Some people always look for negative!!!

1. Robert Fulton invented the steamboat. On the banks of the Hudson River he was

displaying his new invention. The pessimists and the skeptics were gathered around to

observe. They commented that it would never start. Lo and behold, it did. As it made its

way down the river, the pessimists who said it would never go, started shouting that it

would never stop. What an attitude!

2. There was a hunter who bought a bird dog, the only one of its kind in the world. That could walk on water . He couldn't believe his eyes when he saw this miracle. At the same time, he was very pleased that he could show off his new acquisition to his friends. He invited a friend to go duck hunting. After some time, they shot a few ducks and the man ordered his dog to run and fetch the birds. All day-long, the dog ran on water and kept fetching the birds. The owner was expecting a comment or a compliment about his amazing dog, but never got one. As they were returning home, he asked his friend if he Page 14 of 175 had noticed anything unusual about his dog. The friend replied, "Yes, in fact, I did notice something unusual. Your dog can't swim."

Looking for the GOLD!!!!

As a young Scots boy, Andrew Carnegie came to America and started doing odd jobs.

He ended up as one of the largest steel manufacturers in the United States.

At one time he had 43 millionaires working for him. Several decades ago, a million dollars

used to be a lot of money; even today it is a lot of money. Someone asked Mr. Carnegie

how he dealt with people? Andrew Carnegie replied, "Dealing with people is like digging

gold: When you go digging for an ounce of gold, you have to move tons of dirt to get an

ounce of gold. But when you go digging, you don't go looking for the dirt, you go looking

for the gold."

Imprisonment

Charles Dickens wrote about a prisoner who stayed for many years in a dungeon. After

serving his sentence, he got his freedom. He was brought out from his cell into the bright

daylight of the open world. This man looked all around and after a few moments was so

uncomfortable with his newly acquired freedom that he asked to be brought back to his

cell into confinement. To him, the dungeon, the chains and the darkness were more

secure and comfortable than accepting the change of freedom and the open world.

David and Goliath

We all know the story of David and Goliath. There was a giant who was bullying and

harassing the children in the village. One day, a 17-year-old shepherd boy came to visit

his brothers and asked, "Why don't you stand up and fight the giant?" The brothers were

terrified and they replied, "Don't you see he is too big to hit?" But David said, "No, he is

not too big to hit, he is too big to miss." The rest is history. We all know what happened.

David killed the giant with a sling. Same giant, different perception.

Acres Of Daimonds

There was a farmer in Africa who was happy and content. He was happy because he

was content. He was content because he was happy. One day a wise man came to him

and told him about the glory of diamonds and the power that goes along with them. The

wise man said, "If you had a diamond the size of your thumb, you could have your own

city. If you had a diamond the size of your fist, you could probably own your own

country." And then he went away. That night the farmer couldn't sleep. He was unhappy

and he was discontent. He was unhappy because he was discontent and discontent

because he was unhappy.

The next morning he made arrangements to sell off his farm, took care of his family and

went in search of diamonds. He looked all over Africa and couldn't find any. He looked all

through Europe and couldn't find any. When he got to Spain, he was emotionally,

physically and financially broke. He got so disheartened that he threw himself into the

Barcelona River and committed suicide.

Back home, the person who had bought his farm was watering the camels at a stream

that ran through the farm. Across the stream, the rays of the morning sun hit a stone and

made it sparkle like a rainbow. He thought it would look good on the mantle piece. He

picked up the stone and put it in the living room. That afternoon the wise man came and

saw the stone sparkling. He asked, "Is Hafiz back?" The new owner said, "No, why do

you ask?" The wise man said, "Because that is a diamond. I recognize one when I see

one." The man said, no, that's just a stone I picked up from the stream. Come, I'll show

you. There are many more." They went and picked some samples and sent them for

analysis. Sure enough, the stones were diamonds. They found that the farm was indeed

covered with acres and acres of diamonds.*

What is the moral of this story?

There are five morals:

1. When our attitude is right, we realize that we are all walking on acres and acres of

diamonds.

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· Attributed to Dr Russel Conwell .

· Opportunity is always under our feet. We don't have to go anywhere. All we need

to do is recognize it.

2. The grass on the other side always looks greener.

3. While we are dyeing the grass on the other side, there are others who are dyeing the

grass on our side. They would be happy to trade places with us.

4. When people don't know how to recognize opportunity, they complain of noise when it

knocks.

5. The same opportunity never knocks twice. The next one may be better or worse, but it

is never the same one.

Blaise Pascal

Someone once approached Blaise Pascal, the famous French philosopher and said, "If I

had your brains, I would be a better person." Pascal replied, "Be a better person and you

will have my brains."

Page 8 of 175

The Calgary Tower stands at 190.8 meters. The total weight of the tower is 10,884 tons,

of which 6,349 tons is below ground (approximately 60%). This shows that some of the

greatest buildings have the strongest foundations. Just like a great building stands on a

strong foundation, so does success. And the foundation of success is attitude.

Ballon Man

There was a man who made a living selling balloons at a fair. He had all colors of

balloons, including red, yellow, blue, and green. Whenever business was slow, he would

release a helium-filled balloon into the air and when the children saw it go up, they all

wanted to buy one. They would come up to him, buy a balloon, and his sales would go up

again. He continued this process all day. One day, he felt someone tugging at his jacket.

He turned around and saw a little boy who asked, "If you release a black balloon, would

that also fly?" Moved by the boy's concern, the man replied with empathy, "Son, it is not

the color of the balloon, it is what is inside that makes it go up."