Contemplation: Be Tolerant

Contemplation: Be Tolerant

Artist Shiloh Sophia

Be Tolerant

You have the power to tolerate anyone and any situation. But tolerance is not just suffering in silence. It means going beyond any personal discomfort you may feel, and giving a gift to whomever you would tolerate. Give your time, attention, understanding, compassion, care - all are gifts, which paradoxically, you also receive in the process of giving. And, as you do, you will experience your own self esteem and inner strength grow. In this way you can turn tolerance into strength. 

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Change Desires

Although our understanding of right and wrong is really good, we are
not usually able to be or feel successful. This is because there is a
mismatch between what we know and what we want. So there is an
inability to bring that knowledge into action. A conscious effort needs
to be put in from my side to compare and see which is better for me -
what I know is right or what I feel I want. When I compare in this way,
I will be able to change my desires in keeping with the right thing.
When these two match, I will be able to bring it into action too. So I
experience constant success.

Factors That Shape Our Perception

The factors that contribute to creating our perception (way of looking at the self, situations, people, etc.) are our memories, experiences, beliefs, values, people, places, situations and time. Out of all these factors there are two which are chiefly responsible for creating our perception: our beliefs and our experiences.

The first thing you should do is have a clearer perception of yourself. You should develop the perception of who you really are and what your true identity is. This does not refer to the image you see every day in the mirror. Your external appearance or physical beauty, your age, your gender, your occupation, your status in society should not be the basis for your self-perception. You may live with others or alone, have a family, run a business or have a job, which you undertake with responsibility. What is your conscience, however, while you are doing these tasks? This will lead you to a clear perception of yourself.

We have been brought up and conditioned to have a perception of everything that is external: perception of other people at the workplace or in the family, of other countries, of movies, of the country's cricket team, of what our neighbors are doing, of the government and so on. However, the last thing we have a perception of is ourselves. We thus lose the internal link with our own happiness and our own peace. When we re-establish the perception of our true identity (the correct way of looking at ourselves) based on spiritual knowledge, we are capable of recognizing all the false beliefs about ourselves that have taken root in our inner selves. When we discover these beliefs we are capable of recognizing those sanskars of ourselves we need to change.

In the next few messages, we shall be discussing a few factors that shape our perception.

Soul Sustenance

The Thought-Destiny Cycle 

The process by which we create our own destiny is quite easy to see in theory; however it requires some checking to see how it matches the reality of our practical lives. Here is the process in brief: 

• As our intentions, so will be our thoughts. 
• As our thoughts, so will be our feelings. 
• As our feelings, so will be our attitudes. 
• As our attitudes, so will be our actions. 
• As our actions, so will be our habits. 
• As our habits, so will be our personality. 

As our personality in all our relationships on our journey through life, so will be our destiny. So watch your thoughts! Be aware of your intentions! 

Our intentions are based on our beliefs about who we are, where we are and why we are here. If we believe we are the physical form, our belief will we be that we need to survive as long as possible. This leads to the intention to get what we think we need before others, which leads to competition, which leads to feelings of fear. Our destiny gets shaped accordingly. When you know you are the non-physical and immortal (which is neither created nor can be destroyed) energy, a soul, then survival is no longer an issue and your intention is one to include, connect and co-operate with and enlighten others. The service of others at a spiritual level becomes the highest intention in action. It is fully free from fear and can be seen as an act of love. This is why competition and authentic spirituality can never be found together. 

Message for the day

The one who is detached is the one who is happy. 

Expression: When difficult situations come our way we tend to overreact because of our attachment and expectations. Because of this we experience much more unhappiness than what the situation actually holds. The understanding lacks that it is not the situation, but our own thoughts that are giving us sorrow. 

Experience: We need to look at the situation just as we would watch it happen to someone else - with detachment. When we learn to detach ourselves from the situation in this way and see what it holds for us, we will not experience unhappiness but will be able to remain happy under all circumstances. 


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

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