. I was a critic and I wish I could take it all back because it came from a smelly and ignorant place in me, and spoke with a voice that was all rage and envy. Do not dismiss a book until you have written one, and do not dismiss a movie until you have made one, and do not dismiss a person until you have met them. It is a f@*$%load of work to be open-minded and generous and understanding and forgiving and accepting, but Christ, that is what matters. What matters is saying yes.

We all operate in two contrasting modes

We all operate in two contrasting modes, which might be called open and closed. The open mode is more relaxed, more receptive, more exploratory, more democratic, more playful and more humorous. The closed mode is the tighter, more rigid, more hierarchical, more tunnel-visioned. Most people, unfortunately spend most of their time in the closed mode. Not that the closed mode cannot be helpful. If you are leaping a ravine, the moment of takeoff is a bad time for considering alternative strategies. When you charge the enemy machine-gun post, don’t waste energy trying to see the funny side of it. Do it in the “closed” mode. But the moment the action is over, try to return to the “open” mode—to open your mind again to all the feedback from our action that enables us to tell whether the action has been successful, or whether further action is need to improve on what we have done. In other words, we must return to the open mode, because in that mode we are the most aware, most receptive, most creative, and therefore at our most intelligent.

The truly creative mind in any field is no more than this

 A human creature born abnormally, inhumanely sensitive. To them… a touch is a blow, a sound is a noise, a misfortune is a tragedy, a joy is an ecstasy, a friend is a lover, a lover is a god, and failure is death. Add to this cruelly delicate organism the overpowering necessity to create, create, create — so that without the creating of music or poetry or books or buildings or something of meaning, their very breath is cut off… They must create, must pour out creation. By some strange, unknown, inward urgency they are not really alive unless they are creating.

Being happy doesn’t mean that everything is perfect; It means you’ve decided to look beyond the imperfections

1. Enjoying the present moment is a habit that takes practice.

If you always look toward tomorrow for happiness, odds are you will do the same when you attain what you’ve been dreaming of. As strange it sounds, the abilit
y to appreciate what’s in front of you has nothing to do with what you actually have. It’s more about how you measure the good things in your life at any given time.

Practice wanting what you have and it will feel even sweeter when you eventually have what you want. Look around—what’s in front of you that can enjoy?

2. Finding reasons to be happy now can benefit your future.

Subsequent tests revealed that the women who expressed more positive emotion in those photos became more mentally focused, had more successful marriages, and enjoyed a greater sense of well-being.

“While positive emotion tends to broaden thought, negative emotion tends to narrow it and hold back development…

3. Tuning into joy can improve your health, something that affords you many possibilities in life.

Something that most people take for granted until it’s compromised.

Choose to be happy now and you’ll have more days of good health to enjoy.

4. Consistent, long-term happiness depends on your ability to notice and appreciate the details; you can hone that skill right now.

Once you get everything you want, you will still be subject to life’s highs and lows. If you haven’t learned to enjoy the little things, your well-being will parallel your life’s circumstances. Every time something goes wrong, you’ll feel deeply unhappy (as opposed to disappointed, but determined to make the best of things).

Think about the things that fill you with the most joy—spending time with your pets, listening to the rain, and running on the beach, for example. Focus on those things right now, and let them brighten your day. That way, no matter what changes, you’ll have a variety of simple pleasures to help you through.

5. Every day is a new opportunity to be better than yesterday; that pursuit can increase your self-esteem and, accordingly, your happiness.

I used to be obsessed with being perfect. If I wasn’t the best at something, I couldn’t sleep at night. Becoming great never felt as good as I imagined it would because there was always room to be better. I was constantly dissatisfied and disappointed in myself.

I now look at the things I do as opportunities to get better from one day to the next. It’s more satisfying to set and meet an attainable goal, like focusing better and writing an extra article tomorrow, than it is to obsess about perfection, stressing because I’m not a world-famous author.

By focusing on small improvements and mini-goals, you’ll naturally move yourself toward your larger dreams. And you’ll respect the way you’re doing things.

6. You can be who you want to be right now, no matter what your situation looks like.

You may think life needs to change dramatically for you to be the person you want to be. That you can’t be giving unless you make more money. Or you can’t be adventurous until you sell your house. The truth is, you can be those things at any point in time.

So you don’t have money to share. Be generous with your compassion, and listen when your friends have problems. So your house hasn’t sold, pinning you in one place. Create adventure in your day by trying new things and introducing yourself to new people.

You never know when your nows will run out, so ask yourself, “How can I be that person I want to be in this moment?”

7. Finding joy in the present moment, no matter how inadequate it may seem, makes a difference in other people’s lives.

Though we all have different lists of dreams and goals, for most of us this is at the forefront: the possibility of living a meaningful life that affects other people for the better.

Happiness is a moment-to-moment choice, one that many have a hard time making. Other people will notice if you make that choice. And you will motivate them to do the same. As the research above indicates, this motivation has a substantial impact on their health and future happiness.

I know this isn’t your usual reasons-to-be-happy post. It didn’t start or end with “count your blessings” and I didn’t delve into your relationships or good fortune. There’s a very good reason for that.

I don’t think happiness is so much about what you have. What you have changes; your “blessings” evolve. Happiness is about how you interpret what’s in front of you. How proud you are of the way you live your life. How willing you are to enjoy simple pleasures, even if things aren’t perfect.

Though I have’t always done this well, today I choose to focus on the good—both in the world and myself—to feel happy right now. How will you tune into happiness today?

The symbol of one man’s impossible dream

The concept of building a magnificent ‘Brooklyn Bridge’ to connect New York with the Long Island was dreamt up by an innovative German engineer John Augustus Roebling, who had been consistently criticized and warned by skeptics. Critics laughed at him for his impractical and impossible feat as they predicted the entire construction to collapse into New York’s East River.

Though discouraged, Roebling could not stop dreaming of that bridge deep down in his heart and one day he shared his concept with his engineer son Washington who was convinced to work on his idea after a lot of discussion and persuasion. Roebling, along with his son, developed the model of how to proceed and overcame all the obstacles to accomplish the wild challenge and made a dedicated crew to build the epic bridge of the century.

In 1857, he drew designs for massive towers that would hold the bridge’s cables and he was the pioneering figure of using steel in the construction to make the bridge stronger (earlier such suspension bridges had been built of iron). Making this enormous bridge was the most difficult task which cost John Roebling’s life and caused injury to Washington Roebling, who became handicapped and never recovered. They were called “Crazy men and their crazy dreams”, but he never gave up. He discovered a way to communicate and instruct his wife and for 13 years he kept giving directions to his wife to accomplish their mission. When it was completed and opened on May 24, 1883, the whole world experienced the most wonderful phenomenon the entire United States celebrated. A group of dignitary figures walked across the bridge and called it a “Wonder of Science”, Military bands played in its dignity, and cannons in the Brooklyn Navy Yard sounded salutes. Even after 125 years of its opening, the bridge remains the busiest route for New York commuters.

Today the spectacular Brooklyn Bridge stands as the symbol of one man’s impossible dream, indomitable spirit and his resolution not to be overwhelmed by negative circumstances.

Life itself is an opportunity to make it meaningful and significant

American biochemist and geneticist John Craig Venter, who is widely known as the first person to sequence the human genome (the process that led to decoding the human genome), was once a C and D grader in school and terribly away from studies.

His interest in medicine arrived from his life situations. He was against the Vietnam War but he was enlisted in the United States Navy to work in the intensive-care ward of a field hospital. Frustrated, he once attempted suicide by swimming out to sea, but he couldn’t when the images of the pathetic condition of injured and dying marines knocked his head. The desire to do something for them inspired him to study medicine and he went to a community college ‘College of San Mateo’ in California. Though, later, he transferred to the University of California, San Diego and switched to biomedical research. He completed his BS in 1972 in biochemistry then a PhD in physiology and pharmacology in 1975 from same University. On completion of his studies he worked as an associate professor at the State University of New York at Buffalo, where he later became full time professor. In 1984, he joined the National Institutes of Health. He is the founder of The Institute for Genomic Research ‘Celera Genomics’, and the J. Craig Venter Institute where he is working to create synthetic biological organisms.

John Craig Venter was on Time magazine’s 100 list of the most influential people in the world for 2007 and 2008. The British magazine New Statesman enlisted him as the 14th “The World’s 50 Most Influential Figures.

Life itself is an opportunity to make it meaningful and significant; some become explorer and dive deep to take out the treasure while the others just sit, watch, and applaud for them.

It doesn’t matter if you’ve been a C or D grader throughout your school/college life. At any point in time, you can evolve as ‘the greatest’ provided you feel determined for something worthy and work diligently.