Daily Positive Thoughts: June 21, 2016: The Secret Ingredient

Dadi Jankiji, Dadi Gulzarji & Dadi RatanMohiniji in the Brahma Kumaris’ kitchen in Mount Abu, India

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 vibrations affect both the food and the people who eat the food. So, cook with care; pay attention to what you are thinking; and don't forget that in the best of recipes, love is the secret ingredient.

Practical Positive Response Training To The Mind (Part 3)

In last two days’ messages, we have explained the process of restoring positivity in the mind when faced with a negative situation, where the most common response is a negative one but the mind can be trained to respond in a different way, in a positive way. Today we explain this process with an example.

e.g. You have just had a major argument with your spouse and have lost your temper. At that time, not only your mind but your physical body also feels uncomfortable - it is in a state of complete stress. You feel your blood pressure has suddenly shot up, your heart is beating fast, you feel uncomfortable in the stomach, your hands are shaking, your face and eyes are red. On top of that, you also feel sad. You have behaved like this many times before and you know the results of responding in this way. The relationship has been scarred and you have worsened a situation. This could have been avoided. There is sorrow, guilt, low self esteem and hopelessness over your loss of control. Also, there is a fear regarding your future, not necessarily a long term one, because things will get sorted out sooner or later, but a short term uncertainty does exist, especially regarding what your spouse's response will be in the next few hours or days.  In this state of mental and physical helplessness or desperation, anger may come again either projected towards yourself or towards your partner, which will be followed by the same effects, worsening your state further. In this moment of lack of spiritual wisdom, you remind yourself of the simple wisdom that you are in fact a soul. Even while you are still caught up in the turmoil of the negative situation, using your intellect, you consciously emerge inside yourself, your true awareness of being a sparkling point of peaceful light situated just above the eyes, at the center of the forehead. You not only become aware but you also use the intellect to visualize your true, peaceful, spiritual and star-like form clearly. In that moment, you are able to tap into the reservoir of peace that is present deep inside your being. You calm your mind by holding on to this awareness for a few minutes. You feel - you know - that you are peace. As this experience grows, it has a soothing effect on your whole physical system. Gradually, stability and peace are restored to your body as well as your mind.

To appreciate achievements is to get the encouragement to do more. 

Quite often what we have to achieve overweighs what we have achieved. In the concern for what we have to do, we miss out on appreciating what we have got or done. We need to pay more attention in acknowledging and appreciating that too. That gives encouragement to move forward with strength and conviction. Today I will make a "have done" list. To make "to do" lists is good. Today, let me make this special "have done" list, in order to appreciate the efforts that I have put in and the success that I have got. Each day, let me increase the size of this list.

Message for the day

To have a balance between being a master and a child is to ensure success. 

Expression: To be in the consciousness of being a master means to have confidence in whatever has to be done and in the ideas that have to be put forth. Along with this if there is the consciousness of being a child, there is learning and improvement, because criticism is taken in the right spirit. 

Experience: When I am able to be open to criticism as a child, I am able to learn from it. I am able to gain further mastery without being troubled by ego. My learning would never be blocked by what other people think or feel. Instead I am able to experience constant progress and sure success. 

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: June 20, 2016: Give Up the Habit of Worrying

Give Up the Habit of Worrying

As we grow in strength in our spiritual life, we give up the habit of worrying. It serves no purpose other than to make us feel tense and miserable. When I stop fretting about things that are beyond my control and focus instead on generating optimistic and kind thoughts, my life can begin to flow in ever more positive directions. Such a light and easy approach to life enables me to take everything in my stride.

Practical Positive Response Training To The Mind (Part 2)

If I believe that I am just the physical body and that my thoughts are simply results of chemical and electrical processes in the brain, and not something I can consciously control, I let go of the key of taking charge of what is going on inside my mind. In meditation, my intellect recognizes and realizes that my thoughts are my own creation, of me the soul and not the body and that I, the soul, using the intellect, which is also a part of the soul, can make choices about them.

When I realize that my natural state is to be the master of my mind and not to be dictated by it or dictated by the brain, I start taking charge of what is going on inside. When I practice being a master of my mind repeatedly by practicing meditation regularly, the new habit of creating only positive thoughts settles inside me and my habit of responding negatively with a negative state of mind to negative situations, begins to change over a period of time. I start responding positively even to negative situations. So, meditation is a major transformation process of the habit of thinking negatively, which then has positive results on my personality and behavior.

Tomorrow we shall further clarify the process which has been explained in today’s and yesterday’s message, with an example.

Live in Now

Wallowing in disappointment and dissatisfaction, doesn't change the past. Getting wrapped up in the past, limits our ability to enjoy the present.

Make peace with the past. And find the lesson.

Fold the past away neatly in such a way that if and when you need to unfold it again, only lessons of benefit are visible.

Message for the day

To see only problems is to become the one who only takes service. 
Expression: When there is the practice of seeing only problems in all situations there is the inability to find solutions and act effectively. All the resources that could be used for the benefit of the self and others remain hidden. Such a person becomes dependent on others for finding solutions and a source of pity. 

Experience: When I am caught up with problems and not able to see anything else, I am unable to experience progress. I find myself moving backward losing a lot of things I have. I would not be able to retain my self-confidence and would become dependent on others. 

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: June 19, 2016: Space for God

Space for God

The best solutions to problems will not be the result of hard thinking. Use your time better by creating peaceful thoughts, and problems will cease to affect you. Do not try to solve everything on your own. Leave some space for God to come and help you.

Practical Positive Response Training To The Mind (Part 1)

Meditation is a process in which I train the mind to consciously create those right type of thoughts that I wish to have, inside my mind, regularly in my daily routine. On the field of action, I am faced with various different types of negative and uncomfortable situations, which have the first and most immediate effect on my thoughts, before showing on my face in my expressions or in my words or actions. I do realize inside, that the thoughts (and as a result my physical response) created at these times are not the right ones. I want to inculcate a habit, whereby my thought patterns are only which I like or are the right, positive and powerful ones no matter what happens.

So where do I start? Meditation is the start. Meditation is the time, when I consciously create positive thoughts. What benefit do I achieve from that? In these few moments, I am changing the deep and very old habit (not limited only to this birth) of creating the wrong type of thoughts, whenever I am faced with a situation which I do not like. How do I do this?  I do this through the intellect. The intellect takes hold of the reins of the mind and chooses the direction in which it will travel. Why is it able to do this? Because, during meditation, I bring myself back to the knowledge or belief that I am a soul and my intellect accepts and absorbs this awareness. This belief then becomes the key to taking charge of what is going on in my mind.

(To be continued tomorrow …)

Giving Feedback

Here are a few suggestions for giving feedback to others, especially if something needs to be corrected:
- be respectful and ask if you can provide feedback
- keep the feedback constructive and issue specific
- make your words kind and considerate

Your suggestions are impactful when you walk your talk and 
are willing to do everything you're recommending to others.

Message for the day

Positive thoughts heal even the disease of the body. 

Thought to ponder: When I am ill, it is very easy for the mind to become ill too. I tend to have negative thoughts and suffer. These negative thoughts don't restrict themselves to that particular part of the body, but is carried forward to the entire body and the mind too. The mind which has to be the healer, becomes a victim and hence weak. At such times, it is important that my mind is strong creating a positive influence on the body.

Point to practice: Today I will not think about my illness. When the thought does come, I will make sure I give vibrations of power and peace to that part, so that I will help it to heal. I will do everything for it to heal rather than damaging it further by having negative thoughts about it. 

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: June 18, 2016: Think First

Daily Positive Thoughts: June 18, 2016: Think First

Think First

Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. Whatever I do, when all is said and done, I do for or to myself. Perhaps I should think before I perform actions because after the seed of action is sown I have to reap the fruit. Moreover, I do not receive only one fruit for every seed sown, I often get a whole crop, good or bad according to the action or seed.

Mental Churning And Its Benefits (Part 3)

Whenever you start the day, create a few positive thoughts in your mind. Go for a walk or get ready for the day, keeping these thoughts and thinking about them. Also, ensure that before you do that, you read something which will fill your mind with positive thoughts. Remember, if an empty mind tries to think positive and create positive thoughts, it tires easily and in fact feels stressed. Try one day creating positive thoughts after filling your mind with positive information and the next day create positive thoughts when your mind is completely blank and see the difference. The energy and enthusiasm which you feel inside yourself after thinking deeply with a mind full of positive thoughts is much more than with an empty mind.

This can be compared with the process of churning cream to get butter. If you try and churn an empty vessel without cream, will you get butter or if you try and churn a vessel partially filled with cream, will you get butter of a high quality? On the other hand, you will experience tiredness. In the same way, when you have information in the mind, you build on it and multiply the positive information by adding new perspectives, view points and angles to the knowledge. This is called churning of knowledge to create the butter of spiritual power. So, always remember to backup positive affirmations in your mind with lots of extra information which is like a cushion on which you rest and play with the points of knowledge. It is like throwing a ball in a closed room and letting it bounce from wall to wall. In the same way, churning knowledge is not simply repeating what you have read but creating a movement of the knowledge inside the room of your mind and experiencing happiness as a result of that. Such an exercise, when done over many days, creates soul power and strengthens our mind. In fact, it makes us extremely positive and free from negative and unnecessary thoughts that waste our mental energy when indulged in repeatedly.

To seek richness and potential in everything is true positivity. 

When I have the eye for seeing potential, I am not caught up with any weaknesses of the present. I am able to see, even in people, the promise of what they can do and become. When I do this, I will be able to help people discover the latent potential. Today I will free myself from seeing waste and negative. And if I do see, I will make an attempt to see something positive and beautiful. This slowly becomes a practice, which helps me be positive, under all circumstances.

Message for the day

Not to expect respect is to get respect from all. 

Thought to ponder: When I expect that people have to respect me, I will not be able to get their respect; as the feeling that they get is of weakness. To seek or wait for others is to never get it. Instead, when I have self-respect, I am able to create a positive impact on others, and automatically get respect from them. 

Point to practice: Today I will appreciate myself. I will look into the mirror and say "I like you for what you are". Perfection is of course a journey, so right now I love myself for what I am today and am also moving towards becoming better and better. When I know to like myself, others will like me too. 

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: June 17, 2016: Peace

Daily Positive Thoughts: June 17, 2016: Peace

1 Million Meditating children for world peace in Thailand

Peace

Peace is not a passive attitude; it is an active state. It requires having constant attention in order to live and to respond as a peaceful being to any upset in life.

Mental Churning And Its Benefits (Part 2)

A beautiful mind leads to a beautiful personality which shows itself through our thoughts, words and actions. So taking utmost care of the mind in the early morning hours is extremely important because the absorption capacity of the mind at that time is very high and giving instructions to it in the form of thoughts based on the soul and the Supreme Soul makes the mind soul-conscious and this is a training to the mind to keep its remembrance oriented towards the soul i.e. its own spiritual self and the Father of the spiritual self, who is God, the entire day after that.

At any point of time on any particular day, if you have had a bad day, you could check how the start of that particular day was and you will realize that a bad start of the day very often leads to the remaining day being spent negatively. Also, a day which started positively in the company of your loved ones or a day which started by hearing a good piece of news or imbibing positive information or by watching a good program of spirituality on television will normally be spent positively whereas a day which started with watching or listening to negative news on the TV of accidents, death and violence or by reading a negative piece of information or with an argument with someone will be followed by a day with negative events. Why is this so? The thoughts are given shape in the morning and they act accordingly in the day after that. Also, the thoughts inside the mind in the night, before sleeping, have an influence on the state of mind the next morning and that in turn affects the whole day and is carried inside till the night. So, it is a cyclic process and to keep the cycle positive, the start has to be made every morning. As they say - as the food, so the mind i.e. physical food eaten of a good spiritual feel or positive energy level or saatvik in nature influences the mind positively. On the other hand, food eaten of low energy levels or tamsic in nature will influence the mind negatively. That holds true for physical food eaten by us. In the same way, food for thought, as they say i.e. the quality of our thoughts also influences our state of mind and complete inner state and how we feel.

(To be continued tomorrow …)

To have pride for our role is to be happy. 

To compare myself with others is to actually insult myself. I have my own uniqueness which I express in my own unique way through my unique role. When I remember this, I will neither have superiority or inferiority complex. I will accept each and everyone's characteristics, including myself. Today I will walk in my own shoes. I will not attempt to walk in someone else's shoes, as it doesn't fit me properly. Walking in my own shoes, leads me on the path of happiness. So, today I will walk on the path of pride and happiness.

Message for the day

To use the treasure of time well is to ensure success. 
Thought to ponder: Everyone has the same amount of time in their hands. There are some who spend it waiting for something to happen, there are others who waste it thinking unnecessarily or talking unnecessarily. But those who invest time and perform beneficial and fruitful actions, find themselves successful at every step. 

Point to practice: Today I will not waste my time in small little things that I normally would. I will save small drops of time and invest them well. I will be careful and pay attention to see if everything that I do is using the treasure of time well. 

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: June 16, 2016: Harmony

Daily Positive Thoughts: June 16, 2016: Harmony

Harmony

Love dissolves hate;

Kindness melts cruelty;

Compassion calms passion;

Cooperation evokes love and when we bow, others bend;

This creates harmony.

Mental Churning And Its Benefits (Part 1)

Starting the day on a positive note sets the foundation for a day filled with positivity and purpose. There was once a gardener who used to take utmost care of his plants by starting the day in their presence, watering them and ensuring that they were nourished with the right amount of sunlight and the right type of soil. The gardener’s love for the plants used to reflect in the way his plants started being loved by everyone around him. When people sometimes used to ask him the secret of his beautiful plants, he would give credit to the early morning sustenance that he would give his plants which would ensure that they grew positively throughout the day.

We all also have to create thoughts, speak words and perform actions throughout the day, all of which need to be perfection filled so that even other people around us are full of praises for them. It’s easier said than done especially with so many people around us with different sanskaras and different ways of thinking and also sometimes with their own priorities, which sometimes take us away from our path of perfection and our thoughts, words and actions are not of as high a quality as we wish. In such cases, we forget that the foundation of a day full of perfect thoughts, words and actions is laid in the morning by beginning the day on a positive note. Here by positive we mean reading a paragraph or two of positive information, which is a like an exercise to shape our thoughts which keeps them fit for the whole day, which as a result keeps our words and actions full of purity and positivity. At the Brahma Kumaris, we make it a point to absorb spiritual knowledge before starting the day because we have realized the significance of that, in keeping our thoughts, words and actions beautiful the whole day. Just like the garden requires early morning attention, the garden of our mind which consists of the flowers of thoughts, feelings, emotions and attitudes requires attention in the morning, which keeps our complete personal landscape consisting of thoughts, words and actions, beautiful the whole day.

(To be continued tomorrow …)

Accept Yourself

Are you happy with what you see in the mirror? 
Do you consider yourself to be beautiful?

Most of us complain about the reflection in the mirror. 
Even the swan could complain: "I'm too big, 
my neck is ridiculously long and my feathers are plain white."

Be less critical, be more appreciative. 
Accept yourself. You are beautiful.

Message for the day

Sweet words bring benefit. 

Thought to ponder: When I get upset or disturbed by something that someone did, my immediate reaction is to say something to them. But most times, such words only turn out to be like stones hit at them, which are hurting. In fact, it is all the more important to say something positive and encouraging to someone who neither have the power at that time to act positively nor realize their mistake. 

Point to practice: Today I will only say something positive. If I feel that my saying something will not help the other person, today I will not say that. I will pay special attention to what I speak. I will only say that which would create a positive effect. 

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: June 15, 2016: Healing

Daily Positive Thoughts: June 15, 2016: Healing

Artist: Kinuko Y. Craft

Healing

I gently return to equilibrium, nurtured by a well spring of love. I, the soul, am washed and soothed by the quiet energies of stillness. Embracing the vastness of my inner landscape, I understand the cycles of growth and decay. Today I will fix something broken, or find a new use for it.

Soul Power Over Role Power (Part 3)

Continuing from yesterday’s message, the remaining components of soul power are:

The power of good wishes, desires and feelings full of love for others, while coming in contact with them. These type of feelings will bring good wishes in return from the other to you, which will not only empower you, but will also assist your physical role on a subtle level.

The power of complete purity and cleanliness in thoughts, words and actions- A state where one is not under the influence of vices like anger, ego, attachment, greed, hatred, jealousy etc.

The 8 main powers - the power to tolerate, accommodate, face, pack up, discriminate (or discern), judge (or decide), withdraw and co-operate – their implementation on an internal and external level i.e. not only in words and actions, but also on a thought level. Where there is lack of any of the above powers inside me, there will definitely be waste and you will be weakened, which reduces the probability of success of your role.

The power of truth or spiritual wisdom - A state where the self has deeply realized and understood eternal truths of the soul, the Supreme and the Law of Karma and has drawn immense amount of power and experience from that knowledge. The power of physical knowledge would fall under role power, which has been explained earlier.

By focusing on each of the above components of soul power and those explained in yesterday’s message, by giving them more weightage and using them along with the components of the role, which were mentioned in the message before that, one can experience the desired success in any role in any sphere of life very easily without much effort.

To stand for what we believe in is not to fall before what we fear. 

When fear takes over, I need to focus more on what I believe in, rather than focusing on what I fear. To think of what I don't want or what I want to avoid is not the solution. Rather, I need to focus my energies on what I want. When I do this, I will be able to avoid negativity and use my potential and energy for what needs to be done. Today I will think of one thing I have been avoiding. I will then see what I want to do in its place. If I don't want something, there would surely be something that I want. When I start working on what I should be doing, I will naturally be able to do away with what I fear or what I am avoiding.

Message for the day

To have the consciousness of being on a pilgrimage is to move forward with contentment. 

Thought to ponder: On a pilgrimage, there are many obstacles that one faces. But they don't stop, because their goal is clear. In the same way, in our lives too, when we move forward with clarity, we are able to be free from wasteful actions. We will do only that which is useful and that too with love and dedication. Also, there would be no looking back, the journey is always forward. 

Point to practice: Today I will remember that I am on a pilgrimage. Whatever I do today holds significance and I do it with so much dedication and love. I will only do that which is right. I will not perform any action, which is negative or destructive for the self. 

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris