Daily Positive Thoughts: September 07, 2016: Speak Sweetly and Touch Hearts

Daily Positive Thoughts: September 07, 2016: Speak Sweetly and Touch Hearts

Speak Sweetly and Touch Hearts

When speaking to others we usually speak from our head, or intellect. Words spoken from the head rarely touch the hearts of others. This means they don't create any impact and are soon forgotten. The solution lies in touching the hearts of others when I speak. To do that, I need to speak with my heart as well as my head and fill my words with love.

The Beautiful Personality Of God (Part 1)

Have you ever wondered why God is respected so much and seen as a guiding light by all religions? Ever seen someone who says God is imperfect? Only some who have experienced some sorrow in their lives sometimes wrongly blame God for what has happened in their lives. That too only temporarily. Later everyone realizes that God can never be blamed for anything that happens in their life. On the other hand, God only thinks good and pure for everyone and never harms anyone. This is the reason why God is trusted by everyone as the most beautiful spiritual parent who is full of good wishes for His billions of children and will never bring them down in any way. They say that God has a thousand eyes with which He takes care of the whole world and keeps a vision of love for each one irrespective of whatever keeps happening in the world. God is the Ocean of Purity. There is no one purer than Him in the entire Universe. Purity means a 100% soul conscious stage without any consciousness of the body. This is God’s constant stage which never changes. God never experiences sorrow even for a second ever. He is also ever peaceful, with no trace of a negative thought or a feeling in His consciousness in spite of all the negative events happening all across the world and violence also increasing. So God, in spite of being a parent to so many children with such different personalities, always maintains His stage of soul consciousness and in fact serves the world while being in that stage. This is the beauty of God and this is the reason why He is the most loved one in the entire world.

So, taking inspiration from this parent, we need to change ourselves and become a child who is similar to his spiritual Father or the Father of the soul or God. That is in the true sense loving God and that is commonly called at the Brahma Kumaris as – Follow Father. Also, don’t Follow Brother or Sister, which means love and respect everyone but follow only God, because He is constantly perfect.

(To be continued tomorrow …)

Get out of the Box

When we get stuck in attitudes & habits, we confine ourselves to living within the 'box'.

'Boxes' can be useful. They can ground our ideas & imagination. 

But when the 'box' becomes rigid & outdated; that's when fear stays in & creativity stays out.

Dismantle the 'box'; the attitudes & habits that are working against you. Get out of the 'box'! Be free & live fully.

Message for the day

Faith in others enables them to be powerful 

Thought to ponder: Faith in others is usually mistaken for blind faith - observing helplessly, only hoping for the best in our heart. We, then, don't consciously do anything but just hope for the best. In such a situation we subtly experience fear or tension. But this is not true faith nor is the outcome usually right. 

Point to practice: Faith in others means to remain alert to what is going on and then to fill the other person with the strength of our faith to such an extent that they feel able to do whatever needs to be done. Our faith will fill them with confidence and they will be able to give their best to the task. 

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: September 06, 2016: Sparkle of Spiritual Wealth

Daily Positive Thoughts: September 06, 2016: Sparkle of Spiritual Wealth

Sparkle of Spiritual Wealth

Every frown line is a sign of the attitude we bring to our relations with the world and those around us. I will let my face express my spiritual attainments today - my peace, happiness, knowledge and joy. When the sparkle of all this spiritual wealth is visible to all, everyone benefits.

Experiencing Perfection And Success In Role Playing (Part 3)

While playing my different roles, another important ability (a few abilities were mentioned in yesterday’s message) that I need to possess is to become victorious over the different scenes that I play. What does that mean? I need to remember that every scene, every act, whether positive or negative, in every role, shall pass. No scene or act is permanent. What happens is that, in a bodily consciousness, each time I am part of a positive scene in my life; I tend to become attached to it and want to hold on it and keep it with me permanently, which is not possible. And each time I am part of a negative scene, I tend to become impatient and want it to get over as soon as possible, which again is not possible all the time. As if a few minutes or few days of the scene or act are difficult for me to pass or bear. Positive scenes bring me into a strong, temporary wave of happiness or excitement and negative scenes into a wave of deep sorrow, both of which are incorrect emotions. To make sure that I don’t get taken in by both these waves, which is becoming victorious over scenes, I need to remain detached while playing different roles in different scenes. I will be able to become a master at this detachment, again when I am established completely as my spiritual self.

Separating role and actor increases opportunities for seeing what my role actually demands, and reduces the chances of being unduly influenced by others. Stepping away from the stage, even for a moment, I'll see more clearly how the other actors in that particular scene are behaving, and what is required of me. So, in this regard, it’s a good practice that at different times of the day, I step back for a few seconds and detach myself from the role that I am playing and remind myself that I am a pure being of consciousness, a sparkling star like energy full of peace, love and happiness and nothing else. This is my spiritual identity.

Even when it's hard to say sorry, be courageous and apologize. 

Apologize, even if it isn't accepted, now, later or never. Making an apology can lighten your heart, so, do it for yourself.

If a face-to-face apology feels too challenging, phone or write. And if you really don't want to, or can't connect with the other person, then apologize to them in your mind. 

Message for the day

To bring elevated thoughts into actions is to ensure powerful progress. 
Thought to ponder: All of us, at some point, have had thoughts that are positive and would bring about a change for the better. Such positive thoughts sometimes go unnoticed but when translated into action can bring a lot of benefit. For example, when we see someone working hard to achieve something, we admire him/her. But, if we catch this thought and pick out one point in our life for which we can really work hard, we would find great benefit.

Point to practice: Today I will spot and catch one positive thought that I can bring into practice. It could be some fleeting thought of positivity. Normally, there is a doubt if it would be successful, but I need to catch this thought and put into practice with great resolve. 

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: September 05, 2016: Attachment

Daily Positive Thoughts: September 05, 2016: Attachment

Attachment

The root of suffering is attachment. You have created a space in your mind that holds a person or object as part of you. When that person or object is criticized, neglected or not with you, you feel pain in your mind and you experience a sense of loss. If you want to be happy, you must learn to love and appreciate while remaining independent.

Experiencing Perfection And Success In Role Playing (Part 2)

Continuing from yesterday’s message, if I'm able to protect and maintain my inner spiritual identity in each role that I play in the day, it’s much easier for me to switch roles. I switch roles so many times even in one particular day. If I lose myself in a particular role, my mind and intellect tends to become limited and restricted to that role and I'm not able to see beyond the immediate needs of the role and I find it difficult to adapt to another role. As a father, for example, I may also be called upon to play the different roles of husband or a Managing Director or a friend or a brother or a son or a son-in-law etc. Also many a times, for e.g. in the absence of the mother, I may have to play the role of the mother or in the absence of the Plant Manager in my company on a particular day, I may have to play his role, etc., both being roles that I do not normally play. I'll have a better chance of being able to fulfill all these roles if I don’t get too caught up in any of the roles while playing them and remain in my spiritual consciousness while playing them. A spiritual consciousness will keep me detached.

Every role demands different positive personality traits or sanskaras to be put into practice. I need to be flexible and possess the ability to pick those personality traits from my complete spiritual store house of personality traits that I the soul possess inside me, that are best suited to the role and are required for that role at that particular moment, so that the role and the act is played accurately and perfectly to my satisfaction as well as the other’s satisfaction. In a bodily, limited consciousness, I will not be able to that.

(To be continued tomorrow …)

Keep Going!

When you fall off the track, do you throw in the towel?

Perhaps you didn't fall; maybe you just stumbled or tripped. Instead of giving up, give yourself encouragement to get back up.

Go over what tripped you up, learn from it and re-commit to your goals. Leave no doubts that you can do it! Get back on the track and keep going!

Message for the day

To see things with the right vision (third eye) is to ensure that I am not blind to the opportunities that life offers. 

Thought to ponder: Wisdom is to see what is not seen. When I only see what is visible to the two eyes, I miss out important details. To open the third eye of wisdom and see through to the reality of things is to create opportunities for oneself. Wisdom is to see benefit, positive and opportunity in everything. I need to give this training to the third eye.

Point to practice: Today I will look at things differently. When something happens to me that I am uncomfortable with, I will see what positive there is, hidden in the situation. Negativity remains even after a situation is over, when I think negative about someone, myself or something. So today I will make sure I change my thinking to positive in these three aspects. 

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: September 04, 2016: Intuitive Intellect

Daily Positive Thoughts: September 04, 2016: Intuitive Intellect

 

Intuitive Intellect

Intuition is the discerning of a refined intellect. We all have the capacity for intuition, but we find it hard to cultivate and exercise this capacity as we are mostly encouraged to keep our awareness focused on the surface events and activities of life around us. Intuition is that voice of innate wisdom which can speak to us at any moment. It is the core of our self, of our consciousness, a touchstone which is always true and trustworthy, as long as the voice is not distracted or disturbed by the many voices of our ego, or others egos, which we allow to reside like ghosts within our consciousness. Learning to listen to and trust our intuition means we must be able to recognize these voices and ruthlessly ignore their deviations and temptations. This is why we need to spend some time each day in some form of contemplative process - call it meditation, reflection or just listening to the self. When we give time to restoring our inner peace and quiet, we will learn to discern the voice of our intuition from the cleverness of our ego. When meditation becomes a regular exercise we rebuild that trust in ourselves to be able to ignore the machinations of ego, and follow the wisdom of our inner tutor. Gradually there comes a time when we never do not know what to do, when every event reveals something deeply significant to our awareness, and we can sense the deeper needs of those around us. These are the inner subtle skills of intuition and the sign of our intuitive intellect at work.

Experiencing Perfection And Success In Role Playing (Part 1)

Spirituality gives me the detached realization of being pure consciousness. This realization not only detaches me from my physical body, but also detaches me from the different roles I play through my physical body (male or female) and the different acts or scenes in each role, in one particular day or one particular lifetime. The roles may be many, the acts and the scenes may be many, but I am the actor playing the different roles and participating in the different acts.

There is great strength in experiencing myself as an actor as compared to the previous existence in which I used to lose myself and forget my spiritual identity completely while playing the different roles, identifying more with the roles and thinking myself to be the role instead of being a spiritual actor.  An actor, even while in the midst of the most dramatic scenes, even whilst getting excited or emotional or angry, knows he is not the part itself, the part is just temporary. He knows he is something more than that, and that when the play is over, the role will not exist anymore. So, even though I play my role, I don’t cut off myself from the role and don’t leave my responsibilities, I need to adopt

the observer or spectator or detached consciousness instead of the player consciousness. A player tends to get over-involved. So, the balance has to be maintained – I play as well as remain detached. Only then the roles will be played to complete perfection and I will experience success in each role.

(To be continued tomorrow …)

Know Your Stress

What causes you stress?  Is it your job, a relationship, health, wealth.....?  Or is it a demanding deadline, an overcrowded train, a throwaway comment.....? 

To know your stress, try this:

- Take a piece of paper and divide it into three columns.

- In the first column, list your stressors, for example, presentations.

- In the second column, get specific about exactly why you feel stressed.  So, if you’re giving a presentation, are you stressed about the audience, the use of technology, your performance?

- In the third column, brainstorm the solutions.  Do you need some extra technical training or tips on how to calm your nerves? 

Try this exercise; sometimes it unveils practical solutions and sometimes just knowing your stressors can mean that you don’t react so strongly to them next time.

Message for the day

To be powerful is to be a support for others at all times. 

Thought to ponder: When we face challenges, we may not look for solutions from others, but we definitely tend to look for support from others. Yet, we find that most people today are unable to give support. We then tend to get disappointed, further increasing our negativity. Yet, we need to understand that each one has their own problems and they too are in some way looking for support. We need to be internally so powerful and self-reliant that we can become a support for others, instead of expecting from them.

Point to practice: Today I will create a simple practice for myself. At least 5 times today, I will tell myself "I am powerful and self-reliant. I am the master, the creator and this situation is just a creation. So I the master will find a way to maneuver and change the situation". This practice will help me stop expecting from others, not even support. 

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: September 03, 2016: The Diet of an Angel

Daily Positive Thoughts: September 03, 2016: The Diet of an Angel

The Diet of an Angel

By feeding your mind a diet of elevated thoughts, you grow up to become an angel.

I Am Peace (Part 3)

Meditation for mental peace is something we commonly hear nowadays and it is something which is being practiced by thousands of families and professionals nowadays to bring peace and calm in their minds as well as in their relationships. Some people do not realize the importance of looking inwards for maintaining peace and also the importance of methods like meditation for achieving that. But remember, a few minutes given to looking after the self everyday will make you powerful to face the growing number of situations which come at you from people in your family and at office. Meditation is not running away from society but is an easy technique of mastering the thought patterns of the mind and keeping them under control.To meditate is to create thoughts related to the self like – Who am I, What is my role in this world, What is my original stage when I came to play my part in the world, Do I perform positive actions throughout the day, Am I a being of peace and love, Do I come into contact with everyone with a positive consciousness, Do I satisfy God with my daily routine, Do I remain stable irrespective of what happens around me, Do I remain pure and peaceful in my interactions with others, etc.

These type of thoughts which are mentioned above and giving answers to the questions asked by the mind is a way of making the mind busy. This is the most basic type of meditation. Of course, as you go ahead with your meditation practice, you have to go from thoughts to pure experience. In pure experience, thoughts stop and the self just exists in a stage full of peace and no longer needs the support of thoughts but can stand on its own feet. The feet are a pure loveful connection with the Supreme or God which gives the self the beauty of experience. Experience means to just be peace and not necessarily create thoughts related to peace.

Open the windows of your mind

You know when you're expecting visitors; you can get the cleaning done in no time at all! 

In the same way, when you're expecting to start something new, quickly clean up your mind.

Open the windows of your mind and create space for your thoughts to breathe. Clear out the clutter and get your mind in order. 

This is a great way to install energy into yourself and bring enthusiasm into your task.

Message for the day

To have the right frame of mind is to bring benefit. 

Thought to ponder: Difficult situations do come to everyone, and it is during these situations that one needs to give their best to tackle them. Yet, we find it is quite the opposite. Negativity comes creating weakness of the mind. So, whatever decisions we take at this time are not appropriate or fruitful. We tend to lose sight of opportunities and there is loss.

Point to practice: Today I will pick out one problem that I have been worrying about. I will take the thought that this problem is there to go. It will surely go one day as nothing is permanent. I will then look for solutions with a positive frame of mind. If I still don't find solutions, I will stop thinking about it, because thinking too much about one thing amounts to worrying. 

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: September 02, 2016: Contentment

Daily Positive Thoughts: September 02, 2016: Contentment

Artist: Matylda Konecka

Contentment

To make good use of what you have and to let go of what you do not use, is to live in a contented way.

I Am Peace (Part 2)

Peace inside is often reflected to the outside. Very often homes and offices which are more orderly normally have people living and working inside them who are more peaceful. A less orderly place to stay and work in, increases our thought activity. People who are confused easily in difficult situations tend to also ignore their surroundings and prefer living in less orderly environments. So, inner peace and outer peace are connected with each other. Keeping both, the mind and the surroundings full of calmness by using subtle methods for the mind and physical methods for the surroundings makes you stronger inside and increases your ability to keep your thought activity to a minimum. This is required very regularly when there are different types of situations and while coming into contact with people of different personalities. Very often a big group of people in an office can be challenging to work with and can make people even have thoughts of leaving such a group of people permanently when they are not able to cope with different people and their demands. A calm mind, some say in an 8 hour work day at the office, with demanding deadlines and different people with their different ways of working and opinions is next to impossible. At the same time, for some, who have learnt to remain at ease in situations or who have learnt the habit of thinking less irrespective of whatever happens around them prefer working in groups and find it easy to be a part of a group. On the other hand, some lose hope and cannot bear the pressure of that and prefer living alone and with a few people.

A good leader will be good at managing people well but not at the cost of managing the self and coming under mental pressures, which are the main cause of negative thoughts. The positive thought activity of a good leader and his peaceful nature directly influences the quality of mind activity of the people whom the leader leads and makes them peaceful.

(To be continued tomorrow …)

Sometimes we can be icy cold, unfriendly and unapproachable.

Sometimes bitter cold winds blow through our words, and people slip and slide on our frosty intentions.

There are times when we shut down and our ability to love freezes over.

Fortunately this state is not permanent. We can defrost our heart by: being more loving to ourselves, making our self-talk kinder and listening to our emotions.

As we start to warm up, our arctic feelings will melt, frosty behaviour will thaw, and love will flow again.

Message for the day

One's interaction with others is the biggest test to know what to check and change. 

Thought to ponder: How people behave with us is a true indication of what our personality is. If most of the people are being negative to me, then definitely I need to check myself. Because, others become a mirror for us to see how we are. Physically too, most people have the habit of checking in the mirror to see if they are alright and if they are not, they bring about a change. In the same way, other people's response becomes an indication for us to know where I need to bring about a change.

Point to practice: Today I will take criticism as an indication of what I need to bring about a change in myself. When someone says something about me, especially if it is repeatedly coming to me from more than one source, I will see what aspect I need to change. I need to first check what really in me is drawing that criticism. Then I need to bring about that change.

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris