Daily Positive Thoughts: December 11, 2016: To be a giver is to experience constant happiness

 

To be a giver is to experience constant happiness

Sometimes we find ourselves in situations in which we try to make others happy, even though in doing so we neglect ourselves and experience sorrow. We often do things for the sake of others, even though it is difficult. And if this gift is not recognized or appreciated we tend to get upset.

I will experience the greatest happiness if I give without expecting anything in return. I have to learn to give wisely. When I give with a pure heart I will experience happiness and make those around me happy too.

Conquering The Emotion Of Jealousy (Part 2)

In the 21st century, there are so many mediums which inculcate the feeling of jealousy in a person. Social Media is one such platform. While Facebook and Twitter rule the roost, commonly people wonder - How does he get so many likes? How is she so good looking? Again a check in! His life is so eventful. You never know how and when these thoughts start affecting your life, mental peace and behavior greatly.

Jealousy is a complex emotion, which often stems from insecurity or a fear of losing control. Everybody expresses and handles jealousy in a different way, but certain universal techniques can be used to help conquer it. Being aware of jealous feelings is the first step towards keeping it under control. Also conquering jealousy requires an honest conversation about how you feel. It's far healthier to talk about your negative feelings than to reveal them through your actions. The more you communicate with them, and seek reassurance the more your feelings of jealousy will subside.

Hold a strong and determined belief inside yourself that jealousy is an emotion you will never face. Your idol or perfect self just doesn’t deserve the existence of the emotion.  For instance, if you have an acquaintance of yours who is extremely smart and good looking and sometimes you envy her. That is the time when you need to firmly tell yourself that this is just not your perfect self. You can’t feel that way. Take a few minutes to stand back mentally from the person. The next step is to observe your thoughts as if you were an onlooker or a detached observer. Being as silent as possible, ask yourself as if the thoughts you are having are the ones you wish to keep, if they are going where you would choose them to go. In the resulting silence, steer (change direction) your thinking to where you want it to be; perhaps to personal affirmations (positive thoughts) you use to establish yourself on your seat of self-respect. The affirmations can be: I am aware of myself as a special person with my own unique specialties or I am aware of myself as internally rich, full of many invisible treasures or I am aware of myself as a content being and overflowing with happiness, etc.  This technique changes our attitudes and feelings and influences us positively.

(To be continued tomorrow …)

If your mind has any limited desires, they will not allow you to become content. 

When you are walking in the sun, your shadow goes ahead of you and if you try to catch it, you won't be able to. When you turn around, your shadow will follow you. 

In the same way, desires attract you and make you cry. Let go of them and they will follow you. Those who ask for something can never become full and complete. To chase any limited desire is like trying to catch a mirage.

Message for the day

To recognize the uniqueness of my own personality is to be free from negative influence.

Expression: The one who is aware of one's own uniqueness is able to create a strong influence on others of his own personality. So, such a person is not negatively influenced by anyone's personality traits. Even when there is a person with a very strong personality, he is still able to be free from negative influence. 

Experience: When I am able to recognize and use the specialities that are within me, I am able to remain powerful within. In all circumstances and with all people I experience this innate power. Because I am constantly in touch with my own specialities, I am able to be light and happy. 

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: December 10, 2016: Spiritual tolerance cultivates innate wisdom

 

Spiritual tolerance cultivates innate wisdom

Tolerance is based on going beyond the superficial things that divide us.  It's the result of turning within and coming to know the self. If I can deal with my own ego, then my own anger can be resolved. This goes a long way in resolving external issues too.

With my own ego out of the way, I will be able to handle anything! Otherwise it's just the same old thing - you versus me, yours versus mine, etc. - intolerance. If I'm unselfish and honest in my heart and am concerned about others’ needs, then I will be full enough to give.

When you know the self in this way, then you can know others. "I should be understood" changes to "I should understand". Not “They should change", but "I will give what's needed". Patience, peace and maturity develop. Spiritual tolerance cultivates innate wisdom, the kind you can't get from books.

Conquering The Emotion Of Jealousy (Part 1)

Man was handed the master key of the knowledge of good and evil karma by God. He used the key to perform good karma for some time. That was the day of humanity. Over a period of time, while playing the game of different roles in the world theatre, the key was lost and man started to perform evil karma. The evil man started identifying with evil so much that he forgot his original good self and thought that evil is the eternal self. That was and is the night of humanity. That is why in the scriptures, mistakenly it is said that even angels used to sometimes feel jealous. In Indian scriptures, devis and devtas, the original good men and women, have mistakenly been shown to possess the emotion of jealousy at times. Wrong perception of the evil men, who made the scriptures and temples in the remembrance of the good men and women, the angels, after they had ceased to exist! The good men and women were nothing but our early births as we started our journey of birth and rebirth as flawless beings. Today humans are empowered beings who have the capacity to experience so many emotions, both positive and negative. Sadness, anger, happiness, sympathy and the list is endless. Out of all these one very powerful and dominating emotion is jealousy. When we see different players in this game of life playing different roles, sometimes while seeing them with the spectacles of role consciousness, feelings of jealousy or a desire to be like the other are experienced. Comparisons emerge in our minds.

While being competitive and having aspirations to succeed are absolutely fine and there is no doubt that to do that sometimes we have to look at the other or even others and this drive helps us meet life’s challenges also, but when this look at the other is accompanied by comparisons and feelings of low self-esteem as a result and takes the form of jealousy; it gets out of control and starts having an adverse effect on our relationships, that steps should be taken to curb those feelings.

(To be continued tomorrow …)

Slow down Thoughts

One of the aims of meditation is not to stop your thoughts but to slow them down so that you may find and enter the silence between and behind your thinking. This is a little challenging at first but the more you practice the easier it becomes. 

Think of your thoughts as trains, just as in the common saying we sometimes use the phrase, 'train of thoughts'. Each thought is a carriage of the train and in between the thoughts/carriages is a small gap, a space. The train can arrive at different speeds. Our aim is to slow the train down and become aware of the space between the carriages, in other words between our thoughts. You may even be able to increase that space so that there is the experience of no thought. In this moment you reconnect with the silence (and experience it) that exists always between and behind your thoughts. Don't try to hold it, or you will lose it.

Message for the day

Introversion brings out the positivity within.

Expression: Every human being has an innate positive nature because of the inherent qualities of love, peace, happiness etc. that are within. Introversion, the practice of looking within, enables one to be in constant touch with oneself and one's true nature. It helps express these qualities in everything that is done. Because of having practiced for a long time with them, these qualities emerge very naturally at the time of need.

Experience: The practice of being introverted helps me in experiencing those qualities within me, which otherwise remain hidden during difficult situations. Thus it makes me have true self-respect and enables me to finish my ego. It also gives me the power to recognize and accept my mistakes, thus giving me the courage to work on them successfully. 

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: December 09, 2016: Decisions

 

Decisions

 

‘My decisions, or lack of decisions, determine the reality of my life' - If we do not take responsibility for how we live, life will feel unfair and oppressive. Making a decision not to live like this anymore is to realize that, at last, we can choose our life's direction - and this brings a feeling of empowerment.

What Is Clean Communication?

With the self-covered by the clouds of so many external influences and many of its own negative beliefs and past experiences, the self is normally unclear about its own self. The light of spiritual knowledge brings clarity to the self, about the self. This helps me to communicate with others much more clearly than when I am not sure or clear about what is going on inside me. There is a direct connection between the quality of subtle activities in the form of thoughts and feelings going on inside me and the quality of my interaction and communication with others.

Very importantly, relationships are also connected with attitude and vision. Sometimes, I may feel I have said and done the right things to someone, yet still someone is not behaving towards me as I would wish. At such times I need to check my attitude towards that person and the vision with which I am seeing them. I may find inside a slight feeling of disapproval towards that person, a feeling of discomfort, a resistance to something in their personality. Neither of us may be conscious of it, but my negative feeling casts a shadow on the other person. They are not receiving the acceptance or respect from me, that they should (on a subtle level), although externally I may be showing them a lot of respect. This subtle lack of acceptance and respect from my end influences their ability to hear me clearly (on a subtle level), and the way they behave towards me. The practice of meditation enables me to clean out my thoughts, feelings, attitudes and vision, ensuring that what I share with others on a physical and on a subtle level is positive. Then it is much easier for me to connect with others and for others to connect with me in a positive way. This is called Clean Communication.

Experiencing God's Presence

I need to understand that God is a person (although the Supreme Person), like us, and not some formal or non-personal energy, with whom we cannot communicate and have a relationship. If I know God's form, location and sanskars, I can direct my thoughts towards that One and immediately start experiencing the connection. The sun is the source of our physical necessities. It purifies the water, makes the plants grow to produce food and oxygen and provides a suitable range of temperatures for our life here. To give life it doesn't need to be present in every particle. Its effect in the form of light and heat is felt throughout the solar system. God is seen as a sun of perfect sanskars, the source of spiritual qualities and powers and, as such, doesn't need to be present in everything. Even though His residence is the soul world, God can be with me since the sense of closeness is beyond physical dimensions. One thought and I can experience Him in the soul world and be in His presence!

Message for the day

Where there is contentment, problems finish. 

Expression: Contentment enables one to have a positive outlook towards life. So the one who is content always works towards solutions, as he is never disturbed with situations, but is always relaxed. This automatically brings the ability to contribute to others and give them the support to bring progress within them. Such a person works for his own self-progress too.

Experience: When I am content with everything that is happening, I am able to be light in all situations. So even in the biggest difficulty, I am never caught up with the problem, but am always thinking of the solution. My mind is busy with finding the solution, so internally I remain unaffected with the problem. 

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: December 08, 2016: Don’t miss the essence!

 

 

Don’t miss the essence!

Silence increases the quality and the level of our ability to discern, allowing us to use our time, thoughts and qualities effectively and thus benefit all. In the silence of inner quietness, the intellect makes everything clear and then we just know how to act for the best.

Too much analysis and mental processing pollutes the clarity of discernment; an overload of details makes us miss the essence.

Injustices And Suffering In The World – Applying The Law of Karma (Part 2)

An understanding of the laws of action reminds us that whatever we give we get, and whatever we get is the result of what we have given. When we apply this understanding into our awareness while we watch apparent injustices in the world, it reduces our outrage, lessening our pain. It's not that we sit passively and allow people to bring about suffering upon others, but it helps us to see that the greatest or highest contribution that we can make, to both the victim and the sinner, is to help them remember who they are and help them rise above their anger and fear towards each other. Only in this way can we help them to liberate themselves from an exchange of energy that has perhaps been going on for centuries.

But before we can effectively do this for others, it is necessary to try and do it for ourselves. Instead of taking the law into our own hands (the desire for revenge and justice), we can benefit everyone around us by first understanding and living ourselves according to the invisible laws of cause and effect which define all human relationships. Sometimes this is referred to as practice what you preach, and it often requires moments of reflection before action in order to judge the consequences of any path of action. This capacity to stop, reflect and consider, in a state of mental calm and with clear intellect, is an essential characteristic of all effective leaders. It is also what makes us all potential leaders in life, every day, who can bring about world transformation through self-transformation.

Many things in life are like baking. 

Baking cakes, pies, biscuits, bread.... it's a messy process.  And when you're in the in-between stages, it often also looks a mess.  But when it comes out of the oven, it looks good and tastes good. 

Even if it doesn't look good, it still tastes good.  And if it doesn't taste good, you can always adapt the recipe or try again.

If where you are in life, right now, is looking a bit messy, say to yourself, "If it's not good now, it's because it's not the end yet!"  

And if it's still looking messy when you get to the end, it's OK; you can always adapt or try again.

Message for the day

The one who works to remove the sorrow of others is the one who is loved by all.

Expression: When there is the one aim of helping to remove the sorrow of others, there will be nothing negative while dealing with others. There will also be no expectations from others. Working with the natural desire to bring benefit to as many as possible, enables one to continue to contribute to whatever extent possible. 

Experience: When I am able to have this one desire of helping others be happier, I am able to make a contribution for others' happiness and progress. I then find that others naturally appreciate my selfless contribution and their good wishes help me feel light and experience progress. 

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: December 07, 2016: Letting go and restoring inner peace

Artist:  Elina Trance

Letting go and restoring inner peace

To let go means putting a full stop to all the mental activity with one simple thought: 'I am a being of peace'.

Thought creates consciousness, so if we repeat this phrase slowly and attentively, our thoughts and emotions stop expanding and inner peace is restored. The essence of our being is peace - complete freedom from overload.

To return to this essential peace means observing the minds antics and deciding to put a full stop on them now; no lingering. Of course, the mind does not listen at first. We have to gently and firmly repeat the direction 'stop'. If we do not, those wasteful thoughts will continue to take away our peace.

Injustices And Suffering In The World – Applying The Law of Karma (Part 1)

We are presently living in a closely connected world where everyone knows what everyone else is doing, as they are doing it. Each day brings scenes and images, through the media, in front of us, of many apparent injustices and suffering of individuals or groups of individuals. Whether it's in the office, or in the market or on the television news, we hear and see reports of people suffering tremendous pain and sorrow at the hands of others. At these moments, our sense of injustice is stimulated and it becomes easy to rise in outrage against the sinners. In the process we ourselves suffer from our own self-created anger and perhaps hate. This process then becomes a habit and an inner pattern we begin to repeat, not only when we encounter scenes of global peacelessness, but the moment someone in the family or at office does something similar. A panic button is pressed and we react with the same pattern.

What we forget in both global and local contexts, is the history and geography of karma. Every scene and situation has a variety of related causes in both time (history) and space (geography) e.g. emotions of hatred and revenge amongst various countries and religions (in different parts of the world) and the actions connected with these emotions has underlying hidden causes, related to the Law of Karma (Law of Cause and Effect) which go back sometimes to hundreds of years – X is doing something with Y because Y had done something similar with X sometime in the past, but in different physical costumes, sometimes quite some time back in history – this is the reason, we often fail to take these causes into consideration when viewing these negative scenes and situations, because we see the situations with a limited perspective of present physical costumes and circumstances.

(To be continued tomorrow …)

Have you noticed the connection between the mind and the body?  

Think anxious thoughts and your muscles tense up.

Worrying thoughts affect your digestion.  

Angry thoughts increase your blood pressure.  

Stress triggers headaches. 

Notice the mind-body connection and think positively for better health.  

You can't necessarily think your way to better health, but your thoughts can make a difference.

Message for the day

A pure state of mind brings tirelessness.

Thought to Ponder:   A pure state of mind means being positive in spite of the situations. When the mind is clean and pure, there is energy in the mind and so the body too. Even there is exertion in the body, the power of the mind can recharge the body. On the other hand, negative thoughts drain us of energy and enthusiasm. 

Point to Practice: Today I will keep my mind clean. I will not let any negative thought creep in. I will focus on what is positive. Even if I am exhausted physically, I will take some time off to make my mind positive, peaceful and powerful. This will help me rejuvenate and re-energize. 

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris