Daily Positive Thoughts: September 19, 2016: Energy

Daily Positive Thoughts: September 19, 2016: Energy

Energy

If you speak badly of others, the negative energy that you put out into the Universe will return to you. The same is true of positive energy.

Be The Change That God Wants To See (Part 2)

Whenever you perform any action or speak a few words or even create a thought, ask yourself, will this thought, word or action be liked by God or not? Then create the thought or speak the word or perform the action. It’s as if God is like a role model whom I have to follow and keep in mind in the complete day. This can be called as following the footsteps of God. Such a person’s life is then filled with a lot of praise from people around them. Their words, actions and personality are a source of inspiration for others and by making God a role model for themselves; they become role models for others. God fills such clean souls with specialties that help in revealing God to the whole world and bringing people close to God. Other people will come close to God but souls who are like God in their actions become the mediums for bringing them close. Remember, initially people may find it difficult to come close to God because they are in awe of Him but souls who are already close to God and to whom God has revealed Himself completely, will through their similarity in qualities with God, show them the way. This is not something to be proud of, but it is a bond of pure love with other souls and our duty to bring the lost ones and tie them in an eternal relationship with their spiritual parent - the Supreme and make sure that they not only experience love and joy from Him but also go on to share that love and joy with others. Wow – that’s a beautiful feeling of the heart when one is able to bring someone close to God, who is the spiritual parent of humanity and wants to see the whole world family united by the thread of His love.

So, whenever you look at someone, whom you meet, remind yourself that you have a duty towards that person, which has been given to you by God of making the other person an extremely close companion of God. That is the most beautiful bond of many lifetimes and something which every human being has longed for many times in the journey of birth and rebirth.

(To be continued tomorrow ...)

Over-thinking

The biggest disease of the mind is over-thinking, especially too much thinking about others. 

Thinking too much is like eating too much. 

The heaviness makes it impossible to remain light and flexible.

Message for the day

To finish weaknesses is to get the gift of virtues. 

Thought to ponder: When we make effort to finish any weakness with determination, we automatically get the gift of some virtue. The process of finishing the weakness itself brings out virtues in us. Also, the end result may not be the virtue we want, but it is surely some virtue that we obtain. So, it is important to work on removing weaknesses, whether we see visible gain or not. 

Point to practice: Today I will take a firm decision to work on one weakness of mine, which I have been wanting to remove. I will chalk out a plan and begin work on removing it completely. From time to time, I will also revise and review my plan. I will also start appreciating the gift of virtues I am gaining in this process. 

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: September 18, 2016: Success in Life

Daily Positive Thoughts: September 18, 2016: Success in Life

Success in Life

The best way to succeed in life is to act on the advice you give to others.

Be The Change That God Wants To See (Part 1)

Starting a journey of a loveful connection with God brings with it, along with the love and care experienced from God, a lot of sacrifice and discipline. This is because God is not only an Ocean of Love but also a watchful parent who expects His children to not only take love and belongingness from Him but also give Him a return of the love. When we see physical parents, no matter how big the child becomes, the parents always expect their children to be like them and also follow them completely and be good and clean human beings. In the same way, God, the spiritual parent, has His own way of defining what is right and wrong and how we should make the right a part of our lives and keep the wrong away which can harm us on a spiritual level. Remember God’s personality is not like us but it stands at a higher level, to reach which, we have to stand tall and upright and let go of not only our ego but also our rigid beliefs of a very long time.

So, to reach God and be with Him up there, which means have a personality like Him, we have to listen to His every word and every instruction and change our old ways of thinking instead of being stubborn and continuing with our old habits, which do not go away easily. There are some who promise God their love but when it comes to following in His footsteps, they are not as faithful and trustworthy as God expects them to be. So, what does one call such children? Unfaithful – we cannot call them that because they love God a lot and also like changing themselves as per God’s desire, but not to the extent which God wants them to. As a result they are seen as semi-faithful because they are loveful and loyal to God but lack the determination and power to bring significant shifts in their thinking and become soul conscious, completely pure and egoless, which are the three primary qualities to reach upto God and stand as tall as Him.

(To be continued tomorrow ...)

Be a Leader

Whatever or whoever you give time to, you give your attention to. Whatever gets your attention gets your energy. Whatever gets your energy must grow. So what will you give your time to today - who will get your attention? What or who needs your attention? Is it a task, a process or a relationship? Or are you waiting for these things to give you time and attention? How long have you been waiting? Why are you waiting? Are you a leader or a follower, a master or a slave? Mmmm...all questions today!

Message for the day

Happiness stays in the life of the one who has faith in the self. 
Thought to ponder: When there is faith, there is obvious happiness visible in thought, word and action. Whatever the obstacles come by, faith in the self brings the confidence to face all obstacles very easily and happily. 

Point to practice: Whatever the task you take up, remind yourself again and again, that you are going to succeed in it. This gives you the faith to go on with happiness in spite of seeming difficulties. 

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: September 17, 2016: Determined Thoughts

Daily Positive Thoughts: September 17, 2016: Determined Thoughts

Lenticular Cloud over Mt. Rainier, Washington State, USA

Determined Thoughts

Determined thoughts disperse the clouds of negative situations. A lot of negative situations are bound to come our way, resulting in grief, pain and disappointment. At the time, such difficulties feel insurmountable and seem to last forever. I need to recognize that the difficulties I face are like passing clouds. These clouds gather around me at times, are only temporary - sooner or later they will fade away. Understanding that no problem lasts forever will help me develop the determination I need to work on my problems. I will then be able to face any situation with ease.

Spirituality And World Transformation (Part 4)

As we have explained earlier in this series, the Supreme Soul always remains an Ocean of the spiritual virtues or elements peace, joy, love, bliss, purity, power and wisdom right through eternity.  The soul is made up of three faculties - the mind, intellect and personality. Meditation is a direct connection in which a human soul, using the two faculties - the mind and the intellect, connects with the most powerful Supreme Source or Soul and draws spiritual power from it. This absorbed spiritual power then transforms the third faculty - the personality, filling it with the virtues mentioned above. The more the spiritual power absorbed the greater and faster is the filling up of virtues. These virtues then become a balm which heals the many different types of wounds of ego, anger, hatred, hurt, jealousy, possessiveness, greed, criticisms, desires, etc. which have left their mark on the soul in this and many past births of the soul. They gradually restore in the soul the confidence to emerge from the shadows of negativity and to live in the light of its original nature. It is amazing, and heart-warming, when one rediscovers these qualities beneath all the other impressions formed during this and previous lives that have probably been peaceless and sorrowful at times. The journey of meditation bypasses all the negative tendencies and allows the soul to touch these original qualities, experience their truth, and express them in its life.

The other three factors which help us in understanding as well as experiencing peace, joy, love, bliss, purity, power and wisdom are:
1. The understanding and inculcation of the complete spiritual knowledge of the soul, Supreme Soul and the eternal world time cycle.
2. Attention on the self and checking and changing the self during the entire day and also keeping a daily chart of the main weaknesses or negative personality trait in the self, which is filled every night before going to sleep.
3. Sharing the spiritual virtues along with spiritual knowledge with others through thoughts, words and actions. Treasures shared with others will bring about a direct increase in the treasures in the self. Also, blessings received from others, by serving them help in the same purpose.

Deceptive Love

Deceptive love is love where there is no honesty in the heart. It creates dependency, and looks more like a deal than a relationship. This kind of love has become like a drug. We do not want love that is going to make us dependent. Love should be such that it makes honesty and truth grows. It is honesty that shows us what love is and real love shows us what honesty is. The way to free ourselves from dependency on false love is to experience the fullness, the sweetness, of love that is true. Replace poison with nectar and it will be easy to recognize the worthlessness of false love. We should not just accept whatever love comes our way - from here, there, everywhere. If somebody wants to give you love, first see what kind of love they are offering. Your intuition should realize very quickly what kind of love it is. To experience true love we should ask: Is my heart clean? Is it honest? Is it open? If it isn't, if my heart is still broken, I will not be able to experience true love.

Message for the day

Where there is no trace of laziness or carelessness, there is progress. 

Thought to ponder: Check if you are finding progress in your life. If there is any kind of dissatisfaction, check if it is because of any kind of laziness or carelessness within you.

Point to practice: In order to bring progress in your life, see that the weaknesses that retard your progress are removed. For that create an aim for yourself and work towards it. It could even be a very small aim that would help you move forward. 

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: September 16, 2016: Exercise and Diet

Daily Positive Thoughts: September 16, 2016: Exercise and Diet

Exercise and Diet

Unhealthy lifestyles are rooted in the mind and seeded in the soul. The spiritual exercise of the mind involves taking the mind out of the physical body and to the subtle body of light and then to our state of being a soul - a sentient point of light and power. As for diet control, pure thoughts are the healthy diet for the mind. Creative thoughts are like vitamins and positive thoughts provide proteins that build will power.

Spirituality And World Transformation (Part 3)

As explained in yesterday's message, in the hierarchy of the three entities around which the whole World Drama revolves – the Supreme Soul is right at the top, the human souls are in the middle and nature is at the bottom. So, the process of restoring the balance of the spiritual and physical elements has to be initiated from the top i.e. by the Supreme Soul. The human souls which are in the middle of the hierarchy benefit from this process directly. The human souls, by transforming themselves i.e. by filling themselves up with the spiritual elements peace, joy, love, bliss, purity, power and wisdom from the Supreme Soul and restoring their balance in their personalities, then bring benefit to nature which is at the bottom of the hierarchy. This is because their doing this causes the positive energy of the virtues to spread in nature, which results in the balance restoration of the physical elements earth, air, water, fire and sky and the spiritual elements or virtues in the personalities of animals, birds, insects (the same principle as explained yesterday). This entire process, explained above, takes place in the Confluence Age which is a small Age between the Iron Age and the Golden Age, which is again the present time. So, the Confluence Age is an Age in which positive transformation takes place. Thus, at the present moment of time, the two Ages - Iron Age and Confluence Age co-exist.

The Supreme Soul does not bring direct benefit to nature, He does that via human souls, who are intelligent enough to catch his directions and connect with Him and as a result transform themselves. So, the human souls when seen with respect to the Supreme Soul, who is the Creator; are the Creation, who benefit from Him. But the same human souls, when seen with respect to nature can be called the Master Creator and nature can be called as the Creation. Here the phrase Master Creator means children of the Supreme Soul, the Creator, but at the same time those children who possess the power to perform the task of balance restoration for the self as well as the Creation, similar to the Creator, under his guidance and by absorbing power from Him.

We shall explain the actual process of imbibing the spiritual elements from the Supreme Soul in tomorrow's message, which is the last of this series.

Self-revelation

The most powerful revelation we can ever experience is that of our self. It's been so long since we were totally open and beyond the fear of the possibility of hurt, that we keep our hearts and minds concealed from the world. Self-revelation is not some kind of performance, or the seeking of attention - it is the outcome of the healing of our broken hearts - it is the result of many periods of introspection and meditation where we have seen who and what we really are, as opposed to who and what others have tried to make us. We are able to open and truly reveal ourselves when we see that all our hurts, all our pain, was self-inflicted. That's not easy to see, not easy to accept, but when we do, we realize no one can hurt us unless we let them. They can harm our body, but not our minds, unless we give them permission. This inner realization allows us to be comfortable, unthreatened, and safe in moments of self-revelation.

Message for the day

The method to remove negativity is to fill with positivity. 
Thought to ponder: Usually, the method of trying to remove negativity is to negate it. That means, I would say "I do not want to be lazy" or "I should not get angry". But we need to remember that we can't remove darkness, except by adding light. In the same way, we can't remove negativity without adding something positive.

Point to practice: Today I will take up one thing that I always wanted to get rid of. I will then frame it in a positive way. For example, instead of saying "I should not be angry", I will say "today I am peaceful" or instead of saying "I do not want to be lazy" I say "today I have the determination to do what I have to do". This practice will ensure that I sustain positivity. 

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: September 15, 2016: Generosity

Daily Positive Thoughts: September 15, 2016: Generosity

Generosity

Become the image of generosity. Have a generous heart and a generous mind. The language of one with a generous heart is 'You first'. Generosity means the generosity of enabling all souls to progress.

 

Spirituality And World Transformation (Part 2)

There are three entities around which the whole World Drama revolves – the Supreme Soul, the human souls and nature. Nature includes everything non-living like mountains, rivers, seas etc. and living things like plants, trees etc. It also includes living beings like animals, birds, insects etc. which are souls with a lesser evolved intellect than human ones. The human body also comes under the category of nature. These three entities are in the form of a hierarchy, the Supreme Soul is the most powerful at the top of the hierarchy, in the middle are the human souls and at the bottom of the hierarchy is nature. The Supreme Soul always remains an Ocean of the virtues peace, joy, love, bliss, purity, power and wisdom and is the only entity in which the balance of these virtues is always maintained right through eternity.

In human souls, as explained yesterday, in the beginning of the world cycle, in the Golden Age, these virtues are in balance. As human souls come down in the birth-rebirth cycle and start becoming influenced by body-consciousness or the five vices - anger, ego, greed, attachment and lust, all spiritual building blocks or virtues - peace, joy, love, bliss, purity, power and wisdom start getting depleted. In each soul, some virtues get depleted more, some less. In each and every soul the depletion is different depending on its actions e.g. in some soul the depletion of peace is immense compared to the other because of picking up sanskaras of anger on its journey and bringing them into actions or in some soul the depletion of joy is immense because of picking up a lot of attachment on the way etc. This depletion of the spiritual elements or virtues upsets the balance between them. This depletion and imbalance causes negative spiritual energy waves or vibrations of sorrow, anger, impurity, hatred, fear etc. from human souls to spread in nature and starts having a negative influence on the physical elements earth, air, water, fire and sky and even the spiritual elements peace, joy, love, bliss, purity, power and wisdom in the souls of animals, birds, insects, etc. upsetting the balance of both. This is because nature (as defined in the above paragraph) is lowest in the hierarchy, lesser powerful and easily influenced by the energy that human souls transmit or radiate. This double imbalance of spiritual and physical elements results in peacelessness, sorrow, illness, poverty, natural calamities, accidents, ecological imbalances etc.  When all of these reach their maximum extent, that Age is called the Iron Age. This is an interesting principle which needs to be understood clearly.

How do we restore the balance of the spiritual and physical elements? We shall explain that in tomorrow's message.

Be a Good Listener

What people want most from us is our undivided attention; that's why listening is such an important skill.

When we give partial attention to others, the result is misunderstandings, mistakes and hurt feelings.

So the next time someone is talking to you, instead of planning on what you're going to say next, texting or checking emails - give them your undivided attention!

Listen completely and you'll enrich the interaction, the relationship, as well as your own experience as a listener.

Message for the day

To have positive thoughts is to be enthusiastic. 

Thought to ponder: Just as we have an attention on our bank account and would like to know our bank balance, we need to check our thoughts too. We need to check how many thoughts are wasted and how many are used constructively. The more I have attention on filling with positive thoughts, the more my energy increases. So, I remain enthusiastic through the day, right till the end. 

Point to practice: Today I will keep a check on the account of my thoughts. I will try and focus on positive thoughts rather than wasting time on waste thoughts. Wherever possible, I will create and sustain positive thoughts. It could be small little thoughts like "I am happy today" or it might be a good wish for another person. 

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: September 14, 2016: Time Out

Daily Positive Thoughts: September 14, 2016: Time Out

Artist: Rakesh Das

Time Out

Is there some time for yourself today - just for you, to sit quietly and refresh and renew. Not escaping into the TV, or thrashing around a squash court. Just time to sit quietly, focus your thoughts, check your priorities, make sure there is nothing negative pushing you down in your own mind. Take some time and be ...with yourself. If you don't, you may miss meeting the most important person in your life.

Spirituality And World Transformation (Part 1)

There are various ancient teachings in the East including India which describe the physical elements - earth, air, water, fire and sky as the pillars of Creation or the building blocks of Creation. These teachings suggest that every particle of the physical Creation is made of these building blocks. The human body is also made of these primary elements. These elements need to remain in balance for the Universe to stay in order and the human body to stay in order or good health. Bad health generally means one or more of these elements is out of place. There are various techniques mentioned in these teachings which are used to create this balance, including ancient Indian mantras. The popular ancient Indian Vedic Vaastu science, used by many to build homes even today, also works on creating a balance between the physical elements mentioned above.

According to spiritual principles given by the Supreme Being or the Supreme Soul, in the same way, on a spiritual level, the soul also comprises of peace, joy, love, bliss, purity, power and wisdom, which are the original constituent qualities or building blocks or elements of the soul. When the soul first comes down from the soul world and starts playing its part on the physical world, there is a complete balance of these qualities in its personality. This is the reason that at the beginning of the world cycle, in the period that we commonly call the Golden Age or Paradise or Satyuga, there is complete peace, love and happiness within the self and even in relationships. The balance of the spiritual elements in the soul causes the physical elements earth, air, water, fire and sky also to remain in complete balance. Hence in the Golden Age, there is complete physical prosperity and richness; there is no trace of illnesses and natural calamities like earthquakes, floods, etc. Due to the double balance, nature is not only in order but very very beautiful. Even the physical bodies are not only healthy but very beautiful. Even the animals and birds are completely full of all virtues and live in absolute love and harmony with each other. So the balance of the virtues in souls reflects itself not only on a subtle level i.e. in the personalities and interactions but also on a physical level i.e. in the physical bodies, flora (plants) and fauna (animals), nature in general, etc.

In tomorrow's message, we shall explain the reason for this.

Overcome Overwhelm

When you keep thinking about having too much to do in too little time, you can end up feeling overwhelmed. 
Overwhelm clouds the mind, drains the energy and, as a result, not much gets done.

When overwhelm happens, remind yourself: I don't have to live in a state of overwhelm. 

Overcome overwhelm by rethinking: I have exactly the right amount of time to do what there is to do.

Message for the day

To argue is to intensify problems.

Thought to ponder: An argument is filled with attitudes and negative feelings. So, whatever is spoken during an argument is misunderstood and creates wrong feelings. So, such arguments lead us nowhere and bring no solutions. Instead they intensify problem. So, it is important not to get into arguments. 

Point to practice: Today I will not argue about anything. Just for today, I will make sure that I will not get into arguments but will watch in silence to see what happens. I will only converse after the mood of argument has passed. 

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris