Throughout my years, I have learned to treasure and value my true friends. Having a lot of friends is nothing compared to having a few real friends you know you can count on – friends that will lend you an ear whenever you’re in need, a shoulder to cry on when all else falls apart. This is why I’m sending this to you, my friend, and I hope you enjoy it…
Everybody is born with a heart, but these kids are born with extra big ones. Their optimism and generous natures don’t let circumstances stop them from showing kindness to people and animals. These are the people who are going to change the world, one act at a time. Their stories are truly inspiring.
This girl got proactive to raise money for animal care.
The card reads: “I sold my stuffed animals. So real animals can get better care. I got $40 bucks for you! from: Kiaha.”
This rescue shelter has a program called “Book Buddies”. Kids can come read to the rescued cats to comfort them.
The letter reads: “I’m going to shave my head in honor of all of the children fighting cancer especially my sister Natalie. And I DO NOT CARE if someone makes fun of me because I am beautiful no matter what! – Hannah Gorsegar.”
Eleven-year-old Jonah from Tennessee donated all his Halloween candy to kids affected by Hurricane Sandy, who couldn’t go trick-or-treating.
Eight-year-old Tyler’s home caught on fire and he helped 6 family members escape. Sadly, he was killed after he ran back in to help his grandfather and disabled uncle.
The fire brigade gave him a fireman’s funeral.
When Emma decided to have a birthday party she asked that instead of receiving gifts that her friends give food and toys to the local animal shelter.
Her friends listened. She was able to donate all these goodies to the shelter.
Belal, a boy in Bangladesh, risked his life to save a fawn from drowning in the overflowing local river.
Onlookers thought the boy might drown too. He emerged and returned the baby deer to its family.
A wildlife photographer who was passing by caught the incident on camera
This boy saw that other children in his school didn’t have lunch and asked his mom if he could give them his. The next day he took this box with him to school. He also helped pack it.
When he broke his arm in October, this boy asked the doctor for a pink cast in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
This teen volunteered to be a guide runner so that this blind cross country runner could participate in the race.
Six-year-old Lucas has Lissencephaly, a brain malformation confining him to a wheelchair.
His eight-year-old brother Noah wanted to participate in the local triathlon with Lucas.
He spent 3 months training to be strong enough to be able to push and pull Lucas through all three stages.
Embodiments of Love! The hallmark of love is thyaga (selfless sacrifice). Love seeks nothing from anyone. It bears no ill-will towards anyone. It is utterly selfless and pure. Failing to understand the true nature of love, people yearn for it in various ways. You must cherish love with the feelings of selflessness and sacrifice. In what is deemed as love in the world – whether it is maternal love, brotherly love, or friendship – there is an element of selfishness. Only God’s love is totally free from the taint of selfishness. Divine love reaches out even to the remotest being. It brings together those who are separate. It raises a person from animality to Divinity. It transforms gradually all forms of worldly love to Divine love. To experience this Divine love, you must be prepared to give up selfishness and self-interest and develop purity and steadfastness. With firm faith in the Divine, foster love for God regardless of all obstacles and ordeals.
All the pain and pleasure people experience are the results of their own actions and not due to any act of the Divine. God is only a witness, a postman! He delivers to you whatever letter is addressed to you. The grief or joy you derive from the contents of the letter is intended for you! Likewise suffering or happiness one experiences is the result of one’s own bad or good deeds! However, God will shower ‘special grace’, when you pray to God with a pure heart, without a trace of selfishness and with sacred feelings. Also, when a person has done some unique sacrifice in a previous life or sometime in the past, the Divine rewards it at the appropriate time. Lord Krishna rescued Draupadi when Duryodhana attempted to disrobe her by making her sari endless. This was in return for the spontaneous act of Draupadi wherein she tore off a piece from her sari to stop the bleeding from Krishna’s finger.
Ranked 737 in the Forbes global billionaire list with personal wealth of $2.4 billion, Yusuffali’s diversification does not stop here.
Yusuff Ali seen with former late President APJ Kalam. Photograph: Courtesy, Yusuff Ali/Facebook
For Yusuffali Musaliam Veettil Abdul Kader, or Yusuff Ali MA as he is better known as, diversification is a natural trait. Born in Nattika in the Thrissur district of Kerala in 1955,
Yusuffali left the country in 1973 when he was 18 to join his uncle MK Abdullah in Abu Dhabi.
The latter ran a manufacturing company there. Yusuffali developed the import and wholesale distribution of the group, and soon ventured into retail.
In the 1990s, he launched a chain of supermarkets called Lulu.
Yusuff Ali is the s the managing director of the $5.8-billion Lulu Group.
Today, he owns over 100 supermarkets and grocery outlets and is the managing director of the $5.8-billion Lulu Group.
His business has acquired a global scale with presence in Malaysia, Indonesia and India.
With hospitality as his next area of interest, the 60-year-old staked a claim on history this week after he entered into a $170-million agreement with London-based property developer Galliard Homes to create a five-star hotel at the site of the original Scotland Yard Police Station in London.
He has set up a separate hospitality arm, Twenty14 Holdings, to focus on acquisition and management of assets around the globe.
The hotel arm is looking to expand its operations in Europe, North America and India, it has been reported. Recently, the company acquired a property at Business Bay in Dubai, which is expected to open in October.
It also jointly with Al Hashar Hotel owns the Sheraton Oman Hotel in Muscat.
“The future growth markets for us in the hospitality sector include Britain, West Asia, India and Southeast Asia,” a Lulu spokesman was quoted in Abu Dhabi’s The National.
“Since we are now firmly established in the retail sector, we want to diversify into hospitality as these two are complementary,” he added.
Ranked 737 in the Forbes global billionaire list with personal wealth of $2.4 billion, Yusuffali’s diversification does not stop here.
His companies, which have operational base in West Asia, Africa, Southeast Asia, India and the UK among others, employ 34,420 people from 37 nationalities.
A Padma Shree recipient, Yusuffali expanded his retail empire to India when he launched Lulu Hypermarket in Kochi in 2013.
He has also invested in food processing units in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Mumbai, and is building a mall and a food processing unit in Hyderabad.
Yusuff Ali seen with HE Badr bin Mohammed Al-Otaishan, Governor of Jubail touring the newly opened LULU Hypermarket along with HRH Prince Saud Bin Abdulla bin Abdul Aziz and other dignitaries. Photograph: Courtesy, Yusuff Ali/Facebook
He also has a presence in the Indian banking sector.
In 2013, he acquired a 4.99 per cent stake in the 93-year-old Catholic Syrian Bank in Thrissur and a 4.47 per cent stake in Kochi-based Federal Bank to become the biggest individual shareholder in the two Kerala-based lenders. The billionaire, though, also likes to give money to charity.
A website dedicated to him says: “Yusuffali is very closely involved in many social, charitable and humanitarian activities both in India as well as in West Asia, and plays a vital role in fostering the interests of non-resident Indians and keeping intact the communal harmony among them.”
Money could buy you a vacation, a day to the spa, a good education and a fancy home but what it can’t buy you is a break, relaxation, will to study and a family. While we look out for various ways to earn money and stress out all the time, we are losing out on our health and our energy.
We seek happiness in all avenues possible but one does not have to search oceans and travel through vast lands to be satisfied. Satisfaction comes from within and having knowledge that it always originates from the way we really look at the world.
Stop running after money because money could give you temporary happiness but it won’t be permanent!
Here are 9 things money can’t buy; for everything else you have your credit card!
1. Love
Love that comes from your family, friends, pets and the world cannot be bought. No matter how rich you are or how poor, love cannot be bought; it has to be earned! How do you earn love? By being kind and understanding.
You help people in need and you show your loyalty to the people who are really important to you and that is how you earn respect.
2. Respect
While someone like Steve Jobs earned immense amount of money, he also earned immense amount of respect. You are nothing without respect. It is an established fact that when people respect you, they believe in you and that is why they invest in your ideas and your ideals.
They invest their time in listening to you and following your advice.
If you want to go far in your life, you have to be respected till the day you die.
3. Friends
Turning into a workaholic may get you all the shoes, clothes and cars you like but who would you share your adventures with?
Friends are stepping stones to success and no one likes to be alone all the time. Money cannot buy you true, good friends and you must always remember that!
4. Trust
Trust is just like respect and love. If you’re trusted, you will be given money and not the other way round. Maintain a good reputation, have good habits and be a good, disciplined person in life and trust will follow you.
5. Patience
To earn more money or ever achieve any important goal in your life patience is the number one thing you must remember. Patient people invest in long term goals and long terms ventures ending up earning a lot of money.
Money can’t buy patience but patience can get you money!
6. Luck
Luck is a challenge; one minute it is right there and the next it’s on to help someone else.
Everybody needs just a little bit of luck, even the rich!
If luck is on your side you just need to work hard but if luck is not on your side you definitely cannot buy it with happiness!
7. Wisdom
Knowledge only enhances a human being’s personality, never destroys it. Knowledge is gold and is the best way to gain success however it cannot be bought.
It entirely depends on the person’s power to absorb information and the willingness to apply it to her/his life that brings wisdom.
8. Missed opportunities
A missed opportunity is a goal lost. Always embrace opportunities as they come and never take advantage of them as sometimes opportunities once lost will never return. Not even Bill Gates can buy opportunities. A person can make use of them as they come and sometimes s/he can even create opportunities for others and help him grow but s/he cannot buy opportunities for herself/himself.
9. Time
Time is money! A saying everybody lives by. If you waste time you’re wasting money. Bill Gates earns $250 a second and that is the perfect example of how important time is. Time is limited but money couldn’t be endless. Don’t waste your time doing something that isn’t productive if you want to get rich sooner. Use it for projects that make sense and can help you grow!
Meditation has many known health benefits, such as increasing longevity and reducing stress. People have been practicing meditation for over two millennia, with Hindu texts describing meditative forms as early as the 6th-century BCE. In my youth, if I heard the word ‘meditation’, all I could think about was a person in the Far East, sitting with his legs crossed and humming to himself. A couple of years ago I was introduced to real meditation and discovered the calming and healing properties it has, and now I’d love to share them with you.
What is meditation
The Webster dictionary defines meditation as “the act or process of spending time in quiet thought: the act or process of meditating”. Many people meditate without even knowing that they’re doing it. A person sitting and fishing for a few hours in silence is performing a type of meditation, the same as another who might be jogging with their headphones on. It involves dedicating 100% of your attention to one subject. Meditation has also been a key factor in Eastern religions such as Buddhism and Hinduism, as well as Western religions like Christianity and Judaism
Health benefits of meditating
Meditation has many proven health benefits, such as silencing your internal chatter, calming and grounding one’s self, and getting in touch with yourself, to name a few. A recent Harvard University study discovered that daily meditation can rebuild the brain’s gray matter in as little as eight weeks. Participants also reported a reduction in stress – a prime factor in the decrease in gray matter density.
Who can meditate
From young children to elderly people, everyone can meditate. There are many forms of meditation, some more suitable for people of different ages, so don’t be daunted if one form doesn’t work for you. Finding the meditation that suits you best is very gratifying.
Before you start meditating
The first thing you need to do, is decide on the purpose of your meditation: You may want to calm down, get to know yourself better, or even make an important business decision. Knowing why you’re meditating is the first step to a useful meditation. You don’t need special clothes (but comfortable ones make it easier) or equipment. All you need a quiet spot and to reserve some time for it.
When you begin your meditation, don’t lay down or sit in a slumped position – these positions do not help you stay alert and focused. Sit up straight, either on a chair, on your heels or cross-legged. Find the position that is comfortable for you, sitting in the lotus position is not mandatory in meditation.
Don’t meditate after eating, digestion can be very distracting during a session. If you just had a meal, wait for 2 hours and let your stomach calm down. You should avoid smoking for at least 30 minutes before the meditation.
Find a quiet spot that you will be comfortable in, this is essential for the first few times you meditate. Once you are comfortable with meditation, you’ll be able to do it in noisier places. Remember to switch off your cell phone – it’s a distraction. Consider lighting a scented candle or some incense to help your meditation and switch off or dim the lights – bright lights may also be a distraction.
How to meditate
Do some basic stretching before you start, it will loosen up your muscles and help you be more attentive to your body later on.
Breathing is the most important factor in meditation, we use each breath as a focal point. Close your eyes and deeply inhale through your nose, then slowly exhale through your mouth. Feel how your chest expands and contracts with each breath. Listen to the silence between breaths – notice how everything becomes still and quiet. You may even notice your heartbeat slowing down. If your thoughts begin to scatter, concentrate on your breathing.
As a beginner, focusing might not come naturally. Give it time and be patient with yourself. Some people find that focusing on their breathing won’t quiet their minds, and may need to try other methods:
Counting your breaths may help – count each breath and when you reach ten, start over. However, if you become focused on the numbers and not on the breathing, stop.
Another alternative is repeating a mantra – there’s a reason some people say “Om” when they meditate – it helps drown the outside world and focus on the sound. You can repeat any other word that helps you calm down if Om is not for you.
Try visualizing a calm place – it can be anything: the beach, a forest, your childhood home, etc. as long as it’s your sanctuary. When you find your sanctuary, don’t be afraid to explore it – there’s no need to try and “create” your surroundings, they’re already there.
Set aside at least fifteen minutes a day for meditation (more is welcome). Remember: short daily repetitions are better than one long weekly session because they form a habit. Eventually, the practice of meditation will find its way into your everyday life. You’ll find yourself considering your food choices more carefully, making decisions more consciously and focusing on things you read, watch or listen to with greater attention.
One last thing
Learning to silence your inner thoughts takes practice, but managing to attain inner peace is a huge reward. Remember – “practice makes perfect”, so keep meditating regularly. It may take you a few weeks or even a couple of months to learn to properly focus, so don’t get frustrated or disheartened it you’re not a meditation guru overnight.
Turn your mind Godward and you will experience the bliss of the Divine. It is for this reason that Swami gives you advice from time to time as to what you should do and what you should avoid. All this is not for My sake but for your own good, to make you take to the path of God Realisation, to teach you the supreme truth about the Brahmanand to make your sacred life an ideal one. Shirdi Baba used to ask for two rupees from devotees who came to him. The two rupees symbolised Shraddha (earnestness) and Bhakti (devotion). These are the two qualities He expected from the devotees. The combination of the two is essential for spiritual progress. Only then bliss will emerge like a plant from a seed. Everyone should strive to become an ideal human being. This means that everyone should testify to his Divinity. Imagine how happy everyone would be if the entire world was filled with this pure, sublime and sacred ideal.
A boat docked in a tiny seaside village. An businessman tourist complimented the local fisherman on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took him to catch them.
“Not very long,” answered the fisherman.
“But then, why didn’t you stay out longer and catch more?” asked the businessman. The fisherman explained that his small catch was sufficient to meet his needs and those of his family.
The businessman asked, “But what do you do with the rest of your time?”
“I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, and take a siesta with my wife. In the evenings, I go into the village to see my friends, play the guitar, and sing a few songs… I have a full life.”
The businessman interrupted, “I have an MBA from Harvard, and I can help you! You should start by fishing longer every day. You can then sell the extra fish you catch. With the extra revenue, you can buy a bigger boat.”
“And after that?” asked the fisherman.
With the extra money the larger boat will bring, you can buy a second one and a third one and so on until you have an entire fleet of trawlers. Instead of selling your fish to a middle man, you can then negotiate directly with the processing plants and maybe even open your own plant. You can then leave this little village and move to the city, Los Angeles, or even New York City! From there you can direct your huge new enterprise.”
“How long would that take?” asked the fisherman.
“Twenty, perhaps twenty-five years,” replied the businessman.
“And after that?”
“Afterwards? Well my Friend, That’s when it gets really interesting,” answered the businessman, laughing. “When your business gets really big, you can start selling stocks and make millions!”
“Millions? Really? And after that?” said the fisherman.
“After that you’ll be able to retire, live in a tiny village near the coast, sleep late, play with your children, catch a few fish, take a siesta with your wife and spend your evenings doing what you like and enjoying your friends.”
Priti Kohal’s love of flying began when she was a 16-year-old living in Mumbai. But her passion for planes started sitting in the driving seat on the open road, not wide-open skies.
As a teenager, Kohal, now age 45, would take her parents’ car, unbeknownst to them, for joy rides around town. She loved being in control of the vehicle and the freedom that came with it.
“I just loved the thought of getting away,” she said.
When Kohal turned 18 and officially received her driver’s license, her passion for driving intensified. “It was great to be able to do things on my own without having anyone ferry me around,” she said. “After the car I moved on to faster modes of transportation.”
Kohal earned her pilot’s license in 1994 and since 1996 has been a pilot with India’s Jet Airways — she’s one of 600 female pilots in India — and she’s been a captain since 2009.
There are only 4,000 female pilots worldwide, versus 130,000 male pilots, according to the International Society of Women Airline Pilots. Kohal’s doctor mother and engineer father taught her and her sister that they weren’t any different from men and could do anything they wanted as long as they had fun doing it.
This family support has helped her excel, but many women entering traditionally male-dominated professions in India encounter more obstacles. Kohal says she hasn’t run into sexism, but other females in the airline industry have and continue to face hurdles simply because of their gender. In 2009, Air India fired ten female flight attendants for being overweight. GoAir, a budget airline in India, said in 2013 that it only wanted to hire small, young females to be flight attendants in order to save money on fuel by keeping the weight of the plane down. And there are stories in the media and social media of notes being left on flights, or complaints being made, by passengers upset that they’ve flown with a female pilot.
However, Kohal never thought twice about being in the airline business. “I never considered being a pilot different from being an engineer or a teacher,” she said. “There were no limits for what we could do.”
Short flights, long days
When her children were younger, Kohal only flew one- or two-hour flights. She woke at 03:30, fed her baby, put him back to sleep and then headed off to the airport by 04:00. She’d work her flight and usually be home by 10:30, having the remainder of the day to spend with her children. By sticking with this system and meticulous planning, Kohal said she has never missed an important milestone or a school meeting for her children, now ages 14 and 11.
When her children were young, Kohal flew early in the morning and was home by 10:30. (Credit: Courtesy of Priti Kohal)
Contrary to how it might appear, being a pilot is a “very good career” for managing home and work life, Kohal believes, but it takes strategic planning. She decided to choose her flights so that she could spend time at home with her children. As long as someone doesn’t mind getting up in the wee hours of the morning, they can be home for long stretches of the day, she said.
As Kohal’s children have gotten older, her schedule has changed a bit, too. She’ll now captain long-haul flights, but tries to be away from home no more than four nights each month. The sacrifice: Kohal doesn’t get to see her husband, who is also a pilot and captains Boeing 777 planes for Air India, as often as she used to. He’s typically away for four days at a time, and then he’s off for six days. When he’s home, she spends her evenings with him — “all six nights are booked for my husband,” she said — but when he’s away, she can do as she pleases.
“It’s freedom for me,” when he’s in the air, she said, with a laugh. “I can do what I want for those 16 hours and he can’t reach me.”
When both are away, Kohal’s parents, who are retired, look after the children. Indian families tend to have strong support systems, she said. When grandkids are young, grandparents are happy to help, but when they are older there’s an expectation that children, in turn, will help their ageing parents.
Having that (wider family) support is important because it eases up an entire part of your life that you would have to constantly monitor,” she said.
Priti Kohal balances her flight schedule with that of her husband, who is also a pilot. He travels more than she does. (Credit: Courtesy of Priti Kohal)
A disciplined approach
These days, Kohal’s typical routine goes something like this: She wakes up at 05:30 and gets ready for work, arriving at 09:00 where she receives her flying assignment. She typically flies for a few hours a day — unless she’s taking an overnight flight. That means she can be home by 14:30. After an hour nap, Kohal is wide-awake to greet her kids when they get home from school.
The family has dinner by 20:30 and bedtime for the children is at 21:30, without exception.
“One aspect of being a pilot is that rules can’t be broken,” Kohal said. “You can’t mess up when you have to be stabilised at 1,000 feet. So I have some hard rules at home. They have it tougher than I did when I was younger.”
She’s usually in bed by midnight, but when her husband is away and she doesn’t have to fly the next day, Kohal will stay up reading until 02:30. “That’s my time,” she said.
Hard work pays off
Kohal attributes her success to one thing: hard work. For instance, only 0.1% of people pass the pilot’s entrance exam — and it’s given only twice a year. She was the only one to pass in her class.
Kohal has accomplished nearly everything she’s set out to do, but looking at her situation, she doesn’t think that she’s done anything extraordinary. Many educated women in India have successful careers, she added.
“Anything you set your mind to do, you just do it,” she said. “Tomorrow it will be something else.”
Take off with Natarajan 