Ten Ideas for Your Peace of Mind

1. Do Not Interfere In Others' Business Unless Asked For: Most of us are the reasons to our own problems- by interfering and meddling too often with others' affairs. We do so because somehow we are convinced that our way is the best way, our logic is the perfect logic and those who do not conform to our thinking needs be criticized, improved and steered to the right direction, our direction. This thinking denies the existence of individuality and consequently the very existence of God.. God has created each one of us in a unique way. Mind your own business or brag and curse due to a mind, violent. 'My way or the highway' is a time-barred concept. 2. Forgive And Forget: This is the most powerful rules to foster peace of mind. We often develop malice towards people who insult or harms us. We nurture grievances. This in turn results in loss of sleep, constant headache, development of stomach ulcers, and high blood pressure. This insult or injury was done once, but the nourishing of the attached grievance goes on forever by constantly remembering it. Get over this bad habit. Life is too short to waste on such trifles. Forget, forgive and march on. Love flourishes in giving and forgiving. 3. Do Not Crave For Recognition: This world has more than its share of people who are too selfish. They seldom praise anybody without selfish motives. They may praise you today because you are in power. But no sooner than you are powerless, they will forget your achievements and will start finding faults with you so as to throw mud at you. Why do you want to kill yourself in striving to obtain their recognition? Their recognition is not worth the aggravation that goes with it and they are no better than ciphers. Do your work sincerely... and always go with what's ethically right. 4. Do Not Be Jealous: We all have experienced how jealousy can annihilate peace of mind. You know that you work harder than your colleagues but they get undue promotions and you are over-stepped. You started a business several years ago, but you are not as successful as your neighbor whose business is only an year old. Several examples like these can be cited in everyday life. But is there really a reason to be envious? Remember everybody's life is shaped by his/her destiny, which has now become his/her reality. If you are destined to be rich, nothing in the world can stop you. If you are not so destined, no one can help you to be one, either. Nothing is gained by blaming others for your misfortunes. Jealousy will not get you anywhere; it will only take away your peace of mind. By destiny, I mean your determination, motivation and perseverance. 5. Change Yourself According To The Environment: If you try to change the environment single-handedly, chances are you will fail. Instead, change yourself to suit your environment. If you do this, even the environment which has been unfriendly to you until now will mysteriously change and seem congenial and harmonious. 6. Endure What Cannot Be Cured: This is the best way to turn a disadvantage into an advantage. Every day we are subjected to innumerable inconveniences, ailments, irritations, and accidents that are beyond our control. If we cannot control or change them, then we must learn to put up with them. We must learn to endure them cheerfully. Why fight them, instead? Believe in yourself and you will gain in terms of patience, inner strength and will power. 7. Do Not Bite Off More Than You Can Chew: This dictum needs to be remembered constantly. We often tend to undertake more responsibilities than we are capable of. This is done so as to satisfy our ego. Know your limitations.. Why take on additional loads that may create more worries? You cannot gain peace of mind by expanding your external activities. Reduce your material engagements and spend time in introspection, meditation and prayer. This will reduce those thoughts in your mind that make you restless. Uncluttered mind will produce greater peace of mind. 8. Meditate Regularly: Meditation calms the mind and gets rid of disturbing thoughts. This is the highest state of mind. Try and experience it yourself. If you meditate for half an hour everyday, your mind will tend to become peaceful during the remaining of the day- twenty-three and half-hours. Your mind will not easily get disturbed as it used to. You would benefit by gradually increasing the period of daily meditation. You may think that this will interfere with your daily work. On the contrary, this will increase your efficiency and you will be able to produce better results in less time. 9. Never Leave The Mind Vacant: An empty mind is the devil's workshop. All evil actions start in the vacant mind. Keep your mind occupied in something positive, something worthwhile. Follow a hobby. Do something that holds your interest. You must decide what you value more: money or peace of mind. Your hobby, viz., social work or religious work, may not always earn you more money, but will give you a sense of fulfillment and achievement. Even at times you are resting physically, occupy yourself in reading or meditation. 10. Do Not Procrastinate And Never Regret: Do not waste time wondering " Should or shouldn't I?" Days, weeks, months, and years may be wasted in that futile mental debating. You can never plan enough because you can never anticipate all future happenings. Value your time and do the things that need to be done. It does not matter if you fail the first time. You can learn from your mistakes and succeed the next time. Sitting back and worrying will lead to nothing. Learn from your mistakes, do not brood over the past. DO NOT REGRET. Why cry over spilt milk? Whatever happened couldn't have been averted. Thank you and enjoy the rest of your week-end. Love, Prof. Dr. Alex Abraham Odikandathil

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Story of the Turtles

Once upon a time...

.....a turtle family decided to go on picnic...

The turtles, being naturally slow, took seven years to prepare for their outing.

Finally the turtle family left home looking for a suitable place to camp.....

During the second year of their journey, they found a place of their choice...

For about six months they cleaned the area, unpacked the picnic basket,

put up a tent and completed the arrangements.

Then they discovered they had forgotten to bring salt.

A picnic without salt would be a disaster, they all agreed in one voice.

After a lengthy discussion, the youngest turtle was chosen to retrieve the salt from home.

Although he was the fastest of the slow moving turtles, the little turtle whined, cried, and

wobbled in his shell.

At last he agreed to go on one condition: no one should eat until he returned.

The family consented - after all, it was their little one- and the little turtle left.

Three years passed and the little turtle has not returned. Five years...six years...then on

the seventh year of his absence, the oldest turtle could no longer contain his hunger.

He announced that he was going to eat and began to unwrap a sandwich.

At that point the little turtle suddenly popped out from behind a tree shouting,

"See! I knew you wouldn't wait. Now I am not going to go get the salt."

Lesson?

Some of us waste time waiting for other people to live up to our expectations.

We are so concerned about what others are doing that we do nothing ourselves

and our lives end up in misery.................

Hey, am I telling the truth or what?

Enjoy the rest of your week.

Love,

Prof. Dr. Alex Abraham Odikandathil

When Your Hut's On Fire

The only survivor of a shipwreck was washed up on a small, uninhabited island. He prayed feverishly to God to rescue him. Every day he scanned the horizon for help, but none seemed forthcoming. Exhausted, he eventually managed to build a little hut out of driftwood to protect himself from the elements and to hoard his few keepsakes. One day, after scavenging for food, he arrived home to find his little hut in flames, with smoke rolling up to the sky. * He felt the worst had happened, and everything was lost. * He was stunned with disbelief, grief, and anger. He cried out, "God! how could you ever do this to me?" * Early the next day, he was awakened by the sound of a ship approaching the island! It had come to rescue him! "How did you know of my presence here?", asked the weary man to his rescuers. * "We saw your smoke signal" was the reply. ******************************************** It's easy to get discouraged when things go bad or against our expectations. But we shouldn't lose heart or feel discouraged because God is at work in our lives, even in the midst of our pain and suffering. Remember that the next time your little hut seems to be burning to the ground, it may just be a smoke signal that would summon the Grace of God. You never know who feels as if their hut is on fire today; pass this on! * May they find peace!! Thank you, Prof. Dr. Alex Abraham Odikandathil

The Other Extreme

The Second World War in Europe ended more than six decades ago.

We must remember the 20 million Russians, 10 million Christians and 6 million Jews who were murdered, massacred, raped, burned, starved and humiliated with the most except the Christians looking the other way!

However, there are exceptions. Here is a notable one among them:

( It is followed by a cartoon & an article on the extremes that Jews are - The good, the bad & the ugly... )

How can we not smile looking at the face of this woman?

…..a real heroine!

t s

Irena Sendler (1910 - 2008)

The death of a 98 year-old lady named Irena happened less than two years ago. During WW II, Irena got permission to work in the Warsaw ghetto as a plumbing / sewer specialist. She had an ulterior motive, though...

She knew what the Nazi's plans for the Jews were, being German. Irena smuggled infants out in the bottom of the tool box she carried.

She also had a dog in her car that was trained to bark when the Nazi soldiers let her in and out of the ghetto.

The soldiers of course wanted to do nothing with the dog .. but its barking covered the kids'/infants' noises.. She thus managed to smuggle out and save 2500 kids/infants. She was caught at last, and the Nazi's broke both her legs and arms in the act of beating her severely.

Irena, however, kept a record of the names of all the kids she smuggled out, hid it in a glass jar and buried it under a tree in her back yard. After the war, she tried to locate the parents that may have survived the war to reunite with their family.

Most had been gassed to death. So those kids she helped later got placed in foster family homes or got adopted.

Last year Irena was up for the Nobel Peace Prize. She was not selected.

It was Al Gore who won.

See the powerful message as depicted in the cartoon below:

63 years later

In Memoriam

Now the other half:

Jewish Extremes by Winston Churchill

Winston Churchill, the British Prime Minister believed that a group of ‘International Jews’ was striving to take over the world.

On February 8, 1920, the Illustrated Sunday Herald (published from London) ran an article by Winston Churchill. Its title was ‘Zionism Versus Bolshevism: A struggle for the Soul of the Jewish People.”. At that time, Winnie (Churchill) was the Secretary of State for War and Air and had already been a prominent Member of Parliament. Churchill did not slam all the Jews: rather, he pointed to them as a people of two extremes. He wrote,

“The conflict between good and evil which proceeds unceasingly in the breast of man nowhere reaches such intensity as in the Jewish race. The dual nature of mankind is nowhere more strongly or more terribly exemplified… It would almost seem as if the Gospel of Christ and the Gospel of Antichrist were destined to originate from the same people; and that this mystic and mysterious race had been chosen for the supreme manifestations, both of the divine and the diabolical.”

He identifies three strains of political thought among the worlds Jews:

1. Nationalism, in which a Jewish person identifies first and foremost with the country in which he or she lives.

2. Zionism, in which a Jewish person wants a country specifically for Jews

(Israel would be formed 28 years after Winnie’s essay).

These are both honourable,says Churchill, unlike the third option:

3. The terrorism and atheistic communism of 'International Jews.'

He adds:

"In violent opposition to this entire sphere of Jewish effort rises the schemes of the international Jews.The adherents of this sinister confederacy are mostly men reared up among the unhappy populations

of countries where Jews are persecuted on account of their race. Most, if not all, of them have forsaken the faith of their forefathers, and divorced from their minds all spiritual hopes of the next world.

This movement among the Jews is not new. From the days of Spartacus to those of Karl Marx and down to Trotsky (Russia), Bela Kun (Hungary), Rosa Luxembourg (Germany) and Emma Goldman (USA) : this world-wide conspiracy for the overthrow of civilizations and for the reconstruction of society on the basis of arrested development, of envious malevolence, and impossible equality, has been steadily growing. It played, as a modern writer Mrs. Webster has aptly pointed out, a definitely recognizable part in the tragedy of the French Revolution. It has been the mainspring of every subversive movement during the nineteenth century; and now at last this band of extraordinary personalities from the underworld on the great cities

of Europe and America have gripped the Russian people by the hair of their heads and have become practically the undisputed masters of that enormous empire."

Terrorist Jews

There is a need to exaggerate the part played in the creation of Bolshevism and in the actual bringing about of the Russian Revolution, by these international and for the most part atheistic Jews. It is certainly a very great one, it probably outweighs all others.

With the notable exception of Valdamir Lenin, the majority of the leading figures were Jews. Moreover, the principal inspiration and driving force came from the Jewish leaders. Thus Tchitcherin, a pure Russian, is eclipsed by his nominal subordinate Litvinoff, and the influence of the Russians. Bukharin or Lunacharski cannot be compared with the power of Trotsky, or of Zinovieff, the Dictator of the Red Citadel (Petrograd) or of Krassin or Radek—all Jews.

In the Soviet institutions, the predominance of the Jews is even more astonishing. And the prominent, if not indeed the principal, part in the system of terrorism applied to the Extraordinary Commissions for Combating Counter-Revolution has been taken by the Jews, and in some notable cases by Jewesses. The same evil prominence was obtained by Jews in the brief period of terror during which Bela Kun ruled Hungry. The same phenomenon has been presented in Germany, especially in Bavaria, so far as this madness has been allowed to prey upon the temporary prostration of the German people. Although in all these countries there are many non-Jews, every bit as bad as the worst of the Jewish revolutionaries, the part played by the latter in proportion to their numbers in the world population is astonishing.

There are some who have questioned the authenticity of the above article but the leading Churchill biographer,

Frederick Woods, has pronounced the article genuine, listing it in his authoritative “ A Bibliography of the Works of Sir Winston Churchill.”

I'm submitting this to the intellect of the serious reader only to have a feel of the other extreme as we often hear only about the atrocities committed on Jews...

no malice intended....

Thank you and enjoy the rest of your week.

Love,

Prof. Dr. Alex Abraham Odikandathil

A lesson of biblical proportions

That was a Sports Stadium.
Eight Children were standing on the

track to participate in a running event.

* Get ! * Set !! * Go !!!

With the sound of the toy pistol, all the eight

girls started running.

Hardly had they covered ten to fifteen steps,

one of the little girls slipped and fell down.
Due to bruises and pain she started crying.
When the other seven heard the little girl cry,

they stopped running, stood for a while and turned back.

Seeing the girl on the track they all ran to her help.
One among them bent down, picked her up and kissed her gently.

And enquired as to how she was..

'The seven' then lifted the 'fallen girl'

and talked to her gently to pacify her.

Two of them held her firmly while all

the seven walked together towards

the finishing point hand in hand........

There was pin drop silence at the spectator's stand.
Officials were shocked.
Slow claps multiplied into thousands got louder and

hilarious as the spectators stood up in appreciation.

Many eyes were filled with tears...

Perhaps, even God's!

YES! This happened in Hyderabad, INDIA, recently!

The sporting event was conducted by the

National Institute of Mental Health.
All these special girls had come to participate in this event.
They were autistic children.
They were Mentally Challenged.

What did they teach the WORLD?

Equality?

Humanity?

Teamwork?

Compassion?

Good people help others who are slow

and helpless so that they are not left far behind.

Love thy neighbor as thyself!

Now enjoy your week-end!!

Love,

Prof. Dr. Alex Abraham Odikandathil

For your information, I will try to explain what 'Autism' is...

People need to learn about it so that they can appreciate the depth of this condition and its effects on the people that have it. At best it is a development 'disorder' and I deliberately don't use the word 'disability'. The word 'disability' portrays the whole mind-frame that these conditions are debilitating, which effectively creates a pessimistic black hole. It's not easy having these things. But if you meet somebody who's 'handicapped', so help you, don't use that word, 'disability'. Neither 'pity' nor

'put downs' will change the reality of these people's lives. Help them, and help yourself by accepting that fact.

Now for the conditions:

Most people will think of a silent, stony-faced child who sits in a corner, rocking and is completely unresponsive. This is the sad truth for a minute portion of the Autistic population, but most are nowhere nearly so severe. The most important thing you can learn about Autism is that it's a SPECTRUM DISORDER. That means it's like the difference between black and white--white being a normal person, and black being a very severely autistic person. There are many, many, many shades of gray in between the black and the white. The whole set of symptoms portrayed by people with ASD's (in any range of severity) are:

Fixation: this means that they are basically prone to obsession, eg, they become obsessed easily, and tend to stay with that obsession for a long time. Usually a positive one, although that doesn't mean their family and friends won't go crazy from hearing them talk about it ALL THE TIME.

Delayed Social Skills: they display difficulty fitting into a social structure; they often have trouble in conversation, and may talk about a narrow range of things.

Poor Language or even non-existent language skills: this means they may not speak at all, or are nonverbal. Most, however, do speak, at least a little.

All the three criterion must be met for a patient to be diagnosed with Autism. Those who fall into two of the categories will likely be classified as having Asperger's Syndrome.

Along with ASD's may come sensory issues. Sensory issues make everyday, normally inoffensive stimuli almost unbearable. A sniffle, snort, sneeze, clearing of the throat, etc, will trigger an instant rage reaction. Sensory issues are a real challenge in their day-to-day lives.