Daily Positive Thoughts: May 10 , 2013
Role Play
Shakespeare was absolutely right - all the world's a stage and you are on it! It means we all have many roles to play. That means never identify with your role, or you will get very stuck and very stressed. You are not what you do. Your job, position, vocation are just roles. Play the role, never think you are the role - this is the art of making life creative and fun. All great actors dislike being typecast and seen to be good for one particular type of character or role. There is no role you cannot play, if you really want to play it. Which is the same as saying there is nothing you cannot do, if you really want to do it, nothing you cannot be, if you really want to be it. You can even be a Queen or King. You may not have a throne or a court of advisors, but you can create and express all the qualities and behaviours of a 'royal' character- dignity, respect, humility, caring...and many more. Be a 'royal', sit on your inner throne with dignity and self respect, and you will see many other royal qualities emerge through your character. And then...you will feel royal.
Regard for others brings trust.
When something negative happens, my trust in people breaks. I then
find it difficult to keep my mind free from the influence of my past
experience. Even if the others try to correct the situation, I am not
able to change my attitude towards them. When I see others, I have to
see them with a vision of regard. I need to pay attention only to look
at their specialities and keep myself free from the influence of the
past experiences. When I do this, I will be able to trust others even
while being cautious.
When something negative happens, my trust in people breaks. I then
find it difficult to keep my mind free from the influence of my past
experience. Even if the others try to correct the situation, I am not
able to change my attitude towards them. When I see others, I have to
see them with a vision of regard. I need to pay attention only to look
at their specialities and keep myself free from the influence of the
past experiences. When I do this, I will be able to trust others even
while being cautious.
Meditating With Open Eyes
It is advised to practice meditation with eyes open. When we sit to meditate, if we close our eyes, what we do is that we send a signal to our mind, intellect and our physical body that sleep is close and that signal, in turn, induces sleep. That is the last thing we want to induce inside ourselves, while meditating. Meditation is a way to wake up and stay awake, not only physically, but in terms of being conscious and alert about what is happening internallyand externally. It is therefore good to practice with eyes open, so that during your meditation, you can become used to going beyond the physical inputs of what you see, hear, feel and smell and at the same time, remain exposed to these inputs.
By practicing with open or semi-open eyes, it becomes easier to create the accurate state of consciousness while still being faintly aware of our surroundings. This will be essential in day to day activities when we want to stay connected to our inner peace while others around us may not necessarily be very peaceful. It will also help us to move deeply into our peaceful consciousness during conversations which at the same time, require alertness to go into the depth of ideas and concepts. When we are established in our peaceful, spiritual state (as a result of meditating), it is as if we are keeping our third eye, the eye of our intellect, open, which gives us the ability to see, in actions and interactions, what is true and false, and to make the right decisions without being influenced by others or our own emotions. All the above abilities are required many times during the day. We obviously can't keep closing our eyes to meditate each time any of these abilities are required.
Soul Sustenance
Becoming Aware Of What Is Ego
All of us are familiar, to different extents, with the emotion of ego. All of us don’t even define it in the same way. We are also aware to different extents, about the negative repercussions (effects) of the emotion of ego on us and on others. Depending on how aware we are about the effects, we work to eradicate the emotion from our daily lives, so that it neither disturbs us nor others. Some of us even consider it a positive emotion and feel it contributes positively to our personal and professional progress. To be aware completely of the negative effects of ego and to realize clearly whether it is a positive emotion or not in the first place, it is important to first become aware of what it is exactly. So, how can we define ‘ego’?
Ego is attachment, inside my consciousness, to an incorrect image of my‘self’ which I then mistake for myself. When the attachment takes place, you lose your sense of ‘identity’ in the 'image' of the object of attachment which you create on the screen of your mind. That object can be something physical like your body, your physical personality, a relationship, a material possession, your status, money, a particular skill, respect from others, etc. or something non-physical like a belief; an opinion; a mindset, a memory, a particular virtue, specialty, power or a sanskara (positive or negative), etc. Therefore ego is the self attaching to and identifying with an image that is not the self. This process takes place entirely within our consciousness many times in the day, on the screen of the mind. E.g. When we say this is ‘my’ salary package (something physical) or ‘my’ opinion (something non-physical), we are (without being aware about it) creating an image of the salary package or the opinion inside our consciousness and becoming attached to it, so that we lose our self identity in the salary package or the opinion, believing that ‘I’am the ‘salary package’ or the ‘opinion’. So at that time, the salary package or the opinion becomes an incorrect image of the self to which I am attached. This is ego. If while thinking, feeling or speaking about ‘my’ salary package or ‘my’ opinion, we do not become attached to or do not lose our self identity in either of the two, then that is not ego.
Message for the day
True help is to help people discover their own specialities.
Expression: When others' negativities or weaknesses are perceived, it is essential to look at their positivity or specialities too. This will naturally bring love and positivity in the relationship and there will be an encouragement of that positivity. So even if that person has no recognition or has not been using his speciality, an encouragement of it by others will naturally enable him to begin to use it.
Experience: Making others aware of their specialities and subtly encouraging them to use these specialities is a great help that I can do for others. When I am able to give this unique help and cooperation, I not only find benefit for others, but I am also able to get the good wishes of others. Even others naturally become positive with my positive attitude.
Becoming Aware Of What Is Ego
All of us are familiar, to different extents, with the emotion of ego. All of us don’t even define it in the same way. We are also aware to different extents, about the negative repercussions (effects) of the emotion of ego on us and on others. Depending on how aware we are about the effects, we work to eradicate the emotion from our daily lives, so that it neither disturbs us nor others. Some of us even consider it a positive emotion and feel it contributes positively to our personal and professional progress. To be aware completely of the negative effects of ego and to realize clearly whether it is a positive emotion or not in the first place, it is important to first become aware of what it is exactly. So, how can we define ‘ego’?
Ego is attachment, inside my consciousness, to an incorrect image of my‘self’ which I then mistake for myself. When the attachment takes place, you lose your sense of ‘identity’ in the 'image' of the object of attachment which you create on the screen of your mind. That object can be something physical like your body, your physical personality, a relationship, a material possession, your status, money, a particular skill, respect from others, etc. or something non-physical like a belief; an opinion; a mindset, a memory, a particular virtue, specialty, power or a sanskara (positive or negative), etc. Therefore ego is the self attaching to and identifying with an image that is not the self. This process takes place entirely within our consciousness many times in the day, on the screen of the mind. E.g. When we say this is ‘my’ salary package (something physical) or ‘my’ opinion (something non-physical), we are (without being aware about it) creating an image of the salary package or the opinion inside our consciousness and becoming attached to it, so that we lose our self identity in the salary package or the opinion, believing that ‘I’am the ‘salary package’ or the ‘opinion’. So at that time, the salary package or the opinion becomes an incorrect image of the self to which I am attached. This is ego. If while thinking, feeling or speaking about ‘my’ salary package or ‘my’ opinion, we do not become attached to or do not lose our self identity in either of the two, then that is not ego.
Message for the day
True help is to help people discover their own specialities.
Expression: When others' negativities or weaknesses are perceived, it is essential to look at their positivity or specialities too. This will naturally bring love and positivity in the relationship and there will be an encouragement of that positivity. So even if that person has no recognition or has not been using his speciality, an encouragement of it by others will naturally enable him to begin to use it.
Experience: Making others aware of their specialities and subtly encouraging them to use these specialities is a great help that I can do for others. When I am able to give this unique help and cooperation, I not only find benefit for others, but I am also able to get the good wishes of others. Even others naturally become positive with my positive attitude.
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