Inspirational stories about priorities 

            A professor of philosophy came into his class. He brought some items with him and put them on the table. When the class began, he took a large transparent empty jar and started to fill it with rather massive stones. Then the professor asked his students: „Is the jar full?“. They confirmed that it was.

 

 Now the professor picked up a box of small pebbles, poured them into the jar and shook it, so that pebbles filled the open areas between the rocks. He asked once again: „Is the jar full?“. They agreed that it was.

 

 This time the professor poured a bucket of sand into the jar, and the sand filled up everything else. 

 

 „Now,“ said the professor, „I want you to see that this jar is just like your life – the stones are the most important things, your main values – your family, health, morality.

 

 The pebbles are other things that matter – your job, house, car. The sand represents the small stuff.

 

 So if you put the sand into the jar first, there would be no place left for pebbles and large stones. Therefore pay most of your attention to the things, that are the most important in life – spent enough time with your family, take care of your health and don‘t forget to develop spiritually – be kind, honest, sensitive, helpful. These are the things that really matter. They should be your priorities. The rest is just sand.

 

Imagine that you are juggling five balls. Each of them represent important parts of our life – family, health, spirit, friends and job. Four ball are made of glass and only one is made of rubber. We need to recognize that job is a rubber ball. While family, friends, health and spirit are very fragile, as if you drop one of them, they will be irreversibly damaged or even shattered. This understanding will help to keep the balance in your life.

 

Inspirational stories about character 

 

 A long time ago there was a boy. He was smart, talented and handsome. However, he was very selfish and his temper was so difficult, that nobody wanted to be friends with him. Often he got angry and said various hurtful things to people around him.

 

 The boy‘s parents very concerned about his bad temper. They considered what they could do and one day the father had an idea. He called his son and gave him a hammer and a bag of nails. The father said: „Every time you get angry, take a nail and drive into that old fence as hard as you can.“ 

 

 The fence was very tough and the hammer was heavy, nevertheless the boy was so furious that during the very first day he has driven 37 nails.

 

 Day after day, week after week, the number of nails was gradually decreasing. After some time, the boy started to understand that holding his temper is easier that driving nails into the fence. 

 

 One day the boy didn‘t need hammer and nails anymore as he learned to hold his temper perfectly. So he came to his father and told about his achievement. „Now every time, when you hold your temper all day long, pull out one nail“. 

 

 Much time has passed. At last the boy could be proud of himself as all the nails were gone. When he came to his father and told about this, he offered to come and take a careful look at the fence. „You did a good job, my son, though pay your attention to the holes that left from the nails. The fence will never be the same. The same happens when your say hurtful things to people, as your words leave scars in their hearts like those holes in the fence. Remember, we need to treat everyone with love and respect, because it doesn‘t matter, that you say you are sorry, the scars will not dissapear.

 

 

Inspirational stories about happiness 

             

There was a boy, whose family was very wealthy. One day his father took him on a trip to the country, where he aimed to show his son, how poor people live. So they arrived to a farm of a very poor family, as he considered. They spend there several days. On their return, the father asked his son, did he like the trip.

 

 „Oh, it was great, dad“ – the boy replied. „Did you notice, how poor people live?“. „Yeah, I did“ – said the bay. The father asked his son to tell in more details about his impressions from their trip“. 

 

 „Well, we have only one dog, and they have four of them. In our garden there is a pool, while they have a river, that has no end. We‘ve got expensive lanterns, but they have stars above their heads at night. We have the patio, and they have the whole horizon. We have only a small piece of land, while they have the endless fields. We buy food, but they grow it. We have high fence for protection of our property, and they don‘t need it, as their friends protect them.“

 

 The father was stunned, he could not say a word. 

 

 Then the boy added: „Thank you, dad, for letting me see how poor we are.”

 

 This story shows that the true wealth as well as happiness are not measured by materials things. Love, friendship and freedom are far more valuable.

 

 

Inspirational stories about kindness 

             

A poor boy was selling goods from one door to another to pay for his studies. One day he found that he had only one dime left, and he was hungry. While approaching the next house, he decided to ask for a meal. 

 

 But when a young woman has opened the door, he only dared to ask for a glass of water.

She looked at him and understood, that probably the boy is hungry. So she brought him a large glass of milk. He drank it and then asked, how much did he owe her. The woman replied: „You don‘t own me anything. Mother taught us never to accept pay for a kindness“. „Then I thank you from the bottom of my heart“, – he said and felt that now is stronger not only physically, but his faith in God has grown as well. The boy‘s name was Howard Kelly.

 

 Many year have passed. One day that woman became seriously ill. Local doctors could not help her, therefore they sent her to a big city, where her rare disease would be studied by specialists. Dr. Howard Kelly was called in for the consultation. When he entered her room in the hospital, he immediately recognized the woman, that showed kindness to him, when he was poor. The doctor was determined to do his best to help her recover from her disease.

 

 The stuggle was long, but together they managed to overcome her illness. After some time the woman received a bill for her treatment. She was worried that the amount to pay would be so significant, that it would take the rest of her life to pay for it. Finally, when the woman looked at the bill, she noticed words that were written on the side of the bill. The words were:

„Paid in full with a glass of milk“.

 

 

Inspirational stories about letting go of the past 

 

 Once there was a free bird. She floated in the sky, catching midges for lunch, swam in the summer rain trickles, and was like many other birds. 

 But she had a habit: every time some event occurred in her life, whether good or bad, the bird picked up a stone from the ground to memory. Every day she sorted out her stones, laughed remembering joyful events, and cried remembering the sad ones.

 A bird always took the stones with her, whether she was flying in the sky or walking on the earth, she never forgot about them. The years have passed, and free bird got a lot of stones, but she still kept on sorting them, remembering the past. It was becoming more and more difficult to fly, and one day a bird was unable to do this. 

 The bird that was free some time ago, could not walk on the earth, she was unable to make a move by her own. She could not catch midges anymore; only rare rain gave her the necessary moisture. But a bird bravely endured all the hardships, guarding her precious memories.

 After some time a bird died of the starvation and thirst. And only a pitiful bunch of worthless stones reminded of her for a long time.

 

Inspirational stories about friendship and love 

 

Two friends

 

 Once two friends argued, and one of them slapped another. This man felt a pain, but telling nothing and wrote on the sand:

 — Today my best friend slapped me.

 They continued walking and found an oasis, in which wellspring decided to swim. The one who was slapped, started to sink, but his friend saved him. 

 When he regained consciousness, wrote on the stone: "Today my best friend saved my life."  Another friend, who slapped and saved his friend’s life, of asked him:

-  When I hurt you, you wrote on the sand and now you are writing on the stone. Why?

 His friend said:

-  When someone hurts us, we should write it on the sand, so that the wind could erase it. But when someone does something good for us, we must engrave it on the stone, so that the wind could not erase it.

 

 

A thought on the heart

 

 — Grandpa, what you are whispering? — a boy asked, noticing that his grandfather was whispering something to himself before going to bed.

 — I put a thought on the Heart… —grandfather said.

 A boy was surprised:

 — What does it mean?

 Wise grandfather told him:

 -I do not want to quarrel with a neighbor who let me down, but I do not know how to behave. So I will put a thought on the Heart and go to sleep, and in the morning the Heart will tell me what to do.

 — And where does the Heart know it from?

 — The Heart knows everything, I'm learning from it all my life. And I may advise you: when looking for an answer to a difficult question, when something is not clear, put a positive thought before going to bed at the Heart, and next morning the answers will be opened for you. Just do it with faith. 

 

 

 

Educational stories about forgiveness 

             

One man bought a new house - big and beautiful – and a garden with fruit trees near to it. Nearby an envious man lived in the old house and was constantly trying to ruin his mood: he threw garbage under the gates and made other nasty things. 

 One day a man woke up in a good mood, went out onto the porch, and saw a bucket of slops there. A man took this bucket, poured out the slops, cleaned a bucket, put the biggest, ripe and delicious apples there and went to his neighbor. A neighbor heard a knock at the door and gleefully thought: "Finally I got it!".

 He opened the door expecting for a scandal, and a man gave him a bucket of apples saying: 

 - Who is rich with something, shares it with other!

 

 

Story about lucky people 

             

 Happiness and Luck were smiling widely at him. Everything he wanted he got without any effort. Tall, strong, handsome man for whom every woman fought for, he never thought about money, because he regularly was getting an inheritance after an inheritance from an unknown relative. 

 

 He was so good at gambling that no one gambled with him anymore, and recently even the

Casino owners started sending money to his charity account so that he would not visit their establishments. He lived moving from one country to another, speaking fluently on many languages. 

 

 He knew many celebrities, and often he financed their projects which no one else believed in, and which later turned out to be a success. Spoiled by fortune, he saw, knew and tasted everything that he wanted. The happiness and luck that he had would have been enough for a hundred lucky people, or for a thousand ordinary lives. With his friends and a gorgeous wife who adored him, he loudly celebrated the entrance into his thirties. In his happily married life he had two children: a boy that looked just like him, and a girl – a copy of her mother.

 

 One day after his 30 birthday, Happiness and Luck visited Destiny. After seeing them on her doorstep she chattered:

-  Yes, he is flying alone to Africa for a hunt. In a strong side wind and above the rebels. I have arranged everything with the wind and the rebels will miss. Is this what you wanted?

 

 Happiness and Luck looked at each other smiling and Happiness said:  - No. Let happen what should happen.

 

 Destiny raised her eyebrows in surprise:

-  But they will shoot him down. He will die.

 

 Happiness and Luck shook their heads.

-  Explain, - Destiny demanded, - you did so much for his wellbeing and now you are leaving him.

 

 Both shook their heads again and Happiness said:

-  He was happier than everyone else. He reached his peak, after that the fall begins. In the chase for a bigger experience he already tried drugs. It will be the reason for the collapse and breakdown of his family. He will burn fast, but will suffer and torment his closest people; he will ruin the impression of himself. And in this way, his life will remain a colourful festival. Everyone will be sorry for him, for the widow and the children, they will say: He was a one of a kind man, brave, lucky, generous. He did so much good and he could have done even more… Life is a shooting star.

 

 After carefully listening Destiny uttered thoughtfully:

-  Well, yes. To leave on time is also a success.

-  I ask only one thing, - Luck said, - so that the rebels are accurate and the death is sudden.

-  He won’t understand anything, - Destiny responded.

-  Won’t understand, - agreed Happiness, - we were both wrong. He simply cannot understand. 

 

 And Luck finished sadly:

-  This is the last thing that we can do for him.