Three Types of People

A teacher showed three toys to a student and asked them to find out the differences. All the three toys were identical in their shape, size and material. After keen observation, the student observed holes in the toys. 1st toy it had holes in the ears. 2nd toy had holes in ear and mouth. 3rd toy had only one hole in one ear.

Students put the needle in the ear hole of 1st toy. The needle came out from the other ear. In the 2nd toy, when the needle was put in the ear it came out of mouth. In the 3rd toy, when the needle was put in, the needle did not come out.

Teacher explained : First toy represented those people around you who give an impression that they are listening to you and care for you. But they just pretend to do so. After listening, as the needle comes out from the next ear, the things you said to them by counting on them are gone. So be careful while you are speaking to these type of people around you, who don’t care for you.

Second toy represented those people who listen to you and give an impression that they care for you. But as in the toy, these people will tell your confidential things to others for their own purpose.

Third toy represented kinds of people who will keep the trust you have in them. They are the ones who you can count on. They are the one’s whose friendship is to be cherished.

Always stay in a company of a people who are loyal and trustworthy. People, who listen to what you tell them, are not always the ones you can count on when you need them the most.

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A Businessman was deep in debt and could not see any way out.
A man died, when he realized it, he saw God coming closer with a suitcase in his hand.
– God said: Alright son its time to go.
– surprised the man responded: Now? So soon? I had a lot of plans…
– I’m sorry but its time to go.

– What do you have in that suitcase? the man asked.
– God answered: Your belongings.
– My belongings? you mean my things, my clothes, my money?
– God answered: Those things were not yours they belonged to the earth.

– Is it my memories? the man asked.
– God answered: those never belonged to you they belonged to Time

– Is it my talents?
– God answered: those were never yours they belonged to the circumstances.

– Is it my friends and family?
– God answered: I’m sorry they were never yours they belonged to the path.

– Is it my wife and son?
– God answered: They were never yours the belonged to your heart.

– Is it my body?
– God answered: that was never yours it belonged to the dust.

– Is it my soul?
– God answered: No that is mine.

Full of fear, the man took the suitcase from god and opened it just to find out the suitcase was empty.
– With a tear coming down his cheek the man said: I never had anything???
– God answered: that is correct, every moment you lived were only for yours. You never lived for somebody who is not related to u in any way.

Moral:

Do something for other people who cant return the favour back to you. Life is just a moment. A moment that belongs to you.

– Live Now
– Live your life
– Don’t forget to be happy and make others happy, as that is the only thing that matters.
– Material things and everything else that you fought for stay here.
– YOU CAN’T TAKE ANYTHING

Share this reflection with anyone you love or appreciate. Enjoy and let others Enjoy!

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Do You Greet Someone?

This story is about a person working with a freezer plant.
It was almost the day end. Everyone had packed up to check out.

A technical snag developed in the plant and he went to check.

By the time he finished it was late. The doors were sealed and the lights were off.

Trapped inside the ice plant whole night without air and light, an icy grave was almost sure for him.

Hours passed thus. Suddenly he found someone opening the door.

Was it a miracle?

The security guard entered there with a torch light and helped him to come out.

On the way back the person asked the security guard, “How did you know that I am inside?” “Who informed you?” the guard said, “None sir; this unit has about 50 people. But you are the only one who says Hello to me in the morning and bye in the evening.

You had reported in morning. But did not go out. That made me suspicious.”

Never did the person know that a small gesture of greeting someone would prove to be a lifesaver for him. So do us. Remember to greet when you meet someone, of course with a warm smile.
We don’t know; that may work a miracle in your life too.

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Two traveling Angels stopped to spend the night in the home of a wealthy family. The family was rude and refused to let the angels stay in the mansion’s guest room.

Instead the Angels were given a space in the cold basement. As they made their bed on the hard floor, the older Angel saw a hole in the wall and repaired it.

When the younger Angel asked why, the older Angel replied…”Things aren’t always what they seem.”

The next night the pair came to rest at the house of a very poor, but very hospitable farmer and his wife. After sharing what little food they had, the couple let the Angels sleep in their bed where they could have a good night’s rest.

When the sun came up the next morning, the Angels found the farmer and his wife in tears. Their only cow, whose milk had been their sole income, lay dead in the field.

The younger Angel was infuriated and asked the older Angel, “How could you have let this happen? The first man had everything, yet you helped him” he accused. “The second family had little but was willing to share everything, and you let their cow die.”

“Things aren’t always what they seem,” the older Angel replied. “When we stayed in the basement of the mansion, I noticed there was gold stored in that hole in the wall. Since the owner was so obsessed with greed and unwilling to share his good fortune, I sealed the wall so he wouldn’t find it.

“Then last night, as we slept in the farmers bed, the Angel of Death came for his wife. I gave her the cow instead.”

The morale of the story is things may not be what they seem. Your first impression may be wrong.
Sometimes this is exactly what happens when things don’t turn out the way they should. If you have faith, you just need to trust that every outcome is always to your advantage. You might not know it until some time later

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Each Day is a Gift

The 92-year-old, petite, well-poised and proud lady, who is fully dressed each morning by eight o’clock, with her hair fashionably coifed and makeup perfectly applied, even though she is legally blind, moved to a nursing home today. Her husband of 70 years recently passed away, making the move necessary.

After many hours of waiting patiently in the lobby of the nursing home, she smiled sweetly when told her room was ready. As she maneuvered her walker to the elevator, I provided a visual description of her tiny room, including the eyelet sheets that had been hung on her window. “I love it,” she stated with the enthusiasm of an eight-year-old having just been presented with a new puppy.

“Mrs. Jones, you haven’t seen the room …. just wait.”

“That doesn’t have anything to do with it,” she replied. “Happiness is something you decide on ahead of time. Whether I like my room or not doesn’t depend on how the furniture is arranged, it’s how I arrange my mind. I already decided to love it. It’s a decision I make every morning when I wake up. I have a choice; I can spend the day in bed recounting the difficulty I have with the parts of my body that no longer work, or get out of bed and be thankful for the ones that do. Each day is a gift, and as long as my eyes open I’ll focus on the new day and all the happy memories I’ve stored away, just for this time in my life.”

She went on to explain, “Old age is like a bank account, you withdraw from what you’ve put in. So, my advice to you would be to deposit a lot of happiness in the bank account of memories Thank you for your part in filling my Memory bank. I am still depositing.”

And with a smile, she said: “Remember the five simple rules to be happy:

1. Free your heart from hatred.
2. Free your mind from worries.
3. Live simply.
4. Give more.
5. Expect less.”

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After having completed a PhD degree myself, and having supervised, co-supervised and examined a number of PhD students over the years, I would like to offer some humble advice and pointers to those aspiring to pursue a PhD degree themselves. I find that many Malaysians misunderstood the purpose of getting a PhD degree and the commitments and sacrifices that it calls for.

A PhD is the highest academic and research degree from a university. I have seen both remarkable successes and disappointing failures amongst students pursuing this academic accolade. It takes more than just brain power to complete a PhD.

A degree by research is very different from a degree by coursework. A course degree whether at the undergraduate or masters level is heavily structured. A student just have to be disciplined and rigorous in following this predetermined structure regimentally, without much creativity required from him or her. Of course, creativity is demanded from the student in completing assignments and projects but the demand is nothing close to what is required for a PhD degree.

The most important prerequisites for pursuing a successful PhD program are passion, inquisitiveness, creativity, discipline, persistence, perseverance and meticulousness (or attention to detail). I did not mention intelligence not because it is not important, but because it is less important than the other attributes I mentioned. At least, it is in my book. Others may feel differently. Of those many attributes, I consider passion the most important. Some students start out enthusiastically but loses steam halfway through or towards the end. They lack passion or the love of knowledge. Ever heard of the saying, “when the going gets tough, the tough gets going?” Success in a PhD is simply that. The harder it becomes, the harder you will strive. Sometimes, you do not see the light at the end of the tunnel but you still keep looking for it because you know it is there. When you love what you do, failure is not an option.

Some people do PhD for the wrong reasons. Some take up postgraduate because they could not secure a job after their first or second degree. Some do it because the jobs they have taken up require them to acquire a PhD, for e.g. an academic or a research post. These cannot be the sole reason for pursuing a PhD. You cannot force yourself to do a PhD. You must want to do it badly enough. You cannot force yourself to love something; you must love or want something bad enough to force yourself to get it.

The PhD is an academic journey. There will be failures but mainly successes along your way. You may encounter some foes but mainly friends in the same boat as yourself. It always helps to be in a group of students to share both your setbacks and achievements. Working alone in a silo is the worst you can do to yourself. There are certain things you want to discuss with your fellow students that you cannot discuss with your supervisor; matters that are either academic or personal.

Your supervisor is your mentor, guide and consultant, not your teacher. He cannot teach you your PhD knowledge, you have to teach yourself through his guidance and wisdom. He is more your friend than he is your master. He does not dictate to you what you must do, he merely points you in the right direction. At the end of your PhD journey, you would have been more knowledgeable on the subject of your research than your supervisor. I have heard of students not being able to complete their PhD because they could not get along or see eye to eye with their supervisor. This is the worst scenario that can happen to you. If you do not have a supervisor you can work with, you will not get your PhD no matter how good you are or how hard you work. So, choose your supervisor well, not just the university you want to do your PhD in. Just a few months back, I met a doctoral graduate who told me that to be supervised by this one professor carries more prestige among his peers in the working world.

A PhD degree needs sacrifices, especially when you are a family person; a wife, mother, husband or dad. Family is always important and should always be your priority. However, you and your family members must be willing to make sacrifices that are necessary. There can be no gain without pain. That is why when you finally get your PhD degree, your family members can even be happier and more proud of you than you yourself, because it is as much their accomplishment as it is yours. Their sacrifices must be duly appreciated.

So what does it mean when you have a Dr. before your name? Does it mean that you are an expert on a certain subject matter? Hardly so, I think. It means that you are both a seeker as well as a generator of knowledge. It means that you have enriched the world and added on to the vast body of knowledge through your PhD contribution. The world has become a slightly better place from the knowledge that you have contributed through your PhD thesis and publications. The world now knows more on a subject than before you completed your PhD. Your work get referred and cited by other researchers in your field, as they absorb your new knowledge to generate new knowledge of their own.

Your PhD is an end that should be justified by its means. The research methodology, the analysis and the interpretation should justify the conclusion. The new knowledge must have been tested and challenged by your peers and rigorously defended by you. It is an accomplishment unequal by any other feat. Once you have obtained a well-deserved PhD degree, you become your own teacher as self-teaching becomes common practice. You are always curious and tends to read a lot, not just on your subject matter but on everything. You will find doing new things, exploring new frontiers and taking up new challenges more scintillating. In other words, it will change your life and your outlooks forever.

I hope I have inspired some of you to pursue a PhD degree if what you read here is what you really want from a PhD. On the other hand, I hope I have also discouraged others who have a misconception of what a PhD degree entails, so that you will not go down the road of failure. A PhD is not for everyone.

You may share this if you think it would help people you know in deciding whether pursuing a PhD degree is the right path for them to take…

By Prof. Dr. Jamal Hisham Hashim

Visiting Professor at United Nations University- IIGH

Former Professor of Environmental Health at National University Malaysia

https://www.the-research-hub.org/what-a-phd-is-and-what-it-is-not/

Daddy’s Empty Chair

A man’s daughter had asked the local minister to come and pray with her father.

When the minister arrived, he found the man lying in bed with his head propped up on two pillows.

An empty chair sat beside his bed. The minister assumed that the old fellow had been informed of his visit.

“I guess you were expecting me,” he said.

‘No, who are you?” said the father.

The minister told him his name and then remarked, “I saw the empty chair and I figured you knew I was going to show up.”

“Oh yeah, the chair,” said the bedridden man. “Would you mind closing the door?” Puzzled, the minister shut the door.

“I have never told anyone this, not even my daughter,” said the man. “But all of my life I have never known how to pray.”

“At church I used to hear the pastor talk about prayer, but it went right over my head.”

“I abandoned any attempt at prayer,” the old man continued, “until one day four years ago, my best friend said to me, “Johnny, prayer is just a simple matter of having a conversation with God.”

“Here is what I suggest,” he said.

“Sit down in a chair; place an empty chair in front of you, and in faith see God on the chair. It’s not spooky because he promised, ‘I will be with you always’.”

“Then just speak to him in the same way you’re doing with me right now.”

“So, I tried it and I’ve liked it so much that I do it a couple of hours every day.

I’m careful though. If my daughter saw me talking to an empty chair, she’d either have a nervous breakdown or send me off to the funny farm.”

The minister was deeply moved by the story and encouraged the old man to continue on the journey.

Then he prayed with him, anointed him with oil, and then returned to the church.

Two nights later the daughter called to tell the minister that her daddy had died that afternoon.

Did he die in peace?” he asked.

Yes, when I left the house about two o’clock, he called me over to his bedside, told me how much he loved me, and kissed me on the cheek.

When I got back from the store an hour later, I found him dead.

There was something strange about his death. Apparently, just before Daddy died, he leaned over and rested his head on the chair beside the bed.

What do you make of that?” The minister wiped a tear from his eye and said, “I wish we could all go like that.”

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One Day I Decided To Quit

I quit my job, my relationship, my spirituality… I wanted to quit my life.

I went to the woods to have one last talk with God.

“God”, I asked,

“Can you give me one good reason not to quit?”.

His answer surprised me…

“Look around”, He said. “Do you see the fern and the bamboo?”

“Yes”, I replied.

“When I planted the fern and the bamboo seeds, I took very good care of them.

I gave them light.I gave them water.The fern quickly grew from the earth.

Its brilliant green covered the floor.Yet nothing came from the bamboo seed. But I did not quit on the bamboo.In the second year the Fern grew more vibrant and plentiful.

And again, nothing came from the bamboo seed. But I did not quit on the bamboo. He said.

“In year three there was still nothing from the bamboo seed.But I would not quit.

In year four, again, there was nothing from the bamboo seed. I would not quit.” He said.

“Then in the fifth year a tiny sprout emerged from the earth. Compared to the fern it was seemingly small and insignificant…But just 6 months later the bamboo rose to over 100 feet tall.

It had spent the five years growing roots. Those roots made it strong and gave it what it needed to survive.I would not give any of my creations a challenge it could not handle.”

He asked me. “Did you know, my child, that all this time you have been struggling, you have actually been growing roots”.

“I would not quit on the bamboo.I will never quit on you.”

“Don’t compare yourself to others.” He said.”The bamboo had a different Purpose than the fern.

Yet they both make the forest beautiful.””Your time will come”, God said to me.

“You will rise high”.

“How high should I rise?” I asked.

“How high will the bamboo rise?” He asked in return.

“As high as it can?” I questioned.”Yes.” He said, “Give Me glory by rising as high as you can.”

I left the forest and brought back this story.I hope these words can help you see that God will never give up on

you.Never, Never, Never, Give up in life.

Don’t tell the Lord how big the problem is, tell the problem how Great the Lord is!

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With a Little Help

I was sitting in a train, waiting for it to start. Across from me sat a small boy, asking questions as children do. He asked his mother,

“When will the train start?”
I saw my chance and volunteered to answer. I said, “The train will start when we start pushing.” The child opened his big eyes in surprise, “Really?” “Of course,” I said. “Unless we push, it doesn’t start.” “Then let’s push,” he exclaimed.

“Just a minute,” I said. “The passengers are not all on. I’ll tell you when to push.” I watched for the signal light at the station and heard the station master’s shrill whistle. Then I shouted to the boy, “Now! Push for all you’re worth.”
He and I started to push in the direction of the engine. We pushed and pushed against the back of the seat…. and soon a contented smile lit up the boy’s face. The train was moving … very slowly at first, but then gaining speed little by little.

I congratulated the lad on his success. “We DID it! We DID it! “Wasn’t that great?” he exclaimed. He looked immensely pleased with himself. He was travelling in a train he had helped to start. I did not have the heart to tell him about the monstrous engine chugging up in front. Eventually he would find out for himself…

We usually attribute great success to our little actions, forgetting that behind them all is that almighty unseen power called God, whose power often makes us look powerful.

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The Obstacles in Our Path.

In ancient times, a king had a boulder placed on a roadway.

Then he hid himself and watched to see if anyone would remove the huge rock.

Some of the king’s wealthiest merchants and courtiers came by and simply walked around it. Many loudly blamed the king for not keeping the roads clear, but none did anything about getting the big stone out of the way.

Then a peasant came along carrying a load of vegetables. On approaching the boulder, the peasant laid down his burden and tried to move the stone to the side of the road.

After much pushing and straining, he finally succeeded. As the peasant picked up his load of vegetables, he noticed a purse lying in the road where the boulder had been.

The purse contained many gold coins and a note from the king indicating that the gold was for the person who removed the boulder from the roadway. The peasant learned what many others never understand.

Every obstacle presents an opportunity to improve one’s condition.

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The Easier Way May Actually be the Tougher Way

Once there was a lark singing in the forest. The lark stopped him and asked, “What do you have in the box and where are you going?” The farmer replied that he had worms and that he was going to the market to trade them for some feathers. The lark said, “I have many feathers. I will pluck one and give it to you and that will save me looking for worms.” The farmer gave the worms to the lark and the lark plucked a feather and gave it in return. The next day the same thing happened and the day after and on and on until a day came that the lark had no more feathers. Now it couldn’t fly and hunt for worms. It started looking ugly and stopped singing and very soon it died.

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A man found a cocoon of a butterfly. One day a small opening appeared; he sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force its body through that little hole. Then it seemed to stop making any progress. It appeared as if it had gotten as far as it could and it could go no farther.

Then the man decided to help the butterfly, so he took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bit of the cocoon. The butterfly then merged easily. But it had a swollen body and small, shriveled wings.

The man continued to watch the butterfly because he expected that, at any moment, the wings would enlarge and expand to be able to support the body, which would contract in time. Neither happened! In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around with a swollen body and shriveled wings. It never was able to fly.

What the man in his kindness and haste did not understand was that the restricting cocoon and the struggle required for the butterfly to get through the tiny opening were nature’s way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings so that it would be ready for flight once it achieved its freedom from the cocoon.

Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our life. If nature allowed us to go through our life without any obstacles, it would cripple us. We would not be as strong as what we could have been. And we could never fly…

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Peace of Mind Produce Right Value

Once there was a farmer who discovered that he had lost his watch in the store. It was no ordinary watch because it had sentimental value for him.

After searching high and low among the feed for a long while, he gave up and asked the help of a group of children playing outside the store.

He promised them that the person who found it would be rewarded.

Hearing this, the children hurried inside the store, went through and around the entire store, but still could not find the watch.

Just when the farmer was about to give up looking for his watch, a little boy went up to him and asked to be given another chance.

The farmer looked at him and thought, Why not? After all, this kid looks sincere enough.

So the farmer sent the little boy back in the store. After a while the little boy came out with the watch in his hand!

The farmer was both happy and surprised and so he asked the boy how he succeeded where the rest had failed.

The boy replied, I did nothing but sit on the ground and listen. In the silence, I heard the ticking of the watch and just looked for it in that direction.

MORAL OF THE STORY:

A peaceful mind can think better than a worked up mind. Allow a few minutes of silence to your mind every day, and see,

how sharply it helps you to set your life the way you expect it to be!

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Meaning of Life

An eight-year-old boy approached an old man in front of a wishing well, looked up into his eyes, and asked:

“I understand you’re a very wise man. I’d like to know the secret of life.”

The old man looked down at the youngster and replied:

“I’ve thought a lot in my lifetime, and the secret can be summed up in four words

The first is to think. Think about the values you wish to live your life by.

The second is to believe. Believe in yourself based on the thinking you’ve done about the values you’re going to live your life by.

The third is to dream. Dream about the things that can be, based on your belief in yourself and the values you’re going to live by.

The last is to dare. Dare to make your dreams become reality, based on your belief in yourself and your values. “And with that, Walter E. Disney said to the little boy, Think, Believe, Dream, and Dare.

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An eight-year-old boy approached an old man in front of a wishing well, looked up into his eyes, and asked:

“I understand you’re a very wise man. I’d like to know the secret of life.”

The old man looked down at the youngster and replied:

“I’ve thought a lot in my lifetime, and the secret can be summed up in four words

The first is to think. Think about the values you wish to live your life by.

The second is to believe. Believe in yourself based on the thinking you’ve done about the values you’re going to live your life by.

The third is to dream. Dream about the things that can be, based on your belief in yourself and the values you’re going to live by.

The last is to dare. Dare to make your dreams become reality, based on your belief in yourself and your values. “And with that, Walter E. Disney said to the little boy, Think, Believe, Dream, and Dare.

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You and God Awesome & Best Conversation Ever in the World

Me: God, can I ask You a question?

God: Sure

Me: Promise You won’t get mad … … … …

God: I promise

Me: Why did You let so much stuff happen to me today?

God: What do u mean?

Me: Well, I woke up late

God: Yes

Me: My car took forever to start

God: Okay

Me: at lunch they made my sandwich wrong & I had to wait

God: Huummm

Me: On the way home, my phone went DEAD, just as I picked up a call

God: All right

Me: And on top of it all off, when I got home ~I just want to soak my feet in my new foot massager & relax. BUT it wouldn’t work!!! Nothing went right today! Why did You do that?

God: Let me see, the death angel was at your bed this morning & I had to send one
of My Angels to battle him for your life. I let you sleep through that

Me (humbled): OH

GOD: I didn’t let your car start because there was a drunk driver on your route that would have hit you if you were on the road.

Me: (ashamed)

God: The first person who made your sandwich today was sick & I didn’t want you to catch what they have, I knew you couldn’t afford to miss work.

Me (embarrassed):Okay

God: Your phone went dead bcuz the person that was calling was going to give false witness about what you said on that call, I didn’t even let you talk to them so you would be covered.

Me (softly): I see God

God: Oh and that foot massager, it had a shortage that was going to throw out all of the power in your house tonight. I didn’t think you wanted to be in the dark.

Me: I’m Sorry God

God: Don’t be sorry, just learn to Trust Me…. in All things , the Good & the bad.

Me: I will trust You.

God: And don’t doubt that My plan for your day is Always Better than your plan.

Me: I won’t God. And let me just tell you God, Thank You for Everything today.

God: You’re welcome child. It was just another day being your God and I Love looking after My Children…

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A story tells that two friends were walking through the desert. In a specific point of the journey, they had an argument, and one friend slapped the other one in the face.

The one, who got slapped, was hurt, but without anything to say, he wrote in the sand: “TODAY, MY BEST FRIEND SLAPPED ME IN THE FACE”.

They kept on walking, until they found an oasis, where they decided to take a bath. The one who got slapped and hurt started drowning, and the other friend saved him. When he recovered from the fright, he wrote on a stone: “TODAY MY BEST FRIEND SAVED MY LIFE”.

The friend who saved and slapped his best friend, asked him, “Why, after I hurt you, you wrote in the sand, and now you write on a stone?” The other friend, smiling, replied: “When a friend hurts us, we should write it down in the sand, where the winds of forgiveness get in charge of erasing it away, and when something great happens, we should engrave it in the stone of the memory of the heart, where no wind can erase it” Learn to write in the sand.

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