Daily Positive Thoughts: August 01, 2015: Life

Daily Positive Thoughts: August 01, 2015: Life

Karoon Dam Bridge, Iran

Life

Your thoughts guide you to your destiny. If you always think the same you will always get to the same place. Think in a new way and you will be a new person.

To have the ability to understand a problem is also to have the ability to find a solution. 

Just as an expert in any field would notice a deficiency, if I have the ability to recognize a problem, I will surely know what the solution is. I need to focus my energies to find the solution. Then I will be able to use my resources well. Today I will only focus on solutions. Whenever a problem comes up, I will spend time thinking about what I could do to change it. When I direct my mind in this way, there will neither be worry nor will the problem remain.

Ending The Day In The Presence Of God

On a physical level, there is complete transparency in a parent-child relationship. When a child is born to a mother and father and the parents see the child for the first time, the child is completely bare. As the child grows in the canopy of the parents, the parents see and know everything about the child, not only in a physical way, but also the child's personality or nature right from childhood. Sometimes, there are certain things about the child that even the child himself does not have an awareness of, but the parents are aware of the same. So, in short, there is nothing that the child can hide from the parents.

In the same way, the Supreme Being, who is a permanent resident of the soul world, has seen from that world, each soul right from the time when it was completely bare or bodiless residing in the soul world with Him, to the time when it took its first physical costume or body on earth and then changed many costumes in the process of birth and rebirth. He not only knows the soul's original sanskaras, which were there in the soul in the soul world, but also each and every costume that the soul wore.  He also knows every soul's different relationships while wearing each and every costume; every thought, word or action created while wearing each and every costume and the different personality traits or sanskaras of the soul while wearing each and every costume. That is on an unlimited level. On a limited level, there is no doubt that the Supreme Soul who is the Supreme Parent of all human souls and is said to possess a thousand eyes; very well knows the mental, emotional and physical activity of the complete day of each soul. Thus, there is nothing that is hidden about the soul from this Parent.

(To be continued tomorrow...)

Soul Sustenance

Living With A Purpose

How can we define heaven? Heaven could simply be described as the place to experience peace, joy and happiness. So, what is our heaven in our practical life? How can we experience it? Fulfilling our dream or true purpose or experiencing it being fulfilled is our heaven. Living out our dream and purpose is to live in our personal space of heaven here and right now.

If everything that we do during the day and in life is directed at fulfilling our purpose - our reason for being, for existing and for living - we will be much happier in everything we do, because everything will be channeled or focused towards what we really want. On the other hand, if we do a little bit of everything, but without knowing where we are going or what our true destination is, we will be like a ship that has lost its way in the ocean. The ship’s crew steers the ship – it now goes towards the left, now to the right, goes backwards, then forwards towards the north, towards the south and in the end stays in the same place and gets nowhere, although it’s crew is busy or is working all the time. The crew lets itself be carried by the currents, the tides, the waves in the ocean and the winds above the ocean. It has lost its bearings and doesn't know how to be guided by the stars, which would show the crew the right way. In our case, the stars being our intuition. Without our life’s course dictated by a true purpose, we let our consciousness asleep and don't listen to our intuition, which will reveal to us our purpose. 

Message for the day

The method to get help is to take the first step of courage.

Projection: When I set out to achieve something, I usually expect help from situations or people, but am not always able to get it. Then I tend to become disheartened and sometimes tend to give up the task altogether.

Solution: The right way to get help is to first take a step forward even in the most negative situations. With courage and faith when I start in whatever little way I can, I find the help coming to me. Then I will neither stop nor give up with the little setbacks that I am faced with.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: July 31, 2015: A Benevolent Attitude

Daily Positive Thoughts: July 31, 2015: A Benevolent Attitude

A Benevolent Attitude

When you extend pure love to everyone with selfless motivation that is an attitude of kindness. When you send good wishes and pure feelings to those who are in deep sorrow, that is an attitude of mercy. When you see the virtues rather than the weaknesses in people that is an attitude of compassion. When you bless and uplift someone even as they defame you, that is an attitude of forgiveness. When you tolerate a situation and take responsibility as well as give cooperation even when not appreciated, that is an attitude of humility and self-respect. Every second, every moment and every breath of your life is nurtured by attitude.

We all have expectations on how we want things to happen.

When things don't happen the way you want them to, instead of getting frustrated and disappointed, tell yourself: "I would have preferred 'A', but now that 'B' has happened, it's OK!"

Have preferences, not expectations. "I'd prefer if people were thoughtful, but when they're rude, it's not going to ruin my day." "I'd prefer sunshine but rain is OK!"

Play this game in your head, and you'll feel more peaceful.

Injustices And Suffering In The World - Applying The Law of Karma (cont.)

An understanding of the laws of action reminds us that whatever we give we get, and whatever we get is the result of what we have given. When we apply this understanding into our awareness while we watch apparent injustices in the world, it reduces our outrage, lessening our pain. It's not that we sit passively and allow people to bring about suffering upon others, but it helps us to see that the greatest or highest contribution that we can make, to both the victim and the sinner, is to help them remember who they are and help them rise above their anger and fear towards each other. Only in this way can we help them to liberate themselves from an exchange of energy that has perhaps been going on for centuries.

But before we can effectively do this for others, it is necessary to try and do it for ourselves. Instead of taking the law into our own hands (the desire for revenge and justice), we can benefit everyone around us by first understanding and living ourselves according to the invisible laws of cause and effect which define all human relationships. Sometimes this is referred to as 'practice what you preach', and it often requires moments of reflection before action in order to judge the consequences of any path of action. This capacity to stop, reflect and consider, in a state of mental calm and with clear intellect, is an essential characteristic of all effective leaders. It is also what makes us all potential leaders in life, every day, who can bring about world transformation through self transformation.

Soul Sustenance

Negative Control and Positive Influence

The power of influence in relationships is extraordinary, but it practically disappears when we try to exercise control and force.

You can influence anyone positively in many ways:

• encouraging,

• sharing,

• listening,

• communicating in the right way.

In negative control we generate stress, frustration and anger. In positive influence the energy flows in a relaxed way with harmony and is not threatening, respecting each one for their specialty and allowing each one to be as they are.

In order to influence positively we need the power of discrimination and judgement in relation to what to say and what to do e.g. when you believe that the other person is the problem; generally the problem is not what others say or do, but rather how you perceive them. The way that you judge is what creates your negative feelings about them. We have the choice to perceive others as a threat, as a problem, or as an opportunity; an opportunity for learning, for change, for dialogue and understanding. We can choose to have compassion (kindness); to feel that the other is a problem indicates a lack of compassion.

Message for the day

The way to control the mind is to talk to it with love.

Projection: Whenever I find my mind wandering I try to control it with force. I try to pull the mind and order it not to think about something. Yet I find that, the more I try to force the mind not to go in a particular direction, the more it tends to go there.

Solution: The only way to control the mind is to talk to it with love. Just as I would explain to a child, I need to explain to it with love. This will make my mind my friend and I will be able to concentrate even in any undesirable situations.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: July 30, 2015: A Solution

Daily Positive Thoughts: July 30, 2015: A Solution 

A Solution 

Problems are simply challenges waiting for solutions to meet them. The two are partners. Think with resolve that a solution will present itself and it usually will.

To understand that I am a creator of my thoughts is to have the power to control them. 

To control thoughts after they go out of control is really difficult or almost impossible. But when I understand that I create thoughts, I can have mastery over them. From time to time, I need to remind myself of this, keep a check on my thoughts, steer and stop them whenever and wherever necessary. Today I will take one thought, "I am the master and creator of my thoughts. So, I have the reins in my hands and can guide them how I want.” Even if any other thought comes, I can have a control over them, instead of them controlling me.

Injustices And Suffering In The World - Applying The Law of Karma

We are presently living in a closely connected world where everyone knows what everyone else is doing, as they are doing it. Each day brings scenes and images, through the media, in front of us, of many apparent injustices and suffering of individuals or groups of individuals. Whether it's in the office, or in the market or on the television news, we hear and see reports of people suffering tremendous pain and sorrow at the hands of others. At these moments, our sense of injustice is stimulated and it becomes easy to rise in outrage against the sinners. In the process we ourselves suffer from our own self-created anger and perhaps hate. This process then becomes a habit and an inner pattern we begin to repeat, not only when we encounter scenes of global peacelessness, but the moment someone in the family or at office does something similar. A panic button is pressed and we react with the same pattern.

What we forget in both global and local contexts, is the history and geography of karma. Every scene and situation has a variety of related causes in both time (history) and space (geography) e.g. emotions of hatred and revenge amongst various countries and religions (in different parts of the world) and the actions connected with these emotions has underlying hidden causes, related to the Law of Karma (Law of Cause and Effect) which go back sometimes to hundreds of years - X is doing something with Y because Y had done something similar with X sometime in the past, but in different physical costumes, sometimes quite some time back in history - this is the reason, we often fail to take these causes into consideration when viewing these negative scenes and situations, because we see the situations with a limited perspective of present physical costumes and circumstances.

(To be continued tomorrow ...)

Soul Sustenance

False Attachments

Are you aware that whenever you lose your true self-awareness (soul-consciousness), you will identify with and get attached to something that is not you? It could be another person, your work, or some material possession. Let's say you are attached to your job and one day, due to rising costs, your company decides to downsize and starts laying off thousands of its employees - all of a sudden you are asked to leave. The attachment to and identification with your position in the company, which has become a habit (sanskara), causes the creation of fearful and angry thoughts (e.g., "I'm going to lose my job" (fear related to the future) or "How dare they downsize the company and damage my position" (anger towards the company and its leadership)). The destructive energy of these thoughts becomes emotion (energy in motion) which then invades your entire mind so you cannot have clear and calm thoughts (the prime requirement of that moment). It hijacks your intellect so you cannot make correct, wise decisions and choices (also the prime requirement of that moment) for the future. Any connection you had with your inner peace is broken. All this happens because you forgot who you really are and had begun to think you are what you do. When seen from the point of view of this example it sounds ridiculous that we should identify with what we do or what we have, but this is currently how the world and its people work. So, never forget who you truly are!

Message for the day

To be free from negativity is to be free from limitation.

Projection: In many situations I tend to feel helpless and bound by different things and people coming my way. I continue to blame others for my difficulties, but find no solace or solution. I also look for solutions outside, but find none.

Solution: The real cause of my limitation or my feeling of helplessness is not situation or people but my own weaknesses. I need to check and realize the weakness working within me, in that particular situation and I will be able to overcome the limitation.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: July 29, 2015: Sweetness of Introversion

Daily Positive Thoughts: July 29, 2015: Sweetness of Introversion

Hawaii

Sweetness of Introversion

Instead of speaking too much and wasting your energy, become experienced in the sweetness of introversion.

Word Power

There's a powerful connection between the words we use and the results we get.

Poor chosen words can kill enthusiasm. Well chosen words can motivate, offer hope and consequently alter results.

To enhance and empower others, harness your word power to work for you, not against you! 

Topics For Meditation Thought Commentaries (cont.)

Here are a few thoughts or themes for meditation to help you:

* I am a point of pure spiritual energy, a point of pure light, situated at the center of the forehead. While the world around me is always changing, various different scenes come and go in my life, while even thoughts, feelings, emotions come and go, I the soul remain here at the centre of everything, at the centre of even myself, stationary, unchanging and totally stable. In this inner space of stillness, I experience pure peace and silence.

Repeat as well as expand the thoughts explained over the last couple of days gently to yourself, experience them deeply, allowing them to take root in your mind while enjoying the beautiful feelings of detachment they bring. This will help you reconnect with your spiritual center with ease.   Remember, the final aim of meditation is to go beyond thoughts into the actual experience.   Thoughts are the steps which take you to your final destination of experience. The stage of experience is one which does not contain any thoughts. But you cannot make this happen forcefully.  Use the thoughts to gently guide you there.  They will slowly dissolve on their own and, when the time is right, instead of thinking about peace you will feel peace and reside (stay) in peace - the peace which always resides (stays) within you.

Soul Sustenance

How Our Thoughts Shape Our Personality And Actions

With your thoughts and feelings you create and perceive the world that surrounds you. According to what your thoughts are, thus will be your feelings and emotions, your attitude and your actions. This process usually happens rapidly, and you are not usually aware that it is taking place. As this process repeats itself often, it is easy for a set of habits to be created.

The effort lies in slowing down this process in the mind, as if you were watching television in slow motion. On the screen of your consciousness you can use meditation as a method to slow down this process and be aware of what you are feeling and thinking, how you are acting and being aware of the result that you obtain. It is important to learn to transform (change) and to avoid, that is, to not create unnecessary thoughts in order to be more centered and energized, and to have more clarity in order to take the right decisions.

Positive thoughts heal and strengthen the mind. A healthy mind and thought pattern is the basis of a balanced personality finally.

Let us learn to create thoughts of greater quality. They arise out of a wider vision of spirituality. In this way, thanks to those positive thoughts, full of peace, harmony and creativity, the mind will clean itself, and the memory of our innate qualities will be activated once more, replacing, in a natural way, the old habits and negative tendencies.

Message for the day

The index of change is to have better relationship with others.

Projection: Change or progress for me is usually success in terms of money, status, or name. But usually this does not give an accurate index of the change that is taking place within me.

Solution: Real change can be measured with the quality of my interaction with others. The more I progress, the more I find my relationship with others getting better. Others will also be happy with my progress and me


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: July 28, 2015: Contentment

Daily Positive Thoughts: July 28, 2015: Contentment

Exotic Bora-Bora

Contentment

Contentment is a great virtue, though it may not attract one's attention at first. Those who are truly content are usually quiet about it. It is a pleasure to be in their company, because they are full, peaceful, and generous. 

Energy

There are times in the day when you have plenty of energy (peak times) and other times when your energy is at low (trough times).

Your focus and attention span ebb and flow. Do you know your peak and trough times? Even though each day is different, you'll most likely find you have a consistent rhythm of daily peaks and troughs. Why not, integrate a variety of tasks according to your energy and focus levels?

So, if you're trying to be productive at the wrong times, it's time to rethink your working habits. Tackle the 'difficult' and the creative tasks during your peak times. Use your trough time to do 'easy' and routine tasks.

Topics For Meditation Thought Commentaries (cont.)

Here are a few thoughts or themes for meditation to help you:

* Like stars shine to bring light during the night, I am a spiritual being of radiant light, like a star in the night sky, reflecting and radiating spiritual light in the present spiritual darkness of the world night. The, light, which emanates from the heart of me is peaceful and loving. It touches each and every being in the world. It is my gift to the world.

* I am just a tiny point of pure energy, of light, situated at the center of the forehead.  And within that tiny point lie all my thoughts, feelings, emotions, attitudes, beliefs and my personality traits. Within the point of light that I am, lie all the qualities of spirit that I have - I am a source of love, peace, power and wisdom for others.

* I am a conscient, miniscule point of energy, at the center of the forehead and I am instrumental in making this body work. This body may be heavy and big as compared to me, but I the soul am so light, and free that I can almost fly. I experience bliss as the soul releases itself from the bondage of matter.

(To be continued tomorrow...)

Soul Sustenance

Opening The Third Eye

The concept of the third eye has always interested people. What is the third eye? Can it be opened during an operation, or by going on a journey to a religious or sacred destination? In meditation, we understand that the third eye means the ability to understand and to perceive (realize) correctly. Then, on the basis of that perception (realization) or insight (understanding); to act and behave accordingly. In other words, on the basis of spiritual truths, we think, speak and act so that peace and well-being become natural in our life.

Spiritual values, or truths, are necessary for genuine improvement of the human condition and life.

The third eye is the intellect of the soul - when it is open, there is realization of the need to improve, change and/or create something that will help the self and others to make the quality of life better. 

Message for the day

True honesty brings real success.

Projection: When something goes wrong, I usually blame others and consider them the cause of my distress and unhappiness. Such an attitude would amount to carelessness and I only tend to feel disheartened and discouraged

Solution: Whenever something goes wrong, the first thing I need to do is to check where I could correct myself. This correction is not to put myself down but to improve, to progress. This is what brings me real success.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: July 27, 2015: First Change

Daily Positive Thoughts: July 27, 2015: First Change

International Yoga Day- June 21, 2015, Rajpath, New Delhi with Prime Minister Modi

First Change

There is no greater teacher than one's own practical example. To be really benevolent therefore means that I must first change, then I have the power, the knowledge and the experience of thinking and doing for the ultimate benefit of all.

Experiences

We are unique individuals who have been shaped by the experiences we've had. 

Our talents, successes and strengths have shaped us along with the insights that have come from the failures and mistakes. 

Recognising and valuing the past allows us to make better choices today.

Topics For Meditation Thought Commentaries

As you start your meditation practice, you need to have in mind some simple topics for your thought commentaries on which you base your meditation. Repeat them gently. Doing that will give you enough time to experience the feelings hidden inside them.  Realization of thought commentaries will help your thoughts to develop and your thoughts will slowly expand as you now guide yourself in your meditation. Take up a few simple topics or phrases as the foundation for your meditation. Initially, listening to a guided meditation commentary on an audio cassette or CD, which is available at any Brahma Kumaris center will be extremely helpful.  As you get an idea about what thought commentaries are all about, you can gradually start creating your own powerful, positive, thought commentaries. These will ultimately have more meaning for you because they have been created by you and you will easily be able to relate to them. You can continue to take the help of recorded commentaries, though, from time to time. Given below are a few topics for your thought commentaries, which you would find helpful and which you can explore.

* I am a subtle (non-physical) point of consciousness, which resides within this body (situated at the center of the forehead), I am the energy which brings this body to life every day. I am the energy which uses this body to see, to speak, to touch and to hear. I am the energy which experiences everything via the body. But I am not this body.

* I am a soul, a being of light, situated at the center of the forehead, radiating pure light into my body, out towards others close to me and the world.  As I turn within and remember who I am, I experience my own capacity to have pure love for all others. It is a generous (kind) love that neither wants nor needs anything in return.

(To be continued tomorrow...)

Soul Sustenance

Keeping The Watchman Of Attention Alert

All the religions and spiritual groups place a lot of importance on the virtue of discipline. Without discipline you do not manage to transform negative habits and you do not create a new state of awareness where the self is nourished through the experience of spirituality. Every day you eat, you brush your teeth, bathe, drink water and breathe, and all of this you do not consider a discipline; you have adopted them as something natural in order for your body to continue working. On a spiritual level you also need to nourish yourself and to have a discipline that, with practice, a time comes when it becomes natural because you incorporate it into your life. In the process of change you need to discipline yourself in order not to let old habits come to the forefront. Until you have burnt them and they have died, you should keep the watchman of attention alert in order to maintain your self-control, given that each time you use a negative habit in action, you strengthen it. When you do not use it, you allow it to die.

The path of the spiritual traveler is therefore one of waking (awareness of self as soul) and sleeping (under the illusion that we are our body), waking and sleeping. We tend to fluctuate between the two (like dawn and dusk) until we find stability in soul-consciousness. This is why it is important to awaken and stay awake, and why it's important to give our mind and intellect good spiritual food (knowledge) and exercise (meditation) every day to keep them fresh and alert. Being conscious of the soul, acting from that consciousness, the scars (habits and tendencies) left by past actions based on illusions of bodily awareness are healed. Discipline is necessary for growth and personal transformation if you want to obtain satisfying and permanent results. If not, the old habits continue to rule in your life. The evidence that our discipline in the practice of meditation is working is mental lightness and an increasing easiness in our interactions with others.

Message for the day

The method to serve is to become an embodiment of power.

Projection: Service to others is usually understood as bringing benefit to others through what I do. I have love for such service and make an attempt to do it too. But sometimes busy in such service, I find that my own self-progress is left behind.

Solution: I need to pay attention for my own self-progress by learning from everything that happens. I thus find myself improving and filling myself with power. This power spreads around and shows the right path to others, just like a lighthouse and others continue to take benefit from me.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: July 26, 2015: Real Honesty

The Prague astronomical clock, first installed in 1410, is the oldest one still working.

Real Honesty

Real honesty means being true to the best that is within you. This is more honest than simply speaking your mind.

Concentration

How often do you hear yourself say, "I can't concentrate!" Actually, concentration isn't a gift and it isn't about intelligence.

Concentration is driven by interest, and interest is driven by attitude. If your attitude swells with interest, concentration is astonishingly easy.

Increase your concentration by reducing multi-tasking and any of the many distractions at your fingertips.

Personality Radiation

Each thought that we create, every word we speak and every action we perform is responsible for the radiation of non-physical energy or vibration into the universe; towards other people, to the surroundings or the atmosphere as well as to physical nature. A very important aspect of our consciousness which influences the quality of this vibration is the intention or hidden meaning behind each thought, word and action.  When the intention is pure, positive and unconditional, positive packets of the energy of peace, love, good wishes, happiness and truth get transmitted. People who experience this positive energy from us are reminded of their personal positive qualities, even if these qualities are different from ours, and get inspired to imbibe the same and put them into practice, although this may not even be our conscious intention in the first place, but we just have a general pure, positive, intention towards everything and everyone around us. But this giving of inspiration happens automatically. On the other hand, when the intention is negative and impure, it is as if we bring other people, surroundings and nature down i.e. in a way we absorb positive energy from these entities, instead of filling them. People, without realizing, will come down from their positive personality state on receiving this energy and become inclined to thinking and speaking against their basic, positive nature; thus it is a negative inspiration. Both are energy exchanges, but one is positive and the other is negative.

The above process happens even when we are quiet, not creating any thoughts and not speaking or performing any actions. Depending on the kind of nature or personality we have, those type of vibrations keep getting emitted from us all the time. The higher the quality of the activity inside the mind and intellect during the day and in general in our life, even if they are inactive at a particular point of time, the higher the quality of the energy radiated at that time. It's as if we are constant spiritual energy radiators and radiate our personality all the time, even while we sleep. The purer our personality, the purer this radiation is.

Soul Sustenance

The Functioning Of My Internal Processor

The body consists of physical limbs to move around and carry out its tasks in the physical world. So too, the soul has the subtle limbs – the limb possessing the power to think (mind), the limb possessing the power to reason and make decisions (intellect) and limb of its own unique personality. These three subtle limbs are used to maneuver, control and carry out tasks in the inner subtle (non-physical) world of thoughts, feelings, emotions, decisions, mental images and nature characteristics (or commonly called habits). I need to understand completely how these limbs work individually and also how they function together in conjunction as a team. This understanding helps me immensely in putting my personal mental and emotional world in order.

If the processor of my computer develops a problem, my computer comes to a standstill. I will be able to fix it only if I know how it works. In the same way, I have an internal processor which has three processes going on inside it continuously right through the day - the processes of thinking (mind), deciding (intellect) and becoming (sanskaras) – which affect my complete functioning as a human being. Only if I understand completely the functioning of this internal processor, can I start to correct myself and function well.

Message for the day

To be experienced means never to be deceived by anything.

Projection: It is normally understood that to be experienced means to gain expertise in something, or to become a master in a particular field. Such a person, who is an expert in one field might find himself totally impractical in daily situations.

Solution: Life has so many things to teach me through the various situations. I need to keep learning from all that happens. Then I'll never be surprised or cheated by any unexpected events, but will be prepared because of being experienced.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris