A holy man was having a conversation with God one day and said, “God, I would like to know what Heaven and Hell are like.”

God led the holy man to two doors.

He opened one of the doors and the holy man looked in.  In the middle of the room was a large round table. In the middle of the table was a large pot of stew, which smelled delicious and made the holy man's mouth water. The people sitting around the table were thin and sickly and appeared to be famished. Each person sitting had a spoon with a very long handle strapped to their arms.  While this allowed them to scoop the soup from the pot, they could not scoop the soup back into their mouths. The holy man shuddered at the sight of their misery and suffering.

God said, “You have seen Hell.”

They went to the next room and opened the door. It was exactly the same as the first one.  There was the large round table with the large pot of stew which made the holy man's mouth water. The people were equipped with the same long-handled spoons, but here the people were well nourished and plump, laughing and talking. The holy man said, “I don't understand...”

“It is simple,” said God. “It requires but one skill.”

“You see they have learned to feed each other, while the greedy think only of themselves.”

The story reminded me of a personal growth seminar I recently attended where we were placed into teams that competed to build companies in an imaginary marketplace.  Each team had the option of building widgets, trading raw materials or taking what other teams had.  It was interesting to see how most teams gravitated towards taking rather than building or trading.  It was almost like we were all pre-programmed to think only about ourselves:

"Who cares if the other team doesn't have any more products to sell? That's their problem."

"I don't care if they spent the last half hour building their inventory."

"They can take from someone else. I didn't create these rules." 

What was interesting to me was the fact that teams that focused on taking also ended up doing poorly or going bankrupt.  Those that did the more difficult task of approaching others to trade lasted till the end of the game.  If you're not getting as much as you can out of life.  Have an honest look at your past thoughts and actions to see if you are more prone to Take rather than Trade or Give.  Then focus on improving this part of you.  You will experience a whole lot more joy and satisfaction out of life..