Story about marriage

I was waiting to pick up a friend at the airport. That day I had one of those experiences that change people‘s lives. It happened just two feet away from me. I noticed a man, carrying two bags, coming toward me. He stopped next to me to greet his family.
 First of all he laid down his bag and came closer to his younger son (about six years old), they gave each other a warm, loving hug. Then the father looked in his son‘s eyes with words: „I missed you so much, it‘s so good to see you, son!“. The boy smiled and said: „Me too, dad“.
Then the man talked to his older son (nine or ten years old). „Oh, you are quite the young man, I love you very much!“ and cupped his face. Then they had the most tender hug too.
 Afterwards the father said „Hi, baby girl“ to his baby daughter. She was squirling excitedly in her mother‘s arm and watching her returning father all the time. The man gently took his little daughter, quickly kissed her face all over and then held her close to his chest. The little girl laid her head on his shoulder in pure contentment.
 After several moments, then man looked at his wife and said „I‘ve saved the best for last“ and shared with her the most passionate kiss. They stared at each other, beaming big smiles. They reminded me of newlyweds.
 Suddenly, I heard myself asking „Wow, how old have you been married?“. „Been together fourteen years, and married twelve of those“ . „Well then, have long have you been away?“. He replied with joaway?“. He replied with joyous smile on his face: „Two whole days!“.
I was stunned, as I imagined that he had been gone for several weeks at last. I could only say: „I hope that my marriage is still that passionate after twelve years“. The man looked straight into my eyes and told me something that changed my life:
„Don‘t hope, friend, decide!“...

Be happy

An old man lived in the village. He was one of the most unfortunate people in the world. The whole village was tired of him, he was always gloomy, constantly complained and always was in a bad mood. The longer he lived, the more bile was becoming and the more poisonous were his words. People avoided him, because his misfortune became contagious. It was even unnaturally and insulting to be happy next to him. He created the feeling of unhappiness in others.
 But one day, when he got eighty years old, an incredible thing hap-pened. Instantly everyone heard the rumor: "An Old Man is happy today, he doesn’t complain anything, smiles, and even his face is freshened up ." The whole village gathered together. An old man was asked:
 - What happened to you ?
 - Nothing special - he answered. - Eighty years I've been chasing happiness, and it was useless. Then I decided to live without happiness and just enjoy life. That's why I'm happy.

Reach goals

One day a son came to his father for an advice:
- Dad, I can’t do it, - he said, - those practices only exhaust me, and the result doesn’t change. It must be not destined for me to play football and my dream will never come true.
 The father looked at his son with loving eyes and said:
- You know son, every person in life has a dream, a goal, a wish. They are the ones who make us do what we are doing, because it’s what we should do. We have to fight for what we believe in, what we feel. In other case, you will simply brake. Once - and for all. As thought you were never there. The easiest way is to quit everything and not go until the end, because the path is difficult and we are not used to inconveniences. We want everything to be easy and at once. But the wishes are fleeting! This is how our dream dies, and the goal becomes unreachable. Gradually, life becomes a routine without depth and meaning. Then one day, we try to forget and start everything from the beginning, we wait for a new day to make our life different. But new obstacles come in our way, and we stop again. We become full of despair and anger for our own impotence… But you only need to remember one thing: never give up, fight, battle. It doesn’t matter that you have lost one battle and even dozens of battles. Life goes on! Your biggest enemies are hiding in you – laziness, fear, doubt, indecision. Be a warrior of your dream, a knight of your goal and a soldier of your wishes.

Happiness

Two men were jailed in the same cell. They were in the same conditions, but one of them was unhappy, and the other one was happy.
- Why are you so sad? – a happy man asked unhappy man.
 - What should I joy for? I am unlucky. Recently I was free and had a rest at the resort, and then, as you know, is more interesting than here - unhappy man answered and asked a happy man: - And why are you so satisfied?
- You see, - a happy man said, - recently I was in another prison, where the conditions are much worse, and there is just a resort here, compared to what it was. Many people want to get here, but I am the lucky one. So why don’t I have to joy?
 Everything is relative and has to be learned in comparison. If you want to be happy, just compare your current position not with what is better, but with what would be worse.

Challenges

My friend Jerry was one of the most positive people I had ever known. He was always in a good mood and always had something encouraging to say.
 He was a manager at a restaurant. If his employee had a bad day, Jerry always helped him to look on the positive side of the situation.
 Jerry‘s attitude truly amazed me. So one day I asked him: „How can you be so positive all the time?“. He replied: „You see, every morning I tell myself, that I have two choses for that day – to be in a good mood or in a bad. I choose the good one. And when something wrong happens, I can be sad and angry or I can learn from it instead. I choose to learn. Thus I choose the positive side of life“. I said: „It is not that easy“. He replied: „Yeas it is. Life is all about choses. You can choose how people or situation will affect your mood, your life“.
One morning Jerry left the restaurant‘s back door open and was held up at gunpoint by three armed robbers. He tried to open the safe, but his hands shaked due to nervousness and he slipped off the combination. So the robbers shot him. Fortunately, Jerry was quickly found and brought to the nearest hospital. After many hours of surgery and long intensive care, Jerry was released home.
 When I met him, I asked, what were his thoughts durign the robbery. „I thought that I should have locked the back door“, he replied. „Then, when I laid on the floor, I remembered about my choses in this case: a chose to live and a chose to die. I chose to live.“
I asked, if he were scared. Jerry continued: „When they wheeled me into emergency room and I looked at the faces of doctors, I got truly scared. I knew, that I need to do something. So when the nurse asked me, if I was allergic to anything, I replied „Yes“. Doctors and nurses stopped working as waited for my answer. I took a deep breath and yelled „Bullets“. They started laughing and I asked: „My chose is to live, operate me as I am alive, not dead“.
Now Jerry is alive owing to skills of his doctors, however his amazing attitude played an important role too. I learned from him, that every day we should choose to live fully no matter what.

Determination

I will tell you a story of my friend Monty Roberts.
 As he was a kid, his father as a horse trainer was moving from stable to stable, from ranch to ranch, training horses. Thus, the boy‘s school career was constantly interrupted. One day, when he was a senior, teacher asked him to write about what he wanted to be when he grew up. He did not hesitate a minute and wrote seven-page paper about his aim to be an owner of a horse ranch, he wrote many details and drew a location of buildings and stables and even a detailed house plan.
 Two days later he received his paper back with letter „F“ on the front page. After class he came to teacher and asked: „Why did I receive an F?“. The teacher responded: „This dreams is so unrealistic for a boy like you, who has no money, no resources and who comes from itinerant family. There is no possibility that you will reach your great goals one day.“ Then the teacher offered to rewrite the paper with more realistic attitude.
 The boy went home and asked his father, how should he act. The father answered: „This decision is very important for you. So you have to make your own mind on this“.
After several days the boy brought the same paper to his teacher. No changes were made. He said: „Keep the F and I will keep my dream“.
Now Monty Roberts owns 4,000-square-foot house in the middle of 200-acre horse ranch and he still has that school paper, which now is framed over the fireplace.
 Remember, you have to follow your heart and never let anyone to steal your dreams.

Encouragement

Two men were seriously ill. They occupied the same room in the hospital. One of them lied in the bed near the only window in their room. Every day he was allowed to spend some time sitting up in his bed to help draining the fluid from lungs. The other man was forced to spend all his days flat on his back.
 They talked a lot about their life, families, jobs, vacations. Every time, when the first man was sitting by the window, he described in detailes all that he see outside the window. His roommate always looked for those moments, when his world was broadened and brightened up by the world outside.
 Amazing views of a park with a beautiful lake could be seen from the window of their room. Children delightfully played among ducks and swans. Couples walked arm in arm among colourful flowers. Also the stunning city skyline could be seen.
 When the man by the window had been thoroughly describing all that was happenning outside the window, his rommate would close his eyes and imaged all the beautiful scenes of life that were told to him.
 One morning the man, whose bed was near the window, had died peacefully in his sleep. His roommate was very sad.
 After some time, when the nurse came to visit him, he asked if he could be moved next to the window. The nurse agreed and kindly made the switch. When she left, the man slowly and painfully propped himself up on one elbow and took the first look at the world outside. He was stunned. The window faced a blank wall.
 When the nurse came to visit him the next time, he told her about beautiful things outside the window that his rommate decribed him. The nurse replied that his rommate was a blind man. She said: „Probably he just tried to encourage you.“

Never give up

There was an old mule. One day accidentally he fell into the farmer’s well. The farmer has evaluated the situation and thought to himself, that neither the well nor the old mule was worth the efforts to save them. Thus he decided to haul dirt to bury the old mule in the well.
 So the farmer called his neighbours and together they started shoveling dirt into the well. The old mule was terrified and hysterical in the beginning. But soon one hopeful idea came to his mind – every time when a shovel of dirt landed on his back, he would shake it off and step up!
 He repeated these words to himself again and again: „Shake it off and step up“. This way he could struggle the panic and encourage himself. After some time, the mule had stepped over the well‘s wall. Although terribly tired, he was the winner, he saved his own life. He decided to face his adversity positively and not to give up, and thus he won.
 What seemed like it would bury him, actually saved him, owing to his confidence and unresting efforts.

Potatoes,eggs and coffee bean

Once upon a time a daughter complained to her father that her life was miserable and that she didn’t know how she was going to make it. She was tired of fighting and struggling all the time. It seemed just as one problem was solved, another one soon followed.
Her father, a chef, took her to the kitchen. He filled three pots with water and placed each on a high fire. Once the three pots began to boil, he placed potatoes in one pot, eggs in the second pot, and ground coffee beans in the third pot.
 He then let them sit and boil, without saying a word to his daughter. The daughter, moaned and impatiently waited, wondering what he was doing.
 After twenty minutes he turned off the burners. He took the potatoes out of the pot and placed them in a bowl. He pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl.
 He then ladled the coffee out and placed it in a cup. Turning to her he asked. “Daughter, what do you see?”
 “Potatoes, eggs, and coffee,” she hastily replied.
“Look closer,” he said, “and touch the potatoes.” She did and noted that they were soft. He then asked her to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard-boiled egg. Finally, he asked her to sip the coffee. Its rich aroma brought a smile to her face.
“Father, what does this mean?” she asked.
 He then explained that the potatoes, the eggs and coffee beans had each faced the same adversity– the boiling water.
 However, each one reacted differently.
 The potato went in strong, hard, and unrelenting, but in boiling water, it became soft and weak.
 The egg was fragile, with the thin outer shell protecting its liquid interior until it was put in the boiling water. Then the inside of the egg became hard.
 However, the ground coffee beans were unique. After they were exposed to the boiling water, they changed the water and created something new.
“Which are you,” he asked his daughter. “When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a potato, an egg, or a coffee bean? “
Moral:
 In life, things happen around us, things happen to us, but the only thing that truly matters is what happens within us.
 Which one are you?