Daily Positive Thoughts: June 01, 2017: Independent Observer

The Great Sphinx of Giza, Egypt

Independent Observer

Peace ends when you are emotionally involved in a situation. The practice of being an independent observer helps you stay stable and calm. It is the best way to approach a decision in any circumstance.

Resisting False Attractions In Actions

All that glitters (shines) is not gold. Life presents you with many illusionary scenes, scenes in which what may be visible may not be the truth. These scenes cause desires to be born inside you to achieve something unnecessary for your prosperity or other types of fulfillments. These can be illusions that make you believe that you will gain something from a situation or person, without the same being true. Thus, you waste time going down a path that not only leads you to disappointment; but you also waste the resource of your thoughts and energy and as a result you tire yourself out emotionally and mentally.

If the intellect is polluted, you make incorrect judgments and are easily deceived by situations or people. Thus, you will make incorrect choices, dishonest or illogical decisions. You will justify dishonesty and improper actions and you will be incapable of differentiating between the real and the imaginary. A person with a pure, clear, clean and powerful intellect will act with honesty and sincerity. When your intellect is polluted, you may act against your own conscience or against your better judgment; you also may be insensitive. A person with a doubtful intellect will always justify a dishonest act. Meditation is the process of purifying and cleaning the intellect, because in meditation we connect with the purest intellect, the intellect of the Supreme Soul or God. Meditation is also a process of inner awakening and strengthening of your conscience. Being awake means to realize, and being strong means to act according to what you have realized.

Give Encouragement

A word of encouragement at the right time can boost someone's confidence and courage.  So don't hesitate or hold back in encouraging others.

Your encouragement doesn't have to be complicated or time-consuming, simply appreciate someone's efforts, share a compliment or give uplifting feedback.

Go on, be lavish and encourage someone today. It might just energize and elevate their day.

Message for the day

To find reasons to be happy is to increase happiness. 

Expression: When the mind searches for reasons to be sad and sorrowful, even situations with no great significance are seen with a vision of negativity. So there is constantly an expression of words and actions that reflect the need for sympathy and reassurance. On the other hand, when there is the search for happiness, then everything is positive giving happiness.

Experience: When I am happy, I start perceiving everything with that vision. It is like wearing coloured glasses. Whatever colour my glasses are, the whole world is coloured with it. Then, I am no longer able to perceive and recognize negativity and I am able to remain happy with everything. 

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: May 31, 2017: Forgotten how to dream?

Forgotten how to dream?

Most of us have forgotten how to dream. We have exchanged our creativity for security. The current state of the world is a wakeup call that brings us back to our dreams and hopes. This is the time to realize that beyond us there is another, unlimited, energy in action. This energy will surpass our expectations, if only we trust. The more we remember our dream, the more we become alert for the coincidences and synchronicity that will bring us in its direction.

Spreading The Fragrance Of Happiness (Part 3)

Happiness filled interactions make you completely free from the different worries and tensions life will sometimes bring in front of you. Also, a life rich with happiness is the best to make yourself extremely stable and emotionally powerful. Just try this one day for yourself. Give happiness to each one you meet and try on another day, not doing that. The day you are busy in sharing and receiving happiness, that day you will feel stronger from within. Also, you will face all obstacles of different types easily and with more stability. 

Also, such a day will pass very fast, as if you are on a joyride, sharing gifts with everyone, gifts that are invisible and of the inner personality. Gift your specialties to everyone. Don’t keep them with you. Have a big heart in giving them to others. Suppose, a person has the gift of speaking confidently, don’t keep that specialty to yourself. Use that speech to give happiness to each one and make everyone enthusiastic. Or you are very humble and have pure good wishes for everyone. Don’t keep the good wishes to yourself or inside you. Express them through your words and interactions and make everyone feel the happiness of your goodwill. Also, suppose you are very intelligent, help others through your personality and all the wisdom you possess, of different things of the world. These are ways of spreading happiness. Remember each specialty of yours should serve and not be kept inside you for your use only. Spread the fragrance of your specialties to everyone around you and life will become lovely and joyful, not only for you, but for others around you, also.

Familiarity breeds…..

With the people we're really friendly and comfortable with, and with the people we spend a lot of time with, all too often our behaviour becomes too familiar, and as a result, respect and basic manners gradually disappear.

This week, reflect and re-evaluate the role of familiarity in your relationships with family, friends and at work.

Remember, informality and appropriate familiarity has its place but so does maintaining respect and basic manners.

Message for the day

Every reaction to situations is a reflection of one's own self-respect. 

Expression: To the extent that there is a high degree of self-respect, to that extent there is a positive response to even the most negative situations. If there is low self-respect, even the smallest situation brings forth a strong negative reaction. This reaction only makes matters worse. 

Experience: When I am able to maintain my own self-respect even in the worst situation, I am able to have a hold, control over these situations. But if I have a low self-respect I continue to blame situations and use them as excuses to feel helpless. So I am not able to do anything about these situations and just continue to have negative feelings. 

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: May 30, 2017: Courage

Courage

It is natural to feel worry and tension in a difficult situation - or to run away from the situation altogether. Although this may work for a short time, it is not a solution.

We have to draw upon inner courage in order to meet the challenges head on. When we do this, we often realize it is not as bad as it first appeared.

Spreading The Fragrance Of Happiness (Part 2)

Whenever you begin your day, fill your mind with some happiness filled thoughts. Those thoughts could be – Today, in the entire day, I will gift a smile to each one I meet or Today, throughout the day, I will keep each one’s specialty in my mind and experience joy. They could also be - During the entire day, today, I will touch each one I meet with my positive good feelings for them. We could also think something like - All through the day, today, I will bring different virtues in action and experience lightness and give the same to others.

It’s these types of thoughts which will make everyone around me happy and they will give me happiness in return. This in turn will make the atmosphere around me full of happiness. Happiness begins with the self and happiness given to others is happiness experienced by myself first. When you meet someone in the whole day, ask yourself and check yourself – Did I just meet the other person and interact with the person in a common manner? On the other hand, did I share happiness with the other person and make the person free from worries and burdens? After all, it’s my duty towards each and everyone I meet - giving unlimited happiness to others. This is the common emotion that binds all of us together - happiness. Giving and sharing happiness will make life beautiful and our existence meaningful. Very often, whether it’s in our work or any other activity, we tend to become busy. We may not perform any negative actions during that time. But because we lose touch with our inner virtuous self, our happiness reduces.

(To be continued tomorrow …)

Reflections

You may find that the qualities & personality traits you like or dislike in others are likely to also exist in you.

Really?  Yes, people really can be your mirrors.

They really can reflect back at you what you need to see about yourself - the positives & the shortcomings.

  

It's all more easily seen in others than in ourselves.  So look in the mirror & see what the reflections tell you about yourself.

Message for the day

To have faith that things will work out for the best means to ensure that they will. 

Expression: To have faith that things will work out for the best means never to give up. Even if situations don't support and people don't give encouragement faith gives the ability to go on. Because of this there is recognition of even the not so visible resources and they are used for successfully completing the task. 

Experience: When I have faith I am never discouraged by temporary failure, but am able to have the courage to move on towards success. I have constantly the satisfaction of giving my best. Because of my commitment and sincere effort, I find that situations and people too cooperate with me, bringing me success in whatever I undertake. 

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: May 29, 2017: Thought Power

Thought Power

Spiritual knowledge is like a sieve through which we can filter out the untrue.  Running our thoughts through it constantly ensures that we are heading in the right direction.

When thoughts are brought into action, they can be seen immediately. When the mind is filled with virtues, they will be revealed in our actions. By elevating our thoughts, we can literally end up purifying the self, inspiring others to do likewise. Our life will be the inspiration for them to change. There won’t even be the need to say anything.

Our vibrations of pure thought can reach out and touch the whole world. Our very life can do the work of a lighthouse.

Spreading The Fragrance Of Happiness (Part 1)

A beautiful aspect of each one of our lives is living a life full of enthusiasm and joy.  Also we keep spreading the same to others through our entire personality and through our actions and attitudes. It is one thing being happy yourself and another to share that happiness with each one at every step. For some, it is a hobby to start the day with wishing everyone with greetings of happiness and give them a feel of love filled joy. By doing this, they spend the entire day ahead free from the tensions that they might face and full of lightness filled thoughts and feelings.

Also, give a new flavor to each day, of different experiences filled with different types of qualities. Qualities such as cheerfulness, contentment and lightness, which are all different colours of happiness will make life a beauty filled journey. It is journey in which you are accompanied by others. Also, you along with others will share and receive these beautiful experiences. This giving and receiving will make this complete life journey full of something you look forward to and enjoy to the fullest. These experiences are like gifts that we share with each other and gifts always bring happiness. Physical gifts are limited to particular days and particular people. But these invisible gifts of different positive happiness emotions are unlimited and can be shared with each and every one. We can do this in our homes, at our workplace, with your close friends or in society in general.

(To be continued tomorrow …)

It can be difficult to learn, who to trust.

When we have had bad experience with people who betrayed our trust in the past, it can be difficult to let anyone else in. It can take some time to learn to trust anyone again.

Trust goes both ways. If I want to gain someone's trust, I have to show them that I trust them before he or she will open up to me.

When I am truthful, this will be evident in everything I say and do. When others realize this, they will begin to trust me. From trust, love begins to grow.

Message for the day

The power of good wishes enables disheartened ones to experience happiness. 

Expression: The usual reaction to the negativity in another person is to behave negatively too, i.e., to express negative qualities. This continues although this does not bring about the desired change in the other person. On the other hand, when there is the ability to see the positive qualities in the other person and have good wishes based on that it becomes a source of power to bring about a change to positivity.

Experience: When I have the ability to give positive feelings and good wishes to the other person even when they are negative, they are able to get the power to change the negative to positive. I find that the change that I seek for in others is much quicker and easier than if there is the emphasis just on negativity. 

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: May 28, 2017: Humility Reveals Truth

Daily Positive Thoughts: May 28, 2017: Humility Reveals Truth

Humility Reveals Truth

Humility comes from the understanding that the force behind whatever help you give to others comes not from you but from the power of love.

It is not true that if you are humble others will walk all over you. It is when there is no humility that you can easily be influenced by others and things seem difficult.

But when there is humility, there is also the power of truth. You know internally that you will achieve your aim, regardless of what others say or think.

A humble person never feels they are bowing to others. The head is held neither too high nor low - it just faces straight ahead, like an angel. Humility reveals your truth.

Car-Driver Comparison To Aid Self Realization (Part 2)

If a good driver, while driving a car is distracted by the negative and disturbing scenes which he comes across and his attention is pulled in many different directions, he will make his journey unsafe increasing the probability of meeting with accidents.  When the same principles are applied to the soul and the body, I also need to take care that, while traveling on the road of life, I am not distracted by scenes that are not useful to me e.g. when looking out through my eyes and I don’t have to take in all the images, scenes and information along the way, otherwise I may meet with an accident. When listening through my ears, I don’t have to take in all the words and everything that people say, otherwise I may meet with an accident. I can choose to take in what is useful for me, but I do not have to register distracting, negative and harmful images and words. Just like a driver, I see and understand situations, too I keep my eyes and ears open - it would be unsafe to ignore them completely, I need to be aware of them - but I look only for the positive in them, so that I remain focused and am not deflected from my goal of experiencing inner contentment and bliss, while making the journey.

I, as the driver in charge of this vehicle, the body, also need to take care that I do not drive rashly i.e. I learn to monitor the feelings and attitude that are transmitted outwards through my eyes, my words and my complete body language. Driving rashly i.e. transmitting negative energy in this way could harm any co-traveler on the road of life. When these feelings stay positive, filled with sweetness, purity and respect, that too helps to ensure that my journey passes smoothly and enjoyably. When I stay alert and aware in a driver conscious and drive carefully as explained in this and yesterday’s message, my actions bring me closer to my spiritual truth and I am able to share my positivity with others around me. When I lose awareness for even a moment, there's danger either from me to others or vice versa.

Understanding the Mind and Its Functioning 

The mind is a faculty of the soul, the main function of which is to produce thoughts. The thoughts we create are energy. In one day we produce an average of thirty to forty thousand thoughts. How much energy does this represent? What do we do with it? 

The mind works constantly, even when we are sleeping. We cannot separate ourselves from it, it is our inseparable companion. If you study your mind you will see that, as well as thinking, it imagines, remembers, dreams, associates, desires and even produces your feelings. 

If you think about some incident that made you unhappy ten years ago, you will feel that unhappiness again, perhaps even more deeply than before. If you think of something that made you happy, you will also feel that happiness when you repeat the event in your mind. 

If you create positive thoughts about yourself, you will feel good and your self-esteem will be strengthened, and if you create negative thoughts, you will feel depressed, with low self-esteem. The mind opens up the way to the self. By creating the right type of thoughts you can open up your inner potential again, and rediscover that as people we are full of positive qualities. 

Message for the day

Love and cooperation bring success in all tasks. 

Expression: Love is reflected in the love that there is for the person and also for the task. When there is love for the person, there is the ability to give cooperation without any expectations or demands. And when there is love for the task there is the commitment for completing the task, whatever the obstacles that come up in the process of doing things.

Experience: When I am able to have love, I am able to receive hundred percent help and commitment from others too and so I am able to have the satisfaction of moving forward constantly. There is nothing difficult for me and I do everything with great ease. Not only is the task easy but also there is a spread of happiness and joy experienced by all who are involved in the task. 

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris