Contemplation: Forgiving

Contemplation: Forgiving

Forgiving

See beyond immediate circumstances. Clear the decks of old grievances, become free from outdated thinking. Learn from past experiences and move on by tapping inner sources of self-worth and humility. Valuing honesty and commitment, softly let go and enable others to change. There are new horizons, new growth, and a new lease of life.

An Observer

When I awaken to the power of the mind I can begin to step back from
whatever illness is happening in the body. The more I become the
observer, watching what is happening instead of being caught up in it,
the more free the mind can become. Even when my body is ill, I can
create thoughts and feelings of happiness and peace. These positive
feelings then help the body, so that I have the strength to face the
illness and quite often pain and sickness decrease or may even go away.

Crossing Negative Circumstances Or Situations (cont.)

The challenge lies in knowing what the strategy is to learn to live through negative situations without allowing them to influence our emotional and mental state.

In order to achieve that, in the first place, we should change our interpretation. Instead of interpreting the situation as an obstruction, interference or barrier to our path, we need to change our perception. We can ask ourselves questions like: What has this situation taught me? What does it say to me? Remain detached, observe and listen before reacting immediately. From detachment, observation and listening we can have a more practical and wider perception.

We are the creators of our realities. Reality, in itself, does not create for us stress, pain or unhappiness. It is our way of looking and interpretation of reality that brings about these reactions. Therefore, we have to review how we perceive situations and with what beliefs we interpret and judge them. Reinterpreting the situation, the concrete reality, implies allowing the old perception to die in order to make room for a new vision. Without the old dying, the new cannot be built correctly. Instead of seeing people or situations as obstacles on the path, we can see them as opportunities to practice patience and tolerance, to know how to listen, thank and love. They allow us to widen our capacity to co-operate and enlarge our heart so that we might be more generous.

(To be continued tomorrow ...)

Soul Sustenance

The Filtration Process In The Soul

The mind and its creation i.e. thoughts, in these times, in most people, are controlled by three main factors:
i. their habits or sanskaras
ii. their past experiences, and
iii. information which they are exposed to and which they imbibe.

The intellect is like a filter which has the function of discriminating, of judging the thoughts and deciding which ones to put into practice and which ones not to, basically filtering them.
Presently the filter of the intellect has become weakened, confused and unsure; it has become blocked by many incorrect beliefs, due to which this filtration does not take place properly – as a result many wrong thoughts get converted into actions. A lot of times during the day, thoughts become actions so fast, that the filter of the intellect does not even come into play i.e. thoughts become actions bypassing the filter.

The beliefs that we have today are related to our cultural, physical, social, religious, political identity associated with our age, gender, occupation, wealth, role etc. of our body. Beliefs connected to materialism, to having rather than being, are living based on the perception of the sense organs, and not on the intuition and the wisdom of the spirit. There are beliefs that block you, or brake you, others break you, they bring about fears in you and a limited perception of reality and of yourself. However much you try to generate positive thoughts, if you do not change these beliefs, their influence on the intellect will be so strong that it is almost impossible to maintain a positive state of mind. Even if you experience it, it will be short-lived and temporary.

Message for the day

True treasure is the treasure of contentment.

Projection: We, sometimes, find that we do not always have with us everything we want. When we are faced with this thought again and again, we naturally begin to have negative thoughts. We, then, are not able to appreciate and use what we have. Instead we are left wishing for something else.

Solution: Instead of thinking of what we don't have or need, we need to make effort to use whatever we already have with us. For this, we need to make a conscious effort to check what treasures we have, then, we will be able to use them in a worthwhile way. Then, we will be able to be content whatever the situation may be.