Abid Iqbal Khari’s

-The largest cell in the human body is the female egg and the smallest is the male sperm.
-You use 200 muscles to take one step.
-The average woman is 5 inches shorter than the average man.
-A pair of human feet contains 250,000 sweat glands.
-The acid in your stomach is strong enough to dissolve razor blades.
-The human brain cell can hold 5 times as much information as the Encyclopedia Britannica.
-The average human dream lasts 2-3 seconds.
-At the moment of conception, you spent about half an hour as a single cell.
-There are about one trillion bacteria on each of your feet.
-Your body gives off enough heat in 30 minutes to bring half a gallon of water to a boil.
-When you are looking at someone you love, your pupils dilate, and they do the same when you are looking at someone you hate.

Start the day with a deep breath. Inhale, all the love and goodness of Allah. Exhale the tears, fears and all worries. Then S M I L E, because Allah loves you.

I asked God for strength, that I might achieve.

I was made weak, that I might learn humbly to obey . . .

I asked for health, that I might do greater things.

I was given infirmity, that I might do better things …

I asked for riches, that I might be happy.

I was given poverty, that I might be wise …

I asked for power, that I might have the praise of men.

I was given weakness, that I might feel the need of God .. .

I asked for all things, that I might enjoy life.

I was given life, that I might enjoy all things …

I got nothing I asked for–but everything I had hoped for.

Almost despite myself, my unspoken prayers were answered.

I, among all men, am most richly blessed.

Courtesy: http://great-motivational-stories.blogspot.com/

Laugh, and the world laughs with you;
Weep, and you weep alone.
For the sad old earth must borrow it’s mirth,
But has trouble enough of its own.
Sing, and the hills will answer;
Sigh, it is lost on the air.
The echoes bound to a joyful sound,
But shrink from voicing care.Rejoice, and men will seek you;
Grieve, and they turn and go.
They want full measure of all your pleasure,
But they do not need your woe.
Be glad, and your friends are many;
Be sad, and you lose them all.
There are none to decline your nectared wine,
But alone you must drink life’s gall.

Feast, and your halls are crowded;
Fast, and the world goes by.
Succeed and give, and it helps you live,
But no man can help you die.
There is room in the halls of pleasure
For a long and lordly train,
But one by one we must all file on
Through the narrow aisles of pain.

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Two days back I delivered a presentation on Positive Thought Management at Serena Hotel for some personnel of a pharmaceutical company. Engineer Baber Ikram who is project manager of Wapda City also joined, appreciated and asked for a lecture on Town Life Management for residents of Wapda City. I agreed and instantly told him that I would like to start that lecture with this story:

There’s a little old man sitting on his porch in his rocking chair. He’s relaxing and enjoying the beautiful sunny day.A car pulls up with Dad, Mom and kids aboard. Dad pokes his head out the window and asks the old man “What kind of town is this? I’m looking for a new place to live.”

The old man replies: “What kind of town did you just leave?”

The Dad answers “It was a horrible place. People were always in each others business, constantly bickering, selfish and rude.”

To which the old man replied: “Well Son, I’m afraid you’ll find the same things here.”

The Dad thanked the old man and went on down the road.

A couple of hours later another car pulls up with a family aboard. The Dad gets out of the car and walks up to the old man. He extends his hand saying “Howdy, my family and I are looking for a new town to reside in. Can you tell me what this quaint little town is like?”

The old man replies: “What kind of town did you just leave?”

“It was a fantastic place to live! Everyone knew each other, and looked out for one another. We were one big happy family. Never had to worry about my kids, because I knew they were always being looked after. The townsfolk were the nicest, kindest people you could ever hope to meet.”

The old man smiles and nods in agreement, “You’ll find the same things here. Would you like me to show you around town?”

Are you wondering why the old man gave the two men opposite answers?

It’s simply a matter of how we perceive the world. People treat us the way we expect them to …

Thus, if we believe people are rude and nasty - that’s the way we will be treated.

On the other hand, if we believe people are friendly and generous - we will be welcomed with open arms.

Do not be afraid to shine.
The world needs what you have to give.

Open up the areas of your being;
Expose them to yourself - to others.
You are valuable. You are unique.

You have much to give.
Do not be afraid to give it.
As we risk ourselves, we grow.
Each new experience is a risk.

We can try, and maybe fail; And, as a result,
grow or hold back and stagnate.

You have the potential to be anything you want.
You are free to choose.
You are limited only by your fears.
Let your dreams take over.

Fly with the eagles. Soar into life.
The world is waiting for you.

(Anonymous)

To have a peaceful and full sleep, you need peace and that does not come from wealth but from satisfaction, love, gratitude, kindness and from you good deeds.

Your life is as lonely as you would like to make it.
Your joy is as much as you would like to feel it.
Your night is as long as you decide to keep asleep.
Your destination is as far as you think it is.
Your sky is as much as you want to reach.

All you need is … a positive approach. Just spread your wings and decide to fly. The secret of life lies in thinking big, doing continuous struggle and not to be discouraged by the adversities. Life would be boring if there would be no sweat and toil. Let me cite here a great verse of Iqbal.

How great it is that Sikander (the great fighter) puts his heart and soul into struggle to get water from the stone, in lieu of asking Khizer to give it to him. The name of Sikander is also still alive without drinking ‘Aab e Hayat’ (the water that grants immortal life) and it is due to his that sweat and toil, he had in his struggle.

“How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, tolerant of the weak and the strong. Because someday in your life, you will have been all of these.”
George Washington Carver

This beautiful picture book, illustrated by Coretta Scott King Award-illustrator George Ford, and written by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Robert Coles, tells the true story of six-year-old Ruby Bridges. In 1960, Ruby, a young African-American girl, entered a whites-only school in New Orleans. Even though she had to pass through crowds of angry protesters, Ruby bravely walked into the school. Every day for months, Ruby persevered. White parents pulled their children out of the school, and Ruby and her teacher were alone in the classroom. Still, Ruby and her family would not give in. Both the text and the watercolor paintings of this book capture Ruby’s incredible strength, the love of her family, and the turmoil of America in the early 1960s.
http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/book.jsp?id=494

Last night, I gave a talk on Family Life Management in a family get together at Sitara Sapna City Faisalabad. Let me share a few tips I shared there …

Husband should …

• Express his love in words too
• Appreciate wholeheartedly for household chorus she does …
• Praise generously when she is looking good or wears new dress …
• Never be miser in giving gifts more often …
• If she lacks in something remember the hadith of Holy Prophet (pbuh) who said that if your wife will be lacking in something, there would surely be many merits as well in her personality.

Wife should …

• Be grateful for all the blessings she has been bestowed upon …
• Give a warm welcome when ‘He’ arrives back home after a hectic day of work …
• Improve her appearance and remain neat and tidy before him …
• Let him calm down when he is in anger …
• Not refrain him if he wants come closer …

Parents should …

• Undertake story telling to instill values and character building …
• Be a role model for them and refrain from telling lie and other bad habits  …
• Always go for Halal earning (right way of earning livelihood) …
• Help them learn … for instance … keep a bin in your car … stop on signal … be brave in all the circumstance … be grateful even when pocket is empty
• Restrict them to watch only good TV channels and programs …
• Have a close check what they surf on the Internet

Some quotes on Good-byes:

• Good-byes make you think. They make you realize what youve had, what youve lost and what youve taken for granted.
• How lucky I am to have known someone who was so hard to say goodbye to.
• Why are the words goodbye, Im sorry and I love you, so easily pronounced, but so hard to say?
• Ive learned that good-byes will always hurt, pictures can never replace being there, memories forget the hard times, words can never replace feelings, and heroes often go unsung.

To say that Islam is peaceful does not explain why it also seeks to awaken people to a struggling spirit. And, to say that Islam is violent does not explain why it also emphasizes peace so ardently. Even Rabindranath Tagore, a Nobel Laureate in literature from West Bengal, India and a non-Muslim, recognized this aspect so beautifully in his novel, Gora. Through the words of Gora, the central character of the novel, in a conversation with a meek and abused Muslim, Tagore states:

“One who tolerates wrong is also blameworthy, because he endorses wrongdoing in this world. You won’t understand me, but remember that religion is not merely being good-natured, pleasant, humble, meek gentleman (bhalo-manushi). It simply emboldens the bad ones. Your Muhammad had understanding of this and that’s why he did not propagate the faith merely as pleasant and meek gentleman (bhalomanush)”. [pp. 111-112]