Daily Positive Thoughts: November 01, 2015: The Secret Ingredient

Daily Positive Thoughts: November 01, 2015: The Secret Ingredient

The Secret Ingredient

When we're cooking, our minds are working.
When we're stirring and rolling and baking, we're thinking. 
Thinking creates vibrations because that's what thoughts do. The vibes affect both the food and the people who eat the food. 

So, cook with care;
watch out for what's you're thinking; and don't forget that
in the best of recipes, love is the secret ingredient.

To be free from desires is to be free from the burden of problems. 

When I chase my shadow, there is sorrow, but when I face the sun, I find my shadow following me. Unreasonable desires are like the shadow which I am trying to catch. What I need to do is, have a clear aim and work towards it. That is like facing the sun. I find more attainments when I am connected with my efforts. Today I will check my desires and ask myself if I am doing anything to earn them. I will then see what I really want, make a clear plan to achieve it and follow this plan in order to get to it. This will enable me to be connected with my efforts and the fruit of my efforts would surely come, bringing along with it a lot of other qualities in me.

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.

Soul Sustenance

Balance Between Masculine and Feminine Qualities

These are some examples of masculine and feminine qualities:

Masculine
Logical, Verbal, Brave, Enthusiastic, Enterprising, Flexible, Creative, Responsible, Self-confident, Jovial, Detached

Feminine
Intuitive, Silent, Affectionate, Serene (Peaceful), Patient, Tolerant, Inspiring, Optimistic, Resistant, Mature, Sweet

Opening up to the spiritual consciousness (or the consciousness of the soul) makes the masculine and feminine qualities emerge from our inner selves. As we become more conscious and attentive, we come across a balance between masculine and feminine qualities, achieving greater harmony in our lives and in our relationships. When we are only aware of the physical form, a part of our being may remain hidden. For example, if a man only identifies with his masculine form (I am a man), his feminine qualities do not develop. In the same way, many women have not developed their masculine qualities due to the thought: "I am (only) a woman". E.g. in a family where the father is often absent and cannot provide his support for long periods of time, the role of the mother takes on another broader dimension. She can make the masculine qualities emerge, combining authority and bravery with her more feminine aspects.

Addiction to relationships, in other words, the dependency on other people, is to a large extent due to an imbalance of masculine and feminine qualities in our inner selves. The main reason why this happens is that we do not develop the qualities that we are missing internally and we seek the company of others who have these qualities. We try to compensate for our weaknesses and fill our defects by taking what we are missing, from other people, thus becoming dependent on them.

Message for the day

The power of silence makes the impossible achievable.

Expression: When I am faced with a difficult situation, my mind is flooded with thoughts. I also begin to talk about it a lot, describing the problem to all I meet. Then the problem looks so big that I feel I could do nothing to change it.

Experience: I need learn the art of silence(mental and verbal). Internal silence brings the right solutions because my mind is calm. And when I don't describe the problem too much to people I will know there is a solution and I will be able to find it too.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: October 31, 2015: Truly and Permanently Happy

Daily Positive Thoughts: October 31, 2015: Truly and Permanently Happy

Truly and Permanently Happy

The secret to life's purpose is to be happy. In order to be truly and permanently happy, we have to fulfil our best intentions and act on them right away ... even if that means we start by just giving good thoughts to them.

Forgive and Forget

When we hold on to emotional hurt and let it linger we become so wrapped up in it that we can't enjoy the present.

To move beyond the hurt we need to forget it.
But sometimes the harder we try to 'forget', the more we end up focusing on it.

To forget the hurt we have to forgive.
This doesn't mean rationalising the hurt, but learning from it and finding room in our heart to release the hurt feelings and forgive the one who hurt us.

The Role Play Of Thoughts In Relationships (Part 3)

Parent-child relationships are the foundation of our complete life. The earliest habits that children acquire in their lives are from their parents. Very often parents try and impose positive habits on their children. A very common trend that we see nowadays where parents will scold their child for common negative actions like getting angry, for lying to them, for watching inappropriate stuff on different mediums of technology like television and the internet or for getting involved in relationships with the opposite gender at a young age. Very commonly parents are not satisfied with the change brought about by children by following the rules that they have set for them, causing parent-child relationships to get strained. Why is it that inspite of children knowing that parents are concerned for them, do not pay heed to their instructions and continue with the negative habits? A more powerful medium than words, which reaches children on a physical level, is the personality radiation of the parents which works on children and reaches them faster than and much before the words do. Parents dictate the change but don't be the change i.e. similar habits of lust, anger, ego, greed, etc. exist inside them which keep travelling to the children on a subtle energy level and impacting (influencing) their minds negatively much sooner than positive words in the form of instructions, leaving the words as good as ineffective.

Also considering another common relationship that children have, the one with their school teachers; many investigations confirm that teachers' expectations, whether negative or positive, form one of the most influential factors in the academic performance of their students. If teachers expect good results from their students and have complete faith and confidence that they will succeed, their performance will be much closer to their real capacity than if they are expecting poor results. Very often in schools, the teachers' words regarding the performance of the children are not a direct reflection of their thoughts i.e. words are full of faith and hope in the students' success but thoughts are lacking in optimism with regards to the same. Negative thoughts of fear of probable failure of the children, in the minds of teachers, inspite of positive words of encouragement, negatively impact impressionable minds of children leading to their poor show in school exams.

Soul Sustenance

Self Conversations And Their Significance

A very important subtle activity that we all indulge in for a lot of time in the day is having conversations with the self, sometimes consciously and a large number of times without even being conscious of it. We need to be extremely careful about what the quality of our conversations are because self conversations very strongly influence our perception i.e. the way we see ourselves, others, situations as well as our personalities and also mould them. If channeled properly, they can be constructive i.e. ones that empower the self; if not, they can be destructive i.e. ones that bring the self down or weaken it in some way or the other. They possess immense potential, both positive and negative, if we want we can use them to liberate us or they can even limit us. We can judge, criticize and threaten ourselves or praise and encourage the self in a positive way. It's important to create thoughts of acceptance, respect and approval for ourselves, even if situations don't go the way we desire or expect. Such positive conversations help rise above the dependence on what how people see us and what they think and talk about us, making the self extremely powerful.

Positive self conversations are not fantasies or disconnecting from reality and a few minutes given to the activity do a lot of benefit and no harm at all. They can be done by detaching oneself from actions when we have an emerged conversation and our complete focus is on the conversation and we do nothing else at that time or whilst being involved in actions. Some actions like going on a drive, cooking, having a meal or simply taking a walk or going on a jog allow self-conversations to take place alongside. At these times we give less mental energy or attention to the conversations i.e. we can have a merged conversation so that the respective action is not affected adversely in any way. We can choose how much mental energy to give to the activity, depending on the karma alongside.

Message for the day

The one who is constantly flying with zeal and enthusiasm brings progress in others too.

Expression: Whenever problems come my way, I tend to feel heavy with waste and negative thoughts. At that time I am not able to feel free and light. When there is heaviness in my mind, I can't move forward with enthusiasm and thereby find it difficult to contribute for others' progress too.

Experience: Whatever the circumstances I am faced with, I need to make special effort not to reduce my enthusiasm in any way. The more I am able to be enthusiastic, the more I am able to contribute to the progress of others too along with my own progress.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: October 30, 2015: Change Reaction

Daily Positive Thoughts: October 30, 2015: Change Reaction

International Yoga Day: It is estimated over 35,000 people attended the mass class at 7.00 a.m. inspired by Prime Minister Modi

Change Reaction

Think: "I have to change."  Why?  If I change then those around me will also be inspired to change.

Remove the darkness of the mind and the world around will be illuminated. 

If I am seeing negativity, it is an indication that there is something negative in my own mind. I need to work on that which is in me, rather than trying to change others. Self-checking helps me become better and better and I start noticing that I am able to see more and more of the positive that is around me. Today I will check what aspect in me is making me see in others/situations. I will work on changing this. However, it is also important to do this checking and changing with a feeling of self-respect and not being caught up with guilt or negativity for the self.

The Role Play Of Thoughts In Relationships (Part 2)

Husband-wife relationships, sometimes, are like castles of sand, extremely pleasing to the eye, but based on weak foundations and susceptible to destruction when challenged by negative tides of clash of opinions, personalities or lifestyles. In such relationships, the castles look good from outside because of energies like acceptance, trust, understanding and 'letting go' existing on the surface i.e. these energies are displayed by both partners to each other in the form of words, gestures and actions but these castles can easily collapse because the foundations of these castles i.e. thoughts and feelings carried by the partners in their minds are filled with expectations, rejection, mistrust, misunderstandings, possessiveness and suspicion at times along with the positive emotions which are displayed in actions. Also both partners feel they have made their respective positive contributions in the relationship and so the same is expected from the other side, which is not fulfilled at times, further increasing the problems in the relationship. At the same time both partners are oblivious (not aware) of the negative emotional, much more powerful forces that exist inside them, which go against the positive contribution and are silently working on the castle of the relationship from below, ready to bring it down anytime.  

Another e.g. - in corporate circles, apart from the external objective of profit making and generation of revenue and jobs, an important internal objective of any good corporate organization is creating a peace, love and happiness filled as well as obstacle free atmosphere in the company, which will be conducive (helpful) to the external objective. One spiritual principle states that the leader or CEO or Managing Director of the organization is like a seed of the organization, whose every thought reaches out to and influences every person of the organization as well as the organization as a whole. A second spiritual principle states that the internal ruling and controlling power of a leader of an organization is directly proportional to the handling (of the people of the organization) power of the leader. If in the inner confines (boundaries) of the leader's mind, obstacles of waste and negative thoughts exist i.e. the inner atmosphere of the leader's mind is not full of peace, love and joy, then as per the first spiritual principle, this gets transmitted to the people under the leader and as per the second spiritual principle, such a leader who is lacking in mind ruling power and mind controlling power is automatically lacking in handling power of people under him. Such a leader, due to the application of both these principles, is ineffective in creating a positive environment in the organization.    

(To be continued tomorrow ...)

Soul Sustenance

Directing Your Inner Orchestra Well (Part 2)

You can direct your orchestra well, which means that you can:

• Achieve what you want.
• Reach where you want.
• Be who you are.
• Stop being who you are not.
• Feel what you want to feel.
• Stop feeling what you do not want to feel.
• Be. You can be in your space.
• Do. You can do what gives meaning to your life.
• You can stop doing what lowers you, is ordinary and you do not want to do.
• You can reach excellence by crossing inner mental barriers.
• Let go of that which you have clung on to.
• Free yourself and fly.

If you believe that you can, you can. You have to harmonize your inner voices. Listen to those that allow you power, strengthen you and accompany you. Silence the voices that suppress you, judge you badly and limit you.

Message for the day

When there is determination in my thoughts, the clouds of negative situations will fade away.

Expression: There are a lot of negative situations that come my way, as I am moving along. During the difficult phase I tend to experience a lot of negativity within too, either in the form of fear, anger or pain. At that time the difficulty seems very big and seems to last forever.

Experience: I need to recognize the fact that whatever difficulties I face are like passing clouds. These clouds come at their time and fade away at their time too. I need to develop the determination to work on my problems with this understanding. I will then be able to face the situation with ease.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: October 29, 2015: Riches

Daily Positive Thoughts: October 29, 2015: Riches

Kuan Yin, the Goddess of Mercy and Compassion

Riches

The greatest good we can do for others is not to share our riches with them, but to reveal to them their own.

Do you love what you do?

Are you doing what you love? Or are you coasting on what's easy and familiar?  

To do what you love, reconnect to your purpose. Purpose is invariably connected to giving. Take time to think about: what is it that you uniquely bring to share with everyone?

Reconnecting with your purpose is the easy part.
The challenge is to remember your life purpose on a daily basis and then step out of what's familiar. When you align your actions with your purpose, you'll love what you do.

The Role Play Of Thoughts In Relationships (Part 1)

Relationships can be defined on the surface as a state in which two or more people are connected, the state of being related or interrelated or if the definition is expanded, the way in which two people, talk to, regard and behave towards each other, and deal with each other. Spirituality sees relationships from a deeper perspective - "relationships are not only what we do or say to each other, but are built on the basis of what we think about each other". So relationships, when seen from a spiritual view point, are an exchange of energy at the level of thoughts and feelings, and then words and actions thereafter.

Relationships are one of the most important wealth of our lives and one of the most important sources of our happiness. In order to make them successful i.e. to create the wealth of positive relationships and to experience joy through them continuously, it is important to base them on the right belief systems. One major incorrect belief that we carry inside ourselves with regards to our relationships is that relationships are all about behaving and talking in the right manner, because we think people see, know and judge only what we speak and do, they do not sense what we think, and so we don't give enough significance to our thoughts. But thoughts are more in number and being a more powerful and subtle energy, travel faster than words. When we interact with someone let us take care that along with the right action our thoughts are also right. If we have negative thoughts containing any type of impurity of hatred, greed, jealousy, resentment, selfishness, ego, etc. and we perform pure actions filled with the energy of virtues, neither will we be internally content nor will we be able to satisfy the other person. In all our relationships, it is the intention, the packets of thought energy or vibrations that we transmit, which matter more than the action. Giving significance to the inner intentions while coming into relationships is true transparency in relationships. Performing right actions packaged with thoughts which are coloured with negative emotions, will only transmit pain to the other on a subtle level, even though we did it for their happiness.

We shall further highlight the significance of thought vibrations in relationships using four examples in the next two days' messages.

Soul Sustenance

Directing Your Inner Orchestra Well (Part 1)

Our inner orchestra is made up of different music instruments – the different instruments are: our memories, desires, tendencies, mind, beliefs, emotions, feelings, fears, intuition, judgements, creativity, our imagination...

When you direct your inner orchestra well, you can remain unaffected by external influences without succumbing to them. When the orchestra directs you, you dance from one side to another without a clear direction and with a music that is not very harmonious or sweet; it is noisy and you suffer. Who is the director of this orchestra? You. Who are you? You – the consciousness, you - the soul, you – the being. When your consciousness is in charge, you make the orchestra play according to the inner voice of your being, according to your purest intentions and values. You can. You simply have to be awake, alert and attentive. If the director of the orchestra closes his eyes for a few moments and covers up his ears, what happens to the orchestra? You have to keep the eyes of your inner spiritual vision open; what is called the third eye. And listen with your heart, not with your physical heart but with the heart of your being. If your orchestra rules over you, and you - the director - are stiff, without flexibility, asleep, un-sympathetic, you will not be able to achieve your dreams or arrive at the destiny that you would like to reach. And, to make things worse, when your orchestra dominates you, you are more vulnerable to being dominated by the orchestra of others. Or you will allow someone else to direct your inner orchestra. This is the ideal road on which to get trapped and suffer. Is this what you want?

(To be continued tomorrow …)

Message for the day

The right way of living spreads joy to others.

Expression: When people around me are not happy with me, I usually believe that I am right and they are all wrong. I then cannot check or realise my own mistake. So I rarely make an attempt to change myself and continue to wait for others to change or understand me.

Experience: If people around me are not able to get happiness from me or the way I live, I need to look at my own life in a detached way to see where I could change. Even a slightest change brought by me with sincerity will have a great effect on those around me.

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: October 28, 2015: Talk Lovingly to Yourself

Daily Positive Thoughts: October 28, 2015: Talk Lovingly to Yourself

Talk Lovingly to Yourself

Learning to talk properly to the self is a spiritual endeavour. When you make a mistake, do you talk lovingly to yourself in your mind, or do you tell yourself off? One habit recognises your divinity; the other subtly shapes a nature of sorrow.

Patience brings solutions to problems. 

When I am patient, in the face of challenges, I find time heals most of the problems. Even for those which I have to work on, patience helps me be cool and collected and helps me easily find solutions, without becoming panicky or upset. Patience also helps me to understand what I need to work on and what I need to leave for time to heal or correct. Today I will calm my mind before attempting to find solutions. I will look with detachment at a problem, knowing well the solution has to come. I will not consider it as my problem, but just as 'a problem' that has to be worked on.

The Process Of Birth And Death

The leaving of one body and the taking of another is nearly always confusing and soon the details of the old life are erased by the new. Just in one day we forget so much. After having slept for a while, after some injury or shock, or even after a change in place, company or circumstances, many things are forgotten.

Death of the body is a great shock to the soul, especially if there was great attachment to that body, and the new set of circumstances in the new body is bewildering (confusing). Because the body and brain are not developed, the soul cannot express its memory, so it laughs and cries when it cannot recognize anyone, or when it wishes to express itself. By the time the body is developed, the soul has forgotten its past birth and has become accustomed to the new conditions and the new parents. The prominent sanskaras developed in past lives soon begin to manifest (show) themselves with new details (in the new birth).

Soul Sustenance

Empty Handed We Come And Go Away (Part 2)

Continuing from yesterday's message, a soul who does not cling, is easy natured, who wears the clothes of its roles and responsibilities, but not very tightly, experiences constant happiness and serenity and connects with everyone or everything, but yet can disconnect whenever required. This is true inner freedom. Such a soul always smiles and coming in contact with such a soul is soothing. Such a soul is a liberated carefree emperor and gives a comfortable feeling of liberation to everyone and everything it touches or comes in contact with. On a lighter note, if you are still not convinced about living a life of detachment, you can start with asking yourself, do you enjoy interacting with someone who likes to possess or cling or control or someone who does not? What is a more empowering and comfortable experience for you? The answer is obvious.

Once we get convinced about the idea, we will be courageous enough to challenge internal pressures like old thought patterns, habits, beliefs, past experiences and external pressures in the form of real life challenging situations, the information that we receive from outside and of course our friends and loved ones who will try and convince us to take the opposite path of attachment in subtle or non-subtle ways. Along with inner conviction, becoming aware of ourselves as spiritual beings through meditation, which will help us rediscover our real and authentic being, will also assist us immensely in this process and will provide us the power for the same. Meditation helps us empty ourselves of all that is unnecessary or excess waste inside us and discover the essential, which is precious, as a result we feel full and complete inside, and we no longer desire to possess or hold on to anything physical or non-physical. Hence, we very naturally, without much effort, start living our day-day life without depending on the crutches of attachment. 

Message for the day

Where there is peace there is patience.

Expression: My usual reactions to the stimuli around me are programmed, so I tend to be impulsive or react quickly to situations, I don't give myself time to think or understand. Because of this lack of patience I lose out on many things and I don't realise that I am losing out too.

Experience: At all times I need to make a conscious effort to keep my mind peaceful and calm, more so when there is a difficult situation. With this state of mind I am able to deal with situations patiently because peace brings power which in turn brings patience.

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: October 27, 2015: Fun Factor

Daily Positive Thoughts: October 27, 2015: Fun Factor

 

 

Fun Factor

To find ourselves waking up energised and excited about tackling a new set of challenges is a sign that we have the 'fun factor' in our life. 

When we're having 'fun' we feel at our best. This is because life is just easier when we're having fun.  Therefore, challenges seem easier, too.

Know- All

You're good at what you do & over time you've learnt a lot. So you probably do know-a-lot.

Now, share your know-how, don't let your know-how sit in your pocket.

But remember, you don't know-it-all! Know when to stop being a know-it-all & be able to ask, "What do you think?" Be ready to listen & learn from those around you.

Hearing The Voice Of Inner Wisdom Clearly

In a way we already know all that we need to know and all that is required to bring about transformation in the self - after all originally, we were a perfect being, and the experience of that stage as well as the knowledge of the path to reach back to that original, perfect stage is embedded inside us. Then why take up spirituality? Why can't we just listen to our intuition - the voice of inner wisdom? Listening to our intuition would be great but unfortunately most of us are not able to hear the voice of our own inner wisdom, which lies submerged in the sub-conscious because the noise of our thoughts, feelings and attitudes drowns the voice out.   We have been gathering, slowly and steadily, thousands of beliefs since we have been a part of the cycle of birth and rebirth and these beliefs, in turn, create a flood of incorrect and unwanted thoughts and feelings, today, which distort the true inner voice so that when we think our intuition is telling us something that is true, it is really a wrong belief that we learned sometime in the past.

Over a period of time, as the soul gets purified through the practice of meditation and as it starts listening to and understanding true spiritual knowledge, false beliefs based on body consciousness get displaced by true ones based on spiritual consciousness and this inner voice starts speaking absolutely clearly and accurately without any wrong judgments or distortion. That is why, in the beginning, when we are still learning to connect with God, it is extremely important, to have the guidance of someone more experienced when learning meditation, who can guide us with his/her wisdom and experience, so that we can differentiate between what is actually our intuition and our own belief influenced viewpoint.

Soul Sustenance

Empty Handed We Come And Go Away (Part 1)

There is an old saying that we came empty-handed not only when we entered this particular life but when seen from a broader perspective, also when we entered the world. The same is the case when we leave this life or the world as a whole. Every birth for the soul is a fresh chapter or innings in its journey of life.

Everything that has come to us will definitely go away from us one day. While some may perceive this basic fact of humanity to be unrealistic and not in tune with practical life, but the fact is that attachment or the tendency to possess or cling is a defiance of this law, which leads to a form of fear filled spiritual suicide because the joy and contentment that seems to come from this tendency is only temporary and artificial and between these moments of happiness, there is fear of the loss of the physical or non-physical object that you try and possess, embedded in between and this fear causes the object to start controlling you and you feel suppressed and in bondage. As a result, your inner potential and creativity remains untapped and even starts reducing, without you realizing it consciously. In such a state, you fail to see and accept new ideas, opportunities and people in your life. You inner world becomes closed and chaotic and very difficult to manage and your internal self is weakened and harmed, leading to an internal self suicide. When someone stops clinging to anything, physical or non-physical, they don't become indifferent or cold, but their consciousness just starts becoming broader and functions without any limits, barriers or boundaries.

(To be continued tomorrow ...)

Message for the day

To be flexible is to enjoy everything that life brings.

Expression: When I plan perfectly for the day ahead, I sometimes find that I am not able to implement all that I had planned for. Things seem to be coming up unexpectedly spoiling everything for me. I am then not able to be happy with what is happening and so find it difficult to do my best in the particular situation.

Experience: It is as important to be flexible in my thoughts as it is to be particular about my daily schedule. Flexibility allows me to accommodate the unforeseen situations that come up my way and enables me to make the best use of everything. And so I enjoy everything that comes my way.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: October 26, 2015: The Three Rs

Daily Positive Thoughts: October 26, 2015: The Three Rs

The Three Rs

Follow the three Rs: Respect for self; Respect for others; Responsibility for all your actions.

To recharge body and soul is to be immune to disease. 

Body gets recharged with good diet, exercise and rest. With these three, we can become immune to disease. For the mind too, we need good food (positive thoughts), exercise (practicing with channelizing thoughts in a positive direction) and rest (peace of mind). When I have these, my mind and soul gets charged and I remain strong. So, I don't succumb to the negativity of the situation. Today I will read something positive(food). I will remind myself of this at least 5 times (exercise) and I will spend at least a few minutes in peace (rest). This will induce a practice of a positive life style.

Overcoming The Fear Of Communication

When the fear of communicating effectively exists inside you e.g. when appearing for a work interview, it may be due to personal insecurity. You have to work on it in order to have more security, confidence and authoritativeness. Being secure and full of authority in the moment of communicating and expressing yourself requires practice and effort. Most importantly, to feel secure in such situations, when the person whom you are faced with is in a position of power, you have to value yourself. Self-value brings self-security and a feeling of fearlessness. When someone is normally asked to talk about what his/her personality is like or what is his/her basic character traits are, they normally speak about their weaknesses. Very rarely does one speak of his/her strengths or positive personality traits. Realizing your strengths requires introspection. Meditation, based on the complete spiritual knowledge about the self, is one of the simplest methods to do this. Once you realize your own strengths, you are able to value yourself immensely. If you value yourself, it does not matter so much to you whether another values you or not. However, if you aren't able to value yourself, then doubts exist: * Let's see if this person values or respects me; * perhaps this job is not for me; * perhaps my communication skills are not very good. Then you need recognition and appreciation. Since you cannot give it to yourself (because you have not realized your strengths), you depend on others giving it to you.

You need to know that you are unique and that you are worth a great deal. If the other person does not value you it is their loss; they are losing something precious. If you are established in that self esteem of 'Who am I', a very elevated consciousness and that awareness - * here comes a treasure whom you will be interviewing, your words and your body language will be sharp, secure and stable. Within you, you value yourself; and if you value yourself, it will be easier for people to value you. On the other hand, if you do not like and respect yourself, you will cause the same energy, which you radiate, to come back to you from others.

Soul Sustenance

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.

Message for the day

All desires end when there is the one desire to experience progress.

Expression: It is believed normally that in order to progress one needs to have desires. But desires are not always fulfilled and unhappiness is experienced because of it. Then I am not able to appreciate whatever comes my way.

Experience: I need to replace all my desires with one desire, i.e., the desire to experience progress. With this thought, I will be able to make the best use of what I get in the right way. When I move forward in this way making the best use of everything I will be able to experience constant progress.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: October 25, 2015: Courage

Daily Positive Thoughts: October 25, 2015: Courage

Courage

Courage thinks only of the destination & nothing in between.  You don't stop because courage is the knowing in your heart that becomes a light to see by.

Serving Though The Subtle Body Of Light 

Apart from our physical form (body), each one of us also has a form of light - a subtle light body. It is referred to as the aura, and can be 'seen' by some sensitive souls. All of us might not be able to .see. it, but we can become .aware. of the aura of others. through the vibrations they emit. The purity of our subtle, light form is dependent on the purity of our thoughts or mental vibrations. Given below are some thoughts for a meditation to help experience your subtle form and serve through it. Think and visualize each thought alongside:

I become detached from my physical surroundings... I consciously create only the purest thoughts...
Now I visualize my true form. I am a subtle being of pure spiritual light, a sparkling star situated at the center of the forehead...
Gradually, I become aware of my subtle body of pure, white light surrounding my physical form...
In my body of light, I, the soul, the sparkling energy, consciously stand up and step away from my physical form, which remains seated... I, the soul, inside my subtle body, observe my physical body in a detached way.
Now I slowly fly outside the room I am in. I visualize myself, in the subtle form, suspended in the sky.
White rays of spiritual light radiate from me, the soul, and my body of light into the world... like that of an angel.
In this pure awareness of myself in my form of light, I realize that the greatest gifts I can share with those around me are the light of love, peace and truth.

Sitting anywhere, this meditation exercise can be done to visualize oneself in a hospital, on the site of a natural calamity, accident, next to a friend or relative in pain etc., basically anywhere where vibrations of positivity, peace and happiness are required . the location of visualizing yourself can be hundreds of miles from where you may physically be. As you practice the art of being aware of your subtle body, you will begin to sense how you can have a positive effect on others simply radiating good wishes, pure thoughts and pure feelings.

Worry Confused With Concern (Part 2)

We are all linked together at a subtle, invisible level, and communicate with others invisibly. We not only send but also pick up the energy that others radiate, especially the ones that we are close to. We demonstrate with an example how this can work positively as well as negatively when we find ourselves in negative situations in our practical lives.

Suppose the class teacher of your child (we take the example of your son) calls up and says that while playing in the school playground, your son has injured himself. She doesn't explain much but says there is nothing to worry. She requests you to come and pick him up from the school. At this point of time your son is radiating his own spiritual energy which is most probably the negative energy of fear, stress, anxiety and sorrow (although the teacher has informed you that he is fine). At the same time he is also picking up your subtle spiritual or mental energy. You are driving to his school to pick him up. At this point of time, you only have a rough idea of what situation he is in exactly at that moment because you are physically far away from him. Guessing about the exact situation is making assumptions and is a waste of your mental energy. If you make negative assumptions i.e. you worry and are scared, then you are sending him the same vibrations of fear, a negative energy, which he is going to pick up and it is not going to empower or help him in anyway but is more likely to weaken and disturb him and even disturb you in your driving. You have been told that there is nothing to worry but still you know he is in a slightly difficult emotional situation and only he knows how he will come out of it. What will help him? He needs your support, but what will support him the most - we are talking about subtle support, because you are going to take some time to reach the school and provide him physical support? Your negative vibration of fear which you may mistakenly call concern or care as you imagine something bad has happened? Or the positive vibrations of your unconditional love and your good wishes, which is true concern or care? What will you send him to support him from far away? Worry vibrations or the vibrations of love in the form of your good wishes for them? Vibrations of love will keep you also in a positive state as you drive through the city. Besides, what is care or concern? It is you sending your positive inner spiritual light to help another and worry is definitely not that.

Soul Sustenance

The Three Root Causes Of Anger (Part 3)

We are at war with our self when we fail to make the world do exactly what we want, or we believe we have let our self down. An e.g. of a war with one self is – Suppose you are standing in a queue waiting for your chance to arrive, only to discover an hour later, just when your chance is about to arrive, that the time for the counter to close has come and the counter has closed. You get upset, but with whom? Perhaps the person at the counter at first and may be with the other people in the queue and then with yourself, for not having found out the time of closing of the counter. There are two failures that make you uneasy here. First you failed to ask someone early enough, which would have saved you the hour time loss. Second, you failed to control your emotions of anger. Although you might not externally admit that you failed, inside you know. Because of these two failures, you then start to get angry with yourself. The thought pattern that goes inside your mind: to fail is to lose, to lose is to be sorrowful, to be sorrowful causes me to become angry, as you look for an external cause of your sadness which, in this case, is initially the person at the counter and the other people in the queue (who would have known the time of closing and could have told you). So you demonstrate to others your justified anger towards them. But deep inside you know it is you yourself that has made you sorrowful.

As the anger builds up inside you, again, after a while, you find someone else outside on whom you vent out your anger. You seem to feel better as a result, but it's only temporary. The next time you become angry; interrupt the pattern of your anger by asking yourself two simple questions: Who are you fighting a war with? Answer: Yourself. Who is suffering the most due to the war? Answer: Yourself. And if your anger is directed at yourself for your own supposed failure then just tell yourself, "There is no such thing as failure, only a different result from the one that I expected and results are not going to be exactly as I want, expect or desire. That is a rule of the game of life."

Message for the day

To serve with the heart, with love is to guarantee success.

Expression: When I have to be of help to others, I sometimes find myself doing it with force. I don't seem to be really interested in doing it but situations or people seem to be forcing me to do it. I then don't enjoy what I do and also don't find the benefit of it either to others or to myself.

Experience: I need to consciously make an effort to see what people are benefitting when I am helping them. With this conscious effort I am able to help others with love without feeling the heaviness of what I have to do. Thus I find my actions to be much more fruitful.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris