Story-1: Value and self-worth
Story-2: Three friends and a fisherman
Story-3: Shake it off
Story-4: Hard work is the key to success
Story-5: Potato, egg and coffee beans
Story-6: You are as brave as you think
Story-7: The Turtle and the Hare
Story-8: Dream Big
Story-9: The Sad Peacock
Story-10: Go By Heart
At a workshop for students, a motivational speaker begins his speech by showing a twenty dollar note. He asks, “Who wants this $20 note?”
On seeing everyone raise their hands, the speaker crushes the note. And he asks again, “Who would still like to have it?”
Once again, everyone in the hall raises their hands. Eventually, the speaker throws the twenty dollar note on the floor and stamps on it with his shoes. He picks it up and asks again if anyone wants it now?
All the hands go up.
He concludes by saying, no matter what he does to the note, it is still desirable as there is no decrease in its value.
Moral : No matter how difficult life circumstances get, we should never lose our self-confidence. Our worth should never be impacted by the hardships in life.
A large pond has many fishes living in it. Of all these fishes, three are best friends, who are always together. They never leave the side of each other.
One day, a fisherman comes to this pond. Seeing lots of fishes, he invites other fishermen to cast nets. The three fishes worry about getting caught and killed by the fishermen.
The wise fish amongst them says, “We must find another pond and quickly move from here.” While one fish agrees, the other one is reluctant as he feels that this pond is their home. He says, “We should not behave cowardly, this pond is our home.”
The other two fish try hard to convince their friend, but they fail. So they decide to part ways and leave in search of a new pond. On the following day, when the fishermen arrive, the fish, who was unwilling to leave, gets caught and dies.
Moral : Always look at the bigger picture and let go of temporary attachments in crisis situations.
On an unfortunate day, a man’s favorite donkey falls off a large cliff. He tries to pull the donkey out, but all his efforts go in vain. Disheartened, the man decides to bury the poor donkey.
He starts to pour soil and sand from above. The donkey, which is stuck down, feels the load of the soil and shakes it off his body. The man pours the soil again. And, once again the donkey shakes it off.
The man notices that the donkey is shaking off the soil and is steeping on the soil bed, which is acting as a form of elevation. He realizes the donkey is slowly inching closer to the top. With every load of soil that is poured, the donkey rises higher.
Several hours pass by, and the man continues to pour the soil until the donkey is united with him again.
Moral : Face your hardships courageously as no problem is big enough to stop you from rising.
In a faraway village, lives a hardworking farmer who has grape fields. Year after year his grapery gives rich harvest, and the farmer becomes very successful. He has three sons, who are young and energetic but never bother to work. As the farmer grows old, he begins to worry about his sons’ future.
Then he falls very ill and realizes his death is fast approaching. He calls the sons and tells them,
“Dear sons, I see my death nearing me, but before I bid goodbye to all of you, I want to share a secret. There is a treasure hidden under the fields. Dig the entire field after my death, to find it.”
The old farmer dies, and his sons perform the last rites. The sons begin to dig for the treasure without leaving any part of the field but find nothing. However, their digging of the field leads to a healthy crop and results in huge earnings. These earnings make the sons realize what their father meant.
Moral : Hard work always pays off. Fruits of hard work are always sweet whether or not they are in the form you desire.
A little boy named John lives in a beautiful home with his parents. One day, his father finds him crying and asks if something is wrong. John says meekly, “I have so many problems in life,” and talks about his ‘problems’.
John’s father patiently listens to him. Then he brings a bowl and places a potato, an egg and some coffee beans in it. He asks John to touch and feel the ingredients in the bowl, and tell what he feels about them. John describes how he feels about each of them on touching.
The father smiles and asks John to place them all in three different bowls and pour water in them. He then boils them all. After a few minutes, the father turns off the stove and places all the bowls on the counter to cool them down.
When they have cooled down, John’s father asks him to touch them once again and feel the egg, potato, and coffee beans. John has a different answer this time. And he says, the potato’s skin is easier to peel as it has turned very soft, the egg has hardened, and there is a fresh coffee aroma coming from the beans.
Listening to John, his father smiles and tells him how the potato, egg, and coffee beans reacted to adverse situations. The potato has become soft, the egg turned very strong, and the coffee beans have changed their form completely during their testing time in the boiling water.
Moral : Problems are a part of life. How we react to them makes us a better individual.
A mahout uses elephants to conduct circus shows. He has five elephants and keeps them chained through a single rope held not so tight. As the elephants are huge and strong, they could have broken the rope and escaped.
One day, a man who visits the circus, asks the mahout why the elephants are not trying to escape when the rope is not strong enough to hold them. The man is amazed to hear the reply: the mahout says, since their young years, the elephants have been conditioned to believe they were not capable of breaking the rope and they lacked the strength. And that is the reason why these elephants never tried to escape.
Moral : Our limitations and strengths lie within us. We can achieve anything if we believe we can achieve.
This story has been told and retold over the ages, but is certainly a story that will teach your child an important lesson that will stay for life. You can stick to the classic or make your own version with different variables that will nonetheless impart the valuable lesson that your child needs to learn.
The hare is not only a beautiful little creature but is known for its speed and cleverness. Turtles, on the other hand, are amphibians that are more down to earth and, of course, slower in all aspects of life. One fine day, the hare bragged and came up with the idea of holding a race with the turtle. The turtle agreed, and the race began.
The hare managed to get a good lead over the turtle because he was an excellent runner. However, such was the ego of the hare that he not only raced way ahead of the turtle, but decided to take a nap at some distance, just before the finish line. He was convinced that he would easily win, even if he slept for some time.
The turtle, on the other hand, was far slower than the hare. However, he kept up with the race, without cutting corners. The turtle managed to reach the finish line, just as the hare was waking up! He, nevertheless won the race, even though he was a far slower runner than the hare, and not once, did he rub his victory it in the hare’s face.
Moral : As long as you are steady and determined, you will always win, no matter what your speed is. Laziness is your enemy, as is pride.
Lily is a little girl, who is shy and reserved. But she enjoys playing soccer. Her friends and classmates ridicule Lily for her interest in soccer. Nonetheless, she is determined to pursue her passion and become a successful soccer player.
Every day, after returning from school, Lily quickly finishes her homework and practices soccer. Her mother understands the love Lily has for the sport and supports her in every way.
When the interschool competitions are announced at the school, Lily decides to participate. She takes part in the selection trials, and her classmates mock her once again. But they are shocked when Lily performs well and the judges select her to represent the school. Lily’s commitment and hard work mute every person who mocked her.
Moral : Determination, strong will, and focus can help you achieve even the toughest of goals, in spite of ridicule by others.
This beautiful story about making the best of what you have is our first pick for this list. Though ambition is not a bad thing, there is usually a very thin line progressing to greed.
It can run both ways, parents may end up pushing their children so hard, that kids end up frustrated. On the other hand, kids may end up demanding for more, without regard to what they have already.
Here is a wonderful story about a peacock who almost went the same way.
here was this once a beautiful peacock who was all, but dancing on a rainy day. While he was busy admiring his plumage, his rough voice reminded him of his own shortcomings. All the joy beaten out of him, he was almost in tears. Suddenly, he heard a nightingale singing nearby.
Listening to the nightingale’s sweet voice, his own shortcoming once again became very evident. He began wondering why he was jinxed in such a manner. At that moment, Juno, the leader of the Gods, appeared and addressed the peacock.
“Why are you upset?” Juno asked the peacock.
The peacock complained about his rough voice and how he was sad because of it. “The nightingale has such a beautiful voice. Why don’t I?”
After listening to the peacock, Juno explained, “ every living being is special in his or her own way. They are and made in a certain manner that serves the greater purpose. Yes, the nightingale is blessed with a beautiful voice, but you are also blessed – with such a beautiful and glittering plumage!
The trick is acceptance and making the most of what you have.”
The peacock understood how silly he had been in comparing himself to others and forgetting his own blessings. He realised that day, that everyone was unique in some way or the other.
Moral : Self-acceptance is the first step to happiness. Make the best of what you have, rather than being unhappy about what you don’t.
This brought me to tears. What a powerful lesson on time.A rich man was retiring when an angel of death came to him. He had worked long and hard to acquire massive wealth and retire in luxury, and could not believe that his time was up. Being a very wealthy person, he decided to buy some more time from the angel of death at any cost.
He bargained for a long time but the angel was unmoved.
Desperate, the rich man made the last proposal to the angel… Give me just one hour of my life, so that I could admire the beauty of this earth for the last time and spend some time with my family and friends whom I haven't seen for a long time and I will give you all of my wealth.
But the angel refused again.
Finally, the man asked if the angel could give him at least one minute so that he could write a goodbye note. His wish was granted and he wrote a note….
"Spend your time, which was given to you, in the right way. I couldn't buy even an hour of life with all of my wealth. Listen to your heart and check if the things surrounding you have a true value. Cherish every minute of your life."
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