a touching story on true compassion!

Let this note find you enjoying the summer with blossoming flowers & delicious fruits.

Recently, I have been reading a lot on compassion. 

I read something very profound that I could relate to:

Many so called acts of compassion, are tainted by a subtle sense of self-importance and desire for recognition. Others are based in the desire not really to help others but to force them to change. Authentic compassion arises from within, beginning with a deep acceptance and love of oneself. Only them, does compassion flower into a healing force, rooted in the unconditional acceptance of the other as he or she is.

Same day a friend sent me this short story which is very apt:

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A Brother Like That

A friend of mine named Paul received an automobile from his brother as a Christmas present. On Christmas Eve when Paul came out of his office, a street urchin was walking around the shiny new car, admiring it. "Is this your car, Mister?" he asked.

Paul nodded. "My brother gave it to me for Christmas." The boy was astounded. "You mean your brother gave it to you and it didn't cost you nothing? Boy, I wish ..." He hesitated.

Of course Paul knew what he was going to wish for. He was going to wish he had a brother like that. But what the lad said jarred Paul all the way down to his heels.

"I wish," the boy went on, "that I could be a brother like that."

Paul looked at the boy in astonishment, then impulsively he added, "Would you like to take a ride in my automobile?"

"Oh yes, I'd love that."

After a short ride, the boy turned and with his eyes aglow, said, "Mister, would you mind driving in front of my house?"

Paul smiled a little. He thought he knew what the lad wanted. He wanted to show his neighbors that he could ride home in a big automobile. But Paul was wrong again. "Will you stop where those two steps are?" the boy asked.

He ran up the steps. Then in a little while Paul heard him coming back, but he was not coming fast. He was carrying his little crippled brother. He sat him down on the bottom step, then sort of squeezed up against him and pointed to the car.

"There she is, Buddy, just like I told you upstairs. His brother gave it to him for Christmas and it didn't cost him a cent. And some day I'm gonna give you one just like it ... then you can see for yourself all the pretty things in the Christmas windows that I've been trying to tell you about."

Paul got out and lifted the lad to the front seat of his car. The shining-eyed older brother climbed in beside him and the three of them began a memorable holiday ride.

That Christmas Eve, Paul learned what "It is more blessed to give..." means!

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Warm regards

Rohan Singal

The Law of Garbage Truck - an interesting Law!!

Let this note reach you at the right moment and find you shining with your true light.

I came across this story. I find it really interesting. You may find it useful.

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The Law of the Garbage Truck™  by David J. Pollay

How often do you let other people’s nonsense change your mood?  Do you let a bad driver, rude waiter, curt boss, or an insensitive employee ruin your day?  Unless you’re the Terminator, you’re probably set back on your heels.  However, the mark of your success is how quickly you can refocus on what’s important in your life. Sixteen years ago I learned this lesson.  And I learned it in the back of a New York City taxi cab. Here’s what happened.

I hopped in a taxi, and we took off for Grand Central Station.  We were driving in the right lane when all of a sudden, a black car jumped out of a parking space right in front of us.  My taxi driver slammed on his brakes, the car skidded, the tires squealed, and at the very last moment our car stopped just one inch from the other car’s back-end.

I couldn’t believe it.  But then I couldn’t believe what happened next.  The driver of the other car, the guy who almost caused a big accident, whipped his head around and he started yelling bad words at us.  How do I know?  Ask any New Yorker, some words in New York come with a special face.  And for emphasis, he threw in a one finger salute, as if his words were not enough.

But then here’s what really blew me away.  My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy. And I mean, he was friendly.  So, I said, “Why did you just do that!?  This guy could have killed us!”  And this is when my taxi driver told me what I now call, “The Law of the Garbage Truck™.”  He said:

Many people are like garbage trucks.  They run around full of garbage, full of frustration, full of anger, and full of disappointment.  As their garbage piles up, they look for a place to dump it.  And if you let them, they’ll dump it on you.

So when someone wants to dump on you, don’t take it personally.  Just smile, wave, wish them well, and move on.  Believe me.  You’ll be happier.

So I started thinking, how often do I let Garbage Trucks run right over me?  And how often do I take their garbage and spread it to other people at work, at home, or on the street?  It was then that I said, “I don’t want their garbage and I’m not going to spread it anymore.”

I began to see Garbage Trucks.  Like in the movie “The Sixth Sense,” the little boy said, “I see Dead People.”  Well now “I see Garbage Trucks.”  I see the load they’re carrying.  I see them coming to dump it.  And like my taxi driver, I don’t take it personally; I just smile, wave, wish them well, and I move on.

One of my favourite football players of all time is Walter Payton.  Every day on the football field, after being tackled, he would jump up as quickly as he hit the ground.  He never dwelled on a hit.  Payton was ready to make the next play his best.  Over the years the best players from around the world in every sport have played this way:  Tiger Woods, Nadia Comaneci, Muhammad Ali, Bjorn Borg, Chris Evert, Michael Jordan, and Pele are just some of those players.  And the most inspiring leaders have lived this way:  Nelson Mandela, Mother Theresa, Gandhi, and Martin Luther King.

See, Roy Baumeister, a psychology researcher from Florida State University, found in his extensive research that you remember bad things more often than good things in your life.  You store the bad memories more easily, and you recall them more frequently.

So the odds are against you when a Garbage Truck comes your way.  But when you follow The Law of the Garbage Truck™, you take back control of your life.  You make room for the good by letting go of the bad.

The best leaders know that they have to be ready for their next meeting.  The best sales people know that they have to be ready for their next client.  And the best parents know that they have to be ready to welcome their children home from school with hugs and kisses, no matter how many garbage trucks they might have faced that day.  All of us know that we have to be fully present, and at our best for the people we care about.

The bottom line is that successful people do not let Garbage Trucks take over their lives.

What about you?  What would happen in your life, starting today, if you let more garbage trucks pass you by?

Here’s my bet:  You’ll be happier.

You have a choice.  Make it today.

Have a Garbage Free Day! ™

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Rohan Singal