A Shell ad – A life lesson
I saw a print ad in a magazine with a little boy writing all these scientific calculations on a chalk board.
The text reads:
SAY NO TO NO
Isn’t it high time someone got negative about negativity?
Yes it is.
Look around. The world is full of things that, according
To nay-sayers, should never have happened.
“Impossible’
“Impractical”
“No.”
And yet “yes”
Yes, continents have been found.
Yes, men have played golf on the moon.
Yes, straw is being turned into biofuel to power cars.
Yes, yes, yes.
What does it take to turn no into yes?
Curiosity. An open mind. A willingness to take risks.
And, when the problem seems most insoluble, when the
Challenge is hardest, when everyone else is shaking
Their heads, to say: lets go.
Real energy solutions for the real world.
www.shell.com/realenergy
-the end-
So I say Yes!!
Monday, June 22, 2009
What can the mall teach you ?
Today I went to a shopping mall by myself with no money, not even credit on my cell phone. I was actually there to open an account at the library, but it only opened at 9am so I had about an hour to just walk around and pass time.
It was such a freeing experience.
One of those that really speak to you.
Those that reveal, and then better your character.
There weren’t very many people so early in the morning, and a lot of the stores had not opened. The store workers had arrived though, and were setting up and getting ready for business. All this was new to me. I had only ever been at a mall when trading, eating and people traffic were already alive. The shops display by the window was good enough. They had their best items on show for me to want. I would stop at every store, particularly the clothing and new techno gadgets, and just wish I could buy it. I would wish it was mine. I would see myself using it, wearing it. Then I would remember that I had no money on me or even at home for that matter, so I moved on. It was easier at each shop. I eventually got to a point where I would just admire the work of the creator. I saw some exquisite handbags and shoes, I looked at books and furniture, paintings and cell phones. My thoughts went from “I really want that” to “wow, that is really beautiful. I wonder what inspired the designer.”
I felt like a recovered addict who was loosed from the bondage of the drugs when i left a few hours later. I felt that all those things at the mall no longer possessed me (having no money anyway helped a lot).
So if you always feel as though you need a new something, go to the mall one day alone and just appreciate. Of course, one still needs to BUY, but not in that addictive way. The way that makes you feel better about yourself. The way that increases your sense of self. Self esteem. Value.
There is one thing I still really wanted to buy: a cappuccino – smelt so good.
It was such a freeing experience.
One of those that really speak to you.
Those that reveal, and then better your character.
There weren’t very many people so early in the morning, and a lot of the stores had not opened. The store workers had arrived though, and were setting up and getting ready for business. All this was new to me. I had only ever been at a mall when trading, eating and people traffic were already alive. The shops display by the window was good enough. They had their best items on show for me to want. I would stop at every store, particularly the clothing and new techno gadgets, and just wish I could buy it. I would wish it was mine. I would see myself using it, wearing it. Then I would remember that I had no money on me or even at home for that matter, so I moved on. It was easier at each shop. I eventually got to a point where I would just admire the work of the creator. I saw some exquisite handbags and shoes, I looked at books and furniture, paintings and cell phones. My thoughts went from “I really want that” to “wow, that is really beautiful. I wonder what inspired the designer.”
I felt like a recovered addict who was loosed from the bondage of the drugs when i left a few hours later. I felt that all those things at the mall no longer possessed me (having no money anyway helped a lot).
So if you always feel as though you need a new something, go to the mall one day alone and just appreciate. Of course, one still needs to BUY, but not in that addictive way. The way that makes you feel better about yourself. The way that increases your sense of self. Self esteem. Value.
There is one thing I still really wanted to buy: a cappuccino – smelt so good.
Friday, June 19, 2009
The value of a life changing book
This is a story featured in Paulo Coelho’s book titled 'Like the flowing river.'
**Cassan Said Amer tells the story of a lecturer who began a seminar by holding up a twenty-dollar bill and asking: ‘Who would like this twenty-dollar bill?’
Several hands went up, but the lecturer said: ‘Before I give it to you, I have to do something.’ He screwed it up into a ball and said: ‘Who still wants this bill?’
The hands went up again.
‘And what if I do this to it?’
He threw the crumpled bill at the wall, dropped it on the floor, insulted it, trampled on it, and once more showed them the bill – now all creased and dirty. He repeated the question, and the hands stayed up.
‘Never forget this scene,’ he said. ‘It doesn’t matter what I do to this money. It is still a twenty dollar-bill. So often in our lives, we are crumpled, trampled, ill-treated, insulted, and yet, despite all that, we are still worth the same.’**
It’s such a simple truth: regardless or how people treat me, I’m still the same. So what’s important is that I place a value on myself. I’ve read self improvement books and websites, but it was not until I read this story that any of them really meant anything to me. I’d read them, feel empowered, then go to sleep and wake up feeling inferior again. But this story really was life changing.
This book certainly is not worth (well, at least to me) what I bought it for. However, I may not have bought it if it was too expensive because I only had limited amount of cash on me, and of course I couldn’t have known the life lesson it would to teach me. So thank you to the lecturer and Paulo Coelho.
**Cassan Said Amer tells the story of a lecturer who began a seminar by holding up a twenty-dollar bill and asking: ‘Who would like this twenty-dollar bill?’
Several hands went up, but the lecturer said: ‘Before I give it to you, I have to do something.’ He screwed it up into a ball and said: ‘Who still wants this bill?’
The hands went up again.
‘And what if I do this to it?’
He threw the crumpled bill at the wall, dropped it on the floor, insulted it, trampled on it, and once more showed them the bill – now all creased and dirty. He repeated the question, and the hands stayed up.
‘Never forget this scene,’ he said. ‘It doesn’t matter what I do to this money. It is still a twenty dollar-bill. So often in our lives, we are crumpled, trampled, ill-treated, insulted, and yet, despite all that, we are still worth the same.’**
It’s such a simple truth: regardless or how people treat me, I’m still the same. So what’s important is that I place a value on myself. I’ve read self improvement books and websites, but it was not until I read this story that any of them really meant anything to me. I’d read them, feel empowered, then go to sleep and wake up feeling inferior again. But this story really was life changing.
This book certainly is not worth (well, at least to me) what I bought it for. However, I may not have bought it if it was too expensive because I only had limited amount of cash on me, and of course I couldn’t have known the life lesson it would to teach me. So thank you to the lecturer and Paulo Coelho.
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