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The secret to determination - Law of the Seed

This is from an email i received


Law of the Seed
Take a look at an apple tree. There might be
five hundred apples on the tree and each
apple has ten seeds. That's a lot of seeds!
We might ask, "Why would you need so many
seeds to grow just a few more apple trees?"
Nature has something to teach us here.

It's telling us:
“Not all seeds grow. In life, most seeds never grow”.

So if you really want to make something happen,
you had better try more than once."

This might mean:
You'll attend twenty interviews to get one job.
You'll interview forty people to find one good employee.

And you might meet a hundred acquaintances
just to find one special friend.

When we understand the "Law of the Seed",
we don't get so disappointed.

We stop feeling like victims.

We learn how to deal with things that happen to us.

Laws of nature are not things to take personally.
We just need to understand them - and work with them.

In other words
Successful people fail more often. But they plant more seeds.

When things are beyond your control,
here's something that you must NOT DO
so as to avoid misery in your life:

- You must not decide how you think the world SHOULD be.
- You must not make rules for how everyone SHOULD behave.
- Then, when the world doesn't obey your rules, you get angry!
- That's what miserable people do!


On the other hand, Let's say you expect that:
-Friends SHOULD return favors.
-People SHOULD appreciate you.
-Planes SHOULD arrive on time.
-Everyone SHOULD be honest.
-Your husband or best friend SHOULD
remember your birthday.

These expectations may sound reasonable.
But often, these things won't happen!
So you end up frustrated and disappointed.

There's a better strategy
Demand less, and instead, have preferences!

For things that are beyond your control, tell yourself:

"I would prefer this, but if that happens, it’s OK too!"

This is really a change in mindset. It is a shift in attitude,
and it gives you more peace of mind ...

You prefer that people are polite ... but when
they are rude, it doesn't ruin your day.

You prefer sunshine ... but if it rains, it is OK too!

To become happier, we either need to:
a) Change the world, or
b) Change our thinking.

It is easier to change our Thinking!

In a Nutshell
It is not the problem that is the issue,
but rather it is your attitude attending
to the problem that is the problem.

It's not what happens to you that
determines your happiness; it's
how you think about what happens to you.


Start where you stand and never mind the past,
The past won't help you in beginning new,
If you have left it all behind at last,
Why, that's enough, you're done with it, you're through.

This is another chapter in the book,
This is another race that you have planned,
Don't give the vanished days a backward look,
Start where you stand.

The world won't care about your old defeats
If you can start anew and win success,
The future is your time, and time is fleet
And there is much of work and strain and stress.

Forget the buried woes and dead despairs,
Here is a brand new trial right at hand,
The future is for him who does and dares,
Start where you stand.

Old failures will not halt, old triumphs aid,
Today's the thing, tomorrow soon will be;
Get in the fight and face it unafraid,
And leave the past to ancient history.

What has been, has been; yesterday is dead
And by it you are neither blessed nor banned,
Take courage, man, be brave and drive ahead,
Start where you stand.

Do you wish the world were better?
Let me tell you what to do.
Set a watch upon your actions,
Keep them always straight and true.
Rid your mind of selfish motives,
Let your thoughts be clean and high.
You can make a little Eden
Of the sphere you occupy.

Do you wish the world were wiser?
Well, suppose you make a start,
By accumulating wisdom
In the scrapbook of your heart;
Do not waste one page on folly;
Live to learn, and learn to live.
If you want to give men knowledge
You must get it, ere you give.

Do you wish the world were happy?
Then remember day by day
Just to scatter seeds of kindness
As you pass along the way,
For the pleasures of the many
May be ofttimes traced to one.
As the hand that plants an acorn
Shelters armies from the sun.

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