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Inspirational
Stories
The
Power Of Positive Thinking
A man once telephoned Norman Vincent Peale. He was despondent
and told the reverend that he had nothing left to live for.
Peale invited the man over to his office. "Everything
is gone, hopeless," the man told him. "I'm living
in deepest darkness. In fact, I've lost heart for living altogether."
The famous
author of The Power of Positive Thinking smiled sympathetically.
"Let's
take a look at your situation," he said calmly. On a
sheet of paper he drew a vertical line down the middle. He
suggested that they list on the left side the things the man
had lost, and on the right, the things he had left. "You
won't need that column on the right side," said the man
sadly. "I have nothing left, period."
Peale
asked, "When did your wife leave you?"
"What
do you mean? She hasn't left me. My wife loves me!"
"That's
great!" said Peale enthusiastically. "Then that
will be number one in the right-hand column—Wife hasn't
left. Now, when were your children jailed?"
"That's
silly. My children aren't in jail!"
"Good!
That's number two in the right-hand column—Children
not in jail," said Peale, jotting it down.
After
a few more questions in the same vein, the man finally got
the point and smiled in spite of himself. "Funny, how
things change when you think of them that way," he said.
- Norman
Vincent Peale
A
Simple Gesture
Mark was walking home from school one day when he noticed
that the boy ahead of him had tripped and dropped all the
books he was carrying, along with two sweaters, a baseball
bat, a glove and a small tape recorder. Mark knelt down and
helped the boy pick up the scattered articles. Since they
were going the same way, he helped to carry part of the burden.
As they walked, Mark discovered the boy's name was Bill, that
he loved video games, baseball and history, that he was having
a lot of trouble with his other subjects and that he had just
broken up with his girlfriend.
Mark went home after dropping Bill at his house. They continued
to see each other around school, had lunch together once or
twice, then both graduated from junior high school. They ended
up in the same high school, where they had brief contacts
over the years. Finally the long-awaited senior year came.
Three weeks before graduation, Bill asked Mark if they could
talk.
Bill
reminded him of the day years ago when they had first met.
"Do you ever wonder why I was carrying so many things
home that day?" asked Bill. "You see, I cleaned
out my locker because I didn't want to leave a mess for anyone
else. I had stored away some of my mother's sleeping pills
and I was going home to commit suicide. But after we spent
some time together talking and laughing, I realized that if
I had killed myself, I would have missed that time and so
many others that might follow. So you see, Mark, when you
picked up my books that day, you did a lot more. You saved
my life."
- John
W. Schlatter |
Cosmos
of Happiness
