Showing posts with label inspiration. Show all posts
Showing posts with label inspiration. Show all posts

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Be a Sunflower!







A long time ago, a wise old man was visiting a garden.

He walked around, admiring every flower and enjoying their colors and shapes, till he came to a young sunflower that looked quite sad. He stopped and asked the sunflower:
“Why are you looking so sad, dear sunflower?”

“Because I am,” said the sunflower in a grumpy voice. “Just leave me alone.”

But the old wise man continued talking, “Please tell me why you are so sad. Everything seems to be all right with you. You are growing well and you have good health and plenty of space to grow in. Then why are you so sad, O sunflower? Please tell me.”



The sunflower replied to the old wise man:
“Look over there near the entrance to the garden. Do you see the beautiful rose growing there? See how deep and dark its red colour is—that’s what I want to be like. My colour is all pale and yellow. The rose smells so good and strong while my smell is weak. No one likes me.”
“But you are very special,” said the wise man. “Everyone loves you just as much as they love the rose. You are special because you have such a unique bright colour that makes everybody feel full of joy and life. It makes everyone active. Your fragrance is also unique. No other flower can be just like you, you know,” said the old man, speaking from his many years of wisdom.



“But people come specially looking for the rose. They think it symbolizes beauty and love. They want it so that they can impress their loved one by gifting it to them,” complained the sunflower.
“If only you look at yourself and all that you have, you will always be happy, dear sunflower.

This is the secret of happiness. Look at your own self and see all that you have. See your beautiful abilities. You move every day with the sun…as the sun travels around the earth, you follow its path. And when it goes to sleep, so do you. The whole world believes you symbolize knowledge and wisdom, and everyone who understands life deeply appreciates you more than many other flowers for all your unique and special abilities.”
But the sunflower wasn’t really listening to the old man.

“As I said earlier, I want to be like the rose and that is why I am sad and unhappy. I want what it has got. Can you help me or not?” asked the sunflower.
“And as I said earlier my dear beautiful sunflower, if only you look at yourself and all that you have, you will always be happy. This is the powerful secret of happiness. On the other hand, if you always look at what others have got, you will make yourself unhappy and sad all the time. You will never feel that you have enough or are good enough; you will never be able to understand your strengths and you will never be able to be the best you can be. ”

“So the first thing is to stop wanting to be like any other flower and just to be yourself,” continued the old man. “Accept the fact that you are a sunflower; for this cannot be changed, even if you wish it to be otherwise. Accept also the fact that you are special and unique and that no other flower will be just like you, ever.
Once you have accepted this, then I can show you how to be happy and also become the best that
you can be.”

“You can be the best sunflower the world has ever seen, but you will never become a rose.
The choice of happiness and success is available to you and so is the choice leading to unhappiness and misery. Which one do you pick? Remember that looking at yourself and your special talents will keep you happy, but looking at others and wanting to be like them, or have what they have, will make you unhappy,” concluded the old man.

The young sunflower had been contemplating the words of the wise old man. They seemed to make a lot of sense, and so the sunflower decided to give it a try to see if it really could be happy and grow to become the best sunflower the world has ever seen. The sunflower no longer wanted to be the rose.
“Okay I am ready to become the best sunflower I can be “declared the sunflower.
With this statement, the sunflower stretched up tall and turned its face to the sun. As it looked into the golden light of the sun, it shouted “I am special because I am a sunflower. There is no other flower like me. I am Unique”
The whole garden was bathed in a golden glow and all the flowers started to smile.
The sunflower looked truly magnificent! The old wise man smiled too.
“You really are the best sunflower I have seen “he said.



“Its all thanks to you “smiled the sunflower “now I am VERY happy just being me. I will be the best sunflower that I can be!
Know who you are and be the best ‘you’ that you can be.

Focus on your strengths, and do not focus on what other people do.

Do not try to be something that you are not.

Be authentic! Instead of spending your energy comparing yourself to other people, put the energy into growing your strengths.

Every morning when you wake up, say to yourself ‘I am special!’… And remember the Sunflower story.

Note: Special thanks to Tayira for this post on Guru.

To join Guru community please click  GURU

Saturday, August 29, 2009

Sayings and Inspiration

About love many things have been written and will be. Love is an endless source of inspiration in daily life.
In fact what inspires us? Where from comes inspiration to all artists, known and unknown? I think this is a question everybody should think about.

Some people get inspired by music. Simply listening different songs can rise their vibration and if mind is calm, soul is clean, heart is pure, energies in chakras are circulating properly, i think everyone can become inspired and create!

What keeps us all connected? Love, for sure!

Sharing some wonderful sayings by Kahlil Gibran and followed by some nice pictures.
I hope it will inspire you too !


I prefer to be a dreamer among the humblest, with visions to be realized, than lord among those without dreams and desires.


If you love somebody, let them go, for if they return, they were always yours. And if they don't, they never were.


If you reveal your secrets to the wind, you should not blame the wind for revealing them to the trees.


If your heart is a volcano, how shall you expect flowers to bloom?



Love and doubt have never been on speaking terms.


The person you consider ignorant and insignificant is the one who came from God, that he might learn bliss from grief and knowledge from gloom.




To be able to look back upon ones life in satisfaction, is to live twice.


To understand the heart and mind of a person, look not at what he has already achieved, but at what he aspires to.
When love beckons to you, follow him, Though his ways are hard and steep. And when his wings enfold you yield to him, Though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound you.


In the sweetness of friendship let there be laughter, and sharing of pleasures. For in the dew of little things the heart finds its morning and is refreshed.



A friend who is far away is sometimes much nearer than one who is at hand. Is not the mountain far more awe-inspiring and more clearly visible to one passing through the valley than to those who inhabit the mountain?


Your friend is your needs answered.



When we turn to one another for counsel we reduce the number of our enemies.


Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding.


Love, Light and Inspiration!