Company Matters

There once was a man named Ram who lived by the forest. He earned money by catching and selling the small birds and animals to people as pets. That evening, he went into the town to sell the two parrots hoping to earn a lot of money. Ram sold the first parrot to the butcher, who kills animals and makes them into the meat. He sold his other parrot to a kind and wise holy man who always sang the name of God. All day long, the first parrot heard the butcher yell, “Get the cow here, kill it. Cut up this goat, kill it, cut it, chop it.” In the holy man’s house, lots of people came to listen to divine songs. The parrot’s life was filled with songs of God. Some months later, Ram came to the butcher’s house for some function he went near the bird he had sold. To Ram’s loving ‘Hello’, the parrot only replied, “Kill him! Get him and chop off his head.” This depressed and scared Ram. On his way back he met the holy man who invited him home for a cup of tea. As he was about to enter he heard a sweet voice come out, “Welcome, May God bless you!” To his surprise, it was the second parrot speaking these sweet words. Ram realized that the first parrot living in the company of the butcher had learned the harsh language of the butcher. The second parrot had learned the sweet name of the Lord by living closely with the holy man.:

Reflection by Dr Anjana

*Reflect* on life & recall how your thoughts & behaviours have been influenced by the people around you. It's impossible to hangout with negative people all the time & live a positive life. *Remember* If you choose bad companions, no one will believe that you are anything but bad yourself. The *Irony* of life is having a bad company is like being in a germ-infested area. You never know what you’ll catch. Toxicity at work or in life works as a slow poison you don't realise when you are changing but the world sees you change. Cutting people out of your life doesn’t mean you hate them, it simply means you respect yourself *Let's go ahead in life* & be in the company of those who inspire us & not drain us, because even if you don’t get to choose our family we can always choose our friends with courage, we can weed out narcissistic” Lets be *MAD & RICH - MAKE A DIFFERENCE* & *REALISE I CREATE HAPPINESS* *How do you read this story*

1. If you had to reflect & gather courage to cut some toxic relationships, would you know which one?

2. Can u recall when you were ever misunderstood for the people you moved around with?

3. If today you had to make one change in your environment what would that be?