Daily Positive Thoughts: June 21, 2013: Enjoy
Paradise Island in the Maldives
Enjoy
When I finish this project, then I will be happy! When this situation is resolved, I will be fine. When I reach my goal, I will finally relax, be peaceful! To surf in the Ocean is to understand where the waves are coming from and which ones to take. Maybe what life is asking of you is different from the responses you were trained to give to it. To be successful in the Ocean needs effort and positioning. Catch the right wave. The objective of the surfer is to enjoy the ride, to have fun. In the same way, do not postpone your happiness; enjoy whatever comes your way.
In order to bring about a fundamental (major) change three elements need to exist simultaneously:
Focus: A clear sense of purpose in life and clear goals to guide your life's activities.
Will: The motivation and enthusiasm to introduce and sustain the actions.
Capabilities: The skills and abilities to fulfill your purpose and goals.
But where do you start? There is definitely a right place to begin and that is with your focus. Why? Because if your focus is powerful and based on a very deep sense of your inner most purpose in life, then that will provide you with the will power you need to keep going. Then if you have a clear driving focus in life and lots of will power to back it up, you will soon develop the skills and capabilities you need to make it happen. You may not have them yourself, but your enthusiasm and passion will certainly inspire others who do have them to join you.
But where do you start? There is definitely a right place to begin and that is with your focus. Why? Because if your focus is powerful and based on a very deep sense of your inner most purpose in life, then that will provide you with the will power you need to keep going. Then if you have a clear driving focus in life and lots of will power to back it up, you will soon develop the skills and capabilities you need to make it happen. You may not have them yourself, but your enthusiasm and passion will certainly inspire others who do have them to join you.
Understanding Different Types Of Actions
We had explained negative actions (vikarmas) yesterday. Today we continue to explain the same:
Any actions motivated by greed or attachment are what we could call sinful actions, where the meaning of sin is simply to forget who we are. When we forget who we are i.e. eternal souls, our actions arise from a false belief of who we are and those actions are therefore inaccurate and negative, often destructive. Our capacity to be loving, peaceful and contented is reduced. Although we grow used to tension, dissatisfaction and being upset, we don't realize that these emotions have their roots in forgetfulness of the true self. Over time, the record of all thoughts and actions, which are driven by these negative inner states, accumulates within our consciousness and heaviness sets in.
Negative action is also a result of misuse or abuse of one or another aspect in our life: of the body, of relationships, of wealth, of our thoughts, etc. Taken on a simple level, if we keep eating lots of ice cream and do no physical exercise, it is certain that we will gain weight at some point in our life. Our bodies are not designed to take in more calories than they burn, producing a negative result. We are able to see the results of our actions on a physical level, but it is not so easy to see the negative results of our actions on a mental and emotional level.
Neutral actions (akarmas) involve routine tasks which do not normally negatively affect others: working in the office, cooking food, going to the market for shopping, etc. However, even those actions, if carried out in a state of body-consciousness, can easily become negative on a subtle level and a further debt or heaviness may be accumulated.
(To be continued tomorrow ...)
Soul Sustenance
Overcoming Mood Swings
At each moment of the day, we have the capability to feel something. Our feelings vary throughout the course of the day. Sometimes they are joyful and sometimes they are painful. What we forget to do is to choose our feelings consciously. Instead, many of us have become lazy and allowed our feelings to be dictated and shaped by people and circumstances. In other words, we have become influenced. Our swinging, changing moods are the result of the inner karma of becoming attached to things, people, ideas and circumstances. If we are attached to a person and suddenly he/she leaves us we will feel gloomy and our mood of sadness will drain our energy just when we need to remain optimistic and enthusiastic about the future. Any form of loss will bring about a mood of sadness. If this sadness lasts for a long period of time, it will gradually turn into depression.
When we think we are consider the world around us to be our source of happiness and joy, our moods will fluctuate, even with the changing weather. But when we are spiritually empowered or strong our happiness and joy come from inside. We are stable in the face of praise or insult, loss or gain. We are no longer moody and stability becomes our basic nature. We are in control of our life, our feelings. And while we cannot control the waves of the ocean of life around us, we can control and choose how we will respond to outer events and people. When we do that, we will be able to choose what we feel, regardless of what may happen in our life. Life stops being a rollercoaster and becomes more of a cruise, less a storm and more a gentle breeze.
Message for the day
To work with joy is to be free from tiredness.
Expression: When there is the happiness and joy of doing something, one can go on putting in effort even in the most difficult circumstances. For having done everything with happiness, there will be the inner quality revealed in each and every task. The happiness within will spread around to others too.
Experience: As I never leave my inner joy, and am constantly in touch with my inner qualities, I am able to enjoy everything that life brings. Nothing will then be experienced as work, but I feel everything to be entertainment. I will be able to enjoy the richness of life even when there is something actually difficult.
Overcoming Mood Swings
At each moment of the day, we have the capability to feel something. Our feelings vary throughout the course of the day. Sometimes they are joyful and sometimes they are painful. What we forget to do is to choose our feelings consciously. Instead, many of us have become lazy and allowed our feelings to be dictated and shaped by people and circumstances. In other words, we have become influenced. Our swinging, changing moods are the result of the inner karma of becoming attached to things, people, ideas and circumstances. If we are attached to a person and suddenly he/she leaves us we will feel gloomy and our mood of sadness will drain our energy just when we need to remain optimistic and enthusiastic about the future. Any form of loss will bring about a mood of sadness. If this sadness lasts for a long period of time, it will gradually turn into depression.
When we think we are consider the world around us to be our source of happiness and joy, our moods will fluctuate, even with the changing weather. But when we are spiritually empowered or strong our happiness and joy come from inside. We are stable in the face of praise or insult, loss or gain. We are no longer moody and stability becomes our basic nature. We are in control of our life, our feelings. And while we cannot control the waves of the ocean of life around us, we can control and choose how we will respond to outer events and people. When we do that, we will be able to choose what we feel, regardless of what may happen in our life. Life stops being a rollercoaster and becomes more of a cruise, less a storm and more a gentle breeze.
Message for the day
To work with joy is to be free from tiredness.
Expression: When there is the happiness and joy of doing something, one can go on putting in effort even in the most difficult circumstances. For having done everything with happiness, there will be the inner quality revealed in each and every task. The happiness within will spread around to others too.
Experience: As I never leave my inner joy, and am constantly in touch with my inner qualities, I am able to enjoy everything that life brings. Nothing will then be experienced as work, but I feel everything to be entertainment. I will be able to enjoy the richness of life even when there is something actually difficult.
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