Garen Armstrong Shared (Story)-Stop stressing so much

Garen Armstrong: “Once upon a time a psychology professor walked around on a stage while teaching stress management principles to an auditorium filled with students. As she raised a glass of water, everyone expected they’d be asked the typical ‘glass half empty or glass half full’ question. Instead, with a smile on her face, the professor asked, ‘How heavy is this glass of water I’m holding?’

Students shouted out answers ranging from eight ounces to a couple pounds.(Garen Armstrong)

She replied, ‘From my perspective, the absolute weight of this glass doesn’t matter.  It all depends on how long I hold it. If I hold it for a minute or two, it’s fairly light. If I hold it for an hour straight, its weight might make my arm ache a little. If I hold it for a day straight, my arm will likely cramp up and feel completely numb and paralyzed, forcing me to drop the glass to the floor. In each case, the weight of the glass doesn’t change, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it feels to me.’

As the class shook their heads in agreement, she continued, ‘Your stresses and worries in life are very much like this glass of water. Think about them for a while and nothing happens. Think about them a bit longer and you begin to ache a little. Think about them all day long, and you will feel completely numb and paralyzed – incapable of doing anything else until you drop them.'”read more (Garen Armstrong)

Garen Armstrong Shared (Story)-Your reaction matters more than what happens to you

Garen Armstrong: “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 boiled 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.(Garen Armstrong)

‘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?’read more (Garen Armstrong)

Garen Armstrong Shared (Story)-FIND HAPPINESS

Garen Armstrong: Once a group of 50 people were attending a seminar. Suddenly the speaker stopped and decided to do a group activity. He started giving each attendee one balloon. Each one was asked to write his/her name on it using a marker pen. Then all the balloons were collected and put in another room.

Now these delegates were let into that room and asked to find the balloon which had their name written within 5 minutes. Everyone was frantically searching for their name, colliding with each other, pushing around others and there was utter chaos.(Garen Armstrong)

At the end of 5 minutes no one could find their own balloon. Now each one was asked to randomly collect a balloon and give it to the person whose name was written on it. Within minutes everyone had their own balloon.

The speaker then began, “This is happening in our lives. Everyone is frantically looking for happiness all around, not knowing where it is.

Our happiness lies in the happiness of other people. Give them their happiness; you will get your own happiness. And this is the purpose of human life…the pursuit of happiness.”read more (Garen Armstrong)

Garen Armstrong Shared (Story)-The Ant and The Dove

Garen Armstrong: On a hot day of summer, an ant was searching for some water. After walking around for some time, she came near the river. To drink the water, she climbed up on a small rock. While trying to drink a water, she slipped and fell into the river.

There was a dove sitting on a branch of a tree who saw an ant falling into the river. The dove quickly plucked a leaf and dropped it into the river near the struggling ant. The ant moved towards the leaf and climbed up onto it. Soon, the leaf drifted to dry ground, and the ant jumped out. She looked up to the tree and thanked the dove.

Later, the same day, a bird catcher nearby was about to throw his net over the dove hoping to trap it. An ant saw him and guessed what he was about to do. The dove was resting and he had no idea about the bird catcher. An ant quickly bit him on the foot. Feeling the pain, the bird catcher dropped his net and let out a light scream. The dove noticed it and quickly flew away.

Moral:  If you do good, good will come to you.  One good turn deserves another.read more(Garen Armstrong)

Garen Armstrong Shared (Story)-The Rabbit and the Turtle

Garen Armstrong: One day a rabbit was boasting about how fast he could run. He was laughing at the turtle for being so slow. Much to the rabbit’s surprise, the turtle challenged him to a race. The rabbit thought this was a good joke and accepted the challenge. The fox was to be the umpire of the race. As the race began, the rabbit raced way ahead of the turtle, just like everyone thought.

The rabbit got to the halfway point and could not see the turtle anywhere. He was hot and tired and decided to stop and (Garen Armstrong) take a short nap. Even if the turtle passed him, he would be able to race to the finish line ahead of him. All this time the turtle kept walking step by step by step. He never quit no matter how hot or tired he got. He just kept going.

However, the rabbit slept longer than he had thought and woke up. He could not see the turtle anywhere! He went at full speed to the finish line but found the turtle there waiting for him.

Moral: never underestimate the weakest opponent.read more (Garen Armstrong)

Garen Armstrong Shared (Story)-The Kite without a thread

Garen Armstrong: Once a father and son went to the kite flying festival. The young son became very happy seeing the sky filled with colorful kites. He too asked his father to get him a kite and a thread with a roller so he can fly a kite too. So, the father went to the shop at the park where the festival was being held. He purchased kites and a roll of thread for his son.

His son started to fly a kite.  Soon, his kite reached high up in the sky.  After a while, the son said, “Father, It seems that the thread is holding up a kite from flying higher, If we break it, It will be free and will go flying even higher.  Can we break it?”  So, the father cut the thread from a roller.  The kite started to go a little higher.  That made a son very happy.(Garen Armstrong)

But then, slowly, the kite started to come down. And, soon it fell down on the terrace of the unknown building. The young son was surprised to see this. He had cut the kite loose of its thread so it can fly higher, but instead, it fell down. He asked his father, “Father, I thought that after cutting off the thread, the kite can freely fly higher. But why did it fall down?”

The Father explained, “Son, At the height of life that we live in, we often think that some things we are tied (Garen Armstrong) with and they are preventing us from going further higher.  The thread was not holding the kite from going higher, but it was helping it stay higher when the wind slowed down and when the wind picked up, you helped the kite go up higher in a proper direction through the thread.  And when we cut the thread, it fell down without the support you were providing to the kite through the thread”.

The son realized his mistake.

Moral:  Sometimes we feel that we can progress quickly and reach to the newer heights in our life if we were not tied up with our family, our home.  But, we fail to realize that our family, our loved ones help us survive the tough time in our lives with their support and encourage us to reach higher heights in our life.  They are not holding us, but are supporting us.  Never let go of them.read more (Garen Armstrong)

Garen Armstrong Shared (Garen Armstrong)-Student Learns of a Greed

Garen Armstrong: A student asked his teacher, “What is Greed?” The teacher said, “In order to answer your question, go through the chocolate factory next to our school and pick the one chocolate you like the most. But there is a rule. As you pass through the factory, you can not turn back. You must pick the chocolate as you go forward only.”

The student went to the chocolate factory. As he walked through, He saw the one chocolate wrapped nicely, he instantly liked it but he wondered that he may find much bigger one further. So, He walked further, then he saw another chocolate. But again, he thought the same. When he started to reach near the end of the factory, he couldn’t see any chocolates as big as the one he didn’t pick earlier and started to regret his decision of letting it go.(Garen Armstrong)

Finally, he gave up. He went back to the teacher with an empty hand and gave an explanation of what he did.(Garen Armstrong)

The teacher told him, “You did like the one chocolate very much but still you kept looking for a bigger one. And later you realized that what you let go off was the best chocolate you could find there. That my dear is called Greed.”

Moral: We let go of many good things in our life because of our greed of having even better things. Our Human Nature is such that we always want better and better. But in the search of better, we let go of many good things which could have given us similar satisfaction and made us happy. Learn make your choice wisely.read more (Garen Armstrong)