Quotes of the life you deserve
A general was in his house, appreciating his collection of antiques, when suddenly he almost dropped a precious vase. -Oh! What a fright! – he exclaimed, and then he thought: ‘I have led thousands of soldiers, I have faced life or death situations and I never got scared. Why is it that today, because of a vase, I have frightened in that way? Suddenly he understood that the desire for the ephemeral that his mind housed was the cause of his fear. Then, without further ado, he threw the valuable vessel and broke it.
Once upon a time there was an old farmer who had an old horse to cultivate his fields. One day, the horse escaped to the mountains. When the farmer’s neighbours came to sympathise with him and lament his misfortune, the farmer replied: “Bad luck? Good luck? Who knows!”. A week later, the horse returned from the mountains bringing with it a herd of wild horses. Then, the neighbours congratulated the farmer for his good luck. He replied, “Bad luck? Good luck? Who knows!”. When the farmer’s son tried to tame one of those wild horses, he fell and broke his leg. Everyone considered that a disgrace. Not so the farmer, who simply said: “Bad luck? Good luck? Who knows!”. A few weeks later, the army entered the town and every youngster who was in good condition was recruited. When they saw the farmer’s son with a broken leg, they left him alone. Had it been good luck? Bad luck? Who knows!
Trust yourself – not the one you think you are, but the one you really are
All those who are unhappy are so because they seek their own happiness. All those who are happy, they are so because they seek others’ happiness.
The false leader promised wealth and justice to his compatriots. He focused on how he was going to distribute the cake. In the end, greed and inefficiency dwarfed the pie and society rebelled against the false leader. The true leader was concerned about his compatriots’ happiness, but not about the distribution of the cake. He inspired them to work at ease, enlarging the cake. They enjoyed the path and when the cake was bigger, the apportionment was easier and fairer. So much they got used to creating cakes that the true leader disappeared, he was happy to have made others happy and to see himself unnecessary.
Who much treasures, a lot loses.
What is civilization? Moving in a Rolls Royce is not civilization. Living in a skyscraper is not civilization. Having abundant wealth is not civilization. Having titles and honours is not civilization. To have sympathy is civilization. To have a spirit of sacrifice is civilization. We must return to Nature and natural life. We have to recover the simple life and high thinking of our ancestors. Wear simple clothes. Walk every day. Eat simple food. Reduce your needs. Be honest in economic matters. Develop noble qualities. Speak the truth. Learn to have a divine life while you remain on Earth. That way, the biggest problems will be solved. You will have recovered the lost paradise. The miseries will end. You will be successful as soon as you start.
THE COMPANY Social innovation in the company – The mere accumulation of material goods does not lead to happiness neither of the individual nor of society. – Societies with economic well-being fell precipitously (like the Roman Empire). – The company of the twentieth century is unfinished. Ethical components are missing. – The sustainable society is the one that knows how to find the harmonious balance between justice and efficiency. The meaning at work 1. A judo teacher who ran a sport activities company launched summer camps as part of their offer, where hundreds of children practiced leisure activities, sports and cultivated friendship and comradership. The teacher developed a methodology of activities, security and public relations, which earned him a remarkable success. In terms of extrinsic motivation, he achieved an adequate profitability as an intrinsic motivation, he was creative and he self-realised. Regarding transcendent motivation, he watched over the safety of the children, helped them to be better companions and people, making them and their parents happy. 2. The director of a commercial petroleum products company observed that the logistics system used for the supply of convenience stores could lead to an additional business. There were a series of products that in 24 hours could go directly from the orchard, cooperatives, etc. to the service station, without intermediaries and in family format, straight to the vehicle trunk. In addition, the designation of origin was an easily accessible requirement. The investments were nil (only to improve the distribution of the space, since the computerised administration already existed). The result was very positive in the economic (basic motivation); the members of the team had creative fun (intrinsic and psychological motivation); and better prices were paid to farmers by eliminating intermediaries; the satisfaction of the clients was raised by the quality of the offer (transcendent motivation). It was surprising to see oranges, apples, melons or olive oil sharing the offer with petroleum products. 3. Used tires were a problem as waste. A manufacturer of asphalts devised a system by which, by grinding the tire, the resulting powder could be incorporated into the bitumen and achieve a product of higher quality and adhesion. The product was marketed successfully, since its cost was competitive. The technicians involved managed to earn money for the company (extrinsic motivation); they used their innovative creativity (intrinsic motivation) and they saved human lives (an affirmation that could even be quantified) due to the better adherence of the asphalt, reason why they culminated their transcendent motivation.
LEADERSHIP AND POWER. For centuries, it was thought that leadership and power depended on weapons. Whoever had the best armies gained power through domination. Today, power does not reside in weapon. For a long time it was said that money gave power. Today, power does not grant money. For years power has been linked to information. The availability of information through the Internet and other technological means has made it available to a majority. Today power is not based on information. The power resides in integrity and sense when the values of the leader are identified with the genuine values of the people.
The things that will destroy us are politics without principles, pleasure without conscience, wealth without work, knowledge without character, business without morals, adoration without sacrifice.
Limit yourself to freeing yourself from what is false and you will automatically achieve what is true.
Enhamed Enhamed was giving a talk at a school in Las Palmas and a 9-year-old boy asked him: – Would you change your medals if you could see again? – Honestly, at first I did not know what to answer and I told him I did not know, that I was not clear. Over the months I have realized that no. Because the change that I have experienced in my life since the beginning of 2007, when I really decided to give everything until this moment, has been so great…, it is a 180 degree turn; I go in another direction. The life lessons and the experience I have achieved have been many. The repertoire of experiences have given me an inner richness that I could not have achieved otherwise.
HAIKU. The orange clouds. The birds crisscross their flights. Everything follows its course
What is life? Life is two specks of dust, hugging… in the Universe, … laughing
They asked Ikkyu where the Pure Land was, the Buddhist paradise. He answered: -Ten billion worlds away- And how can you get there? -Only with a pair of sandals.
What is good for the hive is good for the bee.
“The meringue and the hamburger ”
A child longed for the arrival of the village festivities because with the celebration one could enjoy cakes, ice-creams and, especially, meringues. When the day arrived, he ate the first one with devotion, almost collapsing his breath. He enjoyed the second one exactly the same. In the fifth meringue he began to feel some weariness. In the sixth one, he stopped. From here, he was willing to contribute something so he would not eat more meringues. The boy grew up and ate hamburgers. When he went out with his family on Sundays they used to eat this kind of food. One day he experienced with hamburgers the same as with meringues. The satisfaction provided by the last burger bordered on the negative. He would pay for not eating it, he came to say. With a few more years, he realised that meringues had undermined his teeth and that the burgers had damaged his arteries with high cholesterol levels. Besides, the work that cost him to get the money to pay for the burgers was harder than he had imagined. He discovered the UMD, contrasting the value of what he consumed and reassessing the costs of dentists, doctors and the real sacrifice of his work. He concluded that, with a single hamburger a month and many vegetables and legumes, he was happier.
If you want to be happy for an hour, get drunk. If you want to be happy for a day, kill a pig. If you want to be happy for a week, go on a trip. If you want to be happy for a year, get married. If you want to be happy all your life, cultivate an orchard.
Some data on competitiveness improvement – Around 50% of employees think that “their work” does not motivate them. -The productivity of well-motivated employees, compared to the productivity of average ones, ranges from 20 to 120% depending on the difficulty of the work, with a 40% improvement being a plausible objective. -Institutional financial analysts assign a 40% weight to the “execution capacity of the strategy” outside purely financial factors. -The most admired companies of Fortune magazine are worth 50% more than their less admired counterparts due to their employees’ motivational factors. -The people management policy is more determinant of results than strategy, technology and R & D.
LEADERSHIP AND INTEGRITY. Blessed is the leader who knows where to go, why and how to achieve it. Blessed is the leader who is not discouraged and does not give excuses. Blessed is the leader who knows how to lead without being dictatorial. Blessed is the leader who directs for the good of others and not for personal interest. Blessed is the leader who has his head in heaven and his feet on the ground. Blessed is the leader for whom directing is an opportunity to serve. Blessed is the leader who makes other leaders grow.
The human being sows a thought and collects an action. He sows an action and collects a habit. He sows a habit and collects a character. He sows a carácter and collecys a destiny
A student told the teacher: -I’m very discouraged, what can I do? -Encourage others, replied the master
It is said that there was a rich merchant who once showed up in the rooms of a Tibetan monk asking him to explain what the TRUTH was. The monk asked him how much TRUTH he wanted to know. The merchant told him that he could begin by knowing some part of the TRUTH. The monk replied that he had to rennounce part of his belongings to know something of the TRUTH. And among them there were material goods, personal relationships, status, family, etc. When the merchant told him he wanted the whole TRUTH, the monk replied that he would have to renounce everything. Ryokan, a Zen master, led an extremely simple life in a small cabin at the foot of a mountain. One afternoon, a thief came to the cabin and discovered that there was nothing to steal. Ryokan returned to the cabin and caught him. Then he said, “You have come a long way to visit me, and you should not leave empty-handed. Please, take my clothes as a gift”. The thief was amazed. He took the clothes and fled running. Ryokan sat naked to look at the moon. “Poor companion,” he muttered, “I wish I could give him this wonderful moon”
A man was rowing on his raft upstream during a very foggy morning. Suddenly, he saw another raft coming downstream, without trying to avoid him. It moved directly towards him, who shouted: Beware! Beware!, but the raft fully collided and almost made him shipwreck. The man was very angry and started shouting at the other person to make him realise what he thought of him. But when he looked at the raft more closely, he realised that it was empty