Daily Positive Thoughts: December 17, 2016: Peace is simplicity. Simplicity is beauty

Daily Positive Thoughts: December 17, 2016: Peace is simplicity. Simplicity is beauty

Peace is simplicity. Simplicity is beauty.

Choose a day as your day of simplicity.

Speak little, and listen with attention. Do something incognito and nice for a person you are close to. Eat simple and natural food.

Create time periods for not doing anything - just walk, look around, live the moment. Have your mind open to a more profound and silent sensitivity. Appreciate each scene and each person as they are.

Viewing Situations Positively (Part 3)

Feelings of helplessness when faced with difficult situations are something that many people in the world experience. It’s as if life comes to a standstill and you don’t know where to look for help and whom to call out to. Is it so difficult to face situations? Doesn’t God know what we are going through and can’t he be made a part of the situation to cross it. Some say God is a spectator to our problems and he is too far away to hear our voice but is it so? God waits for His help to be taken because you are His spiritual child and you have a right to take His help. Also, God is not very happy if we say that He is insensitive to our troubles. Some people even go the extent of sometimes incorrectly saying that all the happiness and the sorrow in our lives is given by God, which is not true. But, at the same time to get us out of the sorrow is something that even God is always eager to do, but we need to take His help by remaining strong and stable in the negative situation. It is said that one step of courage taken by us brings thousand steps of help from God, who is our Father and taking His help is the first thing that should come in our mind when we are in trouble and not the last as sometimes it happens. We get so over-involved in situations and in thinking how to solve it that we forget that there is someone sitting out there who can be called down by the power of thought and ordered to help us as we would do with our physical father, if we needed his help.

Some people assume that God should help on His own, but there are two pre-conditions to receiving His help – one is courage and the other is remembering Him, which is a way of giving Him respect, who is the Highest of Highest. Remember God is the most humble being that exists. But He will help us when we remember Him much more than if we are disconnected from Him. Taking His help makes it easy for you to face the situation at hand and hence view situations positively.

I need to recognize that like musical notes we are all different. 

Only when I am able to harmonize with others can i create a beautiful tune. 

When I work with other people, I learn to understand them. In the process, I will also learn more about myself and how to use my strengths to support others.

Message for the day

Creating quality thoughts brings happiness and lightness. 

Expression: When there is quality thinking, thoughts are not many, but each thought is special. Quality thoughts are reflected in quality words and quality actions. They reduce tiredness and carelessness as thoughts are fewer in quantity. 

Experience: When I have good quality thoughts, I experience sweetness, happiness and self-respect. I am able to recognize my own greatness and move forward with lightness under all circumstances.

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: December 16, 2016: Ignorance makes you believe that life happens haphazardly

Daily Positive Thoughts: December 16, 2016: Ignorance makes you believe that life happens haphazardly

Ignorance makes you believe that life happens haphazardly

Wisdom teaches you that everything that happens in this theatre of life has profound significance.

What you see today is not the fruit of chance but a fruit from a seed planted in the past.

Plant seeds of peace now and you will create a life of peace in the future.

Viewing Situations Positively (Part 2)

Situations arise in our lives regularly and even suddenly at times. At those times we are not prepared for them and even the best of people who are generally very positive will at times become disturbed when they look at them. There are people who have had heart attacks or have died of shock when someone close to them died or when suddenly their business went down or when their favorite sports team lost a game or when they were told about a serious illness which they were suffering from. So, life can be demanding at times because we are not prepared for situations and at the same time we are not mentally strong enough to face them. So this makes it difficult for us to adjust to the sudden changes in our life and also we are generally attached to a perfect life in which no difficult situations exist. There are people who fear situations not so much because of the actual situation itself but more because of the fact that the situation exists in their life. This is called attachment to a particular lifestyle which we are used to, where everything goes smoothly and a little change in that can disturb us mentally.

Bringing spirituality in our lives is an important way of making our lives firstly free for the fear of situations existing and at the same time becoming aware of why situations arise in our lives and accept them easily and lastly what we can do on a physical and non-physical level i.e. at the level of our words and actions which are physical and at the level of our thoughts which are non-physical to reduce situations in our lives.  Also, the power to face situations fearlessly increases inside us when we have the hand of God to hold on to and when we have a very deep relationship with Him based on a spiritual understanding of who He is actually and how we can connect with Him. The connection becomes easy by experiencing ourselves as a soul or a being of spiritual light which is different from the physical costume we wear which we commonly call the human body.

(To be continued tomorrow …)

If I am not getting what I want or need, I may need to adopt a different approach. 

Instead of focusing on my own desires, I need to understand that perhaps I'm not getting what I want for a reason - perhaps I'm not ready for it yet. 

If I concentrate instead on what I have to give to others, I will find that what I need comes to me naturally.

Message for the day

To be free from the influence of the past is to have the ability to fly forward. 

Expression: There are so many things of the past that keep coming up in the mind again and again. Instead of being like birds holding on to the branches of the past; the one who looks at the clear sky gets the inspiration to move forward. To look at the clear sky means to look at the present moment and make the best use of it. 

Experience: The ability to free myself from the negative influences of the past, enables me to have a vision of equality. I will then not be judging others on what my past experiences with them are. I also find myself experiencing the benefit of each and every moment. So I experience constant progress. 

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: December 15, 2016: Benefitting others

Daily Positive Thoughts: December 15, 2016: Benefitting others

USA President Jimmy Carter, Egyptian President Anwar el-Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin after the Camp David Accords were negotiated on September 17, 1978. Sadat and Begin were jointly awarded the 1978 Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts.

Benefitting others

If someone is doing something wrong, instead of risking your peace by raising complaints in your mind, ask yourself

"What can I do to benefit that person?"

Viewing Situations Positively (Part 1)

If you look at the world around you and judge people based on how they respond to different situations, you will realize and know that there are some people who will look at situations from a negative view point very easily. A view point literally means – viewing from a point a particular scene in your life. Obviously the point of view as we say is different for each person i.e. the point from where someone views a particular scene is different for each person. It’s like a painting on a wall. I can see the same painting by standing at different points and I will see the same painting differently. That is what we mean by perception or the angle of viewing or the point of view. Sometimes one painting of life or scene in life will be seen by ten different people from ten different positions of the mind and they will see it differently or in other words they will react differently. And because we look from different viewpoints or have different perceptions, life for some is like a joyride and for some it can be a roller coaster ride i.e. a ride with ups and downs where you are shaken up and down very often or in other words become unstable emotionally.

When looking at situations, choose the most positive mind position to look at them from. That is the secret key to having a mind space which you own, in which the experience of virtues like happiness, contentment and power exist and express themselves freely. How to choose the best mental position to look at a scene of life or in other words how to have the most positive perception for a situation? This depends on your personality, which the good news is, can be changed. Meditation is the most beautiful technique of connecting yourself internally using the power of visualization to the sweet personality of God and absorbing His virtues. This brings the virtues inside your mind space in the form of good quality thoughts and on the basis of that creating positive perceptions or positive view points when looking at situations.

(To be continued tomorrow …)

Inner cheer is destroyed by a conscience which bites.

Learn to do everything in a worthwhile way. It's an art which teaches you to appreciate your inner beauty (It makes you think twice about ruining it, too)

Don't be hard on yourself when making a mistake. Its much more effective to be handles with love. Telling the self off is a terrible habit, it subtly shapes a nature of sorrow.

Finish the business of thinking of rubbish and instead take delight in all that you've found

Message for the day

The one who has faith is always victorious

Expression: The one who has faith, has total faith in the self and in the progress of the self. The one who has faith is always successful because he gives his best in everything he does. He is never deterred by obstacles but progresses constantly. 

Experience: When I have complete faith, I am able to experience lightness even when I am faced with my weaknesses, because I have the faith that I am progressing. I am able to learn and improve from everything that happens. 

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: December 14, 2016: Your attitude creates the atmosphere

Daily Positive Thoughts: December 14, 2016: Your attitude creates the atmosphere

 

Your attitude creates the atmosphere

Your attitude is the result of the way you think and feel.

You communicate your attitude constantly with those around you.

Create a positive attitude, filled with good feelings, and even just your presence will do wonders in situations.

The Inner Awakening Wave

Our beliefs either put us to sleep or cause us to remain awake. Even if are awake on a physical level, when we are asleep internally, without even realizing most of the time; we don't see others, situations and the world as a whole in their true light. We see, perceive and interpret reality incorrectly, which causes us pain. We perceive any sort of pain on the mental or emotional level to be normal and think that others and circumstances are responsible for the pain. All this, because of the incorrect beliefs that we carry inside us, the most important one being that we are physical bodies and not spiritual energies or souls. Only when the subtle pain becomes intolerable, do we look for a remedy for the same, or think we have to do something about it. Most of us go through life asleep and hence in pain. An inner awakening is one in which we realize the incorrect beliefs and are not scared to challenge them. Once we do that, our pain starts receding. We then very naturally look to wake up others, so that they are relieved from their pain.

The present time in the history of humanity is such that while the sleep of some souls is getting more and more sound and pain increases in the world, on the other hand, an inner awakening wave is taking many souls in its tide as more and more souls are waking up from their deep slumber and waking up others. This is the time when late night and early morning exist side by side. It is the same time, but late night for most and early morning, a time of getting up, for a few. This is happening due to a consciousness shift or shifting of beliefs inside many through spiritual knowledge. Such souls, whose number keeps increasing everyday, are experiencing more and more happiness in their lives. Both these groups of souls have similar circumstances and people in their life but the shifting or correction of beliefs inside the second group is causing souls in the group to remain stable amidst these circumstances, free from spiritual pain, depending on how much the shift is.

No Regrets

We've all had days when we’ve said things in the heat of the moment that we regret later.  But once words escape our mouth, we can't rewind or take back what we've said. 

Next time you're heating up and you find yourself speaking too much, too fast, try to take a deep breath and slow down.

Consider the full impact of your words and phrase them carefully and kindly. You'll thank yourself for it.

Message for the day

To be a self-sovereign is to be in control.

Expression: The one who is a self-sovereign never finds difficulty in being in control. He doesn't have to go out of control and then bring himself back in control. The moment the order is given to the self, every thought, word and action is immediately in order.

Experience: To be a self-sovereign means to be aware of my own specialities and work with them. When I am a self-sovereign I experience myself to be free. This is because nothing binds me but I am able to win over my weaknesses too. Thus I find myself to be in total happiness in all situations. 

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: December 13, 2016: Response Able

Response Able

We now know that the true meaning of responsibility is response able or ability to respond. Whatever we may think, say, do, or feel - these are our responses for which we, and no one else, are responsible. This is easy to see but hard to live, for we have been taught to believe and think the opposite. So we don't consciously choose our response, we react instead, and then we blame others for our reaction. No wonder we feel imprisoned by others and our circumstances. The enlightened, on the other hand, have broken the spell, they see the illusion. They take full responsibility for their response abilities and as a consequence, they always hold their own destiny in their own hands. They are free spirits.

The Search For Success Through Desire Fulfillment

The false intention and assumption behind greed, in the form of a thought and feeling, is - the more I have, the more I am. It is a combination of trying to add to the value of the self through material possessions, position, role, talent or achievements and then becoming attached to these as a form of identity, finally leading to personal collapse. To try to add to the sense of self in this way has the effect of diverting oneself from the real self, which is why, in many cases, a person who has everything material is left with the feeling of being empty, disorientated and even fearful.

We cannot accumulate, or rely on the external, to create a sense of personal value.

People often try to fill the void of personal inadequacy or emptiness through greed, but this method goes against natural, universal laws. All that I am, all that I can be, all that will make me truly happy must begin from inside the self. We have to start from the inside out, not the other way round, otherwise we create desires that have no end, like the ten-headed Ravana - every time Ram cut off one of his heads, another grew in its place. Ravana did not die until Ram aimed for his heart. Desires are created from wanting one thing or another, believing that we will find achievement when those desires are fulfilled. This pattern of behavior keeps deceiving us and the proof of this is seen in the state of discontentment and emptiness a lot of people find themselves in today.

Why do you go to work - for the pay or to play? 

Money takes the L out of PLAY and we forget that life is just a game. The game is just an exchange and interplay of energies, a divine dance. You give the energy of your head and hands, and you receive money in return. Misery comes when you live only to receive. This is how we kill the fun in life. Every scene in our life is a game requiring certain skills and abilities to play it well. When you do, and you taste success at playing, you’re having fun again. Put the L back in PAY, and watch work transform itself into a game, a dance. Go to play, not for the pay. Pay is just a bonus!

Message for the day

Greatness lies in humility.

Expression: The one who is humble is always willing to learn - from others and situations. So whatever happens, a humble person never reacts to the situations, but acts positively whilst being in a stage of self-respect. So there is greatness visible in the one who is humble.

Experience: Humility brings an experience of being full and complete. So naturally I am available for service, and have always the thought of bringing benefit to as many as possible. Humility also gives an experience of being a master, because no situation or person binds me, but I am able to experience freedom. 

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: December 12, 2016: Drama of Life

Daily Positive Thoughts: December 12, 2016: Drama of Life

Scene from “Gazab Teri Ada”, a tribute to World War I,

 performed by the National School of Drama Repertory Company.

Drama of Life

Every passing moment is like a passing act in a play. Each of us are actors playing out parts very well. An actor is never focused on another actor’s part, continually criticizing it. He just gets on with his own part, playing it as best he can. This Drama of Life is eternal, predestined and accurate. Whatever anybody else says and does is their role, not mine. My task is to play my part right.

Right thoughts restore rightness to the whole play. Practice detaching yourself from your role and experiencing the truth, behind the role and you will find yourself loving every instant of your role and the Drama, too.

Increasing The Power Of Discrimination To Improve Actions

Many people feel internally and complain that their intellect is not as clear as they would like. One of the aims of meditation and spiritual knowledge is to make the intellect strong, clear and clean, as a result of which there is an increase in the power of discrimination. An increase in this power helps us maintain a sense of what is right and wrong while performing actions and implement that awareness. 

Meditation brings about self-realizations whereby you realize what is happening inside you. Sometimes, while observing someone, we use the phrase: He/she doesn't know what he/she is doing, referring to someone who is acting in an incorrect way. If we are to act in an appropriate way, we need to be aware and be awake to the consequences (results) of our actions. The voice of the conscience brings with it that state of awareness, awakening, realizing and discrimination. This is because, in meditation you feel quiet and you focus your thoughts inwards. In that state, the sound of the voice of the conscience is perceived and heard. It is a voice that is not affected by material worries or a preoccupation about one's image and public appearance.During meditation, you are completely focused on the present moment of spiritual empowerment and not distracted by: karmas which are necessary but unnecessary to be thought of that time, noise, unrelated ideas of the past and the future, mental chatter, etc., basically everything that separates you from your true spiritual self. In this way you can listen to yourself within and as a result ensure to the maximum extent that your karmas are appropriate and accurate.

Focus on Positivity

When I notice a weakness or mistake in someone, instead of drawing attention to it by speaking to others, I need to make a special effort to focus on something positive in that person.

When i think about this person's good qualities, my love for them will grow.

When I speak about the weaknesses of others, it spreads from one person to the next.

Instead of speaking, I have to merge it into love. This then sends blessings to others, which helps them to improve.

Message for the day

To be ever ready means to guarantee success.

Expression: The ones who are ever ready are active and so when a task comes up, they quickly understand it and attain success. They do not waste time and energy thinking too much about it. They recognize the importance of the task and involve fully in it and attain success.

Experience: When I am ever ready I am able to be easy. Because I am easy, all tasks seem easy for me and effort put in for the success of the task also becomes easy. So I don't have to do a lot of effort but give my best. Thus I experience success every moment in all situations. 

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris