See something positive in every person and in every situation

Andrew Carnegie came to America from Scotland as a young boy. He started out by doing odd jobs and ended up as one of the largest steel manufacturers in United States.

At one time, he had 43 millionaires working for him. A million dollars is a lot of money today, but in the 1920s it was worth much more.

Someone once asked Mr. Carnegie how he dealt with people. Andrew Carnegie replied, "Dealing with people is a lot like digging for gold: When you go digging for an ounce of gold you have to move tons of dirt. But when you go digging, you don't go looking for the dirt, you go looking for the gold."

Andrew Carnegie's reply has a very important message. Though sometimes it may not be apparent there is something positive in every person and every situation. We have to dig deep to look for the positive.

Anxious about the future?

Once two villagers were sitting under a tree and watching the sunset. They were very close friends. After sitting quietly for some time, one asked the other, "What are you thinking?"

"I am planning to buy five acres of land, a garden." The other friend immediately said, "Don't buy the garden!"

The first one was surprised. He asked "why"? The second one replied, "I am planning to buy a buffalo. Then, my buffalo will enter your garden and we will fight, have misunderstandings and lose our friendship. I do not want to lose our friendship."

The first one said, "Then, you cancel your plan of buying a buffalo. I am going to buy my garden." The second one said, "No, no, no. I have already decided to buy a buffalo." The first one said, "How will your buffalo enter my garden? I will fence it thoroughly."

The second one said, "No, you see it can just enter; a buffalo is a buffalo. Who can stop it? It can do anything."

They started fighting. The fight went to such an extent that they broke their limbs! Neither has bought buffalo nor any land.

Nothing has happened. Just the mind’s race and both of them broke their limbs over it!

Our fears are also like that. The future has not yet come. But you just sit there and think, "Oh! What will happen? This will happen. That will happen."

Many times our minds are filled with anxiety about the future! In this run, the mind gets into such a mess.

Don’t be over anxious about the future.

Points of wisdom

Don’t make decisions when you are angry.

Don’t expect life to be fair.

Don’t be worried about losing a battle, if it helps you win the war.

Don’t be afraid of saying, “I don’t know” or “I am sorry”.

Loneliness is a state of mind.

Treat everyone as you would like to be treated.

Much of your growth as a person will come through hardships and challenges. Embrace those and know you will be better, stronger and wiser because of them.

Learn to listen, it is an art.

There are no coincidences and no accidents in life. Everything big and small is for a reason. Lord is in control.

Get rid of hatred and bitterness, they do you more harm.

Do one thing at a time and do it well.

Be thoughtful and careful what comes out of your mouth since with those words you create your reality.