Tag: #happiness

A Turtle That Couldn’t Swim…

~ Joyce Mary J ~ 12 Comments

My 7 year old daughter told me a story recently. She is really good in making up stories and comes up with something new very often. Now this one was about a turtle which couldn’t swim. The story goes like this…..

Once, there lived a turtle on a rock near to the pond. He used to cry everyday looking at the water. One day, a crow saw him crying and asked the reason. He said that he is a turtle but cannot swim. This makes him sad and that is why he is crying. Then the crow said, “I can only teach you fly, sorry.” After saying that the crow flew away.

After a few days, one of the fishes in the pond saw him crying. Fish asked him about the reason for being so sad. He said, “I’m a turtle but I cannot swim.” Fish said, “You cannot swim because you are not trying enough. You just sit on the rock and cry all day. That is not going to make you swim. You need to try harder.” Listening to that, he became sadder and started to cry louder.

Then, one day, he saw a happy tortoise walking slowly near the pond nibbling flowers and leaves. At that moment, he realised that he couldn’t swim because he was not a turtle, he was a tortoise!

The story is short and simple. But, it has a huge lesson to give us. It’s about self awareness. We will be crying all our lives thinking about all the things that we cannot do or we don’t have if we don’t know exactly who we are just like that tortoise who thought it was a turtle. With self awareness, we learn our own strengths and weaknesses which in turn helps in our own development.

This story, also teaches us that unless we help ourselves no-one can help us in understanding the real us. Our family, friends, neighbours and colleagues can only give their own views and perceptions about us which may not be true. The act of gaining self awareness may take time and energy as you will have to go through a lot of reflection and introspection but it is worth it for all good reasons.

I don’t know how a 7 year old can come up with something like this, but, she surprises me everyday. And I’m, just a proud mom.

-JMJ

Heaven

~ Joyce Mary J ~ 15 Comments 

Walking alone,
Tired and fed up on herself,
She felt hopeless,
On her way back home,
She found chaos everywhere,
Not only around her,
But also in her mind.

Shouting with excitement that her mama is home,
Her little daughter opened the door when she rang the bell,
Seeing her mama all exhausted, 
And offering to give a head massage with her little fingers,
The daughter smiled pouring out all her love and care,
And she found her little piece of heaven,
On her daughter's lap.
-JMJ

Beauty! Where is it?

~ Joyce Mary J ~ 17 Comments 


With a flawless skin which has no sign of aging,
And dark long hair which can be really engaging,
Deep blue eyes which has an ocean inside,
Anyone would love to dive in without knowing what is inside,
She has a perfect smile that can lit up the sky,
But with a dark heart reflecting all the evils under the sky.



Other one is an epitome of ugliness that's how the world see,
With no facial features or perfect teeth,
People love to swipe quickly as her picture comes on screen,
But her acts of kindnesses are always honoured behind the screen.
Her eyes are doves symbolizing peace and love,
And hands so warm that can calm any storm with a touch or a hug,
She is a free spirit woman who you can never tame,
So, if I want to define beauty what it would be?
     -JMJ