No Trouble

Here is some good advice by Ralph Marston:
It’s not the troubles that trouble you.
It’s the way you react to them.
What if you could choose not to let the troubles get to you?
What if you could work your way through them while remaining positive and joyful?
Life’s difficulties do not need your help.
They are plenty difficult on their own, without you adding to them.
So make the choice not to add to them.
Acknowledge their reality, deal effectively with them, but don’t allow them to pull you down.
The way you feel is the way you choose to feel.
Choose to feel powerful, choose to feel in control, choose to feel purposeful, abundant, and joyful because at the heart of you, you are.
The living spirit in you is stronger than any trouble you’ll ever encounter.
Remember that, feel its truth, and live your joy no matter what.

Sanjay's First Theorem :)
How many programmers does it take to change a light bulb?
None. That's a hardware problem.

A Checklist for Social Media Posts

Social Media is abuzz with activity these days with the current burning issue in the country, each one of us is busy is posting our opinion, forwarding posts, commenting on them, answering the comments, and on and on. It looks like everyone has something to say about it. During the day, you and I get hundreds of posts. How do we decide which post to ignore and which to forward? Can there be a checklist to help us decide?

Let me tell you an interesting story before answering this question:

In ancient Greece, Socrates was reputed to be very wise and knowledgeable. One day someone met the great philosopher and said, "Do you know what I just heard about your friend?"

"Hold on a minute", Socrates replied. "Before telling me anything I'd like you to pass a little test. It's called the Triple Filter test."

"Triple Filter?"

"That's right" Socrates continued. "Before you talk to me about my friend, it might be a good idea to take a moment and filter what you're going to say. That's why I call it the triple filter test. The first filter is Truth. Have you made absolutely sure that what you are about to tell me is true?"

"No", the man said,"Actually I just heard about it and ..."

"All right", Socrates said,"So you don't really know if it's true or not. Now let's try the second filter, the filter of goodness. Is what you are going to tell me about my friend, something good?"

"No, on the contrary.."

"So", Socrates continued, "You want to tell me something bad about him, but you are not certain that it is true. You may still pass the test though, because there's one filter left: the filter of usefulness. Is what you want to tell me about my friend going to be useful for me?"

"No, not really ..."

"Well, concluded Socrates,"if what you want to tell me is neither true, nor good nor even useful, why tell it to me at all?"

The checklist that we want is hidden in the above story, let us subject each post to this three point checklist:

☑ Do we know if it is true or is it just a hearsay?
☑ Does it say something good about someone?
☑ Is it useful?

And then as Socrates said, if it is neither true, nor good, nor even useful, why would you want to inflict it on your friends? Just ignore it and move on.

Troubles are Stepping Stones

Here is an inspiring story I came across long time back:

One day a farmer's donkey fell down into a well.

The animal cried piteously for hours as the farmer tried to figure out what to do. Finally he decided the animal was old and the well needed to be covered up anyway, it just wasn't worth it to retrieve the donkey.

He invited all his neighbors to come over and help him. They all grabbed a shovel and began to shovel dirt into the well.

At first, the donkey realized what was happening and cried horribly. Then, to everyone's amazement, he quieted down.

A few shovel loads later, the farmer finally looked down the well and was astonished at what he saw.
With every shovel of dirt that hit his back, the donkey was doing something amazing! He would shake it off and take a step up. As the farmer's neighbors continued to shovel dirt on top of the animal, he would shake it off and take a step up.

Pretty soon, everyone was amazed as the donkey stepped up over the edge of the well and trotted off!

Life is going to shovel dirt on you, all kinds of dirt. The trick to getting out of the well is to shake it off and take a step up.

Each of our troubles is a stepping-stone. We can get out of the deepest wells just by not stopping, never giving up! Shake it off and take a step up!