Daily Positive Thoughts: July 4, 2013: Getting on with it

Daily Positive Thoughts: July 4, 2013: Getting on with it

Massif de la Chartreuse, France

Getting on with it...

Worrying about how everything will get done or whether I am capable of doing it limits my ability to respond to challenges considerably. The less I think about doing something and the faster I just get on with it, the fewer problems I cause myself. Good planning is always helpful, but time spent fretting and procrastinating is a major drain on my energy. The more willing I am to respond positively to opportunities, the more my capacity will grow.

Power to discern

Sometimes, there are certain situations where I'm not so much faced with a choice between truth and falsehood where the power to discern (discriminate) is required, but I have to balance competing aims or priorities in deciding on a course of action. There's great value in getting this right, because poor judgment can entangle me in consequences from which it might take years to recover. If I'm deflected because of my attachments or desires, I'll lose my ability to decide accurately.

Understanding myself as a soul, and keeping my heart full and free through my relationship with the Supreme Soul (meditation) makes my mind free from waste thoughts. Having a clean, clear and concentrated mind helps me remain in the best possible position to judge correctly. I'll be like the Statue of Justice, wearing a blindfold as she carefully weighs the evidence: free from prejudice (bias) arising from superficial appearances, above the influence of situations and the emotions and opinions of others, perfectly centered, she is optimally placed to sense the right way forward.

Understanding The Process Of Birth And Death

When the body has become unserviceable due to age or disease, or it suffers a fatal injury, the soul leaves the body. At the moment of death, the soul withdraws its energy from the organs of the body and vacates its seat in the middle of the forehead. Like a bird, it leaves the cage made of skin and bones, and taking its sanskaras, it enters into another, a new body, in the womb of the new mother. From the very birth, the sanskaras of a soul are apparent (visible); whether the new-born baby is happy, unbothered, sad, shy, mischievous, quiet, violent or agitated.

Death occurs at the precise moment when the account of giving and taking with other souls through a particular body is finished. The new birth is determined by the soul's account of karmas with another set of souls. One may be born into a cultured, wealthy family, another as a beggar, one may be born deaf, dumb, blind or crippled, another with a strong supple body. The type of body and the conditions of birth are determined by the thoughts and actions performed in the previous births.

Soul Sustenance

Communication

A great deal of our communication is non-verbal and we rarely realize the effect that it has on others. Our tone of voice, our body language (particularly our eyes and face), our attitudes and our feelings, are constantly in communication with others, expressing anger, fear, love, trust, rejection - in fact, all our feelings and emotions. We cannot hide what we mean; we may do so for a while, but finally the truth emerges.

Communication is not just with others, but also with the self, with the Supreme Being and even nature. Being still, focused and open enables us to tune in to others so that we can respond in an appropriate and meaningful way, not simply in a mechanical way.

Here are some common reasons for blocks to communication:

* Too many thoughts, and an overload of words and actions, results in us being unable to think clearly. We lose the essence of what is trying to be conveyed (transmitted) by the other.

* Being lost in our own feelings or ideas. In such a state we do not listen attentively to others.

* Remembering the past in a negative way. This does not allow us to tune in properly to our present and future. When we do not communicate properly with the needs of the present time, we loose opportunities.

(To be continued tomorrow….)

Message for the day

The one who is free from wasteful words is the one who can be light.

Expression: Sometimes when something only needs a few words to explain, we continue to speak and expand on it for a long time. We actually use more words than necessary thinking we are clarifying things. We give the justification to ourselves that it is necessary or the other person does not understand. These words sometimes disturb the other person and spoil our relationships too.

Experience: We constantly need to pay attention to the words that we speak. We need to check if we are using any more words than we actually need to. When we remind ourselves of a simple slogan, "speak less, speak softly and speak sweetly", our words will never be those that disturb others. We will then be able to maintain our own lightness and that of others too.