Right perspective makes the seemingly impossible possible

There was once a painter whose name was Zeuxis. He could paint pictures so life-like that they were mistaken for the real things which they represented.

At one time he painted the picture of some fruit which was so real that the birds flew down and pecked at it. This made him very proud of his skill. "I am the only man in the world who can paint a picture so true to life," he said.

There was another famous artist whose name was Parrhasius. When he heard of the boast which Zeuxis had made, he said to himself, "I will see what I can do." So he painted a beautiful picture which seemed to be covered with a curtain. Then he invited Zeuxis to come and see it. Zeuxis looked at it closely. "Draw the curtain aside and show us the picture," he said. Parrhasius laughed and answered, "The curtain is the picture."

"Well," said Zeuxis, "You have beaten me this time, and I shall boast no more. I deceived only the birds, but you have deceived me, a painter."

Sometime after this, Zeuxis painted another wonderful picture. It was that of a boy carrying a basket of ripe red cherries. When he hung this painting outside of his door, some birds flew down and tried to carry the cherries away.

"Ah! this picture is a failure," he said. "For if the boy had been as well painted as the cherries, the birds would have been afraid to come near him."

Two people can look at exactly the same thing and see something totally different. As Henry David Thoreau said, “It is not what you look at that matters, it is what you see.”

Sometimes all you need is introspection and not inspiration: Things don’t have to go wrong for you to slow down, pause and reflect. Slowing down, and taking a little breather from your crazy life every now and then allows you to introspect and get a perspective about everything in your life.

Changing your perspective changes your experience: When things don’t go as per your plan, sit back, reflect and observe the pattern. It helps you look at things from a different perspective, it helps you face your fears and regain focus on your path and chart out your way.

Finding the right answer is easier than finding the right question: Half the battle is won when you train your mind to ask the right questions, because when you ask the right question, somehow you get the right answers.

Sometimes, we may get answers to the “What” (to do) and other times you get answers to “Who” (can get us the answer). Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves: Our life is a reflection of our state of mind. And yet most often than not, we tend to look at others faults and spend time correcting them rather than focusing on our own faults.

Envy is the art of counting others blessings instead of your own: Happiness is found when you stop comparing yourself with others and start counting on your own blessings and focusing on your own success.