Born as an Albanian in Skopje, then part of the Ottoman Empire. She was baptised the very next day and considered this to be her true birthday. From a young age Teresa was fascinated by stories of missionaries and their work abroad, committing her to focus on a religious life and by the age of 18 she left home to travel to join the ‘Sisters of Loreto’ in Ireland, it was hear she learnt English and the familiarity with monastic day to day living.
Within a year she had moved to India, still staying with the ‘Sisters of Loreto’ and undertook her novice apprenticeship. She studied diligently and as well as learning the scriptures she also learnt Bengali so as to be able to teach at the local convent, now named The Mother Teresa School.
Almost two years after she arrived in India Teresa was to take her first religious vows and choose the spiritual name of Teresa after the patron saint of missionaries. She would spend almost twenty years teaching at the convent, becoming the headmistress in the process.
It wasn’t until 1948 that Mother Teresa found her “call within the call” and began her missionary work with the poor. It was also at this time she replaced the traditional Sisters of Loreto habit with her own unique style of a white cotton sari with a blue boarder. She also adopted Indian citizenship and undertook several months of basic medical training before entering the slums of Calcutta.
A year later she was joined by a small group of young women laying the foundations for her religious community dedicated to helping the poorest amongst the poor. Over the course of almost 50 years Mother Teresa tirelessly fought for the rights of those poor, she founded hundreds of clinics, schools, hospices and community projects, she helped people from all areas of the world, encouraging us all to look within our own neighbourhood to help those in need.
She was a truly inspirational lady and in recognition of her exception life dedicated to others she has been awarded amongst many other awards, the Romon Magsaysay Award for peace and international understanding in 1962, the Pope John xxiii Peace Prize In 1971 and in 1979 the Nobel Peace Prize for work undertaken in the struggle to overcome poverty and distress.
Some of the other awards an merits bestowed upon this great lady include in 1985 the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Order Of Australia in 1982, the Order of Merit and Honourable citizenship of the United States of America and the Balkan Prize for promoting Humanity to name but just a few. Mother Teresa day is held on the 19th October and is seen as a public holiday in her country of birth.
“Peace begins with a smile”
“If you judge people, you have no time to love them”
“Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echos are truly endless”
“Let us always meet each other with a smile, a smile is the beginning of love”
“Do small things with great love”
“It’s not how much we give, but how much love we put into giving”
“Spread love everywhere you go. Let no one ever come to you without leaving happier”
If you have enjoyed these amazing quotes and words of wisdom from such a truly inspirational lady then please share with friends and family
Every week we bring to you a short Moral story that has either inspired or motivated us in some way during our week.
Most of our stories have been loving handcrafted by ourselves into short moral stories that we hope inspire as well as teach a valuable moral lesson in life. A few of our stories are old classics and where the original author is know a credit is always given.
These are a collection of some of our previous Weekly Moral Stories, check back regularly for a new Moral Story every week
The Wind And The Moon
The Wind and the Moon
Once upon a time, there were two very good friends who lived together in the shade of a rock. Strange as it may seem, one was a lion and one was a tiger. They had met when they were too young to know the difference between lions and tigers. So they did not think their friendship was at all unusual. Besides, it was a peaceful part of the mountains, possibly due to the influence of a gentle forest monk who lived nearby. He was a hermit, one who lives far away from other people.
For some unknown reason, one day the two friends got into a silly argument. The tiger said, “Everyone knows the cold comes when the moon wanes from full to new!” The lion said, “Where did you hear such nonsense? Everyone knows the cold comes when the moon waxes from new to full!”
The argument got stronger and stronger. Neither could convince the other. They could not reach any conclusion to resolve the growing dis- pute. They even started calling each other names! Fearing for their friendship, they decided to go ask the learned forest monk, who would surely know about such things.
Visiting the peaceful hermit, the lion and tiger bowed respectfully and put their question to him. The friendly monk thought for a while and then gave his answer. “It can be cold in any phase of the moon, from new to full and back to new again. It is the wind that brings the cold, whether from west or north or east. Therefore, in a way, you are both right! And neither of you is defeated by the other. The most important thing is to live without conflict, to remain united. Unity is best by all means.”
The lion and tiger thanked the wise hermit. They were happy to still be friends.
A Pig called No-squeal
A pig called No-Squeal
Once upon a time, there were two calves who were part of a country household. Their names were little Red and Big Red, At the same home there also lived a girl and a baby pig. Since the pig hardly ever made a sound, he was known as ‘No-squeal’.
The masters of the house treated No-squeal very very well. They fed him large amounts of the very best rice, and even rice porridge with rich brown sugar.
The two calves noticed this. They worked hard pulling plows in the fields and bullock carts on the roads. Little Red said to Big Red, “My big brother, in this household you and I do all the hard work. We bring prosperity to the family. But they feed us only grass and hay. The baby pig No- squeal does nothing to support the family. And yet they feed him the finest and fanciest of foods. Why should he get such special treatment?”
The wise elder brother said, “Oh young one, it is dangerous to envy anybody. Therefore, do not envy the baby pig for being fed such rich food. What he eats is really ‘the food of death”.
“There will soon be a marriage ceremony for the daughter of the house, and little No-squeal will be the wedding feast! That’s why he is being pampered and fed in such rich fashion.
“In a few days the guests will arrive. Then this piglet will be dragged away by the legs, killed, and made into curry for the feast.”
Sure enough, in a few days the wedding guests arrived. The baby pig No-squeal was dragged away and killed. And just as Big Red had said, he was cooked in various types of curries and devoured by the guests.
Then Big Red said, “My dear young brother, did you see what happened to baby No- squeal?” “Yes brother,” replied Little Red, “now I understand.”
Big Red continued, “This is the result of being fed such rich food., Our poor grass and hay are a hundred times better than his rich porridge and sweet brown sugar. For our food brings no harm to us, but instead promises long life!”
Don’t envy the well-off, until you know the price they pay.
Of all the mental poisons Anger and hatred are by far the worst, a daily diet of hatred and anger can only lead to dissolution, self pity, Depression and loneliness. Anger and hatred are the driving force behind violence, human genocide and every war either religious or political. So what is anger and hatred? Where does anger come from? Why do some people get more angry than others? And what are the triggers for anger and hatred?
Anger and Hatred
Everyone, if totally honest with themselves, has experience and suffered form bouts of anger and hatred at some point in their lives. Anger and hatred are the equal opposite of love and peace, with the American Psychological Association stating that “anger is a completely normal, usually healthy, human emotion” however Wikipedia tells us that “A person experiencing anger will often experience physical conditions such as increase heart rate elevated blood pressure and increase levels of adrenaline and noradrenaline.”
Where does anger come from?
Anger is born out of frustration or injustice usually because of an illogical idea that something/someone, we have no control over, should be, or be happening or has happened differently than your personal requirements.
There are a few websites out there, American Psychological Association and Medical News Today, as examples, claiming that anger is a natural emotional state. I would like to disagree wholeheartedly to this and state that, Anger is an emotional response to a given set of circumstances, anger is a choice not a natural state of consciousness.
This may sound controversial but let me explain.
Now a bit of science
We in the west are scientifically minded. If an experiment using the same formulas is repeated anywhere in the world it must have the same results before it is established as fact.
If we take this synopsis and apply it to anger and hatred and on a hot day pour cold water over 10 individuals the results will become clear.
The facts of the experiment is the water is cold and the day is hot. The reaction of the individuals won’t be the same, the majority may well scream blue murder resulting in anger, however one may very well react differently, perhaps a feeling of being cooled or refreshed by the water may be the experience. Because of these variations in our human reactions, anger is present but it a choice what makes us angry, and what may make you angry doesn’t necessarily make another angry.
Yes I hear some of you cry, but that is just one trigger for anger what about other situations, like road rage, or being robbed. In each situation the individual reaction can and will be different depending on the individuals past experiences and memories.
Let’s choose differently
There are so many examples where an individual has chosen love and peace instead of hatred and anger. Etty Hillesum wrote a few months before she died at Auschwitz concentration camp that “I can see no way around it. Each of us must look inside himself and excise and destroy everything he finds there which he believes should be excised and destroyed in others” the Dalia Lama had a visit from a Tibetan monk who had be imprisoned and tortured for twenty five years in a Chinese labour camp. When asked was he fearful, he responded “I was often afraid of hitting my torturers, for in doing so I would have destroyed myself”. After the bomb attack that killed hundreds in Oklahoma City in 1995, the father of a three year old daughter lost in the attack was asked if he wanted to see the instigator executed, he replied “Another death isn’t going to bring my daughter back”
The Dalia Lama says it best “Even if we allow our rage to go all the way, we will never eliminate all our enemies”
Anger in other Animals
One fact about anger and hatred that is typically common to humans, is that we can spend prolonged periods of time in rage, anger and hatred. As humans we can wallow in anger and we can carry hatred with us for hours, days even years,
If we look at the other animals we share this magnificent planet with, we won’t find an angry elephant or a lion spending its day wallowing in a sea of anger, yes there are moments and displays of aggression and dominance and you may well find a grumpy elephant but never for a prolonged period of time, that seems to be reserved as a human animal trait
My Experience
My most profound experience with seeing anger manifest within my own mind and then my subsequent analysis of this most dangerous of disease was when I was a Buddhist monk in north an Thailand.
We were all lined up in an orderly line for our one meal of the day. The food was all arranged neatly on the table and each monk was taking it in turns to fill his bowl, when one of the senior monks turns around to me and calmly states
“you have a lot of anger in you!”
I smiled the sweetest smile I could and calmly said
“no I don’t”
all the while inwardly I was thinking how rude! How dare you say such a thing! And generally reacting with anger. It was at this moment I caught myself, caught my mind at work.
I didn’t eat that day, I walked off and sat in meditation analysing my anger and its root causes, what was it? where did it came from? why had such a simple sentence effected me so much, where in my body was I feeling anger? The answers surprised
Anger is a choice, just as we choose to be happy or sad, optimistic or pessimistic, anger is a choice only you can make.
Mahatma Gandhi once said
“nobody can walk with dirty feet through my mind without my permission”
Generally however we react with a conditioned response, learned over time by experience and memory. To respond differently takes courage and wisdom. To respond differently requires compassion and patience, to respond differently we need to see anger and hatred for what they truly are!
The Story of The Flea
Now I’m going to change the pace a little and tell you a story, the story of the common household flea. The remarkable facts of the common flea demonstrate how we too can become pre-condition in our way of thinking.
The common flea has the ability to jump 200 times its own height. If you then trap that same flea under a glass jar he will soon learn that there is an upper limit, a glass ceiling, to his jumping ability. Try as he might to reach his full potential he will now hit his head every time. After many attempts the flea will now adopt a new jumping height so as not to hit his head.
The remarkable thing is when you take the glass jar away. The flea has now been conditioned by experience and memory that if he try’s to jump any higher than his previous glass jar prison he will bang his head. He will now only jump to that pre-conditioned height of just under that ceiling level.
Story of the Baby Elephant
The same story is to be found in elephants, from a young age the baby elephant is shackled by a chain around one leg, this is then attached to a large metal stake that is hammered deep into the ground. Try as he might that elephant won’t budge or pull the stake out of the ground, over time he is conditioned by experience and memory that is is useless to pull at the stake it won’t come out, and it cannot free itself. Now that same elephant only needs to be lightly staked to the ground and it won’t even attempt to pull itself free, it has learnt from past experience and memory. Even the mighty elephant can be conditioned.
If you feel sorry for the elephant in the last story, may I ask is it because you notice the same conditioning in your own life, that same conditioning that is the cause of your anger, the same conditioning that now controls so much of our lives.
Our Conditioned Lives
We have all conditioned ourselves through our experiences and memories, maybe it’s time we pulled our own steaks out the ground, maybe today is the day we dare to jump just a little higher.
So how do we dare to jump higher, how do we gain the courage to pull our conditioned steaks out of the ground, how do we notice what conditions are limiting our abilities, and how do we change our natural response such as anger to certain given circumstances or experiences.
So now we have come full circle, We have all suffered form bouts of anger at some point in our lives, remember that anger is born out of frustration or injustice usually because of an illogical idea that something/someone, we have no control over, should be, or be happening or have happened differently to meet your personal requirements.
We also now know that anger and hatred are a choice, it is also because of our pre-conditioning that we react the way we do, we have also seen how humans can carry anger for prolonged periods of time, a trait only found with us. We have also seen different triggers for anger but that each is responsible for his or her own reaction. The question now is, how do we stop reacting with anger? How can we change our pre-conditions response?
How Meditation can help
Meditation is the only real way to notice those pre-conditioned responses, to see first hand the destructive nature of anger not to the person or object it’s directed towards, but the real deep and lasting harm it is doing to ourselves. So what is meditation?
Meditation as cited by the Oxford English Dictionary is “The action to focus one’s mind for a period of time, for religious or spiritual purposes or as a method of relaxation” and Wikipedia describes it as “is a practice where an individual uses a technique of focusing their mind on a particular object”.
Meditation in days of old was a passage to gain spiritual enlightenment, however today the usage of the word meditation and mindfulness can be over used by a commercial industry selling self help, relaxation and stress reduction.
The Benefits of Meditation are far more than just relaxation, yes it produces results of calming, compassion, equanimity and a general feeling of contentment, but if used as a regular practice true everlasting peace, contentment and wellbeing can be achieved through dropping our pre-conditioned ideals, relieving us from Depression, Anxiety, anger and hatred.
By following some of the simple meditation exercises and guide lines within these webpages you will start to see the destructive nature of anger and hatred first hand. One of the best places to start with meditation and mindfulness is Breathing Meditation also known as Samadhi Meditation. Using our breath as the focus point of out meditation will build our levels and powers of concentration along with the other Benefits Meditation brings.
All the meditations given in these pages have been handed down generation after generation for over 2500 years and were passed onto me by meditation masters when I was a Buddhist monk in Thailand.
Once you see for yourself how anger eats us inside, creating hatred and desires for revenge, how it can consume us wholeheartedly taking our valuable life’s energy, then anger can be truly conquered. It takes great courage and wisdom to meditate, but meditation will take us to places you never thought possible.
The best advice to give anyone in life is to meditate, follow the breath and our Breathing Meditation also known as Samadhi Meditation and start becoming more grounded and present in this moment. For in the present moment there cannot exists hatred, anger, discrimination or prejudice, for in the present moment only lives love, compassion, happiness, and contentment.
“The Earth provides enough to satisfy every mans need, but not every mans GREED”
“The future depends on what we do in the present”
“I will not let anyone walk through my mind with their dirty feet”
“You must be the change you wish to see in the world”
“There is more to life than increasing its speed”
“NOBODY can hurt me without my permission”
Mahatma Gandhi 1869-1948
Leader of the Indian independence movement against the British rule of the time. Most memorable for his non violence approach, leading his fellow countrymen on a 400km march to the salt pans of Dandi in protest of the British imposed salt tax. Living modestly Gandhi wore the traditional Indian dhoti which he hand spun on his charkha.
He ate simple vegetarian food and undertook long fasts as a means of both self purification and political protest. October 2nd is Gandhi’s birthday and worldwide has become the international day of non violence, in India it is also a national holiday.
Every week we bring to you a short Moral story that has either inspired or motivated us in some way during our week.
Most of our stories have been loving handcrafted by ourselves into short moral stories that we hope inspire as well as teach a valuable moral lesson in life. A few of our stories are old classics and where the original author is know a credit is always given.
These are a collection of some of our previous Weekly Moral Stories, check back regularly for a new Moral Story every week
The farmer and the baker
The Farmer and Baker
Once, there was a farmer who regularly sold butter to a baker. One day, the baker decided to weigh the butter to see if he was getting the exact amount that he asked for. He found out that he wasn’t, so he took the farmer to court.
The judge asked the farmer if he uses any measure to weigh the butter. The farmer replied, “Your Honor, I’m primitive. I don’t have a proper measure, but I do have a scale.”
The judge replied, “Then how do you weigh the butter?”
The farmer replied; “Your Honor, long before the baker started buying butter from me, I have been buying a pound loaf of bread from him. Every day, when the baker brings the bread, I put it on the scale and give him the same weight in butter. If anyone is to be blamed, it’s the baker
The Wise Old Man
People came to visit a wise man always complaining about the same problems over and over again. One day, he decided to tell them a joke and they all roared with laughter.
After a few minutes, he told them the same joke and only a few of them smiled.
Then he told the same joke for a third time, but no one laughed or smiled anymore.
The wise man smiled and said: “You can’t laugh at the same joke over and over. So why are you always crying about the same problem
The helping hand
A Helping hand
This is a story about Albert Williams, Albert was 84 years young with good health and always in good spirits. Albert had a routine for the last eleven years since the passing of his dearly beloved wife, Ethel. He would at 6pm everyday walk the quick 5 minutes to the train station, catch the train for two stops, where he would then walk for another 5 minutes to his favourite restaurant, the restaurant where he proposed to his wife. The staff had got to know Albert and always welcomed him with warm hearts.
On this particular evening in question as Albert went through his usual routine, walking the 5 minutes to the train station and taking the train two stops, it was as Albert was getting off the train that he noticed someone hanging around on the platform. As Albert started to climb the stairs the stranger approached carrying a knife.
“Give me all your money gramps!”
So I gave him my wallet without hesitation Albert told me. But as the teenager is walking away seeming satisfied with his loot, I suddenly find myself calling after him
“Hey wait a minute” I say “you forgot something”
My assailant swings round looking puzzled
“It’s really cold out, and I thought if your going to be robbing people all night maybe you best take my coat as well”
The teenager looked really stunned
“You what!, like you want to give me your coat as well”
“Well I thought your need for the coat might be more than mine, besides I don’t live far away, look I’m just going for a bite to eat, let me also buy you a good meal keep you going on such a cold night”
“Like is this some joke”
“No I’m deadly serious, look come no tricks”
So they walked together the five minutes or so to the restaurant, Albert chatting all the way trying to get the kid to open up a bit. Once inside the staff come out and greeted Albert as usual, the barman, then the owner and then the chef, all while the kid looks on in amazement.
“You own the joint or something” he asks
“No I just eat hear a lot these days”
“Yer but you’re like nice to everyone, even that dishwasher guy”
“Where you not bought up to be nice to everybody” I questioned
“Well yer, I guess, but I never thought anyone actually were that way”
“So tell me, what do you want to become with your life” I asked
The teen looked down with a rather saddened expression on his face, he just couldn’t answer me or maybe didn’t want to, he just looked so dejected with life.
We continued to talk and drink some more until the bill finally arrived.
“Look” Albert said “I promised you I would take you out and buy you a proper meal, but seeing how you got my wallet I can’t, so pass it over and let me pay”
The teen did without hesitation, and gave the wallet back. Albert paid and gave the teen who Albert now knew as Paul $50 and hoped this would help him. There was just one thing Albert asked for in return for the $50 and that was the knife, again Paul without hesitation gave Albert the knife.
A little kindness can go a very long way in helping those around us.
The mouse merchant
The Mouse Merchant
Once upon a time, an important adviser to a certain king was on his way to a meeting with the king and other advisers. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a dead mouse by the roadside. He said to those who were with him. “Even from such small beginnings as this dead mouse, an energetic young fellow could build a fortune. If he worked hard and used his intelligence, he could start a business and support a wife and family.”
A passer-by heard the remark. He knew this was a famous adviser to the king, so he decided to follow his words. He picked up the dead mouse by the tail and went off with it. As luck would have it, before he had gone even a block, a shopkeeper stopped him. He said, “My cat has been pestering me all morning. I’ll give you two copper coins for that mouse.” So it was done.
With the two copper coins, he bought sweet cakes, and waited by the side of the road with them and some water. As he expected, some peo- ple who picked flowers for making garlands were returning from work. Since they were all hungry
and thirsty, they agreed to buy sweet cakes and water for the price of a bunch of flowers from each of them. In the evening, the man sold the flowers in the city. With some of the money he bought more sweet cakes and returned the next day to sell to the flower pickers.
This went on for a while, until one day there was a terrible storm, with heavy rains and high winds. While walking by the king’s pleasure garden, he saw that many branches had been blown off the trees and were lying all around. So he offered to the king’s gardener that he would clear it all away for him, if he could keep the branches. The lazy gardener quickly agreed.
The man found some children playing in a park across the street. They were glad to collect all the branches and brush at the entrance to the pleasure garden, for the price of just one sweet cake for each child.
Along came the king’s potter, who was al- ways on the lookout for firewood for his glazing oven. When he saw the piles of wood the children had just collected, he paid the man a handsome price for it. He even threw into the bargain some of his pots.
With his profits from selling the flowers and the firewood, the man opened up a refresh- ment shop. One day all the local grass mowers, who were on their way into town, stopped in his
shop. He gave them free sweet cakes and drinks. They were surprised at his generosity and asked, “What can we do for you?” He said there was nothing for them to do now, but he would let them know in the future.
A week later, he heard that a horse dealer was coming to the city with 500 horses to sell. So he got in touch with the grass mowers and told each of them to give him a bundle of grass. He told them not to sell any grass to the horse dealer until he had sold his. In this way he got a very good price.
Time passed until one day, in his refresh- ment shop, some customers told him that a new ship from a foreign country had just anchored in the port. He saw this to be the opportunity he had been waiting for. He thought and thought until he came up with a good business plan.
First, he went to a jeweler friend of his and paid a low price for a very valuable gold ring, with a beautiful red ruby in it. He knew that the foreign ship was from a country that had no rubies of its own, where gold too was expensive. So he gave the wonderful ring to the captain of the ship as an advance on his commission. To earn this commission, the captain agreed to send all his passengers to him as a broker. He would then lead them to the best shops in the city. In turn, the man
got the merchants to pay him a commission for sending customers to them.
Acting as a middle man in this way, after several ships came into port, the man became very rich. Being pleased with his success, he also re- membered that it had all started with the words of the king’s wise adviser. So he decided to give him a gift of 100,000 gold coins. This was half his en- tire wealth. After making the proper arrange- ments, he met with the king’s adviser and gave him the gift, along with his humble thanks.
The adviser was amazed, and he asked, “How did you earn so much wealth to afford such a generous gift?” The man told him it had all started with the adviser’s own words not so long ago. They had led him to a dead mouse, a hungry cat, sweet cakes, bunches of flowers, storm dam- aged tree branches, children in the park, the king’s potter, a refreshment shop, grass for 500 horses, a golden ruby ring, good business contacts, and fi- nally a large fortune.
Hearing all this, the royal adviser thought to himself, “It would not be good to lose the tal- ents of such an energetic man. I too have much wealth, as well as my beloved only daughter. As this man is single, he deserves to marry her. Then he can inherit my wealth in addition to his own, and my daughter will be well cared for.”
This all came to pass, and after the wise adviser died, the one who had followed his advice became the richest man in the city. The king ap- pointed him to the adviser’s position. Throughout his remaining life, he generously gave his money for the happiness and well being of many people.
If you have enjoyed these mini tales of wisdom then it would be awesome if you could share with your friends.
