Tag: #lessons

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

Shadows..

~ Joyce Mary J ~ 8 Comments 


Light was her companion, 
Shadows her playmates,
Born with a heart of gold,
The kid was always full of hope.
Taking her little fingers out,
She made shapes of butterfly and goat,
Laughing at all her creations,
She never thought that she would face a retaliation.
Growing up she made jokes on all the shadow creatures that she made,
Making stories for her play,
She directed them how to move,
And was proud to write their screenplays.


Situations changed,
The kid grew up to become a fine young woman,
She never remembered her little friends,
And forgot about all the plays that she made for them.
Now,the light she loved became dimmer day by day,
Atlast,to find herself all alone in a dark way,
Scared to death,
She tried to find back her shadow friends.


All in a vain,
Not knowing about the darkness that she was in,
"Where are you all? I'm afraid, please come back", she screamed,
But, things were going to unfold in a way that she never would have thought or could have dreamed.
In darkness, her friends started to show their true colours,
Even her own shadow disappeared leaving her distressed, 
All other ones played a different game with her,
This time, they wrote a screenplay for her.
-JMJ

Keeping Hope Alive…

~ Joyce Mary J ~ 16 Comments

When life pulls you down again and again, get back up, put on your shoes and go outside. Keep your eyes open and observe. It is where the nature teaches you how to be strong and positive against all the adversities; not just to survive but to thrive.

-JMJ

Flowers grow out of dark moments.

Corita Kent

I want to stay a while, wrapped in silence, the way the trees and rocks and the ground beneath my feet are wrapped in moss and ivy and soft, green lichen.

 Cathy Cassidy

Deep sleeps the winter, cold, wet, and grey; surely all the world is dead; spring is far away.  Wait! the world shall waken; it is not dead, for lo, the Fair Maids of February stand in the snow! 

Cicely Mary Barker 

Does the robin sing because the cold of winter is leaving or the warmth of spring is coming? Or might he be singing because each without the other would lessen both?

Craig D. Lounsbrough

Obstacles don’t have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don’t turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it or work around it.

Michael Jordan

Fingerprints…

~ Joyce Mary J ~ 36 Comments 

It's all over me and inside me,
From the uppermost layers of dead cells of my skin,
To the innermost dark caves of my soul,
From birth to till this age, 
All those fingerprints had made me,
And moulded me.

The tapping hands on my back when I was born to make me breath,
The soothing ones when I cried,
The loving touch of my mother and father,
And the caring ones of my beloved grandparents.

The naughty ones of my little brother who pulled my hair during fights,
Teachers who gave their blessings on my head,
The friends who loved to hold my hands and hug,
And the family next-door who gave me food when my parents were not at home.

The touch of a person who I loved the most,
The words of the same which made prints on my heart and soul,
The people who disgraced me for who I'm,
The hands which tore me inside out.

The little fingers which aroused all my motherly instincts,
To love and to care without any conditions,
To be strong against all the evils when it's needed,
To find happiness and be hopeful about the future.

The person who left me hanging on the thread,
The people who ruined everything what was left,
The hands which shattered everything one after another, 
To destroy my life and to crush my spirit. 

All those fingerprints in my life,
Taught me how to be a human,
To be brave and vulnerable at the same time,
To be positive when I find negativity all outside,
To smile and be kind to someone who is being unkind.

-JMJ

The Attention..

~ Joyce Mary J ~ 26 Comments 

While fluttering around,
Beautiful with vibrant colored wings,
 I captured your attention,
And I saw that you were totally in awe of my beauty!
Where is your attention?
Is it on my wings?
I'm not just that,
Those wings are the signs of my success,
From hardship and darkness,
And I'm proud of them.
But, I'm more than that.
Once I was a caterpillar,
Just like any other worms I used to crawl,
To fill my belly,
And I ate,
 I ate so much that one day I couldn't move.


I was not able to take a single step and I lost my appetite,
No one cared about me,
So, I found shelter in darkness,
Left alone to die, I covered myself so that no one could ever see me.
I spent several days in despair with no light in my life,
But, that was not the end,
I transformed that I could no longer stay in the cage,
 That I made myself for me.
Now, I'm free, I'm humble and I'm strong,
Not just beautiful,
So, where is your attention?
Is it on my wings?
-JMJ