If you want to become full, let yourself be empty.
If you want to be reborn, let yourself die.
If you want to be given everything, give everything up.
~Lao Tzu
Enlightening the Mind & Soul
Monday, 5 September 2016
Friday, 1 May 2015
The Gift of the Magi- by O. Henry
One dollar and eighty-seven cents. That was all. And sixty
cents of it was in pennies. Pennies saved one and two at a time by bulldozing
the grocer and the vegetable man and the butcher until one's cheeks burned with
the silent imputation of parsimony that such close dealing implied. Three times
Della counted it. One dollar and eighty- seven cents. And the next day would be
Christmas.
There was clearly nothing to do but flop down on the shabby
little couch and howl. So Della did it. Which instigates the moral reflection
that life is made up of sobs, sniffles, and smiles, with sniffles
predominating.
While the mistress of the home is gradually subsiding from
the first stage to the second, take a look at the home. A furnished flat at $8
per week. It did not exactly beggar description, but it certainly had that word
on the lookout for the mendicancy squad.
In the vestibule below was a letter-box into which no
letter would go, and an electric button from which no mortal finger could coax
a ring. Also appertaining thereunto was a card bearing the name "Mr. James
Dillingham Young."
The "Dillingham" had been flung to the breeze
during a former period of prosperity when its possessor was being paid $30 per
week. Now, when the income was shrunk to $20, though, they were thinking
seriously of contracting to a modest and unassuming D. But whenever Mr. James
Dillingham Young came home and reached his flat above he was called
"Jim" and greatly hugged by Mrs. James Dillingham Young, already
introduced to you as Della. Which is all very good.
Della finished her cry and attended to her cheeks with the
powder rag. She stood by the window and looked out dully at a gray cat walking
a gray fence in a gray backyard. Tomorrow would be Christmas Day, and she had
only $1.87 with which to buy Jim a present. She had been saving every penny she
could for months, with this result. Twenty dollars a week doesn't go far.
Expenses had been greater than she had calculated. They always are. Only $1.87
to buy a present for Jim. Her Jim. Many a happy hour she had spent planning for
something nice for him. Something fine and rare and sterling--something just a
little bit near to being worthy of the honor of being owned by Jim.
There was a pier-glass between the windows of the room.
Perhaps you have seen a pier-glass in an $8 flat. A very thin and very agile
person may, by observing his reflection in a rapid sequence of longitudinal
strips, obtain a fairly accurate conception of his looks. Della, being slender,
had mastered the art.
Suddenly she whirled from the window and stood before the
glass. her eyes were shining brilliantly, but her face had lost its color
within twenty seconds. Rapidly she pulled down her hair and let it fall to its
full length.
Now, there were two possessions of the James Dillingham
Youngs in which they both took a mighty pride. One was Jim's gold watch that
had been his father's and his grandfather's. The other was Della's hair. Had
the queen of Sheba lived in the flat across the airshaft, Della would have let
her hair hang out the window some day to dry just to depreciate Her Majesty's
jewels and gifts. Had King Solomon been the janitor, with all his treasures
piled up in the basement, Jim would have pulled out his watch every time he
passed, just to see him pluck at his beard from envy.
So now Della's beautiful hair fell about her rippling and
shining like a cascade of brown waters. It reached below her knee and made
itself almost a garment for her. And then she did it up again nervously and
quickly. Once she faltered for a minute and stood still while a tear or two
splashed on the worn red carpet.
On went her old brown jacket; on went her old brown hat.
With a whirl of skirts and with the brilliant sparkle still in her eyes, she
fluttered out the door and down the stairs to the street.
Where she stopped the sign read: "Mne. Sofronie. Hair
Goods of All Kinds." One flight up Della ran, and collected herself,
panting. Madame, large, too white, chilly, hardly looked the
"Sofronie."
"Will you buy my hair?" asked Della.
"I buy hair," said Madame. "Take yer hat off
and let's have a sight at the looks of it."
Down rippled the brown cascade.
"Twenty dollars," said Madame, lifting the mass
with a practised hand.
"Give it to me quick," said Della.
Oh, and the next two hours tripped by on rosy wings. Forget
the hashed metaphor. She was ransacking the stores for Jim's present.
She found it at last. It surely had been made for Jim and
no one else. There was no other like it in any of the stores, and she had
turned all of them inside out. It was a platinum fob chain simple and chaste in
design, properly proclaiming its value by substance alone and not by
meretricious ornamentation--as all good things should do. It was even worthy of
The Watch. As soon as she saw it she knew that it must be Jim's. It was like
him. Quietness and value--the description applied to both. Twenty-one dollars
they took from her for it, and she hurried home with the 87 cents. With that
chain on his watch Jim might be properly anxious about the time in any company.
Grand as the watch was, he sometimes looked at it on the sly on account of the
old leather strap that he used in place of a chain.
When Della reached home her intoxication gave way a little
to prudence and reason. She got out her curling irons and lighted the gas and
went to work repairing the ravages made by generosity added to love. Which is
always a tremendous task, dear friends--a mammoth task.
Within forty minutes her head was covered with tiny,
close-lying curls that made her look wonderfully like a truant schoolboy. She
looked at her reflection in the mirror long, carefully, and critically.
"If Jim doesn't kill me," she said to herself,
"before he takes a second look at me, he'll say I look like a Coney Island
chorus girl. But what could I do--oh! what could I do with a dollar and eighty-
seven cents?"
At 7 o'clock the coffee was made and the frying-pan was on
the back of the stove hot and ready to cook the chops.
Jim was never late. Della doubled the fob chain in her hand
and sat on the corner of the table near the door that he always entered. Then
she heard his step on the stair away down on the first flight, and she turned
white for just a moment. She had a habit for saying little silent prayer about
the simplest everyday things, and now she whispered: "Please God, make him
think I am still pretty."
The door opened and Jim stepped in and closed it. He looked
thin and very serious. Poor fellow, he was only twenty-two--and to be burdened
with a family! He needed a new overcoat and he was without gloves.
Jim stopped inside the door, as immovable as a setter at
the scent of quail. His eyes were fixed upon Della, and there was an expression
in them that she could not read, and it terrified her. It was not anger, nor
surprise, nor disapproval, nor horror, nor any of the sentiments that she had
been prepared for. He simply stared at her fixedly with that peculiar
expression on his face.
Della wriggled off the table and went for him.
"Jim, darling," she cried, "don't look at me
that way. I had my hair cut off and sold because I couldn't have lived through
Christmas without giving you a present. It'll grow out again--you won't mind,
will you? I just had to do it. My hair grows awfully fast. Say `Merry
Christmas!' Jim, and let's be happy. You don't know what a nice-- what a
beautiful, nice gift I've got for you."
"You've cut off your hair?" asked Jim,
laboriously, as if he had not arrived at that patent fact yet even after the
hardest mental labor.
"Cut it off and sold it," said Della. "Don't
you like me just as well, anyhow? I'm me without my hair, ain't I?"
Jim looked about the room curiously.
"You say your hair is gone?" he said, with an air
almost of idiocy.
"You needn't look for it," said Della. "It's
sold, I tell you--sold and gone, too. It's Christmas Eve, boy. Be good to me,
for it went for you. Maybe the hairs of my head were numbered," she went
on with sudden serious sweetness, "but nobody could ever count my love for
you. Shall I put the chops on, Jim?"
Out of his trance Jim seemed quickly to wake. He enfolded
his Della. For ten seconds let us regard with discreet scrutiny some
inconsequential object in the other direction. Eight dollars a week or a
million a year--what is the difference? A mathematician or a wit would give you
the wrong answer. The magi brought valuable gifts, but that was not among them.
This dark assertion will be illuminated later on.
Jim drew a package from his overcoat pocket and threw it
upon the table.
"Don't make any mistake, Dell," he said,
"about me. I don't think there's anything in the way of a haircut or a
shave or a shampoo that could make me like my girl any less. But if you'll
unwrap that package you may see why you had me going a while at first."
White fingers and nimble tore at the string and paper. And
then an ecstatic scream of joy; and then, alas! a quick feminine change to
hysterical tears and wails, necessitating the immediate employment of all the
comforting powers of the lord of the flat.
For there lay The Combs--the set of combs, side and back,
that Della had worshipped long in a Broadway window. Beautiful combs, pure
tortoise shell, with jewelled rims--just the shade to wear in the beautiful
vanished hair. They were expensive combs, she knew, and her heart had simply
craved and yearned over them without the least hope of possession. And now,
they were hers, but the tresses that should have adorned the coveted adornments
were gone.
But she hugged them to her bosom, and at length she was
able to look up with dim eyes and a smile and say: "My hair grows so fast,
Jim!"
And them Della leaped up like a little singed cat and
cried, "Oh, oh!"
Jim had not yet seen his beautiful present. She held it out
to him eagerly upon her open palm. The dull precious metal seemed to flash with
a reflection of her bright and ardent spirit.
"Isn't it a dandy, Jim? I hunted all over town to find
it. You'll have to look at the time a hundred times a day now. Give me your
watch. I want to see how it looks on it."
Instead of obeying, Jim tumbled down on the couch and put
his hands under the back of his head and smiled.
"Dell," said he, "let's put our Christmas
presents away and keep 'em a while. They're too nice to use just at present. I
sold the watch to get the money to buy your combs. And now suppose you put the
chops on."
The magi, as you know, were wise men--wonderfully wise
men--who brought gifts to the Babe in the manger. They invented the art of
giving Christmas presents. Being wise, their gifts were no doubt wise ones,
possibly bearing the privilege of exchange in case of duplication. And here I
have lamely related to you the uneventful chronicle of two foolish children in
a flat who most unwisely sacrificed for each other the greatest treasures of
their house. But in a last word to the wise of these days let it be said that
of all who give gifts these two were the wisest. O all who give and receive
gifts, such as they are wisest. Everywhere they are wisest. They are the magi.
Wednesday, 22 April 2015
Begin each deed with Bismillah
Begin each deed with Bismillah, my sister,
my brother.
So whenever you adorn your path with seeds
in His name,
He will change them into flowers.
He will change them into flowers.
No effort shall ever be unnoticed by
Ar-Rafi, the Exalter.
Friday, 10 April 2015
Whoever comes to know that his Lord is absolutely free of
all needs, will come to know himself to be absolutely in need; whoever comes to
know his Lord for absolute will and power, will know himself for his absolute
inability to do anything [without Him]; and whoever comes to know his Lord for
His total greatness and might, will come to know himself for his total lowness
and subjection; and whoever comes to know his Lord to have perfect knowledge,
wisdom and decision-making, will come to know himself without any knowledge.
A slave’s knowing his ever-desperate need of Allah is the
fruit of this acquired knowledge, the place where [he] finds happiness and
success in this world and the Hereafter.
Tuesday, 7 April 2015
The 90/10 Principle by Stephen Covey
Discover the 90/10 Principle: It will change your life. The 90/10
principle is incredible! Very few know and apply this principle. The Result?
Millions of people are suffering undeserved stress, trials, problems, and
heartache. They never seem to be a success in life. Bad days follow bad days.
Terrible things seem to be constantly happening. Theirs is constant stress,
lack of joy, and broken relationships. Worry consumes time, anger ruins
friendships and life seems dreary and is not enjoyed to the fullest. Friends
are lost. Life is a bore and often seems cruel. Does this describe you? If so,
do not be discouraged. You can be different! Understand and apply the 90/10
principle. It will change your life!
What is this principle? 10% of life is made up of what happens to you. 90% of life is decided by how you react. What does this mean? We really have no control over 10% of what happens to us. We cannot stop the car from breaking down. The plane may be late arriving, which throws our whole schedule off. A driver may cut us off in traffic. We have no control over this 10%. The other 90% is different. You determine the other 90%! How? By your reaction. You cannot control a red light, but you can control your reaction. Don’t let people fool you; You can control how you react!
What is this principle? 10% of life is made up of what happens to you. 90% of life is decided by how you react. What does this mean? We really have no control over 10% of what happens to us. We cannot stop the car from breaking down. The plane may be late arriving, which throws our whole schedule off. A driver may cut us off in traffic. We have no control over this 10%. The other 90% is different. You determine the other 90%! How? By your reaction. You cannot control a red light, but you can control your reaction. Don’t let people fool you; You can control how you react!
Let’s use an example. You’re eating breakfast with your family. Your daughter knocks over a cup of coffee onto your business shirt. You have no control over what just happened. What happens next will be determined by how you react. You curse. You harshly scold your daughter for knocking the coffee cup over. She breaks down in tears. After scolding her, you turn to your spouse and criticize them for placing the cup too close to the edge of the table. A short verbal battle follows. You storm upstairs and change your shirt. Back downstairs you find your daughter has been too busy crying to finish breakfast and get ready for school. She misses the bus. Your spouse must leave immediately for work. You rush to the car and drive your daughter to school. Because you are late, you drive 40 miles an hour in a 30 mph speed zone.
After a 15-minute delay and throwing $60 (traffic fine) away, you arrive at school. Your daughter runs to the building without saying good-bye. After arriving at the office 20 minutes late, you find you forgot your briefcase. Your day has started terrible. As it continues, it seems to get worse and worse. You look forward to going home. When you arrive home, you find a small wedge in your relationship with your spouse and daughter. Why? Because of how you reacted in the morning.
Why did you have a bad day?
A) Did the coffee cause it?
B) Did your daughter cause it?
C) Did the Policeman cause it?
D) Did you cause it?
The answer is D. You had no control over what happened with the coffee. How you reacted in those 5 seconds is what caused your bad day.
Here is what could have and should have happened. Coffee splashes over you. Your daughter is about to cry. You gently say, “It’s OK honey, you just need to be more careful next time.” Grabbing a towel you rush upstairs. After grabbing a new shirt and your briefcase. You come back down in time to look through the window and see your child getting on the bus. She turns and waves. You and your spouse kiss before you both go to work. You arrive 5 minutes early and cheerfully greet the staff. Your boss comments on how good of a day you are having. Notice the difference.
Two different scenarios. Both started the same. Both ended different. Why? Because of how you Reacted. You really do not have any control over 10% of what happens. The other 90% is determined by your reaction.
The 90/10 principle is also applicable to trading.
While we cannot control the price movements, we can always decide on what to do next.
Impatience and rash actions in a volatile market like Forex will inevitably lead to more losses and regrets.
Careful and measured responses to the price actions should result in more joy of winnings and the acceptance of occasional losses.
While we cannot control the price movements, we can always decide on what to do next.
Impatience and rash actions in a volatile market like Forex will inevitably lead to more losses and regrets.
Careful and measured responses to the price actions should result in more joy of winnings and the acceptance of occasional losses.
Monday, 6 April 2015
Thursday, 2 April 2015
Sabr
وَلَمَنْ صَبَرَ وَغَفَرَ إِنَّ ذَٰلِكَ لَمِنْ عَزْمِ الْأُمُورِ
“But indeed if any show patience and forgive that would
truly be an exercise of courageous will and resolution in the conduct of
affairs.”
(42:43)
Be patient over what befalls you. If you are going through
something hard and painful, know that it will change. No state is eternal in
this life. Time and situations changes over and over again. You have to be
patient over the bad times and bear them with patience. Remember Allah gives
hardest battles to his strongest soldiers. During that time, pray to Allah, get
closer to Him for that time may be a source of your getting near Him. Sabr is a
stage on the path towards Allah. Humble yourself in the presence of your Lord
and He will exalt you.
Wednesday, 1 April 2015
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