The Cracked Pot

The Cracked Pot
Author Unknown

A water bearer in India had two large pots, each hung on the end of a pole which he carried across his neck. One of the pots was perfectly made and never leaked. The other pot had a crack in it and by the time the water bearer reached his master's house it had leaked much of it's water and was only half full.

For a full two years this went on daily, with the bearer delivering only one and a half pots full of water to his master's house. Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments. But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection, and miserable that it was able to accomplish only half of what it had been made to do.

After two years of what it perceived to be a bitter failure, it spoke to the water bearer one day by the stream. "I am ashamed of myself, and I want to apologize to you." "Why?" asked the bearer. "What are you ashamed of?" "I have been able, for these past two years, to deliver only half my load because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your master's house. Because of my flaws, you have to do all of this work, and you don't get full value from your efforts," the pot said.

The water bearer felt sorry for the old cracked pot, and in his compassion he said, "As we return to the master's house, I want you to notice the beautiful flowers along the path."

Indeed, as they went up the hill, the old cracked pot took notice of the sun warming the beautiful wild flowers on the side of the path, and this cheered it some. But at the end of the trail, it still felt bad because it had leaked out half its load, and so again the pot apologized to the bearer for its failure.

The bearer said to the pot, "Did you notice that there were flowers only on your side of your path, but not on the other pot's side? That's because I have always known about your flaw, and I took advantage of it. I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we walk back from the stream, you've watered them. For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate my master's table. Without you being just the way you are, he would not have this beauty to grace his house."

Each of us has our own unique flaws. We're all cracked pots. But if we will allow it, God will use our flaws to grace his table. In God's great economy, nothing goes to waste. Don't be afraid of your flaws. Acknowledge them, and you too can be the cause of beauty. Know that in our weakness we find our strength

TRUE VICTORY

“True victory is self victory”
-Moreihi Ueshiba

Sometimes the biggest battles we face are not against an attacker, they are against ourselves. It is difficult to change or even just to admit we need to change something in our life. I am not talking about perfection; no one ever reaches that point. But I am talking about excellence. We can all strive for that goal and achieve it. Our excellence is probably not going to be the same as the person next door’s excellence. We are all meant for a purpose and that is with that purpose in mind we must strive toward excellence.

So how do we achieve this excellence? First we need to keep an open mind and to be able to learn from our mistakes. Remember, it’s only a mistake if you cannot learn from it, thus it should really be re-named “learning tools”.
I was reminded of this yesterday. I was privileged enough to be able to train with the Ramsey County SWAT team. They were rehearsing “live scenarios” where they simulate real life situations and drill themselves to respond the best way possible. Perfect practice makes perfect. Competence breeds confidence.
One of the new team member made a rookie mistake during one of the exercise. As the team trainer was explaining to him why things went bad and he got shot, and how he can remedy the situation in the future, the rookie kept making excuses why he reacted the way he did. I don’t think he even listened to what the instructor was telling him. He was justifying why he was right. He got shot. How right could he have been? He should have quieted down, admitted he did something that did not work well and learn a way to re-do the exercise with better end results. Now when he will be put under pressure the only thing his brain will remember is the lack of competence he has shown in the past, his lack of success in completing the task. He will hesitate and perhaps put his life or his team member’s lives on the line. Now this may be an extreme example but how many times do we put our own life on the line? Our happiness, our health?
If you keep doing the same thing over and over again, you WILL be getting the same results. It’s insane to think anything would change. If you find something in your life that is not working (notice I did not say “wrong”… because simply there are things that work and things that do not work), then you need to keep an open mind and find out why these things are not working and substitute them for things that do work.
We need to keep fighting our battles. We need to keep striving toward excellence. We need to start by winning the small daily battles we all face. Kind of like eating an elephant… one bite at the time.

We need to achieve the true victory.

Never Give up: Inspirational video

If your life is on the line, never give up, as long as you have a breath left in you...FIGHT AND NEVER GIVE UP !!!
And remember: don't just focus on the problem but focus on a solution instead. Be creative, unconventional methods are awesome. And never forget that running is a great self defense

Best Motivation Video Ever

Is your passion strong enough to pull you through?

I count him braver who overcomes his desires than him who conquers his enemies; for the hardest victory is over self.
-Aristotle

STAGE PRESENCE

I was picking up my lovely daughter from her job at an outdoor mall yesterday. Walking on the sidewalk I could see in the distance 3 young kids (around 14 yo) on their bikes, terrorizing all the shoppers. They were driving straight at them, pushing them around, making them side step and scream in panic. It was easy to see they were laughing and totally enjoying themselves. They were still about 30 feet away from me. I was not buying what they were selling. I was still very relaxed and calm but I had that look on my face and a body attitude that screamed “Honey, I am not moving out of your way, you try and you will be sorry”. I never changed my path, I just kept on walking toward my objective. The first one looked at me and skidded sideways (he actually fell off his bike doing so), apologizing. The next one stopped in front of me and quickly moved to the side “Sorry mam. Let me get out of your way.” The last one went WAY out of my way and said “How are you doing today mam?”. Wise decisions on their part.
I displayed “stage presence”. Even being young and unschooled they could immediately recognized the fact that messing with me was a bad idea.
This is the kind of attitude you need to develop and display. It’ not about acting like a bad ass or like you are better than anyone else. It’s about acting like you have confidence in yourself. It’s that calmness and peacefulness that shines through not only your face but your body, your walk, every one of your movements. Now this does not mean you should walk that way toward danger thinking you are invincible.
Observe people walking around, actors on TV, see which ones have that stage presence, see which ones definitely don’t. See which ones are begging to get picked on. Same stage presence works in every area of your life as well. Who gets hired for the job? Who gets rejected for asking someone out? Stage presence can be very subtle but people can definitely feel it, see it.

People will see you as you see yourself.

You don’t want to be a victim, you will greatly reduce your chances by not looking and acting like one.

Red Sun - Charles Bronson vs. Toshiro Mifune

Good self defense skills from Mifune. There is a reason he does not use fists. It's very difficult to touch him with just brute strength.
Flow like water... use the other person's strength against him