t of success

THE MOTHER HEN AND TWELVE LESSONS LEARNT

By: Dr Gloria Maseko

Introduction

Nature is the direct expression of divine imagination. There is a saying that “some people cross your path and change your whole direction”. It is my dream and prayer that this article impacts similarly in your life, and that your life begins to change, because, the mind is like a garden you can plant roses or weeds. Similarly the mind is the most powerful tool it can be used to can change things around you. People may forget what you said, people may forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.

1.   The Mother hen lays enough eggs

The mother hen ensures that she lays enough eggs before sitting on them. The mother hen demonstrates the skill of good planning, since it does things in an orderly manner. In addition the art of being knowledgeable is visible.

Lesson-

good planning:

Ø  Unless  commitment is made, there is only promises and hopes, but no plan

Ø  By failing to prepare you are preparing to fail; failing to plan is planning to fail; fail to plan, and plan to fail

Ø  A goal without a plan is just a wish

Ø  Give me six hours to chop a tree  and I will spend the first hour sharpening the axe

Ø  Good luck is the result of good planning

Ø  In preparing for battle, I have always found out that plans are useless but planning is indispensable

Ø  There are seven days in a week and someday isn’t one of them

Knowledgeable)

Ø  The art of being knowledgeable. Is the art of knowing what to overlook

Ø  The difference between who you are and what you want to be is what you do now

Ø  Never mistake knowledge for wisdom, one helps you make a living the other helps you make a life

Ø  Knowledge comes from books and wisdom comes from God

Ø  Knowledge is the life of the mind

Ø  We can be knowledgeable with other human beings knowledge, but we cannot be wise with another human beings  wisdom

Ø  Everybody is a genius , but if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life thinking it is stupid

Ø  Education is not preparation for life, education is life itself

Ø  Intelligence is not because you know everything without questioning, but rather because you question everything you think you know

2.   The mother hen minimizes her movements when she sits on her eggs

 When the mother hen has laid all her eggs she now begins to sit on them and ensures she minimizes her movements or her movements are now restricted because most of the time she has to keep the eggs warm. The mother hen will brood on eggs until she drops from being exhausted. At this moment the most important thing is the potential chicks awaited to come from the eggs, that is what we term the ultimate goal.

The mother hen is an epitome of discipline, as it is disciplined.

 Lesson

Ø  Discipline isn't about showing a dog who's boss; it's about taking responsibility for a living creature you have brought into your world. 

Ø  Why is discipline important? Discipline teaches us to operate by principle rather than desire. 

Ø  If you do not conquer self, you will be conquered by self." 

Ø  We must do our work for its own sake, not for fortune, attention or applause.” 

Ø  Football is like life - it requires dedication, hard work, perseverance respect for authority, self-denial, and sacrifice. 

Ø  Always Remember to take your Vitamins: Take your Vitamin A for ACTION, Vitamin B for BELIEF, Vitamin C for CONFIDENCE, Vitamin D for DISCIPLINE, and Vitamin E for ENTHUSIASM!!

                                  

3.   The mother hen generally loses weight when sitting on her eggs

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 The mother hen has been observed to physically loose weight while sitting on her eggs due to decreased feeding.    The mother hen will literally forgo all food and water in order to keep the eggs of hers warm and protected. She directs all her energy over the eggs.

The mother hen has shown an inherent character of being sacrificial and that of self denial.

 Lesson

Ø  Sometimes it is important to do things you may not want to do.

Ø  It’s imperative to note that its okay to complain about the things someone does not like

Ø  Just don’t allow those things you are complaining about to ruin the rest of the day

Ø  Lay your egg, and see to it that you then move on and ensure you take care of that egg                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     4.   The mother hen can sit on eggs from another hen                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             The mother hen is not selfish as she can sit on the eggs of another hen and keep them warm. In this we see the virtue of being indiscriminate and being generous.

Lesson

Ø  Indiscriminate- love is when another persons happiness is equally as important as your own

Ø  Only Indiscriminate love can make us free

Ø  If you can dream it then you can have it, You will get all you want in life if you help enough people get what they want.

Ø  Generous- Help yourself by helping others

Ø  Being generous of spirit is a wonderful way to live

Ø  Good people bring out the good in other people

Ø  We make a living with what we get but make a life with what we give

Ø  Before you speak, think T- Is it True, H – Is it Helpful, I- is it Inspiring, N- Is it Necessary, K- is it Kind 

                                                                               

5.   The mother hen sits on her eggs for 21 days patiently, waiting and even if they don’t hatch she will still lay eggs again

Ø  Mother hen demonstrate faith, hope and being undiscouraged as she sits for twenty one days and even if the eggs don’t hatch she will still lay eggs again. 

Ø  Lesson

Ø  Faith- Everyone has faith, either they have faith in God or in their fears

Ø  Faith is believing in the unseen things or things to come.

Ø  Feed your faith and starve your doubts to death

Ø  People can give up on you, but don’t  ever make the mistake of losing confidence in yourself

Ø  Hope- Hold on Pain Ends or  Have Only Positive Expectations

Ø  Hope, sometimes that’s all you have when you have nothing else, If you have it, you have everything

Ø  When the world says give up, hope whispers and says try it one more time

Ø  Behind a negative label there is a hidden talent

Ø  Undiscouraged- Failure is the only opportunity to begin again more wisely

Ø  If you live for peoples acceptance you will die from their rejection

Ø  A human being who want to reach their destiny does not stop for every barking Dog

Ø  No one can go back and make a new beginning but all of us can make a  brand new ending

6.   The mother hen detects unfertilized eggs and kicks them out

 The mother hen is able to detect unfertilized eggs and kick s them out, she does not waste time continuing to warm and sit on them. From this the mother hen is showing the skill of being sensitive and discerning.

Lesson

Discerning-There is need to make good judgments.

Ø  Cut off fake people for real reasons not real people for fake reasons

Ø  Choose your own path not the one others may want you to take

Ø  Words differently arranged  have a different meaning, and meanings  differently arranged have different effects

Ø  Love is friendship set on fire

Ø  Sensitive- Life may not be the party we hoped for, but while we are here we might as well dance

Ø  I am not what happened to me, I am what I choose to become

Ø  Failure only happens when you stop trying

7.   The mother hen abandons the rotten eggs and starts caring for the hatched chicks even if it is only one

                                                                                                                           

                                      

The mother hen is wise, season conscious and realistic.

Lesson

Ø  Wise - Knowledge is knowing what to do and wisdom is knowing when to do it.

Ø  season conscious -The conscious mind is time bound, separating the past and future

Ø  There is a season for everything

Ø  Realistic- Ability is what you are capable of doing, and motivation determines what you do, ability determines how well you do it

Ø  A bad attitude is like a flat tyre, you cannot go anywhere unless you change it

Ø  The pessimistic complain about the wind, the optimist expect it to change, The realist adjust the sails

8.   No one can touch the chicks of the mother hen

Yes it is the mother hen who has to ensure that the young chicks are constantly protected from the lurking predators.  What a privileged to the chicks that the mother hen has an admirable characteristic of giving protective love. The mother hen has to fight for her life and the life of her chicks. It should be realized that the clashes between the mother hen and the intruder happens quite frequently. It is the mother hen who is seen spreading wings, to give refuge to the young chicks in the hot afternoon sun to offer.

Lesson

Ø  Two opposing forces will never co-exist, as the entrance of one force compels the other one to leave.

Ø  Not all of us can do great things, but we can do small things with great love

Ø  “Without my kids, tomorrow would not be worth the wait and yesterday would not be worth remembering

                                                                                            

9.   The mother hen  gathers all her chicks together

The mother hen is a perfect example of demonstrating unity of purpose.     

Lesson

Ø  You cannot change what is going on around you until you start changing what is going on within you

Ø  Unless we have a common purpose, there is no question of unity

Ø  There is  no strength  without unity

Ø  Where there is unity there is victor y

Ø  When spider webs unite they can tie up a lion

10.           She cannot abandon her chicks before they mature

The hen clearly demonstrate the innate gift of mentorship

Lesson

Ø  If you light a lamp  for someone it will also brighten your path

Ø  A mentor empower a person to see a possible future, and believe it can be achieved

Ø  Successful people never reach their goals alone

Ø  Invest in the success of others

Ø  In life you take stairs not elevator

Ø  Everything you start it from bottom to top the only thing which we start from top to bottom is the grave and that time it will be finished with you

11. There is always something new for the chicks to learn from the mother hen

It should be noted that the chicks mimic their mother hen as she climbs the rooster. They also try to squeeze themselves through the fence despite that they are grown ups, and if they can’t go through the fence this becomes traumatic for them. But they usually get over the fact that they cannot go through the fence anymore and have to learn to go through the gate just like adult chickens.

Lesson

Ø  Life is the best teacher, it gives a lesson then a test

Ø  In life learn a lesson, don’t get the details

Ø  Sometimes the most important life lessons are the ones we learnt the hard way

Ø  Life lesson: I fall I RISE, I make mistakes, I live, I learn. I’ve been hurt but I’m alive. I’m human and I’m not perfect but I’m thankful

12. The chicks learn to socialize

Amazingly the chicks learn to socialize, as they wait patiently for the mother hen when she stops to chat with company.

Lesson

Ø  Having people you look up to and mimic provides so many rich experiences for an individual

Conclusion

Ø  A wise man cracked a joke, and all people laughed like crazy, he cracked it again, and less people laughed, he cracked it again and no one laughed, the wise man laughed and said you cannot laugh at the same joke over and over again, why you cry over the same thing over and over again.

Ø  Smile and let everyone know that today you are a lot stronger than you were yesterday

Ø  Intelligent people solve problems. Geniuses prevent problems

Ø  The word listen contains the same letters as the word silent

Ø  People may crush, despise and stump on you but that does not change you value and worth

Ø  Jeremiah 1v5 – before you were formed in you mother’s womb  I knew you, before you were born I set you apart to be the prophet of the nations