Sanjana Tarra

Once upon a time, there was an island where all the feelings lived: Happiness, Sadness, Knowledge, and all the others, including Love. One day it was announced to the feelings that the island would sink, so all constructed boats and left. Except for Love. Love was the only one who stayed because Love wanted to hold out until the very last possible moment. When the island had almost sunk, Love decided that it was about time to try to escape before it was too late. Love called out to various feelings that were floating about on their boats. Richness was passing by Love in a grand boat. Love said, “Richness, can you take me with you?” Richness answered, “No, I can’t. There is a lot of gold and silver in my boat. There is just not enough room for you here.” Love decided to ask Vanity who was also passing by in a beautiful vessel. “Vanity, please help me!” “I can’t help you, Love. You are all wet and might damage my boat,” Vanity answered. Sadness also passed close...

Once upon a time, there was an old man who used to go to the ocean to do his writing. He had a habit of walking on the beach every morning before he began his work. Early one morning, he was walking along the shore after a big storm had passed and found the vast beach littered with starfish as far as the eye could see, stretching in both directions. Off in the distance, the old man noticed a small boy approaching. As the boy walked, he paused every so often and as he grew closer, the man could see that he was occasionally bending down to pick up an object and throw it into the sea. The boy came closer still and the man called out, “Good morning! May I ask what it is that you are doing?” The young boy paused, looked up, and replied “Throwing starfish into the ocean. The tide has washed them up onto the beach and they can’t return to the sea by themselves,” the youth replied. “When the sun gets high, they will die, unless I throw them back into the water.” The old man replie...

Creation is neither good nor bad; it is as it is. It is the human mind which puts all sorts of constructions on it, seeing things from its own angle and interpreting them to suit its own interests. A woman is just a woman, but one mind calls her "mother," another "sister," and still another "aunt" and so on. Men love women, hate snakes, and are indifferent to the grass and stones by the roadside. These value-judgments are the cause of all the misery in the world. Creation is like a peepul tree: birds come to eat its fruit, or take shelter in its branches, men cool themselves in its shade, but some may hang themselves on it. Yet the tree continues to lead its quiet life, unconcerned with and unaware of all the uses it is put to. It is the human mind that creates its own difficulties and then cries for help. Is God so partial as to give peace to one person and sorrow to another? In creation there is room for everything, but man refuses to see the good, ...

A man’s favorite donkey falls into a deep precipice; He can’t pull it out no matter how hard he tries; He therefore decides to bury it alive. Soil is poured onto the donkey from above. The donkey feels the load, shakes it off, and steps on it; More soil is poured and poured. It shakes it off and steps up; The more the load was poured, the higher it rose; By noon, the donkey was grazing in green pastures. After much shaking off (of problems) And stepping up (learning from them), One will graze in Green Pastures...

Once upon a time, there was a very strong woodcutter looking for a job. He ran into a timber merchant who was hiring and the woodcutter got the position. The pay depended on how much wood was cut down. So long as the woodcutter cut a lot of wood, he would get paid a lot of money. The work conditions were also great as were the hours. For those reasons, the woodcutter was determined to do his best.  His boss gave him an axe and showed him the area where he was supposed to work.  On the first day, the woodcutter worked diligently; cutting as many trees as he could. Drenched in the sweat of his determination and hard work, he brought 22 trees to his boss!  “Congratulations,” the boss said. “Keep going on that way and keep up the great work!”  Very motivated by the boss’ words, the woodcutter came back the next day revitalized and determined to cut down more trees than he had the day before. Although he worked harder and longer than he did before, ...

Once upon a time a daughter complained to her father one morning, that her life was miserable and that she didn’t know how she was going to make it. She was tired of fighting and struggling all the time. It seemed just as one problem was solved, another one soon followed. Her father, who was a chef, took her to the kitchen. He filled three pots with water and placed each on a high fire. Once the three pots began to boil, he placed potatoes in one pot, eggs in the second pot, and ground coffee beans in the third pot. He then let them sit and boil, without saying a word to his daughter. The daughter, moaned and impatiently waited, wondering what he was doing. After twenty minutes he turned off the burners. He took the potatoes out of the pot and placed them in a bowl. He pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl. He then ladled the coffee out and placed it in a cup. Turning to her he asked. “Daughter, what do you see?” “Potatoes, eggs, and coffee,” she hastily replied. “Look close...

On the first day of the college, a psychologist entered a room with a glass of water to give a stress management presentation to an audience. He held up the glass as he gyrated the room and everyone watched with little interest as they all expected to be asked the classic "is the glass half empty or half full" question. Instead, with a smile on his face, he inquired: "How heavy is this glass of water?"  The psychologist had captivated the interest of the audience immediately. Answers were called out throughout the room, “6 oz! 11 oz! 150 grams! 250 grams!” The psychologist replied, "Those are some great guesses, but I actually don’t know the weight of this at all.” The crowd laughed a bit and then the psychologist pressed on. “Although I do not know the absolute weight of this glass of water, let me ask you. What would happen if I held it up in the air like this for a few minutes?” “Nothing” the audience replied. “Ok. What about if I held it l...

Sometimes we come across certain situations in life which make us feel low and depressed. We often prefer to stay alone and avoid people. We keep all the things to ourselves even though we have a lot of shoulders to lean on. This happens in the life of almost everyone. If we ever observe a flowing river., we can learn a very good lesson from it. A flowing river flows from great heights to large depths But it never stops. When it comes across any obstacle, it creates its own path. Come what may it continues its journey until it reaches the Ocean. In the same way we come across a lot of obstacles in life which will make us depressed, low, dull and may even change our course of life. But, it is completely self-dependent about choosing the right path to follow in order to reach our destination of life. It's all about creating our own path in a righteous way and reactivating ourselves from time to time. And in this process, certain short stories of motivation can help us inspire at...