The Perfect Self-appraisal

A little boy went into a store, reached for a soda carton and pulled it over to the telephone. He climbed onto the carton so that he could reach the buttons on the phone and proceeded to punch in seven digits. The store owner observed and listened to the conversation.

The boy asked, "Madam, Can you give me the job of cutting your law n?" The woman replied, "I already have someone to cut my lawn."

"I will cut your lawn for half the price of the person who cuts your lawn now." replied the boy. The woman responded that she was very satisfied with the person who was presently cutting her lawn.

The little boy was even more perseverant and said, "I'll even sweep your curb and your sidewalk, so on Sunday you will have the prettiest lawn in all of Palm beach, Florida." Again the woman answered in the negative.

With a smile on his face, the little boy replaced the receiver.

The store owner, who was listening to this conversation, walked over to the boy and said, "Son... I like your attitude; I like that positive spirit and would like to offer you a job."

The little boy replied, "No thanks, I was just checking my performance on the job I already have. I am the one who is working for the lady I was talking to.

This is what we call ‘Self Appraisal’. Every time if we don’t get ahead of others, we blame others for it. We should look to our self and compare, find own weaknesses and work hard to throw away weaknesses. Always Work Hard, Honest and with full Dedication. It will always pay up.

Success

He has achieved success who has

lived well, laughed often and loved much.

Who has enjoyed the trust of pure women,

the respect of intelligent men , and

the love of little children.

Who has filled his niche and

accomplished his task;

who has left the world better than he

found it, whether by an improved poppy,

a perfect poem or a rescued soul.

Who has never lacked appreciation of

Earth's beauty or failed to express it.

Who has always looked for the best in

others and given them the best he had.

Whose life was an inspiration;

whose memory a benediction.

~ Bessie Anderson Stanley !

What if you stopped worrying about yourself?

Have you ever had people annoy you at work? Or maybe family members whose little habits bothered you? Have you been frustrated by a store clerk or waiter, or maybe the traffic? What about frustration with your kid, or spouse?

How can we become more tolerant, find calm in the middle of all of these annoyances and frustrations?

For me, when I remember, the answer lies in getting outside of myself.

Nearly every moment of every day of our entire lives is spent worrying about ourselves. We are preoccupied by concern about ourselves: am I doing the right thing, will I mess this up, will I be able to meet deadline, what do other people think of me, am I good enough, why is this happening to me, how can I get better, why don’t people listen to me, why don’t they treat me better, why can’t they get out of my way, why is my body so fat, why don’t things go my way, am I missing out on things?

But what if we were freed of this worry about ourselves?

What if, for a little while, we could assume our selves were being taken care of, comforted and protected and accepted?

What if we could stop this Thinking About Self for awhile, and do something else?

Wouldn’t this be a bit liberating? Wouldn’t it be nice to get free of this preoccupation that has taken up our entire lives?

I, for one, welcome this opportunity.

So what happens when we are freed of worrying about ourselves? We can now start looking in on other people, and finding out what they’re like, what they’re going through. It turns out, they are suffering just as much as we are. They are constantly worried about the same things, wanting to be happy but worried about themselves and wondering why this guy is always acting irritated with them.

We can see this suffering, and understand what it’s like, because we’ve just come from our own minds, where the same kinds of things have been going on for years. We can empathize.

We can also want them to suffer less, and maybe comfort them, give them compassion.

Returning to our own minds, arms full of this new information and empathy and compassion … we can maybe be more tolerant when someone doesn’t behave “perfectly” (as if we ever behave perfectly ourselves), when someone is rude or slow or loud. Maybe we can even act kindly towards them, give them a mental hug and see how we can help them.

Of course, it’s easy to return to our self-preoccupied state. I always return here, because it’s such a strongly-ingrained mental habit. But I can see this happening sometimes, and try to get out of the little space that’s my self-preoccupied mind.

Even for the briefest moment, this little bit of floating around can bring a small measure of lightness and happiness. And if you practice it repeatedly, it’s a liberation like no other.