Once, there was an older man, who was broke, living in a tiny house and owned a beat up car. He was living off of $99 social security checks. At 65 years of age, he decide things had to change. So he thought about what he had to offer. His friends raved about his chicken recipe. He decided that this was his best shot at making a change.He left Kentucky and traveled to different states to try to sell his recipe. He told restaurant owners that he had a mouthwatering chicken recipe. He offered the recipe to them for free, just asking for a small percentage on the items sold. Sounds like a good deal, right?Unfortunately, not to most of the restaurants. He heard NO over 1000 times. Even after all of those rejections, he didn’t give up. He believed his chicken recipe was something special. He got rejected 1009 times before he heard his first yes.With that one success Colonel Hartland Sanders changed the way Americans eat chicken. Kentucky Fried Chicken, popularly known as KFC, was born.Remember, never give up and always believe in yourself in spite of rejection.

A popular speaker started off a seminar by holding up a $20 bill. A crowd of 200 had gathered to hear him speak. He asked, who would like this $20 bill 200 hands went up.He said, “I am going to give this $20 to one of you but first, let me do this.” He crumpled the bill up.

He then asked, “Who still wants it?”

All 200 hands were still raised.

“Well,” he replied, “What if I do this?” Then he dropped the bill on the ground and stomped on it with his shoes.

He picked it up, and showed it to the crowd. The bill was all crumpled and dirty.

“Now who still wants it?”

All the hands still went up.

“My friends, I have just showed you a very important lesson. No matter what I did to the money, you still wanted it because it did not decrease in value. It was still worth $20. Many times in our lives, life crumples us and grinds us into the dirt. We make bad decisions or deal with poor circumstances. We feel worthless. But no matter what has happened or what will happen, you will never lose your value. You are special – Don’t ever forget it!

 

Once upon a time a daughter complained to her father that her life was miserable and that she didn’t know how she was going to make it. She was tired of fighting and struggling all the time. It seemed just as one problem was solved, another one soon followed.

Her father, a chef, took her to the kitchen. He filled three pots with water and placed each on a high fire. Once the three pots began to boil, he placed potatoes in one pot, eggs in the second pot, and ground coffee beans in the third pot.

He then let them sit and boil, without saying a word to his daughter. The daughter, moaned and impatiently waited, wondering what he was doing.

After twenty minutes he turned off the burners. He took the potatoes out of the pot and placed them in a bowl. He pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl.

He then ladled the coffee out and placed it in a cup. Turning to her he asked. “Daughter, what do you see?”

“Potatoes, eggs, and coffee,” she hastily replied.

“Look closer,” he said, “and touch the potatoes.” She did and noted that they were soft. He then asked her to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard-boiled egg. Finally, he asked her to sip the coffee. Its rich aroma brought a smile to her face.

“Father, what does this mean?” she asked.

He then explained that the potatoes, the eggs and coffee beans had each faced the same adversity– the boiling water.

However, each one reacted differently.

The potato went in strong, hard, and unrelenting, but in boiling water, it became soft and weak.

The egg was fragile, with the thin outer shell protecting its liquid interior until it was put in the boiling water. Then the inside of the egg became hard.

However, the ground coffee beans were unique. After they were exposed to the boiling water, they changed the water and created something new.

“Which are you,” he asked his daughter. “When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a potato, an egg, or a coffee bean? “

Moral:In life, things happen around us, things happen to us, but the only thing that truly matters is what happens within us.

Which one are you?

 

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A fable is told about an eagle that thought he was a chicken. When the eagle was very small, he fell from the safety of his nest. A chicken farmer found the eagle, brought him to the farm, and raised him in a chicken coop among his many chickens. The eagle grew up doing what chickens do, living like a chicken, and believing he was a chicken.

A naturalist came to the chicken farm to see if what he had heard about an eagle acting like a chicken was really true. He knew that an eagle is king of the sky. He was surprised to see the eagle strutting around the chicken coop, pecking at the ground, and acting very much like a chicken. The farmer explained to the naturalist that this bird was no longer an eagle. He was now a chicken because he had been trained to be a chicken and he believed that he was a chicken.

The naturalist knew there was more to this great bird than his actions showed as he “pretended” to be a chicken. He was born an eagle and had the heart of an eagle, and nothing could change that. The man lifted the eagle onto the fence surrounding the chicken coop and said, “Eagle, thou art an eagle. Stretch forth thy wings and fly.” The eagle moved slightly, only to look at the man; then he glanced down at his home among the chickens in the chicken coop where he was comfortable. He jumped off the fence and continued doing what chickens do. The farmer was satisfied. “I told you it was a chicken,” he said.

The naturalist returned the next day and tried again to convince the farmer and the eagle that the eagle was born for something greater. He took the eagle to the top of the farmhouse and spoke to him: “Eagle, thou art an eagle. Thou dost belong to the sky and not to the earth. Stretch forth thy wings and fly.” The large bird looked at the man, then again down into the chicken coop. He jumped from the man’s arm onto the roof of the farmhouse.

Knowing what eagles are really about, the naturalist asked the farmer to let him try one more time. He would return the next day and prove that this bird was an eagle. The farmer, convinced otherwise, said, “It is a chicken.”

The naturalist returned the next morning to the chicken farm and took the eagle and the farmer some distance away to the foot of a high mountain. They could not see the farm nor the chicken coop from this new setting. The man held the eagle on his arm and pointed high into the sky where the bright sun was beckoning above. He spoke: “Eagle, thou art an eagle! Thou dost belong to the sky and not to the earth. Stretch forth thy wings and fly.” This time the eagle stared skyward into the bright sun, straightened his large body, and stretched his massive wings. His wings moved, slowly at first, then surely and powerfully. With the mighty screech of an eagle, he flew. BE THE EAGLE YOU WERE CREATED TO BE , FLY HIGH

To cross the Rubicon means to take an irrevocable step that commits one to a specific course. When Julius Caesar was about to cross the tiny Rubicon River, he quoted from a play by Menander to say “let the die be cast.” But what kind of die was Caesar casting and what decision was he making?

When Julius Caesar led his troops from Gaul in January of 49 B.C.E., he paused on the northern end of a bridge. As he stood, he debated whether to cross or not the Rubicon, a river separating Cisalpine Gaul from Italy. When he was making this decision, Caesar was contemplating committing a heinous crime.

If he brought his troops into Italy, he’d be violating his role as a provincial authority and would essentially be declaring himself an enemy of the state and the Senate, fomenting civil war.

But if he didn’t bring his troops into Italy, Caesar would be forced to relinquish his command and probably go into exile, giving up his military glory and political future.

Caesar definitely debated for a while about what to do. He realized how important his decision was, especially since Rome had already undergone civil dispute a few decades earlier.

 

A die is simply one of a pair of dice. Even in Roman times, gambling games with dice were popular. Just as it is today, once you’ve cast (or thrown) the dice, your fate is decided. Even before the dice land, your future has been foretold.

When Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon, he started a five-year Roman civil war. At the war’s end, Julius Caesar was declared dictator for life. As dictator, Caesar presided over the end of the of the Roman Republic and the start of the Roman Empire. Upon Julius Caesar’s death his adopted son, Augustus, became Rome’s first emperor. The Roman Empire started in 31 B.C.E. and lasted until 476 C.E.

 

I happened to run across a story And it captured my attention, and quite possibly yours as well.

It had to do with the 8.2 earthquake that struck Armenia back in 1989 when the country was flattened, killing over 30,000 people in less than four minutes. Whether the incident took place in Gyumri or Spitak remains to be seen. Those were the areas that took the brunt of the loss.

In the midst of utter devastation and chaos, a father left his wife securely at home and rushed to the school where his son was supposed to be, only to discover that the building had been flattened as a pancake.

After the traumatic initial shock, this man remembered the promise he had made to his son: “No matter what, I’ll always be there for you!” And tears began to fill his eyes. As he looked at the pile of debris that once was the school, it looked hopeless, but he kept remembering his commitment to his son.

He began to concentrate on where he walked his son to school each morning. Remembering his son’s classroom would be in the back right corner of the building, he rushed there and started digging through the rubble.

As he was digging, other forlorn parents arrived, clutching their hearts, saying, “My son!” “My daughter!”

Other well-meaning parents tried pulling him off what was left of the school, saying:

“It’s too late!”

“They’re dead!”

“You can’t help!”

“Go home!”

“Come on, face reality, there’s nothing you can do!”

“You’re just going to make things worse!”

To each parent, he responded with one line: “Are you going to help me now?”

And then he proceeded to dig for his son, stone by stone.

The fire chief showed up and tried to pull him off the school’s debris, saying, “Fires are breaking out, explosions are happening everywhere. You’re in danger. We’ll take care of it. Please go home.”

To which this loving, caring Armenian father asked, “Are you going to help me now?”

The police came and said, “You’re angry, distraught, and it’s over. You’re endangering others. We’ll take care of it. Go home.”

No one helped.

Courageously, he proceeded alone because he needed to know for himself: “Is my boy alive, or is he dead?”

He dug for eight hours…12 hours…24, and 36 hours. Then, in the 38th hour, he pulled back a boulder and heard his son’s voice. The man screamed his son’s name, “Armand!”

He heard back, “Dad? It’s me, Dad! I told the other kids not to worry. I told them that if you were alive, you’d save me, and when you saved me, they’d be saved. You promised, ‘No matter what, I’ll always be there for you!’ You did it, Dad!”

“There are 14 of us left out of 33, Dad. We’re scared, hungry, thirsty, and thankful you’re here. When the building collapsed, it made a wedge, like a triangle, and it saved us.”

“Come on out, boy!”

“No, Dad! Let the other kids come out first, because I know you’ll get me. No matter what, I know you’ll be there for me.”

ARE PEOPLE WITH YOU OR ARE THEY IN YOUR WAY

Ask yourself that question RIGHT NOW

make The Choice to change your life . Do you know where your going when you die ? Why are you here ? What’s your purpose ? These are three simple questions to ask yourself and that will reveal a lot to you once you do . Don’t wait ask now

Everyday you’re taking classes in the school of mental toughness . Adversity , Anxiety, stress and life are taxing you everyday . Can you survive and Advance and get your degree or will it break you and make you drop out . Don’t Quit , GO BE GREAT

the little things in life are the difference between good and great . Are your elbows ashy ! It’s a detail thing , fix the details watch the results

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Live from the mission speaking to a group of people . Check it out leave me some feedback

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The word love is so powerful when used in the right situation and can change the aspect of a lot of relationships and conversations . Have you ever used it as a life ACK , acronyms that can change your thought process . It’s the thoughts that control your daily routine .

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