A Life That Makes a Difference! (Posted by Priya Deelchand)

My dearest friends,

Hope you are all doing awesome! Here is a true story that I would like to share
with you. It was written by Steve Goodier.

“How do you account for your remarkable accomplishment in life?” Queen
Victoria of England asked Helen Keller. “How do you explain the fact
that even though you were both blind and deaf, you were able to
accomplish so much?”

Ms. Keller’s answer is a tribute to her dedicated teacher. “If it had
not been for Anne Sullivan, the name of Helen Keller would have
remained unknown.”

Speaker Zig Ziglar tells about “Little Annie” Sullivan, as she was
called when she was young. Little Annie was no stranger to hardship.
She was almost sightless herself (due to a childhood fever) and was,
at one time, diagnosed as hopelessly “insane” by her caregivers. She
was locked in the basement of a mental institution outside of Boston.
On occasion, Little Annie would violently attack anyone who came near.
Most of the time she generally ignored everyone in her presence.

An elderly nurse believed there was hope, however, and she made it her
mission to show love to the child. Every day she visited Little Annie.
For the most part, the child did not acknowledge the nurse’s presence,
but she still continued to visit. The kindly woman left cookies for
her and spoke words of love and encouragement. She believed Little
Annie could recover, if only she were shown love.

Eventually, doctors noticed a change in the girl. Where they once
witnessed anger and hostility, they now noted an emerging gentleness
and love. They moved her upstairs where she continued to improve. Then
the day finally came when this seemingly “hopeless” child was
released.

Anne Sullivan grew into a young woman with a desire to help others as
she, herself, was helped by the loving nurse. It was she who saw the
great potential in Helen Keller. She loved her, disciplined her,
played with her, pushed her, and worked with her until the flickering
candle that was her life became a beacon of light to the world. Anne
Sullivan worked wonders in Helen’s life, but it was a loving nurse who
first believed in Little Annie and lovingly transformed an
uncommunicative child into a compassionate teacher.

“If it had not been for Anne Sullivan, the name of Helen Keller would
have remained unknown.” But if it had not been for a kind and
dedicated nurse, the name of Anne Sullivan would have remained
unknown. And so it goes. Just how far back does the chain of
redemption extend? And how for forward will it lead?

Those you have sought to reach, whether they be in your family or
elsewhere, are part of a chain of love that can extend through the
generations. Your influence on their lives, whether or not you see
results, is immeasurable. Your legacy of dedicated kindness and caring
can transform lost and hopeless lives for years to come.

You can never overestimate the power of your love. It is a fire that,
once lit, may burn forever.

Wish you an excellent day!

Much Love,
Priya:))
Posted by Priya Deelchand
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Making The Best of You! (Posted by Priya Deelchand)

My dearest friends,

Hope you are all doing great! Here is a true story written by Steve
Goodier that I would like to share with you.

They say “make the best of a bad situation.” But I believe the bad
situation makes the best of you. Even the irritations of life can be
useful. President Abraham Lincoln showed us how this is so.

One of his cabinet appointees, Edwin Stanton, frequently found flaws
with the president and criticized him — sometimes in public. Lincoln
seemed to show excessive patience with him. The president was asked
why he kept such a man in a high level position.

Lincoln characteristically responded with a story. He told about a
time he was visiting with an old farmer. He noticed a big horsefly
biting the flank of the farmer’s horse. Lincoln said he reached over
to brush the fly away. As he did so, the farmer stopped him and
cautioned, “Don’t do that, friend. That horsefly is the only thing
keeping this old horse moving.”

Even life’s many irritations and problems have their place. They may
cause us to change directions. Or prod us to greater achievement. Or
keep us moving along when it’s easier to go nowhere.

Are you simply making the best of a bad situation, or will it make the
best of you?

Have an excellent day!

Much Love,
Priya:))
Posted by Priya Deelchand
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The Power of Persistence (Posted by Priya Deelchand)

In 1883, a creative engineer named John Roebling was inspired by an idea to build a spectacular bridge connecting New York with the Long Island. However bridge building experts throughout the world thought that this was an impossible feat and told Roebling to forget the idea. It just could not be done. It was not practical. It had never been done before.

Roebling could not ignore the vision he had in his mind of this bridge. He thought about it all the time and he knew deep in his heart that it could be done. He just had to share the dream with someone else. After much discussion and persuasion he managed to convince his son Washington, an up and coming engineer, that the bridge in fact could be built.

Working together for the first time, the father and son developed concepts of how it could be accomplished and how the obstacles could be overcome. With great excitement and inspiration, and the headiness of a wild challenge before them, they hired their crew and began to build their dream bridge.

The project started well, but when it was only a few months underway a tragic accident on the site took the life of John Roebling. Washington was injured and left with a certain amount of brain damage, which resulted in him not being able to walk or talk or even move.

“We told them so.”

“Crazy men and their crazy dreams.”

“It`s foolish to chase wild visions.”

Everyone had a negative comment to make and felt that the project should be scrapped since the Roeblings were the only ones who knew how the bridge could be built. In spite of his handicap Washington was never discouraged and still had a burning desire to complete the bridge and his mind was still as sharp as ever.

He tried to inspire and pass on his enthusiasm to some of his friends, but they were too daunted by the task. As he lay on his bed in his hospital room, with the sunlight streaming through the windows, a gentle breeze blew the flimsy white curtains apart and he was able to see the sky and the tops of the trees outside for just a moment.

It seemed that there was a message for him not to give up. Suddenly an idea hit him. All he could do was move one finger and he decided to make the best use of it. By moving this, he slowly developed a code of communication with his wife.

He touched his wife’s arm with that finger, indicating to her that he wanted her to call the engineers again. Then he used the same method of tapping her arm to tell the engineers what to do. It seemed foolish but the project was under way again.

For 13 years Washington tapped out his instructions with his finger on his wife’s arm, until the bridge was finally completed. Today the spectacular Brooklyn Bridge stands in all its glory as a tribute to the triumph of one man’s indomitable spirit and his determination not to be defeated by circumstances. It is also a tribute to the engineers and their team work, and to their faith in a man who was considered mad by half the world. It stands too as a tangible monument to the love and devotion of his wife who for 13 long years patiently decoded the messages of her husband and told the engineers what to do.

Perhaps this is one of the best examples of a never-say-die attitude that overcomes a terrible physical handicap and achieves an impossible goal.

Often when we face obstacles in our day-to-day life, our hurdles seem very small in comparison to what many others have to face. The Brooklyn Bridge shows us that dreams that seem impossible can be realised with determination and persistence, no matter what the odds are.

Even the most distant dream can be realized with determination and persistence.

Author Unknown

Posted by Priya Deelchand

http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=339996970296

What’s inside you make all the difference in life! (Posted by Priya Deelchand)

Posted by Priya Deelchand in the group “Happiness Is Your Birthright!”

http://www.facebook.com/board.php?uid=339996970296&f=2&start=60&hash=33454b3e70cdb1d9dd13f7a099f0c5c7#!/topic.php?uid=339996970296&topic=13114

My dearest friends,

Hope you are all doing fantastic!:))

Here is a story that I would like to share with you today. My friend emailed me this wonderful story a few years ago and it is really worth reading as it contains an excellent lesson for all of us.

A young black boy saw a balloon seller on a street corner.
His eyes sparkled as he gazed at all the different colored
balloons – red, blue, white, black, yellow…

The old man selling the balloons saw the boy hesitate, then
gather his courage and approach.

“Tell me mister,” said the boy, “Do the black balloons fly
as high as the others?”

The old man felt a tear forming in his eye. He picked the boy
up, sat him on his knee and said, “Look.”

He let go of all the balloons. They drifted up in a cluster,
higher and higher into the blue sky, until they were so high
they disappeared.

“Did you see that?” the balloon seller asked.

“Yes,” said the boy.

“Did the black balloons fly as high as the others?”

“Yes, Mister, they did.”

“You see my boy, the balloons are like people. The important
thing isn’t their color, or what they look like on the outside.
No, the important thing is WHAT’S INSIDE.

And what’s inside you makes all the difference in life.”

Wish you all an excellent and joy-filled day!

Much love,
Priya:))

Get A Life – A Real Life (Posted by Priya Deelchand)

My dearest friends,

Hope you are all doing fantastic.

Here is a great speech sent to me by my lovely friend Sangeeta Ramdin, that I wanted to share with you today.

This was a speech made by Pulitzer Prize-winning author, Anna Quindlen at the graduation ceremony of an American university where she was awarded an Honorary PhD.

“I’m a novelist. My work is human nature. Real life is all I know. Don’t ever confuse the two, your life and your work. You will walk out of here this afternoon with only one thing that no one else has. There will be hundreds of people out there with your same degree: there will be thousands of people doing what you want to do for a living. But you will be the only person alive who has sole custody of your life. Your particular life. Your entire life. Not just your life at a desk or your life on a bus or in a car or at the computer. Not just the life of your mind, but the life of your heart. Not just your bank accounts but also your soul.

People don’t talk about the soul very much anymore. It’s so much easier to write a resume than to craft a spirit. But a resume is cold comfort on a winter’s night, or when you’re sad, or broke, or lonely, or when you’ve received your test results and they’re not so good.

Here is my resume: I am a good mother to three children. I have tried never to let my work stand in the way of being a good parent. I no longer consider myself the centre of the universe. I show up. I listen. I try to laugh. I am a good friend to my husband. I have tried to make marriage vows mean what they say. I am a good friend to my friends and them to me. Without them, there would be nothing to say to you today, because I would be a cardboard cut out. But I call them on the phone and I meet them for lunch. I would be rotten, at best mediocre, at my job if those other things were not true.

You cannot be really first rate at your work if your work is all you are. So here’s what I wanted to tell you today: Get a life. A real life, not a manic pursuit of the next promotion, the bigger pay cheque, the larger house. Do you think you’d care so very much about those things if you blew an aneurysm one afternoon or found a lump in your breast?

Get a life in which you notice the smell of salt water pushing itself on a breeze at the seaside, a life in which you stop and watch how a red-tailed hawk circles over the water, or the way a baby scowls with concentration when she tries to pick up a sweet with her thumb and first finger.

Get a life in which you are not alone. Find people you love, and who love you. And remember that love is not leisure, it is work. Pick up the phone. Send an email. Write a letter. Get a life in which you are generous. And realize that life is the best thing ever, and that you have no business taking it for granted. Care so deeply about its goodness that you want to spread it around. Take money you would have spent on beer and give it to charity. Work in a soup kitchen. Be a big brother or sister. All of you want to do well. But if you do not do good too, then doing well will never be enough.

It is so easy to waste our lives, our days, our hours, and our minutes. It is so easy to take for granted the colour of our kids’ eyes, the way the melody in a symphony rises and falls and disappears and rises again. It is so easy to exist instead of to live.

I learned to live many years ago. I learned to love the journey, not the destination. I learned that it is not a dress rehearsal, and that today is the only guarantee you get. I learned to look at all the good in the world and try to give some of it back because I believed in it, completely and utterly. And I tried to do that, in part, by telling others what I had learned. By telling them this: Consider the lilies of the field. Look at the fuzz on a baby’s ear. Read in the back yard with the sun on your face.

Learn to be happy. And think of life as a terminal illness, because if you do, you will live it with joy and passion as it ought to be lived”.

Have a great day and an excellent weekend!

Much Love,
Priya:))

Posted by Priya Deelchand on  http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?topic=15869&uid=339996970296

17 Rules For A Better Way To Live by Og Mandino (Posted by Priya Deelchand)

My dearest friends,

Hope you are all doing great!

Here is something written by one of my favourite authors, Og Mandino, that I would like to share with you today! Read and apply these rules and your life will change for the better!!!

Rule One… for a Better Way to Live:

Count your blessings. Once you realize how valuable you are and how much you have going for you, the smiles will return, the sun will break out, the music will play, and you will finally be able to move forward the life that God intended for you… with grace, strength, courage, and confidence.

Rule Two… for a Better Way to Live:

Today, and every day, deliver more than you are getting paid to do. The victory of success will be half won when you learn the secret of putting out more than is expected in all that you do. Make yourself so valuable in your work that eventually you will become indispensable. Exercise your privilege to go the extra mile, and enjoy all the rewards you receive. You deserve them!

Rule Three… for a Better Way to Live:

Whenever you make a mistake or get knocked down by life, don’t look back at it too long. Mistakes are life’s way of teaching you. Your capacity for occasional blunders is inseparable from your capacity to reach your goals. No one wins them all, and your failures, when they happen, are just part of your growth. Shake off your blunders. How will you know your limits without an occasional failure? Never quit. Your turn will come.

Rule Four… for a Better Way to Live:

Always reward your long hours of labor and toil in the very best way, surrounded by your family. Nurture their love carefully, remembering that your children need models, not critics, and your own progress will hasten when you constantly strive to present your best side to your children. And even if you have failed at all else in the eyes of the world, if you have a loving family, you are a success.

Rule Five… for a Better Way to Live:

Build this day on a foundation of pleasant thoughts. Never fret at any imperfections that you fear may impede your progress. Remind yourself, as often as necessary, that you are a creature of God and have the power to achieve any dream by lifting up your thoughts. You can fly when you decide that you can. Never consider yourself defeat again. Let the vision in your heart be in your life’s blueprint. Smile!

Rule Six… for a Better Way to Live:

Let your actions always speak for you, but be forever on guard against the terrible traps of false pride and conceit that can halt your progress. The next time you are tempted to boast, just place your fist in a full pail of water, and when you remove it, the hole remaining will give you a correct measure of your importance.

Rule Seven… for a Better Way to Live:

Each day is a special gift from God, and while life may not always be fair, you must never allow the pains, hurdles, and handicaps of the moment to poison your attitude and plans for yourself and your future. You can never win when you wear the ugly cloak of self-pity, and the sour sound of whining will certainly frighten away any opportunity for success. Never again. There is a better way.

Rule Eight… for a Better Way to Live:

Never again clutter your days or nights with so many menial and unimportant things that you have no time to accept a real challenge when it comes along. This applies to play as well as work. A day merely survived is no cause for celebration. You are not here to fritter away your precious hours when you have the ability to accomplish so much by making a slight change in your routine. No more busy work. No more hiding from success. Leave time, leave space, to grow. Now. Now! Not tomorrow!

Rule Nine… for a Better Way to Live:

Live this day as if it will be your last. Remember that you will only find “tomorrow” on the calendars of fools. Forget yesterday’s defeats and ignore the problems of tomorrow. This is it. Doomsday. All you have. Make it the best day of your year. The saddest words you can ever utter are, “If I had my life to live over again…”Take the baton, now. Run with it! This is your day!

Rule Ten… for a Better Way to Live:

Beginning today, treat everyone you meet, friend or foe, loved one or stranger, as if they were going to be dead at midnight. Extend to each person, no matter how trivial the contact, all the care and kindness and understanding and love that you can muster, and do it with no thought of any reward. Your life will never be the same again.

Rule Eleven… for a Better Way to Live:

Laugh at yourself and at life. Not in the spirit of derision or whining self- pity, but as a remedy, a miracle drug, that will ease your pain, cure your depression, and help you to put in perspective that seemingly terrible defeat and worry with laughter at your predicaments, thus freeing your mind to think clearly toward the solution that is certain to come. Never take yourself too seriously.

Rule Twelve… for a Better Way to Live:

Never neglect the little things. Never skimp on that extra effort, that additional few minutes, that soft word of praise or thanks, that delivery of the very best that you can do. It does not matter what others think, it is of prime importance, however, what you think about you. You can never do your best, which should always be your trademark, if you are cutting corners and shirking responsibilities. You are special. Act it. Never neglect the little things.

Rule Thirteen… for a Better Way to Live:

Welcome every morning with a smile. Look on the new day as another special gift from your Creator, another golden opportunity to complete what you were unable to finish yesterday. Be a self- starter. Let your first hour set the theme of success and positive action that is certain to echo through your entire day. Today will never happen again. Don’t waste it with a false start or no start at all. You were not born to fail.

Rule Fourteen… for a Better Way to Live:

You will achieve grand dream, a day at a time, so set goals for each day — not long and difficult projects, but chores that will take you, step by step, toward your rainbow. Write them down, if you must, but limit your list so that you won’t have to drag today’s undone matters into tomorrow. Remember that you cannot build your pyramid in twenty-four hours. Be patient. Never allow your day to become so cluttered that you neglect your most important goal — to do the best you can, enjoy this day, and rest satisfied with what you have accomplished.

Rule Fifteen… for a Better Way to Live:

Never allow anyone to rain on your parade and thus cast a pall of gloom and defeat on the entire day. Remember that no talent, no self-denial, no brains, no character, are required to set up in the fault-finding business. Nothing external can have any power over you unless you permit it. Your time is too precious to be sacrificed in wasted days combating the menial forces of hate, jealously, and envy. Guard your fragile life carefully. Only God can shape a flower, but any foolish child can pull it to pieces.

Rule Sixteen… for a Better Way to Live:

Search for the seed of good in every adversity. Master that principle and you will own a precious shield that will guard you well through all the darkest valley you must traverse. Stars may be seen from the bottom of a deep well, when they cannot be discerned from the mountaintop. So will you learn things in adversity that you would never have discovered without trouble. There is always a seed of good. Find it and prosper.

Rule Seventeen… for a Better Way to Live:

Realize that true happiness lies within you. Waste no time and effort searching for peace and contentment and joy in the world outside. Remember that there is no happiness in having or in getting, but only in giving. Reach out. Share. Smile. Hug. Happiness is a perfume you cannot pour on others without getting a few drops on yourself.

Wish you all an awesome life! You deserve it!!!

Much Love,
Priya:))

Posted by Priya Deelchand http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=339996970296&topic=15102

The Secret of Happiness (Posted by Priya Deelchand)

My dearest friends,

Hope you are all doing great and spent an awesome weekend!:))

Here is a wonderful story that my great friend Sangeeta Ramdin sent to me and that I want to share with you today!

The old man shuffled slowly into the restaurant. With head tilted, and shoulders bent forward, he leaned on his trusty cane with each unhurried step.

His tattered cloth jacket, patched trousers, worn out shoes, and warm personality made him stand out from the usual Saturday morning breakfast crowd. Unforgettable were his pale blue eyes that sparkled like diamonds, large rosy cheeks, and thin lips held in a tight, steady smile.

He stopped, turned with his whole body, and winked at a little girl seated by the door. She flashed a big grin right back at him. A young waitress named Mary watched him shuffle toward a table by the window.

Mary ran over to him, and said, “Here, Sir. Let me give you a hand with that chair.”

Without saying a word, he smiled and nodded a thank you. She pulled the chair away from the table.. Steadying him with one arm, she helped him move in front of the chair, and get comfortably seated. Then she scooted the table up close to him, and leaned his cane against the table where he could reach it.
In a soft, clear voice he said, “Thank you, Miss. And bless you for your kind gestures.”

“You’re welcome, Sir.” She replied. “And my name is Mary. I’ll be back in a moment, and if you need anything at all in the mean time, just wave at me!”

After he had finished a hearty meal of pancakes, bacon, and hot lemon tea, Mary brought him the change from his ticket. He left it lay. She helped him up from his chair, and out from behind the table. She handed him his cane, and walked with him to the front door.

Holding the door open for him, she said, “Come back and see us, Sir!”

He turned with his whole body, winked a smile, and nodded a thank you. “You are very kind.” he said softly.

When Mary went to clean his table, she almost fainted. Under his plate she found a business card, and a note scribbled on a napkin. Under the napkin was a one hundred dollar bill.

The note on the napkin read…

“Dear Mary, I respect you very much, and you respect yourself too. It shows by the way you treat others. You have found the secret of happiness. Your kind gestures will shine through those who meet you.”

The man she had waited on was the owner of the restaurant where she worked. This was the first time that she, or any of his employees had ever seen him in person.

Moral of the story: the secret to true happiness does lie in the smaller things in life….to try and smile through the pain, to give a little of yourself when you get the opportunity without expecting anything in return, of not holding on to grudges and moving ahead without past burdens, because only when we do these things will we shine and stand apart and be able to find true happiness!!

Wish you an excellent week ahead!

Much love,
Priya:))

Posted by Priya Deelchand  http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=339996970296&topic=15021

Stop Sitting On Your Talents (Posted by Priya Deelchand)

My dearest friends,

Hope you are all doing great!

Here is an awesome and true story written by Steve Goodier.

There was a man played piano in a bar. He was a good piano player. People came out just to hear him play. But one night, a patron told him he didn’t want to hear him just play anymore. He wanted him to sing a song.

The man said, “I don’t sing.”

But the customer was persistent. He told the bartender, “I’m tired of listening to the piano. I want that guy to sing!”

The bartender shouted across the room, “Hey buddy! If you want to get paid, sing a song. The patrons are asking you to sing!”

So he did. He sang a song. A piano player who had never sung in public did so for the very first time. And nobody had ever heard the song Mona, Mona Lisa sung the way it was sung that night by Nat King Cole!

He had talent he was sitting on! He may have lived the rest of his life as a no-name piano player in a no-name bar, but because he had to sing, he went on to become one of the best-known entertainers in America.

You, too, have skills and abilities. You may not feel as if your “talent” is particularly great, but it may be better than you think! And with persistence, most skills can be improved. Besides, you may as well have no ability at all if you sit on whatever talent you possess! The better question is not “What ability do I have that is useful?” It is rather “How will I use whatever ability I have?”

Have an excellent day and stop sitting on your talents! You are all unique and are highly capable of accomplishing great things in life!!! Wish you much success!

Much Love,
Priya:))

Posted by Priya Deelchand in the group Happiness Is Your Birthright! on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=339996970296&topic=15411

Happiness Is An Attitude (Posted by Priya Deelchand)

My dearest friends,

Hope you spent an excellent weekend

Here is a wonderful story that I would like to share with you today! The author of this story is unknown.

The 92-year-old, petite, well-poised and proud lady, who is fully dressed each morning by eight o’clock, with her hair fashionably coifed and makeup perfectly applied, even though she is legally blind, moved to a nursing home today.

Her husband of 70 years recently passed away, making the move necessary. After many hours of waiting patiently in the lobby of the nursing home, she smiled sweetly when told her room was ready. As she maneuvered her walker to the elevator, I provided a visual description of her tiny room, including the eyelet sheets that had been hung on her window. “I love it,” she stated with the enthusiasm of an eight-year-old having just been presented with a new puppy. “Mrs. Jones, you haven’t seen the room …. just wait.”

“That doesn’t have anything to do with it,” she replied. “Happiness is something you decide on ahead of time. Whether I like my room or not doesn’t depend on how the furniture is arranged … it’s how I arrange my mind. I already decided to love it … It’s a decision I make every morning when I wake up. I have a choice; I can spend the day in bed recounting the difficulty I have with the parts of my body that no longer work, or get out of bed and be thankful for the ones that do. Each day is a gift, and as long as my eyes open I’ll focus on the new day and all the happy memories I’ve stored away … just for this time in my life.”

So my dearest friends, you too choose to be happy every day of your life!!!

Much Love,
Priya:))

(Posted by Priya Deelchand in the group Happiness Is Your Birthright on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=339996970296&topic=15613 )