Please prove that you are not a robot!

I was recently trying to enter a comment on one of the blogs when I got the message “Please prove that you are not a robot. Enter the words shown below”. We have these captcha codes that are mandatory to be entered if you want your comment to be entered.
I couldn’t help smiling when I read the sentence “Please prove that you are not a robot”. As if entering the captcha code proves that. Well, in real life, we all have become robots. Now, now, yes we breathe, we eat, we cry, we laugh, we love, we sulk – none of these can be done by a robot. So, how are we robots?

A robot is anything that follows an order. If you look at it closely, most of us are actually following orders. No way, you argue, denying the fact that you follow orders. If that’s the case, why do you think people out there follow the media blindly? Why do you think people out there follow the customs and caste systems? Why do you think a human’s capacity is concluded with the wealth he possesses than his character? Why do you think we pay money for our needs without questioning if it’s worth or not?

Ages ago, someone decided to lay down the rules. To this day, we have been following them without questioning. To those who have tried to question, have been insulted or termed mad or crazy. Anybody who questions these silly, stupid, senseless rules is out of the league. We praise ourselves to be in accordance with the system while we are the actual fools.

Think for a moment about the decisions that you make. Think for a moment about the judgment you make about other people. Let’s prove that we are humans who have this special thinking capacity which can create wonders if used. Let’s prove that we are not ROBOTS.

Indian horror story: College student kidnapped child for 5 lakhs, killed him

The above statement is posted in 25th September NDTV headlines. When I read the story, I didn’t know what to think. But I wanted to know the details so I continued to read. What I read further shocked me so much that I had anger ebbing within me.

A college boy in Pune decided to kidnap a 5 year old kid from the neighborhood and demand a ransom of 5 lakhs because he needed the much used commodity – a bike. After the kidnap, for reasons unknown the lad strangled and killed the small boy to death on knowing that he wouldn’t get the money.

We, the people, are responsible for this. We are responsible for the college boy wanting the bike. We are responsible for the death of the small kid as well. Being a part of the society, we have built stereotypes of various kinds to such an extent that, the want of a vehicle has become more important than a life.

With increasing demand for a more materialistic life, we are losing the stand that real life lies in people, relationships, passions, service and devotion. The above incident is just a warning for all of us that we are yet to feel the wrath of money if we don’t stop bathing ourselves in wads of money.

I wonder now, how will the murderer live with this sin all his life. The curse and fury of the parents, the society and the Gods – is this needed for a lad whose life is yet to start. He gained the badge of a sinner, the small boy at the hands of death, the media running the story for a few more days and then towards the end, the world moves on as if nothing ever happened.

Ignoring the situation isn’t going to help us for long. Let us now, at least now, wake up and analyze for a moment the things we have been giving importance. Let us teach our children the importance and value of relationships. This lies purely in the hands of parents and teachers, so let’s make use of this power in the proper way.

Until then, we have to move on, but with the thought that gruesome murders shouldn’t be allowed to be a part of a normal living. If we start living with this, one day murders will becomes daily news.

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http://voices.yahoo.com/how-deal-problems-11776674.html

Pleasant reminders

Today, being Ganesh Chathurthi, all of India is in full swing with streets displaying a wide range of clay Ganeshas. Of course, the package comes with a variety of sweets that seem too delicious for a wholesome meal.

As luck would have it, I had to report to office even when people around me were in the festive mood preparing themselves to enjoy the day. Reluctantly, I woke up and followed my routine despite my inner self not bothering to deny the sadness of not having a holiday. I boarded the office bus at sharp 7.45 am cursing the driver to show up punctually every single day (If he wanted he could come a little late by letting us sleep a little longer).

Choosing a window seat, I opened a copy of Reader’s digest and immersed myself in the world of light humor and bonus reads. In our office buses, usually a register is passed around in which we had to note down our names and sign the same. Apparently, it was followed to keep track of the passenger strength each day or so I thought.

Just when I was drawn deep inside the magazine, a felt a sharp thud of an object fall on my lap. With anger simmering inside, I noticed that the girl in my front seat had dropped it over me for signing it. The girl, who was now engrossed in the world of her headphones, didn’t see me noticing her with a callous expression. I decided to call her and teach her some manners.

For some reason, I held back. A few things started running into my mind.

1. I had to see her daily in the bus.
2. I didn’t want an argument to be a reminder when we saw each other.
3. True, she had dropped the register but it wasn’t as if I had a fracture or a wound.
4. May be it wasn’t such a big deal; she must have dropped it by mistake.

I resumed reading my magazine forgetting the entire episode but I learnt an important lesson. In most situations, we argue for things that don’t hold much water at all. If we sat back and thought about the anger and hurtful situations that come in our lives, most aren’t worth talking or discussing about. But we usually make a big fuss which in turn gives way for unpleasant encounters with people.

May be if we could hold back ourselves, we wouldn’t have so called “problems” that we complain about. Above all, we all need pleasant reminders when we meet people which is possible only if we smile and learn to let go.

You Are Who Your Friends Are

It's important to acknowledge the power of a positive attitude. This goes not only for yourself, but also for the people you surround yourself with.

Attitudes are catchy. Whether they're positive or negative, they're rubbing off on you. If you're around people who complain, judge, spread negative gossip, blame others, and play victim roles, chances are you do, too.

Who are you around most? Are they achieving their dreams or complaining about their circumstances? Do they look up to others who are go-getters and high achievers, or do they make fun of them and roll their eyes? How do they treat you?

If you're spending time with people who don't support your dreams and goals, it's seriously time to look at whom you call your friends, and start networking to up-level your circle of influence.

Successful people surround themselves with successful people, plain and simple. They want to be around others who are achieving goals and making things happen. They want to know their secrets and strategies for winning. They're not embarrassed to be hanging out with people who are studying for success and making good money.

You, too, need to surround yourself with positive influences. Join the clubs that other successful people are in, learn what they're learning. It doesn't matter from what walk of life you are coming from. Show up and transform yourself into an achiever! Success isn't just for those who have had it easy, who came from supportive homes or had expensive educations. There are so many successful people who rose up from very poor conditions and overcame obstacles to achieve the goals they set their sights on.

But they didn't get there by hanging out with negative energy-drainers!

Have you been limiting your success by letting yourself become influenced by other people's negative energy?

Make a list of all the people you spend time with and make a note of the kind of personality they have. How many negative people are you around every day? How many people on your list are achieving their dreams, supporting yours and taking responsibility for their lives? You're better off spending time alone than with people who hold themselves back with a victim mentality.

Simply stop spending time with the negative people on your list. Join the clubs that will put you in with a positive circle of friends. Set a new standard for yourself and don't become friends with people who fall below that standard. Invite your old friends to come with you and you'll know who has potential and who to stop being around entirely.

You have to take responsibility for this area of your life. Look around you at the people you call friends. Does it make you proud? Are you selling yourself short? Or are you on the right track?

Starting TODAY ... make a conscious effort to surround yourself with positive, nourishing, and uplifting people - people who believe in you, encourage you to go after your dreams, and applaud your victories. Surround yourself with possibility thinkers, idealist, an visionaries!


By,

Jack Canfield, America's #1 Success Coach, is founder of the billion-dollar book brand Chicken Soup for the Soul© and a leading authority on Peak Performance and Life Success.

Cartoons: Is there a need for filtered viewing?

A 13-year-old hanging himself imitating a cartoon character should serve as an eye-opener for all the parents. They should pay special attention to what their child watches on television and there is a dire need to guide the children as they might imbibe all the good and bad characters they get to watch on the television sets.

KIDS OF all ages have always enjoyed watching the cartoons; there are some which are enjoyed by adults as well. Who can ever get over from the repeated series of Tom and Jerry? Some fond memories are awakening the thought of Scooby doo, Flintstones, Popeye show, Dexter and much more. We spent most of our childhood fancying these characters as if they were our next door neighbors.


When I read recent coverage, I realized that cartoons are no longer the same. The brain-free-mind refreshing cartoons have evolved into a complex phenomenon that has ceased to be fun. The news article spoke about the death of a thirteen-year-old who hanged himself imitating a cartoon character. The only difference was that the cartoon character came out alive while our youngsters fell for an ill-fated death that was uncalled for.

It is disturbing to know that cartoons which are basically aired only to entertain children are also provoking a million thoughts in the minds of children. The characters create an influence deep enough to control the action of our children through a medium of dummyness. This incident shows us how our children are easily hypnotized by the silly cartoon characters.

Are children naïve to understand the difference between real and reel lives? Are parents too busy to notice what their child might be up to? Is there a need to filter the cartoons that are being aired on television?


While a reason from the above can be picked to blame, it is essential to realize that kids absorb everything that they come across. How seriously they glue it to their sub-conscious minds is never known. As parents, what we can do is, keep checks on our children to filter cartoon watching. Parents are the closest contacts to children who should know how sensitive their children are to the world of fancies.

A mother always looks for the best in her children

We think little about what a mother feels when her family doesn't turn out to be what she dreamed of. The story about the Empire state building shootout gunman's mother has made me think whether we as children need to think about our parents before committing any such acts.

IN THE Empire state building shooting incident, the gunman Jeffrey T. Johnson, 58 was shot dead by cops after he allegedly shot down his colleague, Steven Ercolino, 41 because Jeffrey blamed him for his job loss. The case has been shut down after the killer was shot dead for his offence.


The news of her Jeffrey's crime and death reached his mother when she was watching the news with her husband on Friday morning. The name Jeffery Johnson didn’t shake her enough but the word “Hazan Imports” shattered her because there couldn’t be more than one Jeffery Johnson working for the same company.
"I know there are a lot of Jeffrey Johnsons in the world and a lot of Jeffrey Johnsons in New York City, but when they said the company he used to work for," she said, "I just went to pieces."

Ms. Johnson, in her 80s, recalls that her son had suffered a head injury in sixth grade that had nearly killed him. Recently, he had developed an attachment towards his cat, Romeo who suffered from a rare kind of cancer that eventually killed the pet. Jeffrey wasn’t able to react to the death of the pet like a normal life and death routine. Instead, he blamed himself for the cat’s death and felt bad that the doctor had to euthanize the cat long back to stop its suffering.

Jeffery mentioned in his letter to his mother, “It embarrasses me that I feel this way. Life is bigger than one cat or me or you. But I can't shake the feeling that life has been diminished tenfold by Romeo's parting."

His mother also recalled that Jeffery was a patriot and had enrolled himself as a coast guard almost three decades. She describes him to be a perfectionist who was hard on himself as well as people around him. Ms. Johnson thinks may be the head injury caused him to turn evil after all these years. After a coma, he wasn’t expected to live and yet he did go on to live a normal life for a long time.

"I don't know," Ms. Johnson added. "This may be some kind of excuse. I don't understand what snapped in him to do what he did."

Ms. Johnson hasn’t seen her son in the last 22 years after he moved out in 1990. He called her every Sunday and rarely spoke about work or his problems. She wished she had known something was wrong. After his death, Ms. Johnson has been replaying every moment of his childhood and adolescence to look for the cause that turned her son into something of a killer.

In her heart, he is still the kind hearted man who loved animals and who, like all of us loved life as well. Guess that’s how mothers are, no matter what happens, they love you for what you are.

Dealing with problems

Most of us who are leading worry –free happy lives have our own problems which we haven’t considered discussing with anyone. Instead, most people choose to pretend as if nothing is wrong and learn to live with the problems. Though problems are a part of our lives, it certainly doesn’t mean that we let them rule our lives forever. One day or the other, you’ll have to stand up and say – Problem, I don’t want you in my life.

Of course, we have been fighting troubles ever since we were born. Issues with friends, parents, girl friends, boyfriends, spouses, and children – the list goes on. Apart from these, the inner conflicts within ourselves that outline our feelings such as low self-esteem, low confidence, loss of faith, inferiority complex, nervousness – these keep adding to our already existing problems.

Bad news is that problems come in different shapes and sizes and colors and feelings and situations. Good news is that ALL problems can be solved. Now breathe a sigh of relief and read on to know how to solve your problems.

Talk, it really helps- What most of us think is that our problem can be understood only by us and that no amount of talking is going to help. Know this – when you talk about your problem to a person, don’t expect that person to understand. Instead, when you talk about it, you are releasing the negative energies that’s been mounting within you. Talking helps you move on and let go.

Write your problems – Having a journal or a personal diary can also be of huge help if you don’t want a real person to talk with. When you write down your problems, you are venting out all the frustration and tension from your system. You can try flushing away the paper in which you wrote your problems. By doing this, imagine yourself flushing away the problems from your life.

Relax and think – More often than not, when problems mount, we forget thinking. Instead, we choose to panic and stay glum. Teach yourself to relax in situations that demand your focused attention. When you relax, the answers become more clear and obvious.

Don’t lose faith and hope – No matter what you lose in life; do not lose faith and hope. Even if you lose all your money, family, friends and career, you should still have faith. You say that sounds crazy. How can a person still have faith after losing everything? That’s the magical part. With faith and hope, you can rebuild everything that you lose.

Your problems are not the worst- No matter what problem you get in life, there are another one million people whose problems are huger than yours. Tell yourself – when they can deal with them, why can’t I? Your problems might just seem big and worse, but in reality they can be removed.

Go about and solve your problems because every problem, however big or small, always has a solution.

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