Life is 10 per cent what happens to you and 90 per cent how you react to it.
Children, all of us have problems in life. Most of us hope and pray for something to happen in a certain way, but we experience failure. And when this happens, we have a choice to make: to react with offense or turn the adversity into an opportunity.
In this issue we are giving you a short story of how a father changed the negative attitude of his daughter.
Once a daughter complained to her father that her life was miserable. She was tired of fighting and struggling all the time. It seemed just as one problem was solved, another one surfaced.
Her father took her to the kitchen. He filled three pots with water and placed each one on fire. Once the water began to boil, he placed potatoes in one, eggs in the second, and ground coffee beans in the third pot.
He then let them and boil, without saying a word to his daughter. The daughter, 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 another bowl.
He then ladled the coffee 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 hard, but in boiling water, it became soft and weak.
The egg was fragile , 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? In life, things happen around us, things happen to us, but the only thing that truly matters is what happens within us.”
How to remain Positive
- Admit that you are at fault: Accepting your fault helps you find solutions to your problems.
- Have goals: Goals give you a more positive outlook on life.
- Surround yourself with positive people: Our lives are shaped by the company we keep. Negative people will just weigh you down.
- Realise that it is all in our mind: What goes on in your mind can really determine your actions and decides whether you're positive or negative.
- Focus your imagination: Efforts should be made on becoming a new positive person.
- Volunteer or help others: Helping others leads to a happier outlook on your own life. You'll feel great at the end and make you feel like a good person.
- Children, it's not important what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters.
—Aniket Raja
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