C.R.I. – E.V.H.n°5 

part 1

If someone want to translate the french texts he or she will be welcome.

Ne pas confondre « lubie » et « volonté »

De nos jours l’homme a la phobie de tout ce qui est« autoritaire, imposé », ceci peut se comprendre par le besoin d’être soi-même. L’homme s’est forgé un idéal de liberté « personnelle » qui malheureusement, se manifeste bien souvent par le désir d’être libre d’imposer ses « lubies » au lieu d’imposer sa « volonté ».

En quoi la lubie se distingue-t-elle de la volonté ? La lubie est spontanée, c’est un désir dépourvu de liens structurels avec la personnalité et les buts de l’homme, sauf chez lez enfants en bas âge, pour qui les envies capricieuses sont un schéma de comportement normal. De nos jours, tout désir - même le plus fugace ou irrationnel -demande à être réalisé. L’ignorer ou le différer se ressent comme une entorse à la liberté individuelle. On ne ménage plus aucun espace entre une idée qui traverse l’esprit et sa réalisation et on éprouve bien souvent le besoin de traduire en action ce qui a été lointainement perçu comme un désir. Ces impulsions capricieuses proviennent d’une lubie.

« Pourquoi pas ? » Cette velléité de réponse, quand on demande à quelqu’un s’il veut faire telle ou telle chose, peut dans bien des cas être attribuée à une lubie et est un critère permettant de la reconnaître. Les gens qui ne répliquent pas « pourquoi ? », mais « pourquoi pas ? » à telle question, n’entreprennent pas une chose parce qu’ils ont de bonnes raisons de la faire, mais parce qu’ils n’ont pas de raison de ne pas la faire. Ils n’agissent pas en manifestant une volonté, mais ils sont mûs par des lubies. La lubie dénote une profonde passivité intérieure, mêlée au désir d’échapper à l’ennui. La volonté repose sur l’activité, le caprice ou la lubie sur la passivité.

En conclusion : n’agissons plus comme des enfants mais devenons des adultes.

D’après Erich Fromm ( L’art d’être)

L'arbre à souhait 

Un voyageur très fatigué s'assit à l'ombre d'un arbre sans se douter qu'il venait de trouver un arbre magique, "l'Arbre à Réaliser des Souhaits".

Assis sur la terre dure, il pensa qu'il serait bien agréable de se retrouver dans un lit moelleux. Aussitôt, ce lit apparut à côté de lui.

Étonné, l'homme s'y installa en disant que le comble du bonheur serait atteint si une jeune fille venait masser ses jambes percluses. La jeune fille apparut et le massa très agréablement.
"J'ai faim, se dit l'homme, et manger en ce moment serait à coup sûr un délice." Une table surgit, chargée de nourritures succulentes.

L'homme se régala. Il mangea et il but. La tête lui tournait un peu. Ses paupières, sous l'action du vin et de la fatigue, s'abaissaient. Il se laissa aller de tout son long sur le lit, en pensant encore aux merveilleux évènements de cette journée extraordinaire.

"Je vais dormir une heure ou deux, se dit-il. Le pire serait qu'un tigre passe par ici pendant que je dors."

Un tigre surgit aussitôt et le dévora.

Vous avez en vous un Arbre à souhait qui attend vos ordres.
Mais attention, il peut aussi réaliser vos pensées négatives et vos peurs.
En tout cas, il peut être parasité par elles et se bloquer.

C'est le mécanisme des soucis.

Ce que le printemps n’a pas semé, l’été ne peut le mûrir,
L’automne ne peut le récolter, l’hiver ne peut l’utiliser.

Johann Gottfried Herder

The famous race of the Rabbit and the Tortoise

Once upon a time a tortoise and a hare had an argument about who wasfaster. They decided to settle the argument with a race. They agreed on a routeand started off the race. The hare shot ahead and ran briskly for some time. Then seeing that he was far ahead of the tortoise, he thought he'd sit under a tree for some time and relax before continuing the race. He sat under the tree and soon fell asleep. The tortoise plodding on overtook him and soon finished the race, emerging as the undisputed champ. The hare woke up and realised that he'd lost the race.

The moral- "Slow and steady wins the race. This is the version of thestory that we've all grown up with."

THE STORY DOESN'T END HERE
The hare was disappointed at losing the race and he did some soul-searching. He realised that he'd lost the race only because he had been overconfident, careless and lax. If he had not taken things for granted, there's no way the tortoise could have beaten him. So he challenged the tortoise to another race. The tortoise agreed. This time, the hare went all out and ran without stopping from start to finish. He won by several miles.

The moral - " Fast and consistent will always beat the slow and steady.It's good to be slow and steady; but it's better to be fast and reliable."

THE STORY DOESN'T END HERE
The tortoise did some thinking this time, and realised that there's noway it can beat the hare in a race the way it was currently formatted.It thought for a while, and then challenged the hare to another race, buton a slightly different route. The hare agreed. They started off. In keeping with his self-made commitment to be consistently fast, the hare took off and ran at top speed until he came to a broad river. The finishing line was a couple of kilometres on the other side of the river.The hare sat there wondering what to do. In the meantime the tortoise trundled along, got into the river, swam to the opposite bank, continued walking and finished the race.
The moral - "First identify your core competency and then change theplaying field to suit your core competency."
THE STORY STILL HASN'T ENDED
The hare and the tortoise, by this time, had become pretty good friendsand they did some thinking together.Both realised that the last race couldhave been run much better. So they decided to do the last race again, but torun as a team this time.They started off, and this time the hare carried the tortoise till the riverbank. There, the tortoise took over and swamacross with the hare on his back. On the opposite bank, the hare again carriedthe tortoise and they reached the finishing line together. They both felt agreater sense of satisfaction than they'd felt earlier.

The moral - "It's good to be individually brilliant and to have strongcore competencies; but unless you're able to work in a team and harness eachother's core competencies, you'll always perform below par becausethere will always be situations at which you'll do poorly and someone elsedoes well.

Teamwork is mainly about situation leadership, letting the personwith the relevant core competency for a situation take leadership. Note that neither the hare nor the tortoise gave up after failures. The hare decided to work harder and put in more effort after his failure. The tortoise changed his strategy because he was already working as hard as he could." In life, when faced with failure, sometimes it is appropriate to workharder and put in more effort.

Sometimes it is appropriate to change strategy and try something different. And sometimes it is appropriate to do both.

The hare and the tortoise also learnt another vital lesson. When we stop competing against a rival and instead start competing against the situation, we perform far better. To sum up- the story of the hare and tortoise has much to say: Chief among them are that fast and consistent will always beat slow andsteady; work to your competencies; pooling resources and working as a team will always beat individual performers; never give up when faced with failure;
& finally, compete against the situation - not against a rival.

On peut avoir fait le tour de la terre et n’avoir fait un seul pas en direction de soi.

Daniel Zanin

Être Jeune !

Peu importe les années qui passent.
La jeunesse reste toujours un état d'esprit.

On est jeune quand le courage l'emporte sur la peur, quand l'esprit d'aventure chasse la facilité,
quand la volonté de vivre remplace le laisse aller.
On ne vieillit pas nécessairement d'un an tous les ans.

On vieillit  chaque fois qu'on renonce à un idéal, qu'on trahit une amitié, qu'on abandonne son enthousiasme.
S'inquiéter, douter, craindre, désespérer, voilà qui fait courber l'échine et vieillit l'homme avant son temps.

Et qu'on ait 16 ou 60 ans
il faut garder au fond du cœur, l'amour de ce qui est neuf, la faculté de s'émerveiller, la joie de vivre, l'espoir de rester soi-même.
On est aussi jeune que sa confiance, aussi vieux que ses doutes, aussi fort que ce que l'on croit, aussi dépassé que ses espoirs perdus.

Tant que l'on reste ouvert à la beauté, au courage, à la grandeur, tant que l'on croit en l'homme et à l'infini,
on reste jeune éternellement.

Auteur:Samuel Ullman (traduction inédite)

Même si je savais que la fin du monde était pour demain, je planterais tout de même mon pommier.

Martin Luther(1483-1546)

The happiness for a Mother

Vinay Kapoor

The young mother set her foot on the path of life: “Is this the long way?" she asked.

And the guide said: "Yes, and the way is hard. And you will be old before you reach the end of it. But the end will be better than the beginning."

The young mother was happy, and she would not believe that anything could be better than these years. So she played with her children, she fed them and bathed them, she taught them how to tie their shoes, to ride a bike and reminded them to feed the dog, do their homework and brush their teeth.

The sun shone on them, and the young Mother cried: "Nothing will ever be lovelier than this.
" Then the nights came, and the storms, and the path was sometimes dark;the children shook with fear and cold, the mother drew them close and covered them with her arms, and the children said: "Mother, we are not afraid, for you are near, and no harm can come."
And the morning came, there was a hill ahead, and the children
climbed and grew weary, and the mother was weary.

But at all times she said to the children: “ a little patience and we are there."
So the children climbed, and as they climbed they learned to weather the storms. And with this, she gave them strength to face the world. Year after year, she showed them compassion, understanding, hope, but most of all...unconditional love.

And when they reached the top they said, "Mother, we would not have done it without you."
The days went on, and the weeks and the months and the years, and the mother grew old and she became little and bent. But her children were tall and strong, and walked with courage.
The mother, when she lay down at night, looked up at the stars and said, "This is a better day than the last, for my children have learned so much and are now passing these traits on to their children."

And when the way became rough for her, they lifted her, and gave her their strength, just as she had given them hers.

One day they came to a hill, and beyond the hill, they could see a shining road and golden gates flung wide. The mother said: "I have reached the end of my journey. And now I know the end is better than the beginning, for my children can walk with dignity and pride, with their heads held high, and so can their children after them."

The children said, "You will always walk with us, Mother, even
when you have gone through the gates."

They stood and watched her as she went on alone, and the gates closed after her. And they said: "We cannot see her, but she is with us still. A Mother like ours is more than a memory. She is a living presence."

Your Mother is always with you. She's the whisper of the leaves as you walk down the street, she's the smell of certain foods you remember, flowers you pick and perfume that she wore, she's the cool hand on your brow when you're not feeling well, she's your breath in the air on a cold winter's day. She is the sound of the rain that lulls you to sleep, the colors of a rainbow, she is Christmas morning. Your Mother lives inside your laughter.

And she's crystallised in every tear drop. A mother shows every emotion...happiness, sadness, fear, jealousy, love, hate, anger, helplessness, excitement, joy, sorrow and all the while, hoping and praying you will only know the good feelings in life.

She's the place you came from, your first home, and she's the map you follow with every step you take. She's your first love, your first friend, even your first enemy, but nothing on earth can separate you.

Not time, not space...not even death!

Ne pas confondre malheur et épreuve, si l’un fait baisser la tête, l’autre la relève.

Catherine Enjolet

Leçon de vie...

Voici une belle leçon de vie...
Lis ce message aujourd'hui car on ne sait pas ce que demain nous réserve:

Il était une fois... un garçon qui naquit malade, d'une maladie qui n'avait pas de traitement.
Il avait 17 ans et pouvait mourir à n'importe quel moment.

Il vivait toujours chez sa mère, sous l’œil attentif de cette dernière. C'était dur et il décida de sortir seul, seulement pour une fois. Il demanda la permission à sa mère qui la lui donna. En marchant dans son quartier il vit beaucoup de boutiques.

En passant devant un magasin de musique et en regardant la vitrine, il nota la présence d'une fille très douce et de son âge. Ce fut le coup de foudre.

Il ouvrit la porte et entra en ne regardant qu'elle. En s'approchant peu à peu, il arriva au comptoir où elle se trouvait. Elle le regarda et lui demanda en souriant:" Je peux t'aider?
Il pensa que c'était le sourire le plus beau qu'il avait vu de toute sa vie. Il désira l'embrasser en ce même instant. Il lui dit en bégayant: " Oui, heeeuuu... J'aimerais acheter un CD". Sans réfléchir, il prit le premier qu'il vit et lui donna l'argent.
" Tu veux que je te l'emballe?" Demanda la fille en souriant de nouveau. Il répondit que oui, en bougeant la tête, et elle alla dans l'arrière-boutique pour revenir avec le paquet emballé et le lui remettre. Il le prit et sortit du magasin.

Il retourna chez lui, et à partir de ce moment, il alla au magasin chaque jour pour acheter un CD.
Elle le lui emballait toujours et ensuite il l’emportait à sa maison et le rangeait dans son armoire. Il était trop timide pour l'inviter à sortir et, même s'il essayait, il n'y arrivait pas…

Sa mère fut mise au courant de cela et tenta de l'encourager à s'aventurer, de sorte que le jour suivant il s'arma de courage et se dirigea vers le magasin. Comme tous les autres jours, il acheta un CD, et comme toujours, elle s'en alla derrière pour l'emballer. Elle prit donc le CD et pendant qu'elle l'emballait, il laissa rapidement son numéro de téléphone sur le comptoir et sortit en courant du magasin.

Quelque temps après... le téléphone sonna…La mère du garçon répondit: "Allô?", c'était la jeune fille qui demandait après son fils et la mère inconsolable, commença à pleurer pendant qu'elle disait: "Quoi, tu ne sais pas? Il est mort hier". Il y eut un silence prolongé, excepté les lamentations de la mère.

Plus tard, la maman entra dans la chambre de son fils pour se souvenir de lui. Elle décida de commencer par regarder ses vêtements de sorte qu'elle ouvrit son armoire. Elle eut la surprise de se heurter à une montagne de CD emballés.

Aucun n'était ouvert. Le fait de voir autant de CD la rendit curieuse et elle ne résista pas; elle prit un CD et s'assit sur le lit pour l'ouvrir; en faisant cela, un petit bout de papier tomba de la boîte de plastique.

La maman le rattrapa et le lut, il disait: " Salut!!! T'es super mignon, tu veux sortir avec moi?". TQM....Sofia.

Avec beaucoup d'émotion, la mère ouvrit un autre CD, encore d'autres et dans plusieurs se trouvaient des bouts de papier qui disaient la même chose....

Moralité: Ainsi est la vie, n'attend pas trop pour dire à quelqu'un qui te plaît ce que tu ressens. Dis le lui aujourd'hui. Demain c'est peut-être trop tard.

Ce message a été écrit pour faire réfléchir les gens; et ainsi, peu à peu, faire changer le monde.

Donne un bisou à quelqu'un que tu aimes et ce sera magique. Avec de l'amour tout est possible.

Les guerriers de la lumière se reconnaissent au premier regard.

Ils sont au monde, ils font partie du monde.
Souvent ils trouvent que leur vie n’a pas de sens.
C’est pour cela qu’ils sont des guerriers de lumière.
Parce qu’ils s’interrogent,
Parce qu’ils continuent de chercher un sens.
Ils finiront par le trouver.

Paolo Coelho

Harry's Night Time Adventure

by S. Nayar

Harry the hedgehog lived at the edge of a large wood, in the middle of a country park. The park was used by lots of visitors for days out, or by local people who would come for walks. But Harry had hardly come across any human beings in his life so far. By day he would sleep in his burrow, and then only come out at night to search for food and explore, when few, if any, people were around.

Harry loved to explore the wood. He was still quite a young hedgehog, and learning about the world around him, and he enjoyed his nightly wanderings very much.

If he ever got scared, he would curl himself up into a ball, with his prickly spines pointing outwards for protection, and then stay still, until whatever scared him had passed on, which was normally what happened, and then he would continue on his way.

One evening, when it was dark, Harry was walking through the undergrowth, looking for his favourite food, worms. Harry loved worms. He just couldn't get enough of them! He stopped in one place, and started digging down into the soil with his front feet. He was lucky, as just below the soil, there was a big juicy worm! Pleased at his luck, he started chomping and chewing away, feeling happy that he would soon have a full tummy.

As he ate, he wondered if he would meet any of the other animals in the wood that night. He knew he must keep away from some, like Fox, but he would always say hello to others, like Badger and Rabbit, if he ever saw them.

After a few minutes, when he had finished eating, Harry decided to move on and see what lay in the bush ahead of him. He twitched his little nose and sniffed, as all good hedgehogs do, and sensing no danger, walked slowly on.

As he got closer to the bush, an unusual smell came to him. It was something he'd never come across before. It wasn't an animal, as he knew animal smells; it was something very strange. His curiosity got the better of him and rather than turning away to go in another direction, as he should have, he went further into the bush. The strange smell increased, and then all of a sudden he felt the ground dip and his small feet slipped on something slithery. Now, feeling scared, his instinctive reaction was to curl himself up into a ball. As he did so, his body rolled forward down the small bank of earth, before coming to a sudden stop.
He lay still and frightened, wondering what had happened. The strange smell was still around him.

Unknowingly, Harry had come across an empty, rolled up, wet plastic carrier bag on the ground, which had now become caught on the top of his spines as he had rolled down the bank.
Lying still for some time, with nothing else happening to him, Harry became braver and moved slightly. He heard a strange rustling sound. Then stretching his body out and starting to walk, the strange sound stayed with him. Now he felt there was something on top of him, and then finally, he realised there must be something stuck to the top of his spines on his back, but he didn't know what. It had a strange smell, made a funny rustling noise, but wasn't heavy at all.

He knew he had to get it off, but he didn't know how.
Harry continued walking, hoping he could think of a way get rid of whatever was attached to him.

After a few moments he smelled Badger. Walking in the direction the scent was coming from, Harry found himself in a little clearing where Badger was eating.
"Badger," cried out Harry. "Can you help me get this thing off my back?"
Badger looked up for a moment from his feeding. It was only Hedgehog.
"I'm too busy eating," replied Badger. "Come back later."

Disappointed, Harry carried on walking, hoping he could find someone else to help him.
After another few minutes he came across Rabbit rushing along.
"Rabbit, please can you help me get this strange thing off my back?" he asked.
Rabbit stopped for a moment, looked at Harry and said, "I have to take care of my litter of babies," and shot off in the dark.

Harry, was feeling a little desperate now, as the thing on his back was making a rustling noise again in the wind as he walked, and he was feeling scared that Fox might hear him.
After another few minutes of walking, Harry heard something in the ground below, just ahead of him. Then a head popped up out of the ground. It was Mole.
"Mole, please help me. There's something stuck on my back. Can you pull it off for me?"
"Oh, I'm too busy making my tunnels" replied Mole, and his head disappeared down the hole again, and he was gone.

Now, Harry was feeling very upset and his eyes filled with tears. Why would no one help him? Slowly, he crawled towards the nearest bush, trying to hide himself, and then started to cry. Eventually, feeling exhausted and sad, he fell asleep.

The next morning, ten-year-old Jack was walking along a pathway in the woods with his father and pet Labrador, Hudson. All of a sudden, Hudson started barking at something ahead of them, next to the path.

"What's bothering Hudson?" said Jack to his dad.
"Oh, it just looks like some rubbish on the ground," replied his father as they walked towards what looked, from a distance, like a white object on the ground. As they got closer to where Hudson was still barking with his tail wagging madly, his father saw it was a white plastic carrier bag. Jack had run on a little ahead of him and was knelt down next to it.
"Look dad," said Jack, as his father knelt down beside him. "The bag's got caught on the spines of a hedgehog."

His father saw what he meant; the thin plastic of the bag had become hooked into the spines of the hedgehog. "Oh, the poor thing," he said, gently pulling the bag off the spines, until it was completely free. He put the bag in his pocket, so it would not get caught on anything else.
Hudson continued barking and sniffed down at the Hedgehog, which was still curled up tightly into a ball.

"Shush now, Hudson," said Jack. "You'll frighten it."
Both Jack and his father got up. "Come on Jack," said his father. "Let's leave it in peace, now. It must have been terrified." They slowly walked away with Jack holding on to Hudson who had been put on a lead. "That's why it's important for people to take their rubbish away when they walk in the woods," Jack's father continued. "That hedgehog might have died with the bag caught around it."
"Yes dad," replied Jack. "We were told in school about taking rubbish home and now I can see why." As they walked, he looked back for a moment at where they had seen the Hedgehog, as if to say goodbye.

Harry stayed curled up tightly. He was very scared for ages after they had gone. When he was sure the danger had passed, he moved himself ever so slightly. He could no longer smell or feel the thing that had been on his back. Feeling relieved, he uncurled himself and stretched his little legs.

Then, sniffing the ground around him, slowly walked back into the wood, in the direction of his burrow, not quite knowing what had happened to him.

Questions
1) How did you feel listening to the story?
2) Why do you think the other animals didn't help Harry?
3) How did Harry feel when they didn't help?
4) Have you had a similar experience? How did you feel?
5) What things does this story teach us?
6) Why is it important not to litter?

La paix ne sera pas possible entre nations, tant qu’on ne sera pas convaincu que la véritable paix se trouve au cœur de l’âme humaine.

Black Elk ( chef spirituel des Sioux)

Le miroir

Source: Guillaume Leroutier 

Toute une région du sud de la Chine venait de subir un terrible tremblement de terre.
Dans un village, des hommes, des femmes et des enfants erraient toujours, hagards, au milieu des ruines de leurs habitations. Les jours passèrent et chacun s'employait à reconstruire sa maison mais dans la peur et l'inquiétude du lendemain.

Un jour, une femme était partie seule et loin du village pour chercher de l'eau. Alors qu'elle remplissait ses jarres à la source, elle aperçut à quelques dizaines de mètres un homme qui semblait âgé assis à l'ombre d'un arbre. Elle n'eut pas peur et s'avança vers lui.
- Qui es-tu ? lui demanda t-elle
- Je suis un Sage, répondit l'homme.

Il lui fit signe de s'asseoir non loin de lui. La femme s'assit et commença à lui raconter le tremblement de terre et les jours pénibles qui s'écoulaient depuis au village.
- Qu'allons-nous devenir ? répétait-elle souvent. Notre vie est devenue si malheureuse. Tu es un Sage, peux-tu me réconforter. J'aimerais tant être réconfortée.

- Écoute-moi, dit le Sage : Tant que tu regrettes ce qui s'est passé, tu ne pourras évacuer ta douleur. La peur, la tristesse et le désespoir font partie de l'évolution de l'homme. C'est une évolution que tu dois traverser, mais tant que tu es la proie de ces émotions négatives, tu ne peux pas utiliser ce que tu es.

Les sages, ceux qui savent comment aider les gens à se voir eux-mêmes, ne se laissent pas impliquer par ce qui a été. Ils ne sont concernés que par l'instant présent. Ils peuvent voir l'avenir et le passé mais ne se laissent entraîner ni par l'un ni par l'autre. Il te faut te connecter à ton guide intérieur pour apprendre à vivre entièrement dans et pour le présent. C'est ainsi que disparaissent les émotions négatives.

- Mais j'ai tellement perdu confiance en moi et en la vie avec cette terrible catastrophe qui a détruit notre vie.

- C'est le destin de l'ange que de vaincre le dragon ! Comprends-tu ce que je veux dire?
- Je ne sais pas pourquoi mais il me semble que oui.

- Tu me dis que tu as perdu confiance en toi, mais il faut beaucoup de confiance en soi pour affirmer à autrui que l'on en manque. Il est vrai que l'on ne peut planter une fleur sur un terrain de pierres. Mais tu n'es ni la fleur ni le terrain de pierres : tu es celle qui doit arroser la fleur et choisir le bon terrain. Si tu le fais, tu vis au centre de toi-même et non plus au milieu de tes émotions négatives qui sont le dehors de toi-même. C'est pour cela qu'en fait celles-ci ne t'appartiennent pas. Mais si tu y tiens c'est toi qui leur appartient.

Au fur et à mesure que le Sage parlait, la femme se sentait plus légère et elle commençait à relativiser ce qu'elle avait vécu. Les paroles du Sage imprégnaient son être en ces moments difficiles. Puis, le Sage sortit un miroir de sa poche. Il était à peine plus grand que la paume de sa main.

Il le tendit à la femme de façon à ce qu'elle puisse voir son visage. Elle y vit son visage triste aux traits tirés par la fatigue. Puis le Sage se concentra et soudain le miroir se brisa et joncha le sol de ses éclats. Aussitôt, la femme sentit son visage se détendre et sa fatigue disparaître. Elle ferma les yeux quelques instants.

Lorsqu'elle les rouvrit, le Sage avait disparu. A peine surprise et sans chercher à comprendre, elle retourna parmi les siens légère et vivante.

Si tu penses à une année, sème le grain,
Si tu penses à une décennie, plante un arbre,
Si tu penses à un siècle, élève un homme.

Sagesse chinoise

AVANT DE JUGER...

C'est tellement facile de trouver ce qui ne fonctionne pas dans la vie des autres.
Nous nous disons souvent:
"Si j'étais à sa place, je ferais telle chose, telle chose, telle chose!"

Mais avons-nous déjà pensé que si nous étions réellement à la place de l'autre personne, vraiment « dans ses souliers », nous serions alors aux prises avec ses émotions, ses préjugés, ses réactions, ses inquiétudes, ses ambitions, ses objectifs, ses inhibitions, ses instincts, bref, nous aurions son passé, son présent et son avenir et il est fort probable que nous agirions exactement de la même façon qu'elle.

Avant de condamner quelqu'un, essayons non seulement de le comprendre, mais de vibrer au même diapason que lui et nous constaterons alors que nos émotions ressemblent aux siennes.

(Auteur inconnu)

Two friends through the desert

Story tells that two friends were walking through the desert.

During some 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 saying anything, 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 had been slapped got stuck in the mire and started drowning, but the friend saved him.

After he recovered from the near drowning, he wrote on a stone:

“TODAY MY BEST FRIEND SAVED MY LIFE.”

The friend who had slapped and saved his best friend asked him,
"After I hurt you, you wrote in the sand and now, you write on a stone, why?"

The other friend replied "When someone hurts us we should write it down in sand where winds of forgiveness can erase it away. But, when someone does something good for us, we must engrave it in stone where no wind can ever erase it."

LEARN TO WRITE YOUR HURTS IN THE SAND AND TO CARVE YOUR BENEFITS IN STONE.

Different people have different perception.

One man's meat could be another man's poison.

A couple bought a donkey from the market. On the way home, a boy commented: "Very stupid. Why neither of them ride on the donkey? "

Upon hearing that, the husband let the wife ride on the donkey. He walked besides them.
Later, an old man saw it and commented: "The husband is the head of family. How can the wife ride on the donkey while the husband is on foot?"

Hearing this, the wife quickly got down and let the husband ride on the donkey.
Further on the way home, they met an old Lady. She commented: "How can the man ride on the donkey but let the wife walk. He is no gentleman."  The husband thus quickly asked the wife to join him on the donkey.

Then, they met a young man. He commented: "Poor donkey, how can you hold up the weight of two persons. They are cruel to you." Hearing that, the husband and wife immediately climbed down from the donkey and carried it on their shoulders. It seems to be the only choice left.

Later, on a narrow bridge, the donkey was frightened and struggled. They lost their balance and fell into the river.

*You can never have everyone praise you, nor will everyone condemn you.
Never in the past, not at present, and never will be in the future. *
Thus, DO NOT be too bothered by others words... if our conscience is clear.

 Cat capers

By Kay Challenor

It was afternoon break and Kerri sat watching the raindrops run races down the classroom window, lost to the activities inside the room.

"Whatever is the matter?"
Kerri turned to face two of her friends as they sat down next to her. She hurriedly wiped the tears from her eyes with the back of her hands and forced a sheepish grin.
"Oh nothing," she lied.
"Oh come on, Kerri," said her best friend Juniper. "Nothing's wrong? As if you sit there everyday crying your eyes out!"

Kerri grinned again, only this time for real.
"I was just lost in my own thoughts, I guess. The weather kind of reflects how I am feeling right now."
Her friend, Diane, took a look out of the window. The thick black clouds were billowing across the sky, blown by the fierce wind. The wind was blowing the trees too and their branches were thrashing this way and that, creaking and groaning under the strain. The rain was lashing down onto the playground in bubbles with an unceasing drone. Diane shivered. "If that reflects your mood, you can't be feeling too good!"

Kerri smiled again, "I'm not, to be truthful."
"Why? What's up?"
Kerri took a deep breath and attempted to force down the tears that were rising to the surface as she reconnected to her thoughts.
"It's my cat," she whispered. "She's gone missing."

"That's what cats do!" exclaimed Juniper as Diane gave him a stern look to be quiet. "At least sometimes," he continued more softly. "She will be back in a day or two, Kerri. Honest."
"That was what my mum said too. Only Samba has been missing a week now."
"Oh, that is terrible, Kerri. You must be heart broken," said Diane full of sympathy. "I know how I feel if anything happens to my dog and he has never gone missing. Let alone for that long!"
"What have you done to try and find her?" asked Juniper.

"We've asked people in the village and I've walked all the roads to see if she's been hit by a car, but there'is no sign of her, thank goodness. I don't know though. She could be lying somewhere injured and unable to get home. My mind is full of horrible possibilities, especially on a day like today. I can't help but think of her cold and wet somewhere. She must be pretty hungry by now, too."
"I am sure she will be all right," said Juniper. "She is a clever cat and cats are brilliant hunters. She will find food."
"Not if she's too ill to try."

Juniper propped up his chin on his hands. He just knew that Kerri's cat was all right. Something inside just told him so. He knew deep down that she was alive; they just needed to help Kerri discover where Samba was. Perhaps she had got stuck somewhere, or shut in, they just needed to look harder.
"I've got an idea!"

Juniper leapt up and ran over to the desk in the middle of the classroom. He picked up a roll of tape and banged it down hard. The other children in the room stopped talking and looked over in surprise.
"Hey, everyone. Kerri needs our help." Juniper told the other children about the missing cat and of his plan to renew the search for her. "Who's prepared to help?”

He was met with a chorus of enthusiasm.
"Only trouble is not all of us are from the village," said one boy. "So what can we do?"
"Well, we could do with some posters to put up in the village shop, the post office and around the village as well. Perhaps we could all make some now. We could make a lot if we all pulled together."

The children agreed and began to draw posters. They were all different colours, some children even drew pictures of Samba on them as well. Kerri was amazed at how enthusiastic everyone was in helping. She felt so lucky to have so many kind friends.
By the end of break there was a pile of posters ready for use.
"My, you have been busy!" commented their teacher, Mr. Thomas, when he entered the classroom. "Why! What have we got here?" He picked up the top poster and read it carefully. "Kerri, you should have told us all sooner! These posters are great everyone, but they need to be made waterproof. Shall we cover them in sticky plastic to keep the rain off them?"
The children agreed and when Mr. Thomas fetched the plastic they set to work. Mr. Thomas also got out an Ordinance Survey Map of the village and laid it out on his desk. He called the children round to have a look.
"This map contains details of the entire village," he explained. "All the roads and lanes. All the buildings, the houses, the church and even remote animal shelters. Look." He pointed to one isolated rectangle set in the corner of a field. "Here is the stream. See? And does anyone know what this is?"
"The old railway line?"
"Yes, very good! Now how about we plan a "hunt the cat" campaign? We could split into groups and each group search a different part of the village."
The children began to get excited.
"That's what we will do tomorrow then. If you put the posters up after school today, Juniper. I'll phone the local farmers and make sure that we have their permission to walk on their land tomorrow. I'm sure that no one will mind, but it's only polite to ask."

There was still no sign of Samba that evening, but Kerri was feeling much better. It was good to be planning something, rather than to be sitting around and doing nothing. Somehow it made her feel more optimistic.
"You look happier tonight," said her mum.
"I am." Kerri told her mum what had happened at school.
"That is lovely! How nice that everyone's working together to help you. I'm sure that you'll find Samba."

"Well, everyone," said Mr. Thomas the next afternoon. "All ready? The local farmers have all agreed to cooperate with us. Some have even said that they will look over their lands and buildings themselves. So we can cross some places off already." He took a pencil and drew crosses through the places that had already been searched.

"That will help us no end. Now split into groups of six and each group can search a lane. You must remember to knock on people's houses and ask if you need to search in their gardens. Remember to explain what you are doing and be polite! We will all meet back here in one hour, has every group got a watch? Good, then let's go!"

An hour later the groups began to return. One by one they entered the classroom. Kerri stood by the door expectantly. Her group had searched down by the stream, unsuccessfully. She was hoping that one of the other groups would have had more luck, but each group of children that returned shook their heads sadly. Kerri began to feel sick in her stomach. She had been so certain that her cat would be found. Eventually all of the groups had returned.

"No news to report?" asked Mr. Thomas.
The children all shook their heads then turned to look towards the classroom door at the sound of a knock. The face of a local farmer peered in.
"Why hello, Don! Come in."

The farmer shuffled into the room carrying a large cardboard box. He looked down at the children, beaming.
"I read your posters this morning and mighty good they are too. I looked over my place last night, but I didn't see a whisker of Kerri's cat. Then today I saw your posters and I thought that perhaps I had missed something. After all it had been dusk and the light not too good."
He placed the box down on the floor. There was the sound of scratching from inside and a faint meow. Kerri was on her feet in an instant. Don put his fingers to his lips and beckoned Kerri over. He gently opened the box so that she could see inside. Kerri gasped in amazement. Inside was her cat plus five tiny kittens. Don laughed at her surprised face.

"She was very well hidden. I would never have known she was there if I hadn't heard the kittens squeaking. She had made a fine den right at the back of my hay barn. She was very snug." He picked up Samba carefully and passed her to Kerri. "She is well enough and so are the little ones. I think she has lost weight though. Needs feeding up a bit. What do you reckon?"
Kerri couldn't answer. She was lost for words. A huge lump of emotion was sticking in her throat as Samba rubbed round her chin, purring.

QUESTIONS:
1) Why was Kerri sad?
2) What had she done to try and find her cat?
3) Why was Diane sympathetic?
4) What did Juniper do on hearing of Kerri's missing cat?
5) How did the other children co-operate?
6) What was Mr. Thomas's reaction on seeing the posters?
7) How did he co-operate?
8) How did the local farmers co-operate?
9) What was Samba hard to find?
10) How did you feel when you heard / read this story?
11) Does it remind you of anything in your own life?

La maîtrise de soi

Il était une fois un petit garçon au tempérament impulsif. Un jour, son père, lui donna un marteau, des clous et lui demanda de planter un clou dans la clôture derrière la maison, chaque fois qu'il perdrait son calme.

Le premier jour, le garçon planta 17 clous dans la clôture. Par la suite, comme il apprenait à se dominer, le nombre de clous plantés diminua graduellement.

Finalement, un jour vint où le garçon ne perdit pas son calme. Il en fit part à son père, qui l'invita dès lors à retirer un clou de la clôture chaque fois qu'il réussirait à se maîtriser pendant toute une journée.

Les jours passèrent... À un moment donné, l'enfant fier de lui, alla trouver son père pour lui dire qu'il avait réussi à arracher tous les clous. Ce dernier prit alors son fils par la main et le conduisit jusqu'à la clôture.

Il le félicita pour sa grande volonté, mais il attira aussi son attention sur les trous laissés pas les clous enlevés. Il lui expliqua alors que la clôture ne serait plus jamais la même et que les paroles blessantes, au même titre que les clous, laissent des marques.

Peu importe le nombre de fois où tu t'excuseras, la blessure sera toujours là.

Before you speak, ask yourself…

Is it kind…?
Is it necessary…?
Is it true…?
Does it improve on the silence…?

 The Frogs

MGM Nair / India

A farmer came into town and asked the owner of a restaurant if he could use a million frog legs.

he restaurant owner was shocked and asked the man where he could get so many frog legs!
The farmer replied, "There is a pond near my house that is full of frogs, millions of them. They all croak all night long and they are about to make me crazy!"

So the restaurant owner and the farmer made an agreement that the farmer would deliver frogs to the restaurant, five hundred at a time for the next several weeks.

The first week, the farmer returned to the restaurant looking rather sheepish, with two scrawny little frogs.

The restaurant owner said: "Well... where are all the frogs?"
The farmer said: "I was mistaken. There were only these two frogs in the pond. But they sure were making a lot of noise!"

Next time you hear somebody criticising or making fun of you, remember, it's probably just a couple of noisy frogs.

Also remember that problems always seem bigger in the dark.Have you ever laid in your bed at night worrying about things which seem almost overwhelming like a million frogs croaking?
Chances are pretty good that when the morning comes, and you take a closer look, you'll wonder what all the fuss was about.

The meerkat and the lion

based on a traditional story.

Once upon a time, on a hot afternoon in the forest, a lion was dozing in the shade of a tree. He was not fast asleep, for lions are always on their guard. His lioness had just caught him a good dinner and he was feeling well fed so, for the moment, he meant no harm to anyone.

Then, from behind a rock crept a little meerkat. He was just an ordinary meerkat and he wasn't going anywhere in particular. He felt rather hot and was busy searching for some shade.
First one way and then another he darted, but wherever he went, the ground was hot beneath his paws, and he hopped to and fro unhappily. Then suddenly he found himself in a cool spot: "Ah!" he thought happily: "This is just the place I've been looking for."

He was so happy to be out of the sun that he never noticed the big, tawny figure that was already stretched out nearby.
"You should pay more attention to where you are going!" said a deep voice.
And before the meerkat quite knew what had happened, a huge shaggy paw came down on top of him. The poor little meerkat found that he could only peer out between a row of cruel claws, and when he plucked up enough courage to look between them, he nearly fainted with fright."A lion!" he cried: "It's a lion!"

"It is indeed!" said the lion. And he raised his great paw just enough to allow the meerkat to move away a few inches before he dropped it down on him again. For cats all like to play.
"Please lion!" the meerkat cried: "Please let me go."
The lion sniffed at him thoughtfully, as though trying to make up his mind whether to eat him or not. "I don't see why I should free you." He said at last: "Give me one good reason, little meerkat, and I'll think about it."

"I can give two reasons." the meerkat said, thinking quickly: "One is that I am so small that I cannot possibly make you a good dinner, and the other is that if you free me I shall be very happy to help you in return some day."
The lion laughed: "And how can a little meerkat like you be of any help to the King of the Forest?" he asked.

"I'm not sure." The meerkat admitted.
"But if you kill me, neither of us will ever find out."
"Well I must admit you're a brave little fellow." The lion said: "Run along then." And he lifted his paw from the meerkat's back.
"Thank you very much." The meerkat said gratefully. "And do not think I shall forget, for we meerkats always keep our word."
With that he ran off as fast as he could.

In the days that followed the lion forgot about his meeting with the meerkat.
Then, one day he fell into a trap. The hunters from the nearby town had dug a deep hole and put a net over it. The net was then covered over with grasses and reeds, and the men waited nearby, hoping that the lion would walk on it. Much to their delight the lion did. With a roar of fear and anger he fell through the reeds.

Eagerly the men hauled him up in the net and left him near their camp while they decided what to do next.
"We should sell him to a circus." Said one. "I'm sure we should get a good price for him."
"No, no," said another. "We would get more money from a zoo."
While they argued, the lion lay helpless within the strong net, feeling very unhappy indeed.
Suddenly a tiny voice said in his ear. "Do not worry, friend Lion. I have come to help you."

The lion looked down in surprise and saw it was a meerkat.
"How can a tiny meerkat help me?" the lion asked sadly. "With all my strength I cannot break this strong net."
Standing up tall on his backlegs the meerkat looked round. Seeing that no-one was looking, he very quietly began to gnaw through the rope that held the net closed. Faster and faster he chewed, and at last his little teeth had severed the tough strands of the rope.

"There." panted the meerkat, as the rope fell to pieces.
“Now quietly creep out of the net while the hunters are busy talking."With great care, the lion crept from the net and followed the meerkat out of the hunters' camp back into the depths of the forest.
"I do not know how to thank you, little meerkat." The lion said gratefully. "Ask whatever you like and I'll do my best to give it to you as thanks for your help."

"Oh, you don't owe me anything at all." The meerkat told him. "Don't you remember me? I am the meerkat you once released and I am doing you a good turn now, just as I promised. We meerkats may be small, but even so, we do our best to keep our word."

So when we feel cross cause someone's trod on our toesLet's be kind to each other. Be friends, never foes.

Questions:
1) How did the lion catch the meerkat?
2) What was he going to do to him?
3) How did the meerkat escape from the lion?
4) How did the meerkat show his gratitude to the lion?
5) Why was the lion grateful to the meerkat?
6) What can we learn from this story?
7) How did you feel when you heard this story?
8) Did it remind you of anything in your own life?

Don’t hurt

This is a true story .

A man came out of his home to admire his new truck. To his puzzlement, his three-year-old son was happily hammering dents into the shiny paint of the truck.

The man ran to his son, knocked him away, hammered the little boy's hands into pulp as punishment.
When the father calmed down, he rushed his son to the hospital.

Although the doctor tried desperately to save the crushed bones, he finally had to amputate the fingers from both the boy's hands.

When the boy woke up from the surgery & saw his bandaged stubs, he innocently said: "Daddy, I'm sorry about your truck." Then he asked: "But when are my fingers going to grow back?"

The father went home & committed suicide.

Think about this story the next time when you get anger, because of your kids actions.
We've to control our anger. If we can't... it grow endless, and, do harm... first the opposer, and, then oneself.

Trucks can be repaired..

Broken bones & hurt feelings often can't.

Too often we fail to recognise the difference between the person and the performance.
We forget that forgiveness is greater than revenge.

People make mistakes. We are allowed to make mistakes. But the actions we take while in a rage will haunt us forever.

Être soi même

Beaucoup de personnes ont peur d'être elles-mêmes, ou de le devenir.

Elles ont peur de perdre des amis, des êtres chers.
Elles ont peur de perdre leurs conjoints, leurs conjointes.

Si vous essayer d'être vous-mêmes, il y a des êtres qui vous entourent qui partiront (peut-être?)
Ceux-là se sont les faux, ceux qui collent à vous pour en tirer quelque chose, les vrais resteront, ils n'attendent rien de vous, ils se contentent de votre rayonnement, de ce que vous êtes vraiment.

Si vous apprenez à être une personne qui se suffit et qui ne s'accroche pas aux autres, ils resteront encore plus car ils n'auront jamais peur d'être exploités par vous.

N'oublions pas aussi que, lorsqu'on enchaîne les autres on s'enchaîne aussi.

Pour être nous-mêmes, il faut d'abord laisser l'autre ÊTRE.

Fiez-vous à votre intuition, laissez-la vous guider, elle ne vous trompera jamais.
Et, si un jour vous échouez dans une démarche, dites-vous que c'est par cette expérience que vous deviendrez encore plus vous-mêmes....

(Marcel Gagnon)

S'accorder le droit de se tromper est pour moi le premier pas vers ce mieux-être.