It’s not about money that make us rich, it’s about simplicity of having God in our lives.

Feb 062012
 

One day, a rich dad took his son on a trip. Wanted to show him how poor someone can be. They spent time on the farm of a poor family. On the way home, dad asked, “Did you see how poor they are? What did you learn?”.

Son said, “We have one dog, they have four, we have pool, they have rivers, we have lanterns at night, they have stars, we buy foods, they grow theirs, we have walls to protect us, they have friends, we have encyclopedias, they have Bible.” Then they headed, “Thanks dad for showing me how poor we are.”

MORAL LESSON: It’s not about money that make us rich, it’s about simplicity of having God in our lives.

Living each day as if it were your last day

Jun 222011
 

John, the painter who is 93, talked to me about something he noticed after he turned 90. I like to tell people that I am almost 94 much as a child might say they are almost eight, because ever since I turned 90 I have this great appreciation for each day. He talked about mortality and of the limited number of years he had left and how this awareness had begun to shape his daily experience. When you get to be my age, you are always wondering how long you will live. I have great-granddaughters eight and six, so I wonder, up until what age will I live to see them? Will I see them graduate from elementary school perhaps? I know it is unlikely that I will see them graduate from high school.

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How to live a no regrets life

Jun 222011
 

This leaves us with a more important question: How do we take more risks in the direction of what we want? How can we live so as to not regret the steps we did not take? Perhaps my greatest teacher in this process was a woman in her seventies who had grown up in Germany during World War II. As she looked back on her life, she told me that the most important crossroads were times when she had to act with courage and not fear. For example, after the war, things were very diffi cult in Germany. At the age of 22, Elsa took the fi rst of many signifi cant risks in her life. She decided to move to Canada and start a new life. At the time, she did not know one person in Canada, she had no job prospects, and did not know the language. She told me that, in retrospect, although the decision felt very risky at the time, it was the turning point in her life. When I asked her how she took important risks, she told me: Whenever I had a risk I was considering, I would begin by imagining the highest possible good that could occur by taking that risk. I would imagine all the things that could be true if the risk worked out. Then I would imagine the worst possible thing that could happen if I took the risk. I would ask if I could handle the worst thing, and every time I knew I could handle the worst. Maybe I move to Canada and it does not work out.

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Why Choose to live life awake

Jun 212011
 

If we are to follow our hearts and be true to ourselves, we must
fi rst make the choice to live our lives awake. But what does it
mean to live life awake? Socrates said that the unexamined life is
not worth living. There is another way to phrase that: Unless you
are continually examining your life to make sure it is on target,
there is a very good chance that you will wind up living someone
elses life, which means coming to the end of your life and realizing
that you had followed a path that was not your own.

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The value of talking to older people

Jun 212011
 

Talking to older people to fi nd out how to live is not very common
in our society. We live in a youth-oriented culture, one that
assumes that what is new and current is of most value (whether
a laptop, a car, or a person). So why is listening to the voice of
elders so valuable? If we are young or middle-aged, why seek
older people to discover the secrets? Why did we not talk to
people of many different ages who seem to be happy?
There is a Romanian saying: The house that does not
have an old person in it must buy one. There is a reason why
human cultures, for thousands of years before our time, revered
the old. A lifespan of 75, give or take 20, is not much time to
learn wisdom through experience (the bitter route Confucius
wrote about).

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Early evidence that advertising influences childrens consumer knowledge and choices

Jun 202011
 

One criteria that many researchers believe strengthens a body of evidence
is what is often referred to as triangulation. When similar relationships are
found across studies with different methodologies and in various populations,
the confidence in generalizing about them is greater. One strength,
then, in the assessment of the contribution of marketing to childrens
weight status is that it includes three different methodologies: experiments,
surveys and longitudinal studies. Experimental research has often demonstrated
the strongest persuasion effects because the independent variable is
exposure. One classical study was undertaken at a summer camp by Gorn
and Goldberg (1982) who set out to isolate the impact of TV ads for a range
of snack foods by embedding specific ads within a viewing context. For

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UK and North American food cultures compared

Jun 202011
 

UK and North American food cultures compared

Although the health critics have focused on nutrition and health, eating
is not just fuelling the body but is also a pleasurable consumption activity
set in the social practices of friendship, family and peers. Critics have long
noted that childrens food is often associated with fun and play, as part

of the appeal and targeting. With fun food in mind, the content analysis
also compared the broader ideas and values associated with food and its
consumption in North America (NA) and Britain (UK). It has been noted
that in the UK, children are much more likely to watch prime time as well
as childrens time television. Moreover, a portion of their viewing of child

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Definitions of life by Carl Sagan

Mar 262011
 

Definitions of life
by Carl Sagan

A great deal is known about life. Anatomists and taxonomists have studied the forms and
relations of more than a million separate species of plants and animals. Physiologists have
investigated the gross functioning of organisms. Biochemists have probed the biological
interactions of the organic molecules that make up life on our planet. Molecular biologists
have uncovered the very molecules responsible for reproduction and for the passage of
hereditary information from generation to generation, a subject that geneticists had
previously studied without going to the molecular level. Ecologists have inquired into the
relations between organisms and their environments, ethologists the behavior of animals
and plants, embryologists the development of complex organisms from a single cell,
evolutionary biologists the emergence of organisms from pre-existing forms over geological
time. Yet despite the enormous fund of information that each of these biological specialties
has provided, it is a remarkable fact that no general agreement exists on what it is that is
being studied. There is no generally accepted definition of life. In fact, there is a certain clearly
discernible tendency for each biological specialty to define life in its own terms. The average
person also tends to think of life in his own terms. For example, the man in the street, if asked
about life on other planets, will often picture life of a distinctly human sort. Many individuals
believe that insects are not animals, because by “animals” they mean “mammals.” Man tends
to define in terms of the familiar. But the fundamental truths may not be familiar. Of the
following definitions, the first two are in terms familiar in everyday life; the next three are
based on more abstract concepts and theoretical frameworks.

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Most Of The Girl’s Life After Marriage

Jun 092010
 

Most Of The Girl’s Life After Marriage

A little help……here the word AVAR means “him”……kalyani’s husband

Its a story of a Brahmin gal who loved a non-Brahmin and due to fathers compulsion married a Brahmin guy and leading a perfect life with little happiness!! This may be a story, but the content, characters and the sentences of the story were Heart Throbbing and Breath Taking Please do read it completely, it takes around 15 mins But, I say, its really worth reading this story This may even lead to a change of attitude or the character or the mindset in you, in the future

(Some tamil words included)

Dearest Appa,
27th Jan1965
Hope this letter finds you, Amma, Raji and Seenu in good health. The weather here in New York City is icy cold. But Avar sollraar- I have missed this winters biting cold. I still wish I had seen the snow But then, I still wish I had not left Trichy at all. I do miss Trichy, Appa. You, Amma, Raji, Seenu, pakkatthaathu Rama, Vikatan,Ucchi Pillaiyaar Koil, filter coffee, Holy Cross College, the Maths Department and of course Sakthi. I know you wish I hadnt brought his name in this letter.But not to worry Appa, I understand that you got me married to Visu because you thought it was best for your daughter.
I still remember Amma wiping her silent tears with her madisaar thalappu and you shouting at me the day I told you about Sakthi.Later, when the initial shock wore off you patiently listed umpteen reasons why I should not marry Sakthi. I agree Appa, that 20 is too young to decide, that Raji and Seenu would have been affected greatly by my mistake, the Agrahaaram would have scoffed at you a meat eater was not a good match for someone who had never even tasted onion and garlic. The reasons were innumerous. I knew youd still have objected and offered other reasons even if he had become a Dhigambara monk.
Visu on the other hand, wore a poonal, he is the son of Neelakanta Sastri, an Engineer and he researched about computers which is what made you jump for this alliance. Am not complaining Appa, Visu is a nice man. Tell Amma that I could not try her kozhakkattai recipe this Pongal because coconuts were too expensive and Avar nenacchar that it was ridiculous.
Anyway, we went out on Sankaranthi day and dined out. He thought it would be a good idea to invite the Chatterjees also. But I didnt speak Bengali and Mrs.Chatterjee spoke English in an accent that comes with living years in America. Hence I made myself busy with the menu card. They ordered various species of fish,shrimp and a lot more of items I had never seen in my life. I ordered orange juice and a sandwich. The other diners thought it was queer coming to a seafood restaurant and settling for a sandwich. That day, I learnt that Avar prefer pannradhu beef, pork, bacon and seafood.

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What Are Our Mirror Reflections Trying to Teach Us?

Dec 082009
 
MirrorPeople whose personalities and actions tend to push our buttons the most are generally our greatest teachers. These individuals serve as our mirrors and teach us what needs to be revealed about ourselves. Seeing what we don’t like in others helps us look deeper inside ourselves for similar traits and challenges that need healing, balancing, or changing.
When someone is first asked to understand that an irritating person is merely offering him a mirror image of himself, he will strongly resist this idea. Rather, he will argue that he is not the angry, violent, depressed, guilt-ridden, critical, or complainer person that his mirror/teacher is reflecting. The problem lies with the other person, right? Wrong, not even by a long shot. It would be convenient if we could always place the blame on the other person, but this is not always so easy. First ask yourself “If the problem truly is the other fellow’s and not my own then why does being around that person affect me so negatively?”
Our Mirrors May Reflect:

Our Shortcomings

    Because character flaws, weaknesses, etc. are more easily seen in others than in ourselves our mirrors help us to be able to see our short comings more clearly.

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