| Quote of the day | ||
| “Laughter is an instant vacation.” – Milton Berle | ||
Thought of the day – Benefits of Laughter: |
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| 1. Stimulates the brain, nervous, respiratory, hormonal and muscular system 2. Lightens depression and is a natural stress reliever 3. Reduces allergy symptoms and pain 4. Raises levels of infection-fighting T-cells and proteins called gamma-interferon and B-cells. 5. Lowers cortisol levels thus protecting the immune system 6. Improves health and well-being 7. Improves relationships 8. Helps to cope with problems more efficiently 9. Laughter is rejuvenating and refreshing and really is the best medicine. |
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Joke of the day |
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| A curious child asked his mother: “Mommy, why are some of your hairs turning grey?”The mother tried to use this occasion to teach her child: “It is because of you, dear. Every bad action of yours will turn one of my hairs grey!”
The child replied innocently: “Now I know why grandmother has only grey hairs on her head.” |
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| Have a super fun weekend!Regards, Prasanna |
Month: September 2012
Day with a Difference – 27-Sep-12
| Quote of the day | ||
| “My father said there were two kinds of people in the world: givers and takers. The takers may eat better, but the givers sleep better” – Marlo Thomas | ||
Thought of the day – A Daring donation |
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| An orphanage in a remote village in Vietnam was bombed in the Vietnam War. Many children were wounded and some died. The French missionaries who owned the orphanage and the vigilant villagers tried their best to rescue the children. But medical care was not available. Some of them ran to the neighboring town and sent a message to the MASH (Mobile Army Surgical Hospital) Unit of the American military. The mobile medical unit rushed to the orphanage with a team of doctors, nurses and other staff and started their operation to save the wounded children. An eight year old little girl was badly wounded. She had lost a lot of blood and was in a very critical state. The only step to save her life was an immediate blood transfusion. They examined her blood. It was of a very rare group. A donor with a compatible blood group was needed urgently. None of the members of the medical team or the staff of the orphanage or the available villagers had a matching blood group. They tested the blood of the children and identified a few little boys with the required blood group. As the members of the team were not proficient in the local language, they could not communicate with the boys clearly. They tried their best to request them to volunteer to donate blood to save the dying girl. One little boy stepped forward, ready to donate his blood. During the transfusion he started to sob and appeared to be mentally disturbed. The staff tried their best to console him. But they failed. Then a Vietnamese nurse arrived. She talked to the boy and enquired in the local language about the cause of his worry. She had a long conversation and hearing her words of assurance, the boy appeared to be remarkably relieved. His sobs were replaced by a smile. He was peaceful and jubilant. The nurse then explained the real situation. When the team requested his blood to save the girl, the poor boy had a major misunderstanding. He thought that they were demanding ALL the blood in his little body. He believed that when all his blood is drained, he would die. Still he was ready to offer his blood to save the girl. The barrier of language made the team unable to explain the details to him. The words of the local nurse consoled him considerably.The American staff then inquired why the boy volunteered to donate his blood though he feared it would end his life. The Vietnamese nurse replied that she had asked the same question to the boy. His answer was, “Because she is my friend!” Let us learn to love one another. The greatest love a person can have for his friends is to be willing even to give his life for them”
Source: http://www.moral-stories.com/2011/03/daring-donation.html |
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| Joke of the day | ||
| Dentist to parsimonious patient “No, we give no discount for empty spaces when cleaning and polishing teeth Mrs. Borde!” | ||
| Have a great day!Regards, Prasanna |
Day with a Difference – 26-Sep-12
| Quote of the day | ||
| “You can’t let praise or criticism get to you. It’s a weakness to get caught up in either one.” -John Wooden | ||
| Thought of the day – Handling Criticism and Praise by Robert M. Sherfield, Ph.D. | ||
| Most people enjoy praise and appreciate helpful, constructive criticism. Few, if any, enjoy condemnation and harsh, vindictive criticism. Unfortunately, both influence your self-esteem. There are those who would say, “Ignore the criticism and bask in the praise.” This is not a healthy attitude. You either have to accept both praise and criticism as a learning tool or reject both as un-useful to your life.If you only accept the praise, then you are cheating yourself out of valuable lessons that can be learned from constructive criticism. Constructive criticism is advice that is useful, practical, and valid. It is criticism that is backed up with facts, experience, and knowledge. An example of constructive criticism is when someone says, “Your presentation was well written and verbally sound. However, next time, try using a PowerPoint graph slide to show the audience how much growth the company has experienced.”
An example of harsh, vindictive criticism is, “I don’t know who told you that you were a speaker or who let you make the address, but you embarrassed us all.” There is nothing to be learned or gained from the latter. But It Hurts. Why must you accept constructive criticism? Because if you only accept praise, you stunt your growth and you become complacent with mediocrity. This does nothing to help you build healthy self-esteem. A person with truly healthy self-esteem welcomes the constructive criticism as much as the praise, because together, they are a part of our learning process. You have to be very careful, however, not to overlook the praise and wallow in the criticism. So many people with unhealthy self-esteem have taken this route. You can receive 100 accolades and one criticism and you go home thinking about the one piece of criticism. You let it overwhelm you. You let it consume your thoughts and actions.
The best way to deal with constructive criticism is to own it and learn from it. If it is vindictive criticism, ignore it and move on. Depending on the circumstance, you have to choose which is most appropriate. How Do I Know It’s Right? If your supervisor constructively criticizes your work, ask yourself, is his or her criticism valid and truthful? Look inside your heart and mind and answer that question truthfully. It is only when you refuse to answer that question truthfully that you run into problems. Did you do your best work? Did you follow procedure? Did you get it in on time? Was it formatted correctly? Were there any mistakes? You must own your truth here. If the truth is that you did not do your very best and you were constructively criticized for it, then accept it, learn from it, and move on. There is nothing more that can be done with it. It is finished. On the other hand, if you are criticized for your work and you know in the deepest reaches of your being that you did exactly what was expected, met the deadlines, formatted the document correctly, met all of the other specifications, and your boss is just being vindictive, then the only alternative is to ignore the criticism and move on. Dwelling on it will only damage your self-esteem. There seems to be as many influences on our self-esteem as there are stars in the heavens. From parents to friends, from music to teachers, from criticism to past mistakes and glories, all play a major part in who you are today and how you choose to live your life. These influences are like a closet full of clothing. When you approach the closet to decide your daily apparel, you have a choice. You can either choose a ragged, torn, damaged, dirty outfit tired from the wear, or you can choose a crisp, starched, brightly colored outfit ready for a new day. You can’t choose or change your past, but you can choose what you allow to influence your decisions, your thoughts, and your actions. You can choose chains or wings. This is the essence of healthy self-esteem. Choice! |
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| Joke of the day | ||
| A wife was making a breakfast of fried eggs for her husband. Suddenly, her husband burst into the kitchen. “Careful,” he said, “CAREFUL! Put in some more butter! Oh my GOD! You’re cooking too many at once. TOO MANY! Turn them! TURN THEM NOW! We need more butter. Oh my GOD! WHERE are we going to get MORE BUTTER? They’re going to STICK! Careful . CAREFUL! I said be CAREFUL! You NEVER listen to me when you’re cooking! Never! Turn them! Hurry up! Are you CRAZY? Have you LOST your mind? Don’t forget to salt them. You know you always forget to salt them. Use the salt. USE THE SALT! THE SALT!”The wife stared at him. “What in the world is wrong with you? You think I don’t know how to fry a couple of eggs?”
The husband calmly replied, “I just wanted to show you what it feels like when I’m driving.” |
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| Have a great day!Regards, Prasanna |
Day with a Difference – 25-Sep-12
| Quote of the day | ||
| “When you are listening to somebody, completely, attentively, then you are listening not only to the words, but also to the feeling of what is being conveyed, to the whole of it, not part of it. –J. Krishnamurti” | ||
| Thought of the day – Listening: Our Most Used Communication Skill | ||
We spend up to 80% of our waking hours in some form of communication, and 45% of that time is spent listening. And yet, it is the skill in which we have the least training. It isn’t surprising, then, that studies show how poor and inefficient we can be as listeners. Apart from lack of explicit training, other reasons factor in. To start with, we think faster than we speak or listen, leaving us with much room for distraction. As a result, the average listener understands and retains only 50% of what is said in a 10-minute presentation. But there is hope. Ralph G. Nichols, long-time professor of rhetoric at the University of Minnesota, identifies the 10 worst listening habits of Americans, and more importantly, ways of turning them into good listening habits.
Read full article at : http://extension.missouri.edu/publications/DisplayPrinterFriendlyPub.aspx?P=CM150 |
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| Joke of the day | ||
| A: What’s the matter, you look depressed.”B: I’m having trouble with my wife.
A: What happened? B:She said she wasn’t going to speak to me for 30 days.” A:”But that ought to make you happy.” B:”It did, but today is the last day.” |
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| Have a great day!Regards, Prasanna |
Day with a Difference – 24-Sep-12
| Quote of the day | ||
| “When you meet someone better than yourself, turn your thoughts to becoming his equal. When you meet someone not as good as you are, look within and examine your own self.”– Confucius | ||
| Thought of the day – Who’s packing your parachute? | ||
| In the daily grind of life we sometimes fail to recognize all of the good that is done on our behalf. Here is an inspirational teamwork story I heard the other day that demonstrates that there are many working on a team that we often times fail to recognize for their good work.This teamwork story is about a US Naval Academy graduate and jet fighter pilot in Vietnam by the name of Charles Plumb. He had completed 75 combat missions when he was shot down. Plumb was ejected and parachuted into enemy hands afterwards spending six years in a Vietnamese prison. Fortunately he survived and today lectures on the many lessons he learned.One day while eating at a restaurant with his wife a man came up and said, “Your Plumb! You flew jet fighters in Vietnam from the aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk. You were shot down!”
“How in the world did you know that?” asked Plumb. “I packed your parachute,” the man replied. Charles Plumb in surprise and gratitude had to catch his breath. The man then shook his hand and said, “I guess it worked!” Plumb assured him it had and said, “if your chute hadn’t worked, I wouldn’t be here today.” That night Plumb could not sleep. He said, “I kept pondering what he might have looked like in a Navy uniform – a Dixie cup hat, a bib in the back, and bell bottom trousers. I wonder how many times I might have seen him and not even said good morning, how are you or anything because, you see, I was a fighter pilot and he was just a sailor.” Plumb thought a lot about that man who had packed his parachute and the hours he spent at a wooden table at the bottom of the ship carefully packing his and others chutes. He held in his hands the chute; the fate of someone he did not even know. Charles Plumb is now a motivational speaker telling this story to hundreds. He always ask his audiences after telling it, “Who’s packing your parachute?” In our life many people have a hand in our parachutes. Are we taking the time to acknowledge them, thank them, reward them? It is very easy to overlook the work of many. When an athletic team has won a championship do you ever hear them thank the trainer, the cook, the bus driver? Do they take the time to reward them too? It takes a lot of people to create a championship team. |
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| Joke of the day | ||
| A man goes into a pet shop to buy a parrot. The shop owner points to three identical looking parrots on a perch and says, “the parrot on the left costs 500 dollars”.”Why does the parrot cost so much,” asks the man. The shop owner says, “well, the parrot knows how to use a computer”.The man then asks about the next parrot to be told that this one costs 1,000 dollars because it can do everything the other parrot can do plus it knows how to use the UNIX operating system. Naturally, the increasingly startled man asks about the third parrot to be told that it costs 2,000 dollars. Needless to say this begs the question, “What can it do?” To which the shop owner replies, “to be honest I have never seen it do a thing, but the other two call him boss!” |
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| Have a great week ahead!Regards,Prasanna |
Day with a Difference – 20-Sep-12
| Quote of the day | ||
| “Few are those who see with their own eyes and feel with their own hearts.” – Einstein | ||
| Thought of the day – Albert Einstein | ||
When asked what he wished to become, as a young man, Nobel Laureate Albert Einstein said, “I want to become a useful person, not a successful person.”Asked what he meant by it, the eminent physicist replied, “A successful person is one who takes from society more than what he gives it. A useful person is one who gives the society more than what he takes from it.” |
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| Joke of the day – “Einstein Plays Hide-and-Seek” | ||
| Once, all the scientists died and went to heaven. They decided to play hide-n-seek. Unfortunately Einstein is the one who has the den. He is supposed to count up to 10 and then start searching. Everyone starts hiding except Newton. Newton just draws a square of 1 meter and stands in itright in front of Einstein. Einstein’s counting 1, 2, 3……97, 98, 99…. ..100……. .He opens his eyes and finds Newton standing in front. Einstein says ” Newton ‘s out. Newton ‘s….out.” Newton denies and says “I am not out.”
He claims that he is not Newton. All the scientists came out to see how he proves that he is not Newton. Newton says “I am standing in a square of area 1 meter squared. That makes me Newton per meter squared. Since one Newton per meter squared is one Pascal, I’m Pascal, Therefore Pascal is OUT! |
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| Have a great day!Regards, Prasanna |
Day with a Difference – 18-Sep-12
| Quote of the day | ||
| In life you are either a passenger or a pilot, it’s your choice. –Unknown | ||
| Thought of the day – Just do it | ||
Success takes work, plain and simple. You could talk about your dreams all day long but when it comes down to putting in the work, you either do or you don’t. You can set a goal to exercise 5 times a week but when it’s time to hit the gym, it doesn’t matter what your excuses are, you either do or you don’t.
When it’s time to do what you need to do, set your excuses, laziness, fears, all of it aside and just do it. Every one of us can come up with a list of valid excuses for not putting in the work, that’s easy. In fact, people who succeed in getting what they want have a list of excuses as well. The only difference is, they decided that the satisfaction of success is greater than any temporary benefit laziness can give them. So when it’s go time, take Nike’s advice and JUST DO IT. – Kevin Ngo Source: http://www.motivationalwellbeing.com/totd-7-31-2012.html |
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| Joke of the day | ||
| The man told his doctor that he wasn’t able to do all the things around the house that he used to do.When the examination was complete, he said, “Now, Doc, I can take it. Tell me in plain English what is wrong with me.”
“Well, in plain English,” the doctor replied, “you’re just lazy.” “Okay,” said the man. “Now give me the medical term so I can tell my family. Have a great day! Regards, Prasanna |
Day with a Difference – 17-Sep-12
| Quote of the day | ||
| “I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.” ~Frank Herbert |
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| Thought of the day – Here are 7 powerful tips to help you become fearless | ||
| 1. Start by becoming aware. Notice when you experience feelings of fear (you’d be surprised how much of our time is spent unconsciously experiencing fear, worries, and anxiety)2. Next time you notice the fear inside you, remind yourself that it’s ‘all in the mind’ and that ‘80% of fears NEVER HAPPEN’3. Ask yourself – what’s the worst thing that can happen if I do this?4. Write down a few ways to deal with the worst case scenario – often when we get our thoughts out of our heads and down onto paper the fear will disappear
5. Ask yourself – ‘how is this fear impacting my life?’ It’s important to realize what you’ve got to lose by staying paralyzed by fear 6. Take a deep breath and tackle your fear head-on – you may be surprised to find that ‘it wasn’t as bad as you thought it would be’ 7. High five yourself for being ‘FEARLESS’ – you could even reward yourself afterwards for all your hard work Source: http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-5734/7-Powerful-Tips-to-Become-Fearless.html |
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| Joke of the day | ||
| There once was a flight heading from London to New York. Halfway during the flight, the captain suddenly comes over the intercom system…”This is Captain Jean-Pierre Lalonde speaking. I have a bit of bad news for you. We have lost our first left engine, but never fear, we can still make it using only three engines. But because of the loss of power, we will be two hours late.”Time goes on, and once again the PA system crackles to life…”This is again your Captain. We have lost an engine on our starboard wing. But rest assured that our plane can fly using only two engines. Due to the reduced power, we will now be four hours late.”
The flight goes on, when the passengers hear the now familiar sound of the address system… “Guess what, folks! We lost another engine, but nothing to fear. We can still make it using only one engine. But now we will be six hours late.” On hearing this, an elderly lady turned to the person sitting next to her, and said: “I hope we don’t lose ANOTHER engine. I’ll be late for my connecting flight from New York!” |
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| Have a fearless week ahead!Regards, Prasanna |
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Day with a Difference – 13-Sep-12
| Quote of the day | ||
| “Don’t let anyone tell you that you have to be a certain way. Be unique. Be what you feel.” ~ Melissa Etheridge | ||
| Thought of the day – “The Power of Authenticity” | ||
| “The most important gift we can give ourselves is the commitment to living our authentic life. To be true to ourselves, however, is not an easy task. We must break free of the seductions of society and live life on our own terms, under our own values and aligned with our original dreams. We must tap our hidden selves; explore the deep-seated, unseen hopes, desires, strengths and weaknesses that make us who we are. We have to understand where we have been and know where we are going. Every decision we make, every step we take, must be informed by our commitment to living a life that is true and honest and authentic to ourselves and ourselves alone. And as we proceed, we are certain to experience fortune well beyond our highest imagination”.Excerpt from “The Secret Letters of the Monk Who Sold His Ferrari” by Robin SharmaRobin Sharmais one of the most in demand leadership speakers in the world with his blockbusters such as “The Greatness Guide” and “The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari” not only topping bestseller lists but being translated into nearly 70 languages. Mr. Sharma’s clients include many of the best-known companies and organizations on the planet including NASA, Microsoft, Nike, FedEx, IBM, BP, KPMG, GE, Yale University and The Harvard Business School.
Mr. Sharma is also a trusted CEO advisor on leadership issues and has appeared on CNN, CNBC and NBC and other international media.
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| Joke of the day | ||
| The teacher speaking to a student said, “Saud, name two pronouns.” Saud who suddenly woke up, said, “Who, me?”Teacher: Today, we’re going to talk about the tenses. Now, if I say “I am beautiful,” which tense is it? Student: Obviously it is the past tense. |
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| Have a great day!Regards, Prasanna |
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Day with a Difference – 12-Sep-12
| Quote of the day | ||||||||
| “The only reason we don’t have what we want in life is the reasons we create why we can’t have them.” ~Tony Robbins | ||||||||
| Fact of the day – Winners vs. Losers | ||||||||
| The Winner is always part of the answer; The Loser is always part of the problem. The Winner is always has a program; The Loser always has an excuse. The Winner says, “Let me do it for you”; The Loser says, “That is not my job.” The Winner sees an answer for every problem; The Loser sees a problem for every answer. The Winner says,” It may be difficult but it is possible”; The Loser says,” It may be possible but it is too difficult.” When a Winner makes a mistake and says,” I was wrong”; When a Loser makes a mistake and says,” It wasn’t my fault.” A Winner makes commitments; A Loser makes promises. Winners have dreams; Losers have schemes. Winners say,” I must do something”; Losers say, “Something must be done.” Winners are a part of the team; Losers are apart from the team. Winners see the gain; Losers see the pain. Winners see possibilities; Losers see problems. Winners believe in win/win; Losers believe for them to win someone has to lose. Winners see the potential; Losers see the past. Winners are like a thermostat; Losers are like thermometers. Winners choose what they say; Losers say what they choose. Winners use hard arguments but soft words; Losers use soft arguments but hard words. Winners stand firm on values but compromise on petty things; Losers stand firm on petty things but compromise on values. Winners follow the philosophy of empathy: “Don’t do to others what you would, not want them to do to you”; Losers follow the philosophy, “Do it to others before they do it to you.” Winners make it happen; Losers let it happen.Source: http://imperfectaction.com/blog/2009/08/02/personal-development/what-are-the-difference-between-winners-and-losers/ |
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Day with a Difference 