Inspiring Stories

Inspiring Stories for Students: Fisherman Story!

One day a fisherman was lying on a beautiful beach with his fishing pole propped up in the sand and his solitary line cast out into the sparkling blue surf.

He was enjoying the warmth of the afternoon sun and the prospect of catching a fish.

About that time, a businessman came walking down the beach trying to relieve some of the stress of his workday. He noticed the fisherman sitting on the beach and decided to find out why this fisherman was fishing instead of working harder to make a living for himself and his family.

“You aren’t going to catch many fish that way,” said the businessman to the fisherman, “you should be working rather than lying on the beach!”

The fisherman looked up at the businessman, smiled and replied, “And what will my reward be?”

“Well, you can get bigger nets and catch more fish!” was the businessman’s answer.

“And then what will my reward be?” asked the fisherman, still smiling.

The businessman replied, “You will make money and you’ll be able to buy a boat which will then result in larger catches of fish!”

“And then what will my reward be?” asked the fisherman again.

The businessman was beginning to get a little irritated with the fisherman’s questions.

“You can buy a bigger boat and hire some people to work for you!” he said.

“And then what will my reward be?” repeated the fisherman.

The businessman was getting angry. “Don’t you understand? You can build up a fleet of fishing boats, sail all over the world, and let all your employees catch fish for you!”

Once again the fisherman asked, “And then what will my reward be?”

The businessman was red with rage and shouted at the fisherman, “Don’t you understand that you can become so rich that you will never have to work for your living again! You can spend all the rest of your days sitting on this beach looking at the sunset. You won’t have a care in the world!”

The fisherman, still smiling, simply looked up, nodded and said: “And what do you think I am doing now?” He then looked at the sunset, with his pole in the water, without a care in the world.

However, both the fisherman and the businessman were wrong in their materialistic outlook. We don’t have to work hard so that we become rich, sit in the beach and have no care in the world. Islam teaches us to work hard to serve our family and our community and earn the pleasure of Allah (swt), regardless of whether we are poor or rich.

Inspiring Stories for Students: Grasshopper and Ant story of Hard Work bring Success

One cold, frosty day in the middle of winter a colony of ants was busy drying out some, grains of corn, which had grown damp during the wet autumn weather.

A grasshopper half dead with cold and hunger, came up to one of the ants. “Please give me a grail or two from your store of corn to save my life,” he said faintly.

“We worked day and night to get this corn in. Why should I give it to you?” asked the ant crossly. “Whatever were you doing all last summer when you should have been gathering your food?”

Oh I didn’t have time for things like that, said the grasshopper. “I was far too busy singing to carry corn about.”

The ant laughed I unkindly. “In that case you can sing all winter as far as I am concerned,” he said. And without another word he turned back to his work.

Islam teaches us that we should help the less fortunate. But it also teaches us that we must work hard and not rely on the kindness of others for our daily needs.

Inspiring Stories for Students: Fruits of labour (Hard Work bring Success)

There once lived a rich businessman who had a lazy and fun loving son. The businessman wanted his son to be hard-working and responsible. He wanted him to realize the value of labour. One day he summoned his son and said: “Today, I want you to go out and earn something, failing which you won’t have your meals tonight.”

The boy was callous and not used to any kind of work. This demand by his father scared him and he went crying straight to his mother. Her heart melted at the sight of tears in her son’s eyes. She grew restless. In a bid to help him she gave him a gold coin. In the evening when the father asked his son what he had earned, the son promptly presented him the gold coin. The father then asked him to throw it into a well. The son did as he was told.

The father was a man of wisdom and experience and guessed that the source of the gold coin was the boy’s mother. The next day he sent his wife to her parent’s town and asked his son to go and earn something with the threat of being denied the night meals if he failed. This time he went crying to his sister who sympathized with him and gave him a rupee coin out of her own savings. When his father asked him what he had earned the boy tossed the rupee coin at him. The father again asked him to throw it in a well. The son did it quite readily. Again the father’s wisdom told him that the rupee coin was not earned by his son. He then sent his daughter to her in-laws’ house. He again asked his son to go out and earn with the threat that he shall not have anything for dinner that night.

This time since there was no one to help him out; the son was forced to go to the market in search of work. One of the shopkeepers there told him that he would pay him two rupees if he carried his trunk to his house. The rich man’s son could not refuse and was drenched in sweat by the time he finished the job. His feet were trembling and his neck and back were aching. There were rashes on his back. As he returned home and produced the two rupee note before his father and was asked to throw it into the well, the horrified son almost cried out. He could not imagine throwing his hard-earned money like this. He said amid sobbing: “Father! My entire body is aching. My back has rashes and you are asking me to throw the money into the well.”

At this the businessman smiled. He told him that one feels the pain only when the fruits of hard labour are wasted. On earlier two occasions he was helped by his mother and sister and therefore had no pain in throwing the coins into the well. The son had now realized the value of hard work. He vowed never to be lazy and safe keep the father’s wealth. The father handed over the keys of his shop to the son and promised to guide him through the rest of the life.

Moral of the Story: Some of the life’s best lessons come from the hardest situations.

A great lesson of life from one of the smallest creatures of Allah (SWT): Ant Story

One morning I wasted nearly an hour watching a tiny ant carry a huge feather cross my back terrace. Several times it was confronted by obstacles in its path and after a momentary pause it would make the necessary detour.

At one point the ant had to negotiate a crack in the concrete about 10mm wide. After brief contemplation the ant laid the feather over the crack, walked across it and picked up the feather on the other side then continued on its way.

I was fascinated by the ingenuity of this ant, one of Allah’s smallest creatures. It served to reinforce the miracle of creation. Here was a minute insect, lacking in size yet equipped with a brain to reason, explore, discover and overcome. But this ant, like the two-legged co-residents of this planet, also shares human failings.

After some time the ant finally reached its destination – a flower bed at the end of the terrace and a small hole that was the entrance to its underground home. And it was here that the ant finally met its match. How could that large feather possibly fit down small hole?

Of course it couldn’t. So the ant, after all this trouble and exercising great ingenuity, overcoming problems all along the way, just abandoned the feather and went home.

The ant had not thought the problem through before it began its epic journey and in the end the feather was nothing more than a burden.

Isn’t our life like that?

We worry about our family; we worry about money or the lack of it, we worry about work, about where we live, about all sorts of things. These are all burdens – the things we pick up along life’s path and lug them around the obstacles and over the crevasses that life will bring, only to find that at the destination they are useless and we can’t take them with US……

Inspiring Stories for Students: Are you a wealthy Man?

A saint was praying silently. A wealthy merchant, observing the saint’s devotion and sincerity, was deeply touched by him. The merchant offered the saint a bag of gold. “I know that you will use the money for Allah’s sake. Please take it.”

“Just a moment.” The saint replied. “I’m not sure if it is lawful for me to take your money. Are you a wealthy man? Do you have more money at home?

“Oh yes. I have at least one thousand gold pieces at home,” claimed the merchant proudly.

“Do you want a thousand gold pieces more? Asked the saint.

“Why not, of course yes. Every day I work hard to earn more money.”

“And do you wish for yet a thousand gold pieces more beyond that?”

“Certainly. Every day I pray that I may earn more and more money.”

The saint pushed the bag of gold back to the merchant. “I am sorry, but I cannot take your gold,” he said. “A wealthy man cannot take money from a beggar.”

“How can you call yourself a wealthy man and me a beggar?” the merchant spluttered.

Funny Inspiration Quotes

Funny Inspirational Quotes to cheer you up, inspire and motivate you or quite simply to make you smile.

I have been through some terrible things in my life, some of which actually happened.”
Mark Twain

If lawyers are disbarred and clergymen defrocked, doesn’t it follow that electricians can be delighted; musicians denoted; cowboys deranged; models deposed; tree surgeons debarked and dry cleaners depressed?
Viginia Ostman

Everything comes to him who hustles while he waits.
Thomas Edison

Never let formal education get in the way of your learning.
Mark Twain

An alcoholic is someone you don’t like who drinks as much as you do.
Dylan Thomas

Monday is an awful way to spend 1/7th of your life.

Borrow money from pessimists-they don’t expect it back.

Shin: a device for finding furniture in the dark.

The hardness of the butter is proportional to the softness of the bread.

The sooner you fall behind, the more time you’ll have to catch up.

A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory.

If you must choose between two evils, pick the one you’ve never tried before.

I’d kill for a Nobel Peace Prize.

Bills travel through the mail at twice the speed of checks.

Why is the time of day with the slowest traffic called rush hour?

Do you think Houdini ever locked his keys in his car?

If procrastinators had a club would they ever have a meeting?

Why is there always one in every crowd?

If all the world is a stage, where does the audience sit?

Is it possible to have deja vu and amnesia at the same time?

How do you know when it’s time to tune your bagpipes?

Inspirational Short Stories

Inspirational Short Stories especially from teenagers and students around the world. Here you will find stories of achievement, courage, challenges overcome and plain simple little acts of kindness.

Helen Keller
Helen Keller lived in a world of darkness and silence. She was eighteen months old when she contracted a virus which robbed her of her sight and hearing. Imagine what that must have been like!

As she got older she developed terrible temper tantrums because she couldn’t communicate with others. That is until one day Anne Sullivan came into her life. Anne was about to change Helen for ever.

Anne was once blind but had regained her sight. She taught Helen through touch. She would take her hand and stroke a cat with it. Then she would write Cat on the back of her hand. Then she would put Helen’s hand on her vocal chords and say the word Cat.

She did this with everything and eventually Helen began to ‘feel’ the world that she lived in. Later in life Helen would be able to actually ‘speak’ so that Anne could understand her.

Helen and Anne travelled the world together giving talks about hope and overcoming the challenges that we all face in life. Helen became a sought after motivational speaker.

She wrote three books, ‘The Story of my Life’ in 1903, ‘Out of the dark’ in 1913 and ‘Teacher’ in 1955.

In 1904 she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree.

Three films were made about her. ‘Deliverance’ in 1918, ‘The Unconquered’ in 1953 and ‘The Miracle Worker’ in 1959.
In 1964 Helen was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Lyndon Johnson and in 1965 she was elected to the Women’s Hall of Fame at the New York World’s Fair.
One of her famous quotes – ‘The world may be full of suffering but it is also full of overcoming’.

Have A Great Story?
Please share it with us!

Role Models

Life can be wonderful for some of us and for others, extremely tough. It is actually the tough part, our problems and challenges, that will define who we eventually become.

The great role models of this world can play a major part in our lives because we can learn from them and be inspired by their qualities, traits, stories and challenges.

Every single one of us will have problems and challenges in our lives. To overcome them we will need to dig deep and find all the strengths that we have – determination, persistence, resilience, courage and a positive mental attitude.

Dig even deeper and you will find the most wonderful part of you – the human spirit!

So who are these role models that have made a difference in people’s lives?

Role Models like:

Helen Keller who although blind and deaf from age 2 traveled the world with her message ‘the world may be full of suffering but it is also full of overcoming’. Some of us actually believe we have a big problem in our life and when we compare to Helen Keller’s we realise we don’t. Or, maybe we do have a problem as big as Helen’s and then suddenly realise if she can overcome her problem I can do the same. The human spirit is an amazing thing.

Lance Armstrong who beat cancer and then went on to beat the world’s greatest cyclists seven years consecutively. I hope you bought one of his rubber wristbands because you would have helped to make the world a little bit better. This man’s positive mental attitude and determination to win, to beat, to overcome is truly inspirational.

Martin Luther King who stood up to discrimination and poverty and helped pave the way for greater equal rights in America. No one can ever say that one person can’t make a difference in this world. We can all make a difference. The only thing we need is the hunger. We need to want something badly enough.

Mahatma Gandhi who believed in non-violence and who was instrumental in standing up to the British Empire and getting India its freedom. A man of peace. A man who was above differences of colour, caste, religion or nationality. A man who is remembered the world over. He died with only a few personal possessions. His choice through his spirituality.

Thomas Edison who proved that through persistence and determination he could achieve. He finally invented the light bulb after some 10,000 ‘failures’. He didn’t see them as failures , he saw them as steps closer to achieving his goal. He was Henry Ford’s role model!

Einstein, one of the greatest brains of the 20th century whose theory of relativity took the scientific world by storm. Contrary to popular belief he did not go to university and in fact started off working as a clerk in a patents office. Slow to learn and not able to speak until after age 2. He said, “Imagination is more important than knowledge.” What a great message for those who have low self-esteem because they believe they lack intelligence.

Winston Churchill helped beat Germany in World War 2 and saved Britain from defeat. Not bad for someone who failed sixth grade and who was defeated in every election until age 62 when he became Prime Minister.

Abraham Lincoln failed in the army. Failed in business. Lost his sweetheart when she died. Had a nervous breakdown. Was defeated many, many times in politics especially for nomination for Congress, for US Senate, for vice-presidency in 1856. But, became the President of the United States in 1860.

F. W. Woolworth was not allowed to deal with customers when he worked in a dry goods store because his boss believed he he didn’t have enough sense.

Richard Bach wrote Jonathan Livingston Seagull in 1970 story about a “soaring eagle. After being turned down by many publishers Macmillan finally published it in 1970. By 1975 it had sold more than 7 million copies.

How to Reduce Fear (A great Demotivator)

How to Reduce Fear is by no means simple or easy for everyone. In fact it may take a long time for some people to ever be cured of their fear or phobia.

In the worlds of psychoanalysis, psychology and psychiatry there is no quick cure for everyone’s fears. If there was we would have heard about it. Yet, there are some amazing techniques that seem to work for certain people. You may just be one of the lucky ones. Read on.

Tapping on Meridian Lines

One of the oldest known traditions of Chinese Medicine is Acupuncture. It dates back thousands of years. As you probably know it works by putting very small needles into the meridian or energy lines that run through the body. These are mean’t to ‘unblock’ the flow of energy that was created by illness or by some form of shock to the body.

In the last 20 years or so a form of Acupressure called Energy Tapping which ‘taps’ or puts pressure on certain points of the meridian lines has comes to the fore with some pretty amazing results. The powers that be reckon that Tapping can give us relief from stress, anxiety, fear, negative and limiting thoughts.

Benefits of Failure

So what exactly do I mean when I state Benefits of Failure? Well, I believe that every human being was born to achieve. Yet many times I have met people who believed that they were talentless, unintelligent or that their lives were ruined by adversity and ultimately failure.

Failure is inevitable to every one of us. Whether it be personal, in relationships or in business. Everyone fails at something. No one is perfect. It is also failure that will drag us kicking and screaming out of our comfort zones. It will take us on a journey deep within ourselves and that is where we will find our strengths. This is where we find the Benefits of Failure.

It is also where we will find our greatness.

If you are one of those who doubt yourself then please take a few minutes to read the following stories of some amazing people.

Abraham Lincoln
On the 12 February 1809 Abraham Lincoln was born. He went on to become one of the greatest Presidents in the USA. His life is a great example of why we should never accept defeat or failure. No matter how many times we have to face them.

•His parent were poor pioneers
•He was largely self-educated
•He qualified as a lawyer but lost his job in 1832
•Defeated for legislature, 1832
•Borrowed money to start a business, but failed, 1833
•Elected to legislature, 1834
•Was engaged to be married but his fiancé (Ann Rutledge) died, 1835
•Had a nervous breakdown and was in bed for 6 months, 1836
•Defeated for Speaker, 1838
•Defeated for nomination for Congress, 1843
•Elected to Congress, 1846
•Lost renomination, 1848
•Rejected for Land Officer, 1849
•Defeated for Senate, 1854
•Defeated for nomination for Vice-President, 1856
•Again defeated for Senate, 1858
•Elected President, 1860
•He ended slavery in America
•on April 15, 1865, Abraham Lincoln died aged 56

Even if you are not interested in his life story just look at his personal and career defeats. This great man bounced back every time. He got back up every time life kicked him down.

Helen Keller
Imagine for one horrible moment that you lost your sight and your hearing. In other words you were living in a world of darkness and silence. I would say that most of us would think that life wouldn’t be worth living. Well this happened to Helen Keller when she was 18 months old.

•Born 27 June 1880
•Fell ill with a mystery fever 1882
•She lost her sight and hearing when 18 months old.
•Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone, was an expert on the problems of deaf children and recommended her parents to the Perkins Institute and Massachusetts Asylum for the Blind.
•They in turn recommended a former blind pupil who had regained her sight. Anne Sullivan.
•In 1887 Anne meets Helen and starts teaching her to finger spell by spelling the words on the back of Helen’s hand using touch.
•A strong bond grew between them.
•Anne took Helen from finger spelling to raised letters to Braille.
•Helen soon became famous because her learning was far in advance of anyone who had gone before.
•By 1890 she had met President Cleveland in the White House and was living in the Perkins Institute.
•Mary Swift Lamson tried to teach Helen how to speak but her vocal chords had not evolved properly.
•Anne Sullivan could still understand what she was saying by the sounds she made.
•Helen enrolled at The Cambridge School for Young Ladies in 1896. The first deafblind person to enroll at a college of higher education.
•Helen wrote ‘The Story of my Life’ in 1903.
•In 1904 she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree.
•In 1913 she wrote ‘Out of the dark’.
•From 1913 to 1918 Anne and Helen travelled the country giving lectures to enthralled audiences.
•‘Deliverance’ a film made in Hollywood about Helen’s life came out in 1918.
•From 1918 Helen made extensive fundraising tours for the blind.
•Helen’s mother Kate dies in 1921.
•Helen meets King George and Queen Mary at Buckingham Palace.
•Anne Sullivan dies in 1936.
•Polly Thomson takes over from Anne and her and Helen travel the world fundraising for the blind.
•Helen loses her house and possessions to a fire.
•1n 1953 a film ‘The Unconquered’ was made about Helen’s life and won an Academy Award.
•Helen publishes her book ‘Teacher’ in 1955. Polly dies 1960.
•The film ‘The Miracle Worker’ about Anne Sullivan’s work with Helen was made.
•In 1964 Helen was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Lyndon Johnson.
•In 1965 she was elected to the Women’s Hall of Fame at the New York World’s Fair.
•On the 1 June 1968 Helen dies peacefully in her sleep.
•One of her famous quotes – ‘The world may be full of suffering but it is also full of overcoming’.

I believe the story of Helen Keller proves beyond all doubt one important thing. That the human spirit is the most powerful force in the known universe. Why? Because it has the power to overcome great problems, challenges and create positive change.

Lance Armstrong

Another story of overcoming adversity is Lance Armstrong. The famous cyclist.

•Contracted Testicular cancer
•Spread to lungs and brain
•He beat it
•Went on to win the Tour de France 7 seven times consecutively
•Retired unbeaten in 2005 and came back 2009 to finish 3rd place in the Tour de France.
•Created the yellow ‘Livestrong’ rubber wristband for his cancer charity
•His rubber band idea started others especially in the United Kingdom

•blue for anti-bullying
•white for make poverty history
•black and white for anti-racism
•pink for breast cancer
•red for The Heart Foundation

Lance Armstrong is a great role model for people with cancer and people in sport.

J K Rowling

From being on government benefit with a young baby to amassing £500 million in 2009. All because she didn’t give up when publishers rejected her book Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.

•Parents were impoverished
•Came out of a bad marriage with young baby in the mid nineties
•Lived in a small flat in Edinburgh, Scotland
•She was living on government benefit £78 per week
•Her ‘failure’ gave her the ‘freedom and drive’ to achieve through her writing
•Wrote first book Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone but it was turned down by most publishers
•Determination, resilience and persistence kept her going book eventually published by Bloomsbury Publishing.
•Does a great deal for charity. esp single parent charities.

She is a great role model to show that you don’t need money to succeed in life

You can hear her wonderfully inspiring speech she gave to Harvard University students in 2008 below. She mentions ‘the benefits of failure’.

Smart Goals

If you ask most people what is their one major objective in life, they would probably give you a vague answer, such as, “I want to be successful, be happy, make a good living,” and that is it. They are all wishes and none of them are clear goals.

Goals must be SMART:

1. S–specific. For example, “I want to lose weight.” This is wishful thinking. It becomes a goal when I pin myself down to “I will lose 10 pounds in 90 days.”

2. M–must be measurable. If we cannot measure it, we cannot accomplish it. Measurement is a way of monitoring our progress.

3. A–must be achievable. Achievable means that it should be out of reach enough to be challenging but it should not be out of sight, otherwise it becomes disheartening.

4. R–realistic. A person who wants to lose 50 pounds in~30 days is being unrealistic.

5. T–time-bound. There should be a starting date and a finishing date

How Would You Like to be Remembered?

About a hundred years ago, a man looked at the morning newspaper and to his surprise and horror, read his name in the obituary column. The news papers had reported the death of the wrong person by mistake. His first response was shock. Am I here or there? When he regained his composure, his second thought was to find out what people had said about him. The obituary read, “Dynamite King Dies.” And also “He was the merchant of death.” This man was the inventor of dynamite and when he read the words “merchant of death,” he asked himself a question, “Is this how I am going to be remembered?” He got in touch with his feelings and decided that this was not the way he wanted to be remembered. From that day on, he started working toward peace. His name was Alfred Nobel and he is remembered today by the great Nobel Prize.

Just as Alfred Nobel got in touch with his feelings and redefined his values, we should step back and do the same.

What is your legacy?
How would you like to be remembered?
Will you be spoken well of?
Will you be remembered with love and respect?
Will you be missed?

Why are Goals Important? Must Read

On the best sunny day, the most powerful magnifying glass will not light paper if you keep moving the glass. But if you focus and hold it, the paper will light up. That is the power of concentration.

A man was traveling and stopped at an intersection. He asked an elderly man, “Where does this road take me?” The elderly person asked, “Where do you want to go?” The man replied, “I don’t know.” The elderly person said, “Then take any road. What difference does it make?”
How true. When we don’t know where we are going, any road will take us there.

Suppose you have all the football eleven players, enthusiastically ready to play the game, all charged up, and then someone took the goal post away. What would happen to the game? There is nothing left. How do you keep score? How do you know you have arrived?

Enthusiasm without direction is like wildfire and leads to frustration. Goals give a sense of direction. Would you sit in a train or a plane without knowing where it was going? The obvious answer is no. Then why do people go through life without having any goals?