A man was driving down the road and ran out of gas. Just at that moment, a bee flew in his window. The bee said, “What seems to be the problem?” “I’m out of gas,” the man replied.
The bee told the man to wait right there and flew away. Minutes later, the man watched as an entire swarm of bees flew to his car and into his gas tank. After a few minutes, the bees flew out. “Try it now,” said one bee.
The man turned the ignition key and the car started right up. “Wow!” the man exclaimed, “what did you put in my gas tank”?
The Bee answer,
I see you smiling.
What seem to Bee the problem?
A Blind Bunny and...
A blind bunny rabbit and a blind snake were born into this world. Fate being what it was, the two crossed paths one day in a vegetable garden.
"You know, all my life, I've wondered what I was", said the snake. "I don't know since I can't see anything."
"I've wondered the same thing", said the rabbit. "Maybe together we can figure out who we are."
"Ok", said the snake. So he curled up around the bunny rabbit and began to sniff and prod and stroke the bunny.
"Hmmm, you're small, and soft, and warm and furry", said the snake, "and you have big ears and a bushy tail." The snake thought for a moment. "I know, you must be a rabbit!"
"Oh thank you thank you!" said the bunny, "Now let me help you." So the bunny rabbit started sniffing at the snake, pausing to stroke him with his paws. "Well let's see. You're long and cold and slimy and have a forked tongue. You have scales.... I know, you must be a lawyer!"
A Rabbi, a Hindu and a...
A Rabbi, a Hindu and a lawyer were driving late at night in the country when their car expired. They set out to find help, and came to a farmhouse. When they knocked at the door, the farmer explained that he had only two beds, and one of the three had to sleep in the barn with the animals. The three quickly agreed.
The Rabbi said he would sleep in the barn and let the other two have the beds. Ten minutes after the Rabbi left, there was a knock on the bedroom door. The Rabbi entered exclaiming "I can't sleep in the barn; there is a pig in there. It's against my religion to sleep in the same room with a pig!"
The Hindu said HE would sleep in the barn, as he had no religious problem with pigs. However, about five minutes later,the Hindu burst through the bedroom door saying "There's a COWin the barn! I can't sleep in the same room as a cow! It's against my religion!"
The lawyer, anxious to get to sleep, said he'd go to the barn,as he had no problem sleeping with animals.
In two minutes, the bedroom door burst open and the pig and the cow entered...
Friendship
Be a secrete admirer of your friend:- If your friend is good at something then do not praise him/her in his/her presence. Praising a person for what he/she is good, does not improve his/her qualities, but can cause over-confidence to be induced in him/her, which surely will be harmful for your friend. A good friend should never miss an opportunity to praise his/her friend in front of others when he/she is not around.
Don't proved him/her wrong in public:- As it is important not to praise a friend openly in his/her presence, it is also very much important to abstain from proving him/her wrong in front of other people. Take him/her away from the crowd and let him/her know where he/she is wrong. There is no point in proving your friend wrong in other's presence; it will spoil your friend's image in other's view. And additionally your friendship will be in danger.
Try to understand your friend:- It is always important to understand what your friend is worried about or what problems he/she is facing. Always try to understand the situation your friend is in and try to soothe him/her. It is evident that if people are undergoing some problems, they will not speak up their problems to their brothers or sisters, they will instead tell everything to their friends. Let your friend speak up, just listen to him/her and be with him/her until your friend does not come out of frustration.
Pull Your Friend Away From Making Mistakes:- If your friend is doing something wrong, it is your duty to let him/her know it at earliest. Keep in mind; best friend has to play a role of critic if he/she wants his/her friend to stop doing wrong things. But again keep in mind not to show your friends mistakes in front of other people. Sometimes it is important to understand your friend's intentions behind his/her actions and try to analyze situation, then only you should give your opinion.
The Ego Problem:- Never let ego spoil your friendship. It is no reason to be jealous if your friend is not at all able to speak to you and is with someone else, you have to be his/her friend, do not expect word of gratitude from the person you think is your friend. Sometimes there could be a clash between you and your friend, and you both stop talking to each other for some time, it is not at all wrong to speak first and say sorry to your friend, no matter what happens.
Try to Teach Good Things:- If you are a true friend, you should never give your hungry friend a fish, instead, you should teach him/her how to fish, this will give your friend food for lifetime. A good friend will never wish his/her friend to be dependent on someone.
Do Not Interfere:- Most important point that one should take care of is that your friend has his/her own life and you should not interfere in his/her life. You have a right to tell your friend what is good and what is bad, but you do not have a right to make someone do what you wish.
Hope this will help you out solve some of your problems you are facing in friendship.
The garden of Komyozeniji
Maruyama Park in Tokyo
A foggy visit to Okunoin's cemetery
Mount Fuji
Korakuen Garden in Okayama
700 series trains on the Tokaido Shinkasen
Cycling through the wooded hills
Customer Service
Customer service seems to be a hot topic in the business world these days as more and more corporations are beginning to realize that in order to succeed and have a sustainable business, the customer's needs and wants must take precedence over the "bottom line". Providing exceptional customer service is easier said than done, but if you follow these three important tips, you'll be on your way to creating a great customer service culture for your company. These tips are actually very basic and really don't have anything to do with direct contact with the customer, but trust me, they work!
First, let me give you an equation to keep in mind as you read this article. Here's the equation:
Happy Customer = Happy You + Happy Work Environment
1) On your way to work, listen to happy music. What type of music puts you in a good mood? Commuting to work is often tough and if you sometimes get road rage like me, it can instantly start your day off in a harried way. Music sets the tone for the rest of your day. When you listen to soothing and happy music, this affects how you deal with co-workers and customers.
2) If your desk or work area is cluttered and disorganized, take a few minutes to clear it.
When you come to work with a cluttered work area, your mind tends to become cluttered with all the things you need to do, thus putting you in a stressed mental state. This has a direct affect on your problem solving skills when you are communicating with customers.
3) Stay away from co-workers that sap your energy.
You know the ones... They come into work complaining about one thing or another. The just love spreading that negative energy around and fish around for pity from others. Simply give them a smile of encouragement and then run to the other side of the building! You don't need that negative energy to affect your mood and pass on to your customer.
Your overall state of mind and well-being affects how you interact with people. Your emotions, your work environment, and even the people you interact with at work can influence your actions and thoughts when you are dealing with customers. People can sense when you're happy. When you're happy, your customers are happy, right?
What are you doing to create a happy you, to create a happy work environment, and ultimately, to create happy customers?
Why I am so Sad?
Feeling down? Got the blues? You're not alone. Everyone gets sad. Yes, everyone you've ever met. Some people have sad feelings just once in a while, and others may have sad feelings pretty often. More than half of teenagers go through a sad period at least once a month and plenty of younger kids do, too.
When you're in a sad mood, it may feel like it will last forever, but usually feelings of sadness don't last very long - a few hours or maybe a day or 2. A deeper, more intense kind of sadness that lasts a lot longer is called depression (say: dih-preh-shun).
What Is Sadness?
Sadness is a feeling - it's one of the many normal human emotions, or moods, we all have. Sadness is the emotion people feel when they've lost something important, or when they have been disappointed about something, or when something sad has happened to them or to someone else. When they're lonely, people often feel sad.
When you're sad, the world may seem dark and unfriendly. You might feel like you have nothing to look forward to. The hurt deep inside may crush your usually good mood.
Sadness makes you feel like crying, and sometimes the tears are hard to stop. Crying often makes you feel better.
Sometimes when your mood is sad, you just feel like being alone for a little while. Or you might want someone to comfort you or just keep you company while you go through the sad feeling. Talking about what has made you sad usually helps the sad feeling melt away.
When sadness starts to go away, it can feel like a heavy blanket is being lifted from your shoulders.
When Is It Natural to Feel Sad?
Feeling sad every once in a while is natural. Maybe you didn't get something you really wanted. Maybe you miss somebody. Maybe somebody you really like doesn't want to be friends, and you don't feel so great about yourself. Maybe an illness or condition gets in the way of doing some things you want to do or makes you different from your friends. There are lots of reasons that people feel sadness.
Most of the time, sadness is because of a loss or separation, a difficult change or disappointment about something, or relationship problems.
Loss and Separation
This is the most common cause of sadness. It's a very sad thing to lose someone or something that you care about. There are many kinds of loss. The death of a relative, friend, or pet can bring weeks or months of sad feelings. The kind of sadness you feel from the death of a loved one has a special name - grief.
Other kinds of loss or separation from important people can also bring sadness, like people close to you getting a divorce. Sometimes it is hard to think straight because you cannot get your mind off your loss. Usually, the load of sadness you carry after a loss will lighten over time, although for a really big loss, there may always be a little bit of sadness left.
Changes
Changes that involve leaving something (or someone) behind, like moving to a new town or changing schools and leaving old friends can make you feel sad, too. The arrival of a new brother or sister may make you feel sad even though everyone thinks you should be happy to have a new sibling.
Disappointments
Disappointments like losing a game you hoped to win, getting a poor grade, or not being invited to a party can cause sadness. Sadness is a natural reaction to those things. How sad a person feels is usually related to how big or small the loss or disappointment is.
Relationships
Relationships bring happiness and fun most of the time. But tension or conflict in important relationships, or relationships that break up, can cause sadness, too. Many kids fight with family members, especially their parents, in the struggle to grow up and gain independence.
People often feel sad when all is not right between them and their loved ones, or when they get criticized or yelled at a lot. They fight about things like money, clothing, haircuts, school, and friends. In school, problems with teachers and grades may cause some sadness as well.
More Stuff That Makes Kids Sad
Other kids, both friends and enemies, can cause hurt feelings and sadness through fighting, teasing, peer pressure, not giving you support, or leaving you out of group activities. Feeling misunderstood by people close to you can lead to feelings of sadness.
Sometimes with sadness, there are other feelings mixed in, too. When you're sad, you might also feel angry or guilty. You might feel like blaming others or blaming yourself. Some kids mistakenly think that sad events like death, illness, or divorce are all their fault - but this isn't true. Kids don't cause these things to happen.
When Is Sadness a Problem?
If a sad feeling goes on for too long, hurts too deeply, and makes it hard for you to enjoy the good things about your life, it's called depression.
Here are some of the signs and symptoms of depression:
• feeling empty or numb
• feeling hopeless (like there's nothing to look forward to)
• feeling guilty or worthless
• feeling lonely or unloved
• feeling irritable and annoyed a lot (every little thing gets on your nerves)
• feeling like things are not fun anymore
• having trouble keeping your mind on schoolwork or homework or getting bad grades
• having trouble keeping your mind on things like reading or watching TV or not remembering what a book or a TV show was about
• having less energy and feeling tired all the time
• sleeping too much or not enough
• not eating enough and weight loss or eating too much and weight gain
• thinking about death or thinking about suicide
• spending less time with friends and more time alone
• crying a lot, often for no reason
• feeling restless (being unable to sit still or relax)
• having certain body feelings, like lots of stomachaches, headaches, or chest pain
People who have depression may not know it. Often it's a parent or teacher who notices behavior changes like the ones in the list above. Depression can run in families. Having a parent who gets depressed makes it more likely for a kid to become depressed.
When children have depression it is usually coming from a long period of sadness after the loss of someone really close, such as a parent; long-lasting problems at home, including violence, illness, divorce, or alcohol or drug use; child abuse or neglect; rape; and long-term illness, burns, or accidents. But sometimes kids may be depressed for no apparent reason.
Getting Help
Kids, teens, and adults can get depression. It's very important for people of any age who have depression to get help. When they do, they can get better quickly. Sometimes treatment involves talking to someone who knows all about depression. Sometimes medications can help depression heal. Sometimes both of these things are used.
If you think you have depression or you just have sadness that simply will not go away, it is important to talk to an adult about it: a parent, relative, doctor, teacher, guidance counselor, coach, or close adult friend. This person can help you find the right type of treatment. Many cities also have mental health hotlines or suicide hotlines that are listed in the phone book. There is always somebody to talk to when you are sad or if you are depressed - somebody who can help.
Updated and reviewed by: David V. Sheslow, PhD
Date reviewed: November 2004
Originally reviewed by: Steven J. Bachrach, MD
How to remember names
Try this five-stage sequential technique:
1. Listen: when you are first introduced to someone, really listen to their name rather than thinking about what to say. If the name is not offered, ask for it politely.
2. Respond: immediately use the name in a suitable response, such as "It's really good to meet you, Jack" or "I'm so glad that you could visit, Jane".
3. Visualise: try to link a visual cue of that person with their name in image which is vivid and memorable. Maybe the name Jack reminds you of a lumberjack and you picture him in a Canadian forest; Jane rhymes with pane, so you might picture seeing her through a pane of glass.
4. Repeat: as you leave the gathering, say farewell to people using their names and recalling the cues. "It was good to meet you, Roger" (maybe you picture a Jolly Roger pirate flag) or "Let's do lunch, Helen" (you imagine her face launching ships).
5. Rehearse: as you sit at a dinner party or at a business meeting, mentally go around reminding yourself of each person's name and visual cue; if you are going to a meeting or other event, where you expect to come across some people you know, on the way there, think about who you might expect to see and bring to your mind the name and cue.
How to remember numbers
For short numbers, like a PIN number, try to play with the component numbers mentally and create some kind of memorable link between them or 'picture' of them. Just as an illustration of what I mean, take the easy case of 1230 which could be remembered as 'lunchtime' or of 4007 which could thought of as 'collecting money for James Bond'. Get the general idea?
For longer numbers, the best method is called 'chunking'. You break up the number into smaller and more memorizable chunks. For example, remembering the number 472627607 is easier if one remembers it as 472 627 607 or as 47 26 27 607. Play with the original number and see which chunks best help you to remember it.
How to remember meeting details
You should have a 'Future meetings' file - it can be a hanging file, a cardboard wallet or a plastic folder (whatever suits you). Then, as you fix each meeting or other event that you will be attending, put all the information - agenda, papers, time, location, travel arrangements - in the correct chronological position in the file. If between fixing the meeting and the event itself, you see an article that is relevant or have a idea that you might want to raise, cut out the article or make a note of the idea and add this to the other information on the meeting. Everything for the same meeting or event should be held together with a suitable clip.
How to remember times
If you think you might forget when you need to leave home for a meeting or when you should leave one meeting to go to another, the only sure way to remember the time is to set an alarm. But these days we have many possible devices to provide an alarm: an alarm clock, a mobile, a PDA, a lap top, and so on. You should always have a device with you that incorporates an alarm.
How to remember birthdays & anniversaries
One way is to note each date in the new pocket diary or on the new kitchen wall calendar. A better way - when you only have to make a note once - is to put each date in a computer system, preferably a personal digital assistant (so that it is always with you), and to set the system so that it reminds you of each date a set period (say a week) beforehand.
How to use physical systems
Putting things down on paper has two benefits: the very act of writing them down makes you more likely to remember them and, since they are on paper, you can easily go back and consult them.
So, when you attend a lecture or a meeting, constantly take notes in a decent-sized notebook that you have with you all the time you are studying or working. Use card index systems to file things that lend themselves to alphabetisation, such as the addresses of friends or the titles of books, films or music.
How to use electronic systems
These days many people use electronic devices to record and retrieve information - usually a computer which might be a desktop, a laptop or a handheld. Mobile devices - such as a personal digital assistant (PDA) or a mobile phone - are especially useful because they can be with you always. The two can be synchronised such as having a PDA which can be backed up onto a PC. Always remember to back up everything at periodic intervals.
How to use lists
You can't beat the good old list for remembering things - things to do, things to buy, people to contact. As well as ensuring that you remember things, there is great satisfaction in ticking items on the list as each item is completed. But, if you make a list, make sure you have it when and where you need it; not like my friend who usually leaves her shopping list on the kitchen table when she goes to the supermarket.
How to use key letters
One of the simplest techniques to aid memory is to look for key letters that will help you to recall things. For instance, when I struggle to remember whether 'pazhalsta' or 'spaseeba' is 'please' or 'thank you'- the first two words I learned in Russian - I remember that 'pazhalsta' = 'please'. So 'spaseeba' must be 'thank you'. Or, when trying to remember 'left' and 'right' in Czech, I recall 'levý' = 'left' and 'pravý' = 'right'.
How to remember in bed
I don't know about you, but I have some of my best ideas as I'm falling to sleep (as well as remembering things I need to do the next day), but I don't want to delay falling asleep by leaving the bed, switching on the light and making notes. So I lean over, grab a slipper and throw it to one side. Then, when I rise in the morning, I remember that I have to remember something and usually manage to work out what it was.
If I have a second idea, I throw aside the other slipper. If - and this is rare - I have a third idea, I move my wrist watch from its usual position on the bedside cabinet. If I have more than three thoughts, clearly I'm not tired enough for sleep and should get up.
Dad Differences
One of my dads is a multi-millionaire. The other is a poor man. Why? Very simply, it comes down to their respective attitudes toward money and life. Take a look at the differences... and think about where you fit...
My Poor Dad Says
"My house is an asset."
"I can't afford it."
The statement "I can't afford it" shuts down your thinking. By asking the right question, you mind opens up and looks for answers.
"The reason I'm not rich is because I have you kids."
"I'm not interested in money."
"When it comes to money, play it safe - don't take risks."
"Pay myself last."
Believed that the company you worked for or the government should take care of your financial needs.
Focused only on academic literacy.
Learned only the vocabulary of academia.
"I work for my money."
Thought that making more money would solve his financial problem.
Rich dad says, "If you stop working today, an asset puts money in your pocket and a liability takes money from your pocket. Too often people call liabilities assets. It's important to know the difference between the two.
My Rich Dad Says
"My house is a liability."
"How can I afford it?"
"The reason I must be rich is because I have you kids."
"Money is power."
"Learn how to manage risk."
"Paid myself first."
Rich Dad always took a percentage off the top of any income he earned. He put this money into an investment account that went toward purchasing his assets. Poor Dad spent all his money first and never had any remaining for investments.
"Believed in financial self-reliance and financial responsibility."
"Focused on financial literacy as well as academic literacy."
Learned the vocabulary of finance – "Your words are the most valuable tools you have."
"My money works for me."
Knew that financial education was the answer to his financial problems: "It's not how much money you make that's important – it's how much money you keep and how long you keep it."
Understanding the difference in attitudes between rich dad and poor dad – is essential to taking the first steps to financial freedom.
For a comprehensive look at how to battle the Poor Dad mentality and adopt the Rich Dad state of mind, learn more about the tools we offer to help you on your journey to financial freedom.