Daily Positive Thoughts: September 13, 2016: Acceptance

Daily Positive Thoughts: September 13, 2016: Acceptance

Acceptance

Accepting others unconditionally allows them to remove their masks and feel at ease with who they are. The security of being accepted gives them the freedom to be themselves and then lets them easily know and accept themselves too.

The Hurting Of The Ego (Part 2)

Continuing from yesterday’s message, we commonly use the terms my ego got hurt or I think your ego got hurt. You hurt my ego is nothing but you hurt or harmed the image that I carry of myself (as discussed yesterday) with me each second everyday. Because I carry it with me all the time, I have become attached to it. e.g. If, on a particular day, you reach home late from office and your wife, who is angry with you, accuses of not being a family man and one who doesn't give enough time to her and the children. Your reasons for reaching home late may be genuine or not, your wife may be right or wrong on that particular day. In either case, you carry an image of yourself, all the time, as being a very loving, caring father and husband, who has been responsible for the all-round growth and development of the family in all respects since the family was created. Your wife's words basically pinch that invisible image, as a result of which you feel insulted and hurt and you react angrily, not necessarily in front of your wife, but it could be in front of someone else or even just internally. This phenomenon happens many times, in various different situations with different people throughout the day and every day.

The image that we all carry of our selves is made of various traits or characteristics, obviously the characteristics of each one's self-created image are different. These characteristics of the image may or may not actually exist inside the real self, but whenever someone challenges any of those characteristics or tries to suggest to us that one of those characteristics is not ours or does not exist inside us, we react.

When a conversation becomes heated, can you respond warmly? 

When giving your opinion, can you express yourself without anxiety?

Assertiveness is our ability to convey thoughts and feelings in ways that can be clearly heard, whilst maintaining our personal integrity, as well as respect for others.

Message for the day

A step of courage brings multi fold help.

Thought to ponder: One step of courage is enough to pave the way for something better. If we get disheartened and stop, we will be worse than what we are. So, whatever the situation may be we need to take one thought of making the situation better. This one thought will help us see the hidden opportunities. Also, we find help coming from others and situations too. 

Point to practice: Today I will take up something that I have given up on, and see where I can start once again. With renewed courage and enthusiasm, I will create a plan and work on it. With the faith that I am going to find a way, I will work on this plan. 

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: September 12, 2016: Forgiving

Daily Positive Thoughts: September 12, 2016: Forgiving

Forgiving

See beyond immediate circumstances. Clear the decks of old grievances become free from outdated thinking. Learn from past experiences and move on by tapping inner sources of self-worth and humility. Valuing honesty and commitment, softly let go and enable others to change. There are new horizons, new growth, a new lease of life.

The Hurting Of The Ego (Part 1)

Almost every day or every second day we come across a situation when someone says something to us which is not very pleasurable or we chose to perceive it to be so. In either case, we feel insulted and get upset as a result. In some cases we react and display our feelings. In some, we don't. In either case, the result is a depreciation (decrease) in our happiness index. Why does this happen? It's because you have created, attached to and identified with an image of yourself in your mind that does not match with how the other sees or perceives you, as a result of which you believe you have been insulted and you get upset.

As long as people's perception of you matches the image that you have created inside your mind of yourself, you are content with them, but as soon as the opposite happens, even if it is to a very small extent, you become disturbed, because you are attached to that image. The more the attachment, the greater the hurt, the disturbance or reaction. You could examine this phenomenon very closely, taking place inside yourself every day. This kind of attachment mentioned above is called ego. That's why the phenomenon explained above is called in common language the hurting of the ego.

In tomorrow’s message, we shall explain this phenomenon further with an example.

 Coolness

Maintaining a state of inner calmness protects me from becoming a slave to my emotions. 

It also helps me to keep a cool head when I see others becoming heated or angry. 

Coolness is not to be distant or uncaring; rather it requires that I develop the deeply caring nature of a peacemaker and serve others in the best possible way.

Message for the day

To recognize a weakness is to bid goodbye to it forever. 
Thought to ponder: Mostly, we do recognize our weaknesses but are not able to get to the depth of that weakness. So, although we promise to get rid of it, we are not able to. For example, if I feel my weakness is anger, I need to check myself why that anger comes. Is it because of comparison and jealousy or is it because of an inability to accept people as they are. Once recognized, the real weakness is easy to get rid of with a firm promise.

Point to practice: Today I will make a promise to get rid of a weakness of mine which is coming to me again and again. For today, I will keep myself free from it with the firm belief that "I will surely be able to win over this weakness" 

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: September 11, 2016: Moving Mountains

Daily Positive Thoughts: September 11, 2016: Moving Mountains

Krabi, Thailand

Moving Mountains

The faith that can move mountains needs three ingredients to work: belief in yourself, belief in others, and the 

ability to draw on your inner strength.

Negative Control And Domination In Relationships

In a lot many of the different types of relationships we find ourselves in, may they be our personal relationships or at the workplace, we sometimes feel ourselves to be in a position where we feel we are being dominated and controlled negatively by the opposite person. A very common example of the above negative energy, in personal and non-personal relationships, is when someone gets angry with you and manages to make you react and get upset, they manage to dominate you. Over a period of time they start realizing that they possess an invisible and powerful remote control, using which, whenever they want to control you, what they should do is to get angry with you and that way they will achieve the desired control. Their anger becomes a remote control. When you react you are allowing this control or allowing the other's remote control to work. It is you that chooses to allow yourself to be influenced and dominated. It is important for us to realize that we can choose and take the decision to allow ourselves to be controlled and dominated, or we can choose to express what we feel without being affected by the reaction of the other and still maintaining our love, respect and good wishes for the other.

Let us not allow ourselves to be dominated and influenced by entities external to us which includes objects and people or we will lose energy. Each moment we allow another person's remote control to work successfully or we allow an object to control and dominate our emotional state, we weaken internally. We become like a puppet in the other person's hands. A puppet is never powerful because it does not act on its own but is controlled by someone else. We need to prevent that, if we want to conserve our energy and remain spiritually strong. Meditation and spiritual knowledge both increase our spiritual strength and also increase our self-esteem or self-respect over a period of time. Both these increases help us remain in self-control and not only disallow the other's remote control to work but also become assertive (not aggressive) and take a stand when required.

Exaggeration

We exaggerate to make people laugh or to lighten the atmosphere.

But every time we exaggerate, we're distorting reality. We're making a mountain out of a molehill and much ado about nothing.

Even though exaggeration seems harmless, try to steer away from over-exaggerating.

Replace 'exaggerate' with 'accentuate'.

Emphasize and magnify what's best. Accentuate the positive. Just don't over-accentuate!

Message for the day

To consider myself a child of God is to have a right to His powers. 
Thought to ponder: In times of crises, it is very natural to ask God for help or power to face them. Yet, it seems that there is little power for some time or no power at all to face the situation. On the other hand, when I remind myself that I am a child of God, I will automatically have a right to whatever God has. God is all powerful, full of all powers. It is these powers that I can use as a right, to deal with those difficult situations.

Point to practice: Today I will take a thought, "I am a child - a child of God. Whatever He has, I too have a right over it." I will use these powers instead of just seeking and asking (still feeling powerless).

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: September 10, 2016: Just Having Fun

Daily Positive Thoughts: September 10, 2016: Just Having Fun

 

 

Just Having Fun

 

Work without happiness is like a burden that you have to endure, but when you are internally happy it becomes a game, and you're just having fun.

Understanding What Is Time

We created the concept of time to measure our experience of the space between events. Time passes only because we experience change. What is change? Change is only a series of events. So time is our experience of the speed of events. This explains why time seems to be moving faster today, because both the speed and the number of events are increasing. And it seems even faster if we participate in those events. If the speed and number of events was less, we would experience time to be moving slowly, as it used to be a little earlier in the history of mankind.

Today, sitting in our living rooms and offices, electronic, print and other media allows us to observe hundreds of events from all over the world, every day. To observe them actively is to participate in them. If you want to slow time down, learn to be a detached observer of the thousands of events around you – participate or observe actively only when necessary. If you want to stop time, meditate and be in your original, timeless, eternal consciousness. Meditation is after all an art of shutting down your senses and slowing down. Today, we fear time, as a result we hear ourselves saying many a times, Hurry up, time is running out! or I hope to have more time tomorrow! or I need to save time! Ultimately time, is our life: it cannot be saved or lost, but must be lived now. This is where your will-power is important - we can choose exactly how we spend our time at any moment.

Patience

What cannot be achieved with pressure can easily be achieved with patience. 

Patience gives you the time to chip away at your dream and turn it into a reality. 

It tells you not to push, not to rush; there is a reason and a season for everything.
And when things go wrong, patience tempers the feeling of failure and buffers the heart. 

It teaches you to keep your cool. A cool head knows when to wait and when to act.

Message for the day

To acknowledge small little attainments is to ensure promises made are kept. 

Thought to ponder: We do make promises to ourselves from time to time. But as time passes on, we forget our promises and we are back to where we started, or sometimes worse. We need to notice, acknowledge and remind ourselves of small little attainments we begin to find from the time we started fulfilling our promise. This will fill us with enthusiasm and give us the courage to continue. 

Point to practice: Today I will take up an old promise and write it down on a piece of paper and place it where I can see it again and again. Each day, I will add something to that paper, which is actually something that I have attained because of fulfilling this promise. It could be a small little change, appreciation or positive outcome. I will keep collecting these attainments to keep up my enthusiasm. 

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: September 09, 2016: Serenity and Spiritual Beauty

Daily Positive Thoughts: September 09, 2016: Serenity and Spiritual Beauty

Artist: Felix Schurig -At Prayer, 1889 (detail)

Serenity and Spiritual Beauty

Beauty comes with self-acceptance, self-love and self-awareness. Self-knowledge is equivalent to truth which brings serenity and spiritual beauty.

The Beautiful Personality Of God (Part 3)

Just like us, God is a spiritual energy with a beautiful personality of His own. His personality is so magnetic that people consider a moment of His company as something very beautiful and a gift of many good karmasof many past births. This shows how precious God is and how no human soul can be compared to Him in terms of qualities. So, God is a spiritual energy who has earned this type of respect from humans. They say He is God and He is expected to be the nicest. But, then even we are souls or spiritual energies like Him, but not as complete with qualities and not such a magnetic a personality as Him. Why such a difference between Him and us? This is because He does not lose His qualities because of coming under the influence of body consciousness. On the other hand, humans become egoistic or angry or lustful in the world drama which God, who is a very pure living energy, does not experience at all. This is the reason why God is respected so much.So respect is earned and not something that God gets for free. It’s His nature of purity which makes Him so loveable all over the world and someone whom every human being loves to respect.

Whenever the word God is mentioned anywhere in the world by anyone, people look upwards. This is a symbol of not only that God stays beyond the skies but also how He is the purest and the Highest of Highest. They also call Him the Father of Fathers, which means He is the Supreme parent of humanity. He is Supreme not only in His role of God but Supreme in His qualities. God is the most powerful soul in the world. His power changes the whole world into a place where peace, love and joy exist for 2500 years i.e. half the duration of the 5000 year world drama which keeps repeating itself. This peace, love and joy does not go away immediately after this 2500 year duration but reduces gradually. In fact, as revealed by God, 1250 years after the 2500 years of heaven on earth get over are not very very sorrow filled i.e. 3750 years of the world are full of happiness but the last 1250 years are lacking in peace, love and joy as we know from the history of the world.

Decisions! Decisions!

Often it's easy to help others make decisions because we are more objective when we're not completely emotionally involved.

So if you want to get good at making your own decisions, get good at being objective. 

Learn to step back from the situation, mentally & emotionally, to gain a better perspective.

Then you'll know what's best for you & what decision to make.

Message for the day

Situations become an expression of our state of mind. 

Thought to ponder: Our reaction to situations is actually a proof of our state of mind. Even during challenging times, if we are positive towards ourselves and others, it means that we are positive. Only such positive minds can think powerfully and get creative solutions.

Point to practice: Today I will take a thought to keep my mind positive during every challenge. Before I react to something, I will first stop, check my thoughts and only then say or do what I have to. Even if I do react at that time, after that I will check and change my thoughts. This is the training I need to give my mind. 

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: September 08, 2016: Cooking and Eating

Daily Positive Thoughts: September 08, 2016: Cooking and Eating

ISKON: Mahavishnudasa October, 2013

Cooking and Eating

Cook and eat with powerful vibrations. By placing great importance on cooking and eating with loving and peaceful vibrations, you will nourish both mind and body.

The Beautiful Personality Of God (Part 2)

Being a loveful parent, God maintains feelings of world benefit inside Himself and always thinks about how the world can become a beautiful land of love, where as the saying goes that even the goat and the lion drink water together at one stream. This is just a saying but what it means is that God’s role is to establish a world of pure love where humans and animals live together in peace and love. Also, He fills everyone with so much love that they become like Him by loving Him and that shows in their relationships. Remember to be in love with God, means to become loving with everyone. There are many people in the world who became sweeter individuals after they found the love of God in their lives. So, love for the Father changes itself into love for others in our life easily.

God never punishes anyone for his wrong actions but instead He showers mercy on each one and is always hopeful and positive that all His children will change for the good because they were originally pure and loveful and the present weaknesses are just temporary. This is the sweet personality of God and this is why He is worshipped and loved the most. Never think that He is God, so it is natural to love Him. No one is loved unless He is good. God has over so many years done a lot for the billions of humans and has shown His personality to everyone. God also comes down on Earth repeatedly after intervals of every 5000 years when the world and its people require to be changed. This is when He comes into contact with human souls and purifies them to become better individuals. It is in this journey of the world that His nature is discovered by humans and that is why after He goes away, God is remembered a lot for all that He has done.

(To be continued tomorrow …)

Become your own Boss

At times, the mind can be like a relentless boss, constantly giving us thoughts to think about.

Instead of letting the mind boss you around, you become the boss of your mind and make your mind work for you.

Allocate specific times to solve problems and think creatively. With thoughts that are not productive: "You are fired!"

Message for the day

Where there is true respect there is humility.

Thought to ponder: The more respect is measured on the basis of something external, the greater the desire for recognition from others. The greater the desire, the more one falls victim to ego and there cannot be humility. 

Point to practice: Start the day with a thought that brings self-respect. Tell yourself that you are special and you will use your specialty throughout the day. You will not dominate or limit the freedom of anyone. 

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris