Daily Positive Thoughts: April 25, 2016: Kindness

Daily Positive Thoughts: April 25, 2016: Kindness

Kindness

Great souls take advantage of every moment and every opportunity to give happiness to others through kindness in their thoughts; such souls are willing to overlook weaknesses and mistakes and have the desire to help everyone reach their potential.

Living Life On The Surface

In an ideal situation, the thoughts that run in my mind, should be exactly those that I would like and I want. We do exert this control, that we possess, over our thoughts, but it is not complete and it is only sometimes. The more we become completely engrossed in our daily routine, the more our thoughts tend to becomereactions to what goes on outside us. That’s when they go out of control and our lives move in an unfocused way. As a result things don't work out as we might have desired. Then we develop a habit of blaming other people and circumstances, or we justify our pain by telling ourselves we are not very worthy or powerful enough. Often, these two inner strategies go together. The trouble is, both are cover ups, preventing us from going for a long-term solution.

In this way, we tend to live our lives on a very superficial level, without taking the time to find the solution to what is going on wrong inside. Deeper difficulties remain hidden inside. I move from one scene of life to another - eating, watching television, studying in college, getting married, changing jobs, buying a new car or house, etc. without ever stopping.  All these are part of living, but if I make them my whole and sole, my foundation, it’s as if I skate across the surface of life without being in touch with the core. As time progresses, an inner shallowness develops. Then the feeling keeps growing inside that there must be more to life than this. I then, find that my relationships are not working out as I would have hoped and they are lacking in depth.

Listen to the song in your heart

Everyone has a song in their heart. Everyone has a reason for being here and a season for making their highest, greatest most auspicious contribution. No one knows what that is or when that is for anyone else. Only our own heart knows what and when it is for us. Your heart wants to sing. Don’t die with your music still within you. There is a reason for everything and a purpose to your life. Too many fail to listen to the song in their heart and therefore fail to find their purpose and their part. What makes your soul sing and your heart dance? Actually you heart is your soul and you are both! Ask this one question of yourself but don’t be in a hurry to answer it. Live in the question for a day, a week, a month. Let it invite your heart to speak to you. And when you are absolutely sure what your heart is saying is true then begin to invoke the changes necessary in your life so that you live in alignment with your song. Be patient with this.

Message for the day

Success comes through maintaining self-respect. 

Expression: Where there is self-respect, there is naturally a stable state of mind, even in the most challenging and difficult times. This in turn brings right judgement at all times, which allows discrimination between right and wrong. Right judgement leads to right actions. So there is constant success for such a person. 

Experience: Self-respect is the state of mind where I am able to appreciate my own uniqueness and give regard to myself. When I am able to be in my stage of self-respect, I am able to be stable in all situations. This seat of internal stability keeps me light and easy under all circumstances. I am also able to experience constant success even in the most difficult and challenging times. 

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: April 24, 2016: The No Complaining Rule

Daily Positive Thoughts: April 24, 2016: The No Complaining Rule

The No Complaining Rule

Complaining just wrecks the mood and motivation for ourselves and others.  So, today, practice the “No Complaining Rule”.  Even if you're having a really bad day, put things into perspective.  Look for the silver lining on the cloud.  Live in a state of appreciation.

Appreciate at least one thing about each person you meet.  Appreciate all that life has to offer, whether it's the chance to breathe in the fresh air or watch the sunset during your commute home.  Appreciate all the little events you take for granted.

A Message From God (Part 4)

- Sweet children, become aware of your original self and connect to me. Remember me and reclaim your inheritance of Peace, Purity, Bliss, Power and Love. I have come to re-energize you so that together we create the New World, a world where:

Peace is the religion
Love is the language
Compassion is the relationship
Truth is in action and
Happiness is a way of living.

A New World Morning for you … your dream … is very soon going to be a reality - .

This is the message of God for all of us and this is our experience at the Brahma Kumaris, expressed in a few words - He talks to me everyday … He loves me sooo much … He has healed all my pain … He teaches me everyday … I know it’s difficult to believe, but He has really come … Do you want to connect to Him … Do you want to experience a personal relationship with Him … He is here and He is mine … He has finally come ... you don’t believe me ... come and experience for yourself.

To know Him more, come over to the nearest Brahma Kumaris centre.

Call … email …

To give regard to one another is to bring unity. 

The strength of the gathering will increase when I am able to give regard to one and all. Each one has their unique part to play and I only have to see that uniqueness. When I appreciate the contribution that each one makes, I will be able to use the smallest specialty for the success of the task. This brings about unity and the strength of the gathering increases. Today I will note the specialty of at least 3 people close to me. I will also go up to them and appreciate this quality of theirs. This will help me to use this specialty for the success of tasks. When I develop the habit of seeing the positive aspect of people instead of negative, I am able to bring about unity and strength in the gathering.

Message for the day

The power of cooperation enables the most difficult task to be successfully done. 

Expression: To have the power of cooperation means to have the ability to see and use the specialities of others in any task that is to be done. It is the ability to respect and use the suggestions and ideas of each and everyone which contributes for the success of the task. So the one who is able to use this power is able to be successful in any task that he takes up.

Experience: When I am able to give cooperation and take cooperation from those around me, I never experience fear for any task that has to be done, but am able to be at ease, knowing that everything is possible. I am also able to earn the respect of those around me for having made the best use of their specialities, which further facilitates the success of the task. 

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: April 23, 2016: The Virtue of Sweetness

Daily Positive Thoughts: April 23, 2016: The Virtue of Sweetness

The Virtue of Sweetness

Just as eating and serving something sweet makes your taste buds feel sweetness, and for a while after, you remain happy, become sweet-natured yourself so that words filled with sweetness are constantly spoken. Such sweet words make both you and others happy. Use this method to always sweeten everyone's mouth; constantly maintain sweet attitude, sweet words and sweet actions.

A Message From God (Part 3)

- You thought I decide your destiny, whenever you had a problem you blamed me for it and prayed to me to correct it. Sweet children, I am your Father, can I ever give you disease, poverty, abuse, conflict and natural calamities. Everything in your world works according to the Law of Karma, you are only getting a return for what you have done. You are the creators of your destiny. I can give you the knowledge and power to create a wonderful destiny. But for that you need to connect to me and study the knowledge I give.

Sweet Children, your search for me now ends. All these years you could not find me because I was not in your world, I was in our home. But now, as promised to you, I have descended into your world. I have come to purify you. I have come into your world to remind you of who you are and who I am.

My lovely children, like you, I am also just a point of light. I am the Ocean of Purity, the Ocean of Love and the Ocean of Knowledge. You have called out to me by many names. I am your Father, Teacher and Guide. You children take a body and come into the cycle of birth and death, I do not take a body. I live in the soul world, a land of golden red light, land of silence and purity, which is also the home from where you all came to this world. I have come into your material world to give you knowledge, love and power.

(To be continued tomorrow …)

To have good wishes for others is to give them the ability to transform. 

I need to develop the ability to have positive feelings and good wishes to everyone, including the ones who behave or think negatively. When I do this, I am able to give them the power to transform themselves. My pure feelings become a support and a base on which they can bring about a change for the better. Today I will create good thoughts for someone I am not able to get along well with or someone who is being negative. I will go up to them and say something nice to them with these feelings of good wishes. This will enable them to get the power to bring forth their inherent goodness and work with it.

Message for the day

Introspection enables one to be free from the influence of negativity. 
Expression: Introspection means the desire to be good. Introspection brings the ability to look within and see the true self in the mirror of the heart, thus enabling one to activate the inner spirituality. Then all effort made will be towards activating this inherent goodness. And slowly one finds that the behaviour associated with negative traits are no more expressed, as they begin to lose their hold.

Experience: When I am able to introspect and look within, I can find the goodness that is there within me. Because of this, I naturally am free from expectations from others that they should recognise my goodness or consider me good. Instead I find myself content with what I am and continue to bring out the best from within me. I also continue to learn from all situations and experience progress.

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: April 22, 2016: Share What You Have

Daily Positive Thoughts: April 22, 2016: Share What You Have

Share What You Have

The best things in life are free so share what you have, freely, all without needing acknowledgement or recognition.
Even if you only have a little, share it openly.
You'll feel richer for it!

A Message From God (Part 2)

- As you had been playing your part on the world stage for a very long time, your purity and power slowly started to reduce. You forgot your own self and thought you were the body you were wearing and thus lust, anger, ego, attachment and greed came into your interactions. The love and harmony which was there amongst you was lost and you started cheating and fighting with each other. When you experienced pain and sorrow, you started calling out to me. You started looking for me, you had forgotten that I, your Father, stay in the soul world. You started looking for me in your own world. You had a faint memory that I like you, am a point of light, so you started building temples, where you made a symbol of my form to remember me.

Hearing your cries of pain and conflict, I sent your brothers, who were my pure children to your world to guide you. I sent Mohammed, Jesus Christ, Gautam Buddha, Mahavir, Guru Nanak to your world. They came to teach you the right way of living. They reminded you that I, the Supreme Soul, point of light, Ocean of Purity and Love, am your Father, and I live above in the soul world. They came to connect you to me, but you started looking for me in them.

As time passed, you got divided in the name of religion, nationalities, caste and creed. You, my sweet children, started waging wars in my name. You built temples of your ancestors, the divine souls who had lived in your world in the Golden and Silver Age (or Heaven) - Shri Lakshmi Narayan, Shri Radhe Krishna, Shri Ram Sita. You built temples to glorify them and you started looking for me in them. As your cries increased, your search for me became more intense. You looked for me in nature. You even thought that I was in each one of you. Some of you dedicated your life to search for me, but still could not find me. Some of you got so entangled in your world of science and technology that you even believed that I did not exist. This was the Copper Age (Dwaparyuga) and Iron Age (Kaliyuga) which lasted for another 2500 years.

(To be continued tomorrow …)

Go with the Flow

No matter how much structure we create, there will always be things that we cannot anticipate: people that disrupt how we like to do things or projects that don't work out as we planned.

When life doesn't go the way we want it to go, go with the flow.

Going with the flow means to move forward without resistance. With a flow head-space you understand that all is exactly as it should be and everything that happens benefits us, even when we don't understand how.

Message for the day

True knowledge brings humility. 

Expression: True knowledge inspires and encourages one to bring about a practical change in one's life. The one with knowledge naturally imbibes it, which is also revealed in his practical life. This is because he is humbly willing to learn from all situations. As much as there is knowledge, so much there is divinity and elevatedness revealed in all words and actions. Also such a person keeps learning from all life's situations 

Experience: To have the ability to learn from all that life brings is to have love for knowledge. Since I have love for knowledge, I am able to experience self-respect. This self-respect gives me the humility to accept situations and people as they are and keep learning. So whatever the situation or whoever the person I come across, I only find myself enriching myself and moving forward. 

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: April 21, 2016: Expecting Others to Change?

Daily Positive Thoughts: April 21, 2016: Expecting Others to Change?

Expecting Others to Change?

Instead of expecting others to change, be compassionate in understanding others and understanding the situation.
Your compassion may inspire the person to change for the better.

A Message From God (Part 1)

We all talk to God … in our prayers … hymns … and rituals. We thank Him for everything He has given us … we praise Him for His powers … we ask Him for help … we ask Him to forgive us for our sins … we talk to Him everyday … but have we paused to listen to what He has to say to us.  This message from God can connect you to the one you have been looking for … can give you all that you ever wanted … let’s listen to Him …

- My sweetest children, you have forgotten me, because we haven’t met since a very long time. You have all heard about me, read about me. But now the time has come for me to talk to you directly, to tell you the truth you have been looking for. Before I tell you about myself, let me remind you about yourself. Sweet children, you are not who you think you are – name, religion, profession, relationship … you are not even this body which you see. You are a pure conscient being, a tiny point of light, a soul which uses the body to play many roles. You are a pure, peaceful, loveful, powerful soul.

Around 5000 years ago, you all lived with me in our home … the soul world … a land of complete silence and purity. But you, my sweet children, had to play your role on this earth, for which you left me and your home and came into this world. When you came to this world you were complete, perfect and divine. Each of you got a perfect costume to wear and this world was a perfect world … a world of divinity, love and prosperity, called Paradise, Heaven, Swarg, Jannat, Bahist … When your body would get old, you would just change and wear a new costume and continue to play your role. More and more children from home joined you in this world. You all were enjoying this world of happiness for about 2500 years, called the Golden Age (Satyuga) and Silver Age (Tretayuga).

(To be continued tomorrow …)

The sign of truth is having good manners. 

If you have the power of truth, you should never leave your good manners behind. You may prove the truth, but do it with good manners.

The sign of good manners is humility and the sign of a lack of good manners is being stubborn. 

When your words and activity are based on good manners, you will receive success.

Message for the day

True courage brings benefit to the self as well as to others. 

Expression: When there is fear, there is some kind of danger, either for the self or for others. The one who fears, or the one who doesn't have the courage to accept and face situations, is not able to bring out the best form within himself. Such a person is constantly thinking of excuses and is trying to blame others for the mistakes that happen. 

Experience: With courage, if I am able to take up responsibility for every situation that I am faced with, I am able to be free from worry or tension. I will then be in a position to learn and so I find progress at every step in my life. I find others giving me a lot of good wishes for my sincerity. I also become an inspiration for all others too to bring about a positive change. 

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: April 20, 2016: Inner Sanctuary Retreat

Daily Positive Thoughts: April 20, 2016: Inner Sanctuary Retreat

Inner Sanctuary Retreat

“Getting away from it all' is something we all love to do.
Why wait for the holidays!  Whenever you need it, make time over the weekend for your very own retreat at home.

Create a sanctuary.  Drop the distractions.  Take the phone off the hook.  Listen to soothing music.  Simply enjoy the solitude and some unstructured time.

You can even use this time to review recent events, create new dreams or retreat into your inner space to renovate the soul.

Carrying Feelings Experienced In Meditation Into My Interactions

If I keep close contact with my internal self, to check what my feelings are like and I maintain the meditative awareness at many moments during the day, even if it is for very short periods of time, I will find that the good feelings I have experienced through conscious choice, in meditation, I carry them with me into my interactions with others. Then, in any exchange, although the other person's thoughts, words or actions may not be as I would like them to be, I'll be better equipped to maintain a good feeling towards that individual, and towards myself.

For example, I meditate in the morning and then leave home and find myself in a situation in the office where two of my colleagues are arguing over an issue. When I try and intervene, one of them gets aggressive with me as well, but the feelings of peace I experienced in my meditation a couple of hours ago are still with me, using which I do not reacting angrily or fearfully. In fact, if my peace is powerful enough, it will make the other one also peaceful.

So the key is to emerge and collect positive feelings through meditation at regular intervals during the day. And then become a donor of positive feelings to negative situations as discussed above is an invaluable achievement. It is good for my own well being, and for contributing to the creation of a peaceful atmosphere wherever I am, whenever required.

To have faith is to have the ability to bring solutions. 

Faith enables me to see the positive aspect both in myself and in fate. Whatever happens, it is surely for my benefit and I only need to work at adopting that benefit into my life. Faith makes me free from worry. And a mind that doesn't worry is a mind that is powerful. I can then surely bring solutions even in the biggest problem. Today I will pick up a problem that has been bothering me from a long time. First I will tell myself that I am sure there is a solution for this problem. I will also believe that I have the ability to bring about the solution. After talking to myself in this way, I will try and find at least one thing that I can do to change the situation. It need not be a full solution but at least a step towards a change for the better.

Message for the day

The one with zeal and enthusiasm is constantly tireless. 

Expression: Zeal and enthusiasm brings the willingness to move forward under all circumstances. Never are there are any excuses given, whatever the difficult situations or challenges that one might be faced with. Instead whatever has to be done is done without any tiredness. Also the best is made out of all situations. 

Experience: When I am able to be enthusiastic under all circumstances, I am able to be tireless. This tirelessness gives me the courage to move on and experience constant success. I become aware of my own resources and make the best use of them. So I also experience internal progress, constantly. 

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: April 19, 2016: The Secret of Good Health

Daily Positive Thoughts: April 19, 2016: The Secret of Good Health

The Secret of Good Health

The secret of good health is good nourishment and exercise. We need daily nourishing food and exercise to maintain a healthy body and it takes care and attention to fulfil this responsibility. Making the effort underlines our value and importance as a human being. However, the human spirit needs the same attention in the form of the thoughts we have and how the mind puts them to use. Feeding both body and mind with nourishing food gives a powerful and consistent message to respect and co-operate with one another. This is holistic good health.

Going Beyond False Identifications

The more I identify with the physical factors of my life, the more I become a prisoner to my destiny or the various up and downs of my life. E.g. if my self-respect is attached to my beautiful new car, how will I feel about myself when the car becomes old and its beauty and shine reduce? Or if I my car is stolen or gets immensely damaged in a road accident? Then, I shall find myself in an identity crisis. The same will be true if my business or job is everything to me. If one day, I am in a good financial state and I enjoy a very respectable and dominant position, and the next day I find myself in a dispute in my profession and I suddenly lose all of that, and nobody wants to know me, I will feel as if I have lost my soul and have almost died. The problem is sometimes so great that people do, literally, lose their desire to live. It happens, too, in relationships, when your partner leaves you either due to a separation, a divorce or even death - a partner in whom you have invested all your love and emotions. Or if my identity is tied to my back balance or property, and suddenly I am broke.

All of these are actually false identifications, and the crazy part of living this way is that I can never be satisfied, even if I succeed in maintaining my false identity. These kind of false identifications do not keep me placed stably on my seat of self-respect and either bring about an inferiority complex or a superiority complex - both of which are false, so both bring insecurity. Even while I am externally successful, having my identity based on that success means I am a slave to them. I've handed over my self-esteem to them. I become addicted to it.

To experience power I need to experience inner silence. 

During conflicts, there is a tendency to either get very vocal or to become silent. Both really don't work, because just to be silent and not speak anything is not sufficient, but it is more important for the mind to be silent. Otherwise, there would be no power in that. So, I need to work on making my mind silent. So, today let me sit for a minute in silence and practice feeling the stillness within. Let me repeat this practice 3 times at least. If there is chaos within, how can I expect calm and peace outside?

Message for the day

The method to finish a weakness is to be detached from it. 

Expression: When there is some weakness working within that has to be overcome, it is very essential for one to get detached from it that means not to identify with the weakness. If there is identification with the weakness, it is further strengthened and there is the inability to get rid of it. Since it is there in the consciousness, it is visible in the words and actions too. 

Experience: When I am free from the identification with the weakness, I am able to bring about a change very quickly. I find it very easy to stabilise myself in the awareness of my strength and allow that strength to be revealed in all my words and actions. There is no heaviness of the weakness nor is there the feeling of having to give up something, but transformation takes place very easily. 

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris