Juggling with Life

"Imagine life as a game in which you are juggling some five balls in the air. You name them - Work, Family, Health, Friends and Spirit and you're keeping all of these in the air. You will realise Work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back. But the other four Balls - Family, Health, Friends and Spirit - are made of glass. If you drop one of these; they will be irrevocably scuffed, marked, nicked, damaged or even shattered. They will never be the same. You must understand that and strive for it.”

Truth of Life

A blind boy sat on the steps of a building with a hat by his feet. He held up a sign which said: 'I am blind, please help.' There were only a few coins in the hat.

A man was walking by. He took a few coins from his pocket and dropped them into the hat. He then took the sign, turned it around, and wrote some words. He put the sign back so that everyone who walked by would see the new words.

Soon the hat began to fill up. A lot more people were giving money to the blind boy.. That afternoon the man who had changed the sign came to see how things were. The boy recognized his footsteps and asked,

'Were you the one who changed my sign this morning? What did you write?'

The man said, 'I only wrote the truth. I said what you said but in a different way.'

What he had written was: 'Today is a beautiful day and I cannot see it.' Do you think the first sign and the second sign were saying the same thing?

Of course both signs told people the boy was blind. But the first sign simply said the boy was blind. The second sign told people they were so blessed that they were not blind. Should we be surprised that the second sign was more effective?

Moral of the Story: Be thankful for what you have. Be creative. Be innovative. Think differently and positively.

To Dare is great but to bear is Greater

Let me share someone's life history with you.

There was a man who failed in business at the age of 21;
was defeated in a legislative race at the age 22;
failed again in business at the age of 24;
overcame the death of his sweatheart at the age of 26;
had a nervous breakdown at the age of 27;
lost a congressial race at the age of 34;
lost a senatorial race at thr age of 45;
failed in an effort to become vice-president at the age of 47;
lost a senetorial race at 49 and was elected President of United States at age 52.

The man was Abraham Lincoln.

Our greatest glory is not in never falling but in rising every time we fall.

Tips to improve Self Esteem In Children

Set A Role Model
Try to set a role model for your child to follow. This would enable your child to know the ideal characteristics that a person must have or he must aim to adopt. It is not necessary that the role model is a celebrity or a politician; you can also try to place yourself or any of your family members as a role model for your child to learn what’s right and what’s wrong.

Appreciation Is A Must
Keep telling your child whatever you like about him or his behavior. This would motivate him to improve his performance and make a better attempt. Remember that appreciation is not necessarily given on big things only; even small doings of your child can be appreciated. Make sure even the other family members also appreciate the child in the similar way on his achievements and other activities.

Avoid Unnecessary Criticisms
Try to encourage your child on every thing possible like his dressing sense, cleaning of the room, good handwriting, performance in sport activities etc. Unnecessary criticisms can lower his self esteem and make him feel nervous and hesitant in taking up a task. Even if he fails in a particular task it is your utmost responsibility to teach him to learn from his failures. Keep a track on your child so that he does not loose his self confidence after experiencing a failure in life.

Setting Goals May Help

Allow your child to set goals for himself and direct his efforts towards the attainment of those goals. See to it that your child starts with small targets in the beginning and slowly move to the higher ones. You can also lay certain challenges in front of your child to accept and chase. These targets can be in academic terms, social terms or even psychological terms.

Apart from the above ways you can also aim to improve your relation and understanding with your child so that you can easily keep a note of your child’s performance. Being friendly and affectionate would reduce the communication gap between you and your kid. As a result of this you can be a friend for your child to support him in all ups and downs and also keep a check on his performance.

How Parents Can Help Their Kids Overcome SHYNESS

If your little one always seems to be standing apart from their classmates it may be a sign that they need your help. All parents want their kids to be happy and popular, so if your child finds it difficult to make friends, what can you do?

Parents worry that intervening might put pressure on their child, but that doing nothing will make the situation worse. Some children have more difficulty in social situations than others. While some lack confidence and feel too shy to approach their peers to start games, other children have difficulty with social skills and don’t know what to do in certain situations.

If your child doesn’t have many friends, it’s important to talk to them. It is equally important parents to talk to their child’s teacher to see if they have noticed any difficulties.

Although the problem is often simply shyness, classmates may think that your child is being unfriendly. Shy children are often mistakenly perceived by others as being aloof and stand-offish. Often children who are happiest are those with a good circle of friends. Friendships are important in terms of your child’s adjustment and emotional development.

How to help
First, make sure there actually is a problem. Some children are more comfortable having just one or two friends and it might be you who wants them to have lots of pals. Some children might prefer to sit on the sidelines and watch others. If they’re happy, try not to worry about it too much.

Check their hearing. Even a slight hearing problem can affect your child’s ability to interact. In addition, around one in 10 children has speech or language difficulties, which can also hold them back when making friends.

Ask your child what is worrying them. If they’re concerned that another child will laugh or be mean to them if they try to make friends, ask if that’s really going to happen. Help challenge their negative thoughts.

Many shy children are drawn to make friends with another shy child, which is fine, but also encourage them to make friends with a child who’s a little more confident and has some skills they can learn from. Encourage them to take the lead when you’re playing games with them at home, perhaps by explaining the rules to you. That will encourage them to take the lead with other children.

Invite a child in your son or daughter’s class to play. Try to find a child with similar interests as it will give them common ground and help them to play together. While your child plays with another child, provide a kind of commentary and talk about the good things they’re doing as a way of reinforcing good behaviour.

If the children are playing well together say, ‘I love the way you two help each other out,’. It will encourage the child to behave that way again.

Once your child is happy with playing with one other child, the next step is to invite a small group of children to play at your house, or for your child to play at someone else’s house. Praise your child if they are making progress, but don’t go over the top. A smile or a wink is often enough.

If your child has significant social problems that affect their everyday life, then you may consider professional help.

BANISH THEIR FEAR OF PARTIES
While most children adore birthday parties, if your little one doesn’t have any friends it can be a terrible ordeal. And with many primary school kids inviting the whole class to their birthday parties, there could be one almost every weekend.

But letting your child avoid them won’t help in the long-term as they’ll never realise that parties aren’t as scary as they thought. Talk to your child about what you can do to make parties easier for them. Perhaps you could stay at the party with them, or wait until they are paired off with another child. If they have one particular friend, call the child’s mother and suggest they go together.

ADVICE FOR LONELY TEENAGERS
Older kids might be surprisingly willing to co-operate if you bring the subject up with them. On one hand they can just refuse to do things but on the other they might be more motivated to overcome it because they realise they have to do something about it.

Ask your teenager what’s stopping them from making friends. Some might not be sure what to talk about with their peers, so brainstorm ideas with them, such as what they watch on TV.

Remind them of times when they did really well in social situations.

Encourage them to take up an activity that interests them – it will help them meet others with the same interests. Team sports such as football are good, as they don’t have to talk much, which can stop them feeling awkward. It’s also a good way to meet people with shared interests, and teams are good for bonding.

If your teenager isn’t sporty, there are plenty of other ways they can meet like-minded people in a group situation such as a chess or computer club.

Five Reasons Which Cause Anger

Unfairness - We believe that we have been treated unfairly. We tell ourselves that we deserve more, and we buy into this story that someone has wronged us.

Lost - We feel that we have lost something that we have identified ourselves with. Feelings, pride, money, car, job.

Blame - We blame other people or external situations for having caused our loss, for taking advantage of us unfairly. The blame often only resides in our heads and is a product of our imagination. We fail to see things from other people’s perspectives. We become deeply selfish.

Pain - We experience pain, mental distress, and anxiety. The pain causes physical responses in our body, which disturbs our natural energy flow and state of wellbeing.

Focus - We focus on the thing we don’t want, and energize it by complaining about it passionately, and repeating it to as many people who will listen. This creates a downward spiral of anger. “What we focus on expands”, this is true regardless of the emotion.

Thought for the day

A MAN WITHOUT IMAGINATION

IS LIKE A BIRD WITHOUT WINGS....