The nest of young eagles hung on every word as the Master Eagle described his exploits. This was an important day for the eaglets. They were preparing for their first solo flight from the nest. It was the confidence builder many of them needed to fulfill their destiny.

“How far can I travel?” asked one of the eaglets. “How far can you see?” responded the Master Eagle.

“How high can I fly?” quizzed the young eaglet. “How far can you stretch your wings?” asked the old eagle.

“How long can I fly?” the eaglet persisted. “How far is the horizon?” the mentor rebounded.

“How much should I dream?” asked the eaglet. “How much can you dream?” smiled the older, wiser eagle.

“How much can I achieve?” the young eagle continued. “How much can you believe?” the old eagle challenged.

Frustrated by the banter, the young eagle demanded, “Why don’t you answer my questions?”

“I did.”

“Yes. But you answered them with questions.”

“I answered them the best I could.”

“But you’re the Master Eagle. You’re supposed to know everything. If you can’t answer these questions, who can?”

“You.” The old wise eagle reassured.

“Me? How?” the young eagle was confused.

“No one can tell you how high to fly or how much to dream. It’s different for each eagle. Only God and you know how far you’ll go. No one on this earth knows your potential or what’s in your heart. You alone will answer that. The only thing that limits you is the edge of your imagination.”

The young eagle puzzled by this asked, “What should I do?”

“Look to the horizon, spread your wings, and fly.”

~ Author Unknown

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"The question is not what you look at, but what you see."

~ Henry David Thoreau

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Once the great Anthony of the Desert was relaxing with his disciples outside his hut when a hunter came by. The hunter was surprised to see Anthony relaxing, and rebuffed him for taking it easy. It was not his idea of what a holy monk should be doing.

Anthony replied, “Bend your bow and shoot an arrow.” And the hunter did so. “Bend it again and shoot another arrow,” said Anthony. The hunter did so, again and again.

The hunter finally said, “Abba Anthony, if I keep my bow always stretched, it will break.”

So it is with the monk,” replied Anthony. “if we push ourselves beyond measure, we will break. It is right from time to time to relax our efforts.”

~�Brian Cavanaugh

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"Imagine life as a game in which you are juggling five balls in the air. You name them - work, family, health, friends, and spirit - and you’re keeping all of these in the air. You will soon understand that work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back. But the other four balls - family, health, friends, and spirit are made of glass. If you drop one of these, they will be irrevocably scuffed, marked, nicked, damaged, or even shattered. They will never be the same. You must understand that and strive for balance in your life."

~ Author Unknown

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It was a cold winter’s day that Sunday. The parking lot to the church was filling up quickly. I noticed as I got out of my car fellow church members were whispering among themselves as they walked in the church.

As I got closer I saw a man leaned up against the wall outside the church. He was almost laying down as if he was asleep. He had on a long trench coat that was almost in shreds and a hat topped his head, pulled down so you could not see his face. He wore shoes that looked 30 years old, too small for his feet, with holes all over them, his toes stuck out.

I assumed this man was homeless, and asleep, so I walked on by through the doors of the church.

We all fellowshipped for a few minutes, and someone brought up the man laying outside. People snickered and gossiped but no one bothered to ask him to come in, including me.

A few moments later church began. We all waited for the Preacher to take his place and to give us the Word, when the doors to the church opened.

In came the homeless man walking down the aisle with his head down.

People gasped and whispered and made faces.

He made his way down the aisle and up onto the pulpit where he took off his hat and coat. My heart sank.

There stood our preacher…he was the “homeless man.”

No one said a word.

The preacher took his Bible and laid it on his stand.

“Folks, I don’t think I have to tell you what I am preaching about today. If you judge people, you have no time to love them.”

Coming down heavily on shady operations of fraudulent multi-level marketing companies, Reserve Bank of India [ Get Quote ] has alerted banks to be careful while opening accounts of the marketing/trading agencies.

Many such firms pose as MLM agencies for consumer goods and services and manage to mobilise large amount of deposits from the unsuspecting public with promises of ridiculously high returns.

With MLM companies, operating ponzi schemes mushrooming all over the country, RBI has urged banks to be extremely careful before issuing large number of cheque books to these firms.

Also cautioning the general public from falling prey to such schemes, RBI has named seven MLM companies:

• Fine India Sales Pvt Ltd,
• Lakshya Levels Marketing,
• Eve Industries,
• Trident Advertising and Trade Links Pvt Ltd,
• Super Life Link Distributors,
• Lue Brain Education Society, and
• Manya Mantra Marketing.

“These firms and their agents had reportedly promised very high returns on deposits and lured common people to part with funds in the name of certain investment/deposit schemes,” the RBI said in a circular.

How these MLM companies function:

The representatives of the above firms open accounts at various bank branches at different locations and make numerous small cash deposits in those accounts.

These funds, running into crores of rupees, after being pooled at the Principal Accounts of the MLM firms, were eventually allowed to flow out for purposes apparently illegal or highly risky.

These firms get large number of cheque books issued from the banks, where they have their accounts and issue post dated cheques, of small amounts representing future interest dues and deposit payments, to the investors.

Interesting, investors deposited their money in the accounts of MLMs at places far away from where the accounts were actually opened. This was facilitated by Core Banking Solution offered by the banks.

Since the operations of the firms involve unusually high returns, ongoing repayments of interest and deposit amounts depend on continuous and uninterrupted flow of fresh deposits.

Therefore, at some stage, the flow of deposits get stifled and post dated cheques start bouncing.

Some dubious Websites:

RBI, also published the names of two Websites that some of these MLM firms used to advertise their deposit schemes:

http://www.alaskaindia.net/business_plan.html
http://www.fineindia.net/

**** For Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance Policies consult me on munira_am@rediffmail.com You never know when Life turns its back on YOU. Its better to stay prepared than be SORRY.

 while back, there was a story about Reuben Gonzolas, who was in the final match of his first professional racquetball tournament. He was playing the perennial champion for his first shot at a victory on the pro circuit. At match point in the fifth and final game, Gonzolas made a super “kill shot” into the front corner to win the tournament. The referee called it good, and one of the linemen confirmed the shot was a winner.

But after a moment’s hesitation, Gonzolas turned and declared that his shot had skipped into the wall, hitting the floor first. As a result, the serve went to his opponent, who went on to win the match.

Reuben Gonzolas walked off the court; everyone was stunned. The next issue of a leading racquetball magazine featured Gonzolas on its cover. The lead editorial searched and questioned for an explanation for the first ever occurrence on the professional racquetball circuit. Who could ever imagine it in any sport or endeavor? Here was a player with everything officially in his favor, with victory in his grasp, who disqualifies himself at match point and loses.

When asked why he did it, Gonzolas replied, “It was the only thing I could do to maintain my integrity.”

"If you have integrity, nothing else matters. If you don’t have integrity, nothing else matters."

~ Alan K. Simpson

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"The glue that holds all relationships together - including the relationship between the leader and the led is trust, and trust is based on integrity."

~ Brian Tracy

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“Who did this?” asked my teacher. Thirty children tried to think about not only what they had done, but also what our teacher may have found out. “Who did this?” asked my teacher once more. She wasn’t really asking, she was demanding an answer. She seldom became angry, but she was this time. She held up a piece of broken glass and asked, “Who broke this window?”

“Oh, oh,” I thought. I was the one who broke the window. I had not done it intentionally. It was caused by an errant throw of a baseball. I was working on my knuckleball. It needed more work. Why did it have to be me? It wasn’t really my fault. If I admitted guilt, I would be in a lot of trouble. How would I be able to pay for a big window like that? I didn’t even get an allowance. “My father is going to have a fit,” I thought. I didn’t want to raise my hand, but some force much stronger than I was pulled it skyward. I told the truth. “I did it.” I said no more. It was hard enough saying what I had.

My teacher went to one of our library shelves and took down a book. She then began walking towards my desk. I had never known my teacher to strike a student, but I feared she was going to start with me and she was going to use a book for the swatting.

“I know how you like birds,” she said as she stood looking down at my guilt-ridden face. “Here is that field guide about birds that you are constantly checking out. It is yours. It’s time we got a new one for the school anyway. The book is yours and you will not be punished as long as you remember that I am not rewarding you for your misdeed, I am rewarding you for your truthfulness.”

I couldn’t believe it! I wasn’t being punished and I was getting my very own bird field guide. The very one that I had been saving up money to buy. The money I feared would be going to the school to buy a new window. I wore out that book trying to match the live, flying birds to their depictions in that field guide. The book is gone, so is my wonderful teacher. All that remains of that day is my memory and the lesson my teacher taught me. That lesson stays with me every day and it will echo forever.

~Author Unknown

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It is one thing to show a man that he is in error, and another to put him in possession of truth.

~ John Locke

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Dear Friends

This is to inform you that please do not register with 160by2.com If you have already registered please terminate your account. Your numbers may be forwarded & used by recipients unknown. I have been receiving calls from unidentified people saying they received my number in message & also asking them to join 160by2.

I am invited to go to Guncan-Gima, the site of a Zen Buddhist temple. When I get there, I am surprised to see that the extraordinarily beautiful building, which is situated in the middle of a vast forest, is right next to a huge piece of waste ground.

I ask what the waste ground is for and the man in charge explains:

That is where we will build the next temple. Every twenty years, we destroy the temple you see before you now and rebuild it again on the site next to it. This means that the monks who have trained as carpenters, stonemasons and architects are always using their practical skills and passing them on to their apprentices. It also shows them that nothing in this life is eternal and that even temples are in need of constant improvement.

~Paulo Coelho

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Excellence is the unlimited ability to improve the quality of what you have to offer.

~ Rick Pitino

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**** For Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance Policies consult me on munira_am@rediffmail.com You never know when Life turns its back on YOU. Its better to stay prepared than be SORRY.

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Most of us serve our ideals by fits and starts. The person who makes a success of living is the one who sees his goal steadily and aims for it unswervingly. That, is dedication.

~ Cecil B. De Mille

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If you’re proactive, you don’t have to wait for circumstances or other people to create perspective expanding experiences. You can consciously create your own.

~ Stephan Covey

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