Daily Positive Thoughts: August 12, 2016: Introspection

Daily Positive Thoughts: August 12, 2016: Introspection

Introspection

Introspection is the attitude of going inside when it's necessary. It is especially applicable before a task or a busy day. The result of going inside is peace and calmness, which gives clarity to the intellect for making right decisions. Introspection does not mean avoiding the world, it means going inside and getting empowered to act along with others.

Crossing Negative Situations (Part 2)

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

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

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

(To be continued tomorrow …)

Listen to your Conscience

The voice of our conscience is not to induce fear or guilt, but for positive guidance.

Our conscience is our moral compass that guides us to shift in a positive direction when we've done something wrong.

Why not take your conscience to the cleaners regularly. 

Examine if there's anything on your conscience. Listen to your conscience. 

Let your conscience prod you to clean up your act and become a better you.

Message for the day

To be free from expectations is to have freedom.

Thought to ponder: When I expect others to behave in a particular way, and they don't fulfill these expectations, there is sorrow. I slowly become totally dependent on others' behavior for my state of happiness and wellbeing. Since others will mostly not behave according to what I want them to, I feel mostly deprived. 

Point to practice: Today I will be a giver instead of a taker, whenever I am faced with a difficult situation. Let me check within, what I have and give from it. It could be a simple thought of understanding, positivity or even a good wish. When I do this, I will be free from the bondage of expectations and disappointments. 

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: August 11, 2016: Respect

Daily Positive Thoughts: August 11, 2016: Respect

Respect

When I learn to respect myself, other people will respect me. How can I develop respect for myself? By keeping my mind positive and encouraging myself to grow and change for the better. Demanding respect because of my position or background is simply arrogance. On the other hand, listening with humility and valuing other people's advice naturally earns me respect. I get back exactly what I give out.

Crossing Negative Situations (Part 1)

There are periods of life in which it seems to us that there is someone or something who gets in the way of our path. Circumstances, instead of going in our favor, go against us. They are barriers that make it difficult for us to reach our objectives; they are interruptions that prevent us from feeling satisfied; they are situations that seem to reduce our feelings of success.

When we find ourselves with these scenes that appear to block our progress towards the aims and objectives that we have set out for ourselves, we tend to have negative thoughts; we feel anger and rage, or we feel sad and unenthusiastic, as if we don't have the strength to either overcome or transform the situation. Rather it is the situation that overcomes or overpowers us and leaves us exhausted. Some people are not prepared for this to happen and put all their strength into fighting the situation. They do so with feelings of anger, revenge and injustice. Often it becomes a process that wastes their energies and leaves them exhausted, without achieving a true solution.

It is possible to live through situations without them causing such an emotional energy loss. That does not mean that we become cold and insensitive to what happens around us. It is a question of living through situations without drowning into them. If we drown ourselves in them we won't be able to help others or ourselves. We will be lost, like the shipwrecked, at the mercy of the waves, the tides and the winds. We will have lost the control of the steering wheel of our ship – our life.

(To be continued tomorrow …)

Why Worry?

If you're worrying about something, address the worry, there's obviously something that needs your attention.

Worrying serves no purpose unless it spurs you to move into action.

Ask yourself, if what you're worrying about were to happen: How bad would it be? How would you deal with it? Is there a positive possibility within the worry?

Turn the worry into something positive and make the worry work for you!

Message for the day

To have accurate understanding is to be cheerful. 

Thought to ponder: Just like a scientist who has love for truth, will spend hours together, and repeat experiments to find the truth, we too need to make effort to get to the truth of things. The truth is always beautiful and will make me positive and cheerful. If I am not able to be cheerful, it means I need to experiment some more. 

Point to practice: Today I will make a special effort to see the beauty in everything. I will also check if I am able to be constantly cheerful or not. I'll also make special effort to understand the deeper aspects. I will not give up till I get to the beauty of things. 

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: August 10, 2016: Big and Generous Hearts

Daily Positive Thoughts: August 10, 2016: Big and Generous Hearts

 

Big and Generous Hearts

The qualities of love, mercy and generosity are known as having a big heart. To have a big heart means to feel everyone belonging to you. A big heart flourishes with success in body, mind, wealth and relationships. Those who have small hearts have to work hard and experience less success. Those with a big and generous hearts are loved by all.

A Beautiful Reunion (Part 3)

At the end of the world drama, with God’s knowledge in our heart, we know that the present moment is the time, when all the accounts of karmas with other souls are getting settled i.e. all the negative that existed between us and other souls in the past will get over by becoming pure and the remembrance of the Supreme. Also, by coming into contact with other souls of the world family with an extremely pure vision in the present, we are creating sanskaras inside us of coming into contact again and again with these souls on a positive note in the births of the next world cycle, which will begin soon after we return to the soul world in the near future and then come down again to play our roles in the world.

Life without the canopy of God and without the sweet and loving relationships of other souls of the world family would be a life lacking enthusiasm. Don’t forget all of us were pure divine beings when we came down from the soul world at different times throughout the world drama, to play our parts on earth. We met different souls of different natures and specialties in our journey. Some of them were our parents at times, some our brothers or sisters and some friends. Sometimes we were male, sometimes female in different births and so were all these relations whom we were close to in different births. Some souls – we regularly came into contact through different relationships and some less. Parents of some births returned as children in different births, friends returned as siblings (brothers or sisters) and more. All this happened regularly. Now, at the end of the world drama, is the time to come together, re-unite and form a garland of pure souls who are children of God, then go back to the soul world and form a garland of pure souls in the soul world around God, the Supreme Soul and then come down to the world of happiness and play our roles as a garland of pure and divine human beings which are our future roles.

LOVE

We seek love on the outside; when really it lies within. We try to use and direct love, rather than become it.

We fetter love with need and dependency, and make it conditional; when love is actually unconditional and for all.

Rethink your understanding of love and how you can be more loving towards all.

Message for the day

To sow the right seed of positivity is to reap the sweet fruit of success. 
Thought to ponder: As is our thought, so is our action and so is the result of our action. It is most important to check the quality of the first thought of our day. If the seed of positivity is sown right in the beginning, it becomes easy to deal with the variety that the day brings, and influence it with our own inner positivity. So, right in the morning, it is important to check the quality of my first thought. 

Point to practice: Today I will start my day with a positive thought. I will ensure I sow the right seed in the form of a simple thought like "I am happy today" or " I am going to succeed in all I do" For today I will not let any waste or negative thought influence this seed. I will remind myself, from time to time, throughout the day. 

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: August 09, 2016: Life's a Dance

 

 

Life's a Dance

By finding at least one wonderful quality in everyone, your life will become a dance.

A Beautiful Reunion (Part 2)

As per the knowledge of the world drama, after living many births in the last phase of the world drama in sorrow, especially when sorrow came our way through the different mediums of mind, body, role and relationships, there was a desire in each one’s heart to experience joy and that desire is being fulfilled by God now. It is the time when He comes down and is very close to us while He is liberating us from all the different moments of sorrow we went through in each birth, those sorrows which we have forgotten in our present birth. We all have stored inside our sub-conscious minds various different memories of ups and downs that we went through in different births in the latter part of the world drama. Today the shadows of those same memories continue to fall upon our lives i.e. whenever we are faced with a difficult situation, we tend to experience fear and insecurity very easily and the inner strength to face these difficulties is lacking. This is because we went through a lot of pain due to various reasons like the sudden loss of a loved one, the illness that destroyed our confidence, our own untimely death, the wars and the financial instability, the other types of sorrows like not being as attractive or healthy as others or natures that we received from our parents not being particularly pure and positive, even the not so perfect or nice husband or wife or child or any other relationship that was sorrow-giving. All this and much more happened with each one of us in some birth or the other that we passed through in our journey of birth and rebirth, especially in the last phase of the world drama.

The love of God - the spiritual Father and Mother, today, is making us forget all the hidden fears and sorrow that we even carry sub-consciously because He is the One who has seen all that we experienced each day of each birth. And also, the love exchanged through each interaction with each soul of the world based on spiritual wisdom is filling us with a lot of happiness and bringing us heartfelt blessings from them. So, our present lives are full of enthusiasm and all that we went through in the last phase of the world drama is being washed out by the love of the Supreme and the love of all the souls of the world family who accompany us, as the world drama comes to an end and a new repetition of the world drama begins on a happy note in the future and remains full of happiness for many years after that.

(To be continued tomorrow …)

Spirituality

Spirituality teaches me to see my responsibility and what causes I am setting in motion by my thoughts, words and actions. 

I just have to fulfill my responsibilities and the rights will automatically follow, because they are the effect. This may not happen immediately, but it is inevitable. 

The law of cause and effect, action and reaction, the law of karma is an integral part of spirituality. 

It gives us a basis on which to make right choices and create a beautiful future for ourselves and the world around us.

Message for the day

To understand the uniqueness of each and every role is to be strong. 

Expression: Each and every person has a unique role to play in the drama of life. There ought to be variety. So, not all will behave like I want them to. If someone is playing a negative role in my life, I need not worry as I get to play the hero. 

Experience: Today I will watch with detachment the drama of life that is unfolding around me. Each and every scene is being played to enrich my experiences and make me powerful. I am the hero actor in this wonderful play. 

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: August 08, 2016: Power

 

Alaska

Power

Give birth to new possibilities through your ability to reach into the future and let go of the past.

A Beautiful Reunion (Part 1)

Have you ever wondered why we started celebrating festivals? One of the main reasons why festivals started being celebrated, apart from the traditional reasons, was to bring enthusiasm in the lives of people through celebrations on special days. We at the Brahma Kumaris also celebrate festivals, but we celebrate them with their spiritual significance deeply held in our minds, because festivals without their spiritual importance lose their substance and their essence of purity. At the same time, care is taken that apart for celebrating the festival on the special day, every day is treated as a series of joyful moments of time so that the happiness is not restricted to the day of the festival but every day is a fun fill festival. Everyday involves a loveful chit chat with the spiritual parent - the mother and the father (or God), playing with the jewels of knowledge which he gives and also distributing the jewels to others in the same way as we used to play as little children and share chocolates and simple gifts with each other and experience the happiness associated with the loveful bonding that existed between all of us due to that.

Also, a day in God’s company is incomplete without sharing all the love that we have inside us with the world family because spirituality is incomplete without sharing all that you fill yourself with – the peace, joy and good wishes with others. So, life is not being close to God alone but also close to other souls of the world family. Both these pure relationships - with God and the other souls of the world family, in the present, are based on the spiritual knowledge of who we are, who God is and who the souls of the world family are and what roles all of us have played in the world drama.

(To be continued tomorrow …)

Release Stress

Traffic jams make us all a little bit annoyed and even angry, 
but getting stressed doesn't make the traffic go any faster!

The next time you find yourself stuck in a traffic jam, 
accept the fact that traffic jams happen. 
Listen to music or sing out loud and release the stress.

Take a deep breath in and out. And practice patience. 
Stay calm, keep your cool and enjoy the journey.

Message for the day

Faith in one's progress brings contentment. 

Expression: Even when the situation is not according to what is expected, there is contentment for the one who has faith in his own progress. Such a person will not just sit back waiting for things to change nor will he just curse his fate. Instead he'll do his best and use all his resources in bettering the situation. 

Experience: The understanding that all life's situations are training for me, automatically keeps me content in all situations. There is naturally an experience of constant progress and a feeling of having gained something from all situations. 

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris