Daily Positive Thoughts: March 08, 2017: I am Love

Daily Positive Thoughts: March 08, 2017: I am Love

I am Love

We seek it here, we seek it there, we look for love everywhere! We expect it to come to us, usually through another person. All our conditioning says it is something that happens to us. The mythology of our fables, legends and modern day entertainment industries say it is something we 'fall into'. And yet...and yet real love cannot be acquired, possessed or accumulated. It cannot be known when we think it comes from outside ourselves. The ultimate paradox is we are it. We are love. Each one of us is a source of love that has forgotten that 'love is what I am'. Say it now "I am love". Doesn't feel right does it? That's because it’s been so long since we knew and experienced ourselves in this true way. And yet we all know that the deepest trust and the purest love is known and experienced only when we give it, not take it. As we give love in whatever way is appropriate, we are the ones to experience it first, on the way out. Falling in love is impossible. It is only infatuation, obsession with an external object which appears to fill a gap in ourselves. As soon as the object or person is remembered when they are not present and when they do not need to be remembered, it is simply attachment which, if sustained, will become a dependency. And attachment and dependency are not love. But you already know that...don't you?

The Seven Relationships With The Supreme

Every soul has a close relationship with the Supreme (God), but we simply forget it as we become over-involved in, attached to and distracted by our life on the physical plane and our different relationships with different physical beings during our journey of births and rebirths.   Spirituality makes us realize the need of restoring our connection with God, which has either broken or has become loose. It also makes us realize that this connection needs to be a very deep and personal one.
God plays many roles, just as a good parent, being one, but will play many roles while bringing up his or her child.   Each role consists of different spiritual characteristics and virtues of God, expressed by Him. Take a few moments to think about the main roles that God plays in our life and identify the main virtues and characteristics which He expresses e.g. in the role of Father He demonstrates the art of living to us and how to perform right karmas.  In the role of Mother He gives spiritual sustenance, in the form of virtues like peace, love and joy to us. In the role of Teacher, He showers us with true knowledge of the spirit or the soul. These are just a few examples. We suggest you do your own thinking about seven different roles that God plays: Father, Mother, Teacher, Guide (or Guru), Companion (or Beloved), Friend, Child and how he plays them. Once you have done this inner thinking exercise, experience each of these seven roles on each of the seven different days of the week, one role per day.   Feel Him being in that role for you and then note what you feel exactly and how you relate to Him.   Also identify the spiritual characteristics and virtues that it brings out from within you.

Refocus on what's important. 

We're not going to agree on everything so there's going to be disagreements.

. 

And it's so easy to rush from a disagreement to an argument. But arguments rarely accomplish anything. 

In fact, put energy into an argument and it takes more energy to reconstruct that relationship.

The next time you find yourself rushing into an argument, take a deep breath, slow down and refocus on what's important. 

Get your point across clearly and calmly, and work towards an agreement on what you both want to achieve and gain.

Breathe deeply and you'll improve your relationships!

Message for the day

Cooperation creates space for learning and growth.

Expression: The one who cooperates and inspires cooperation is able to create a conducive environment for the progress of all. To inspire cooperation means to be able to relate to the positivity in those around. Relating to the positive aspect naturally inspires others to use their specialities for the success of the task. Their good wishes for the task too emerge very naturally. 

Experience: Since I am able to relate to others' positivity, I find myself enriched with it. I subconsciously imbibe what I perceive. I get a chance and a space to learn and progress. The journey towards success in itself is a joyful experience and there is harmony in working with others. Thus I find success too easy to achieve as there is the contribution of each one's speciality for the task. 

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: March 07, 2017: New Response

Movie: Star Wars: Yoda was a legendary Jedi Master and stronger than most in his connection with the Force. Small in size but wise and powerful, he trained Jedi for over 800 years.

New Response

If you can see and accept that you create your own stress according to how you are responding, you will then see that there is something you need to unlearn as well as learn. The old response needs to be unlearned, and a new response needs to be learned.

Providing Emotional Support To Your Loved Ones

What do we do when friends and loved ones come to us for, and expect emotional support from us? Spirituality teaches us the right technique of providing emotional support – the technique of detached involvement, which is the technique of not being overawed, of not being affected ourselves by the emotions of others.  If a friend, colleague or any loved one is upset and we also get upset (because we love them – that’s what we normally say), we cannot provide them the necessary support or the assistance to see why they are reacting emotionally and how they might change the nature of their emotions by themselves.  True love for someone would mean that I am able to provide them that. While being concerned is fine, but by becoming upset, seeing them upset simply aggravates the situation and adds fuel to their fire.

By remaining detached, we can be more effective in our ability to care, listen and help them think clearly about the situation, they find themselves in.   Only if we are stable, and that can happen only when we are detached, will we be able to provide them stability.  We can encourage and empower them to change their negative reaction to a more positive response, and thereby generate a healthier energy.   If we become over-involved in someone else's problems, there is a risk that our own judgment will be affected negatively.  This is why making decisions and choices under the influence of your own and others' emotions is normally ineffective.

To become an embodiment of solutions is to be able to stay in constant peace. 

Situations do bring a lot of challenges for us, but where there is fear or worry while facing them, there cannot be peace. As long as we continue looking at the problem instead of searching for solutions we cannot remain in peace. Let us think of something that we consider as a problem, something about which we are thinking a lot. Now let us see if we can find a solution for it. If we feel we cannot, it is better to leave thinking about it rather than to worry about it. When we keep the mind free in this way, we will get the solutions automatically. 

Message for the day

The one who is virtuous is loved by all. 

Expression: The one who doesn't let go of his commitment to his values is the one who is loved by all. Such a person is not concerned whether the other person is committed to his own values or not. He continues to recognize and express his values in all words and actions. Hence the expression of his values is not dependent on others or situations and he continues to win the love of all. 

Experience: When I am committed to my own values, I enjoy using them in whatever I do. I am free from expectations - from situations and from people. I am able to accept people as they are and also appreciate them for their own value system. So I never expect people to change according to my expectations and I continue to win the love of all. 

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: March 06, 2017: Make Time

Daily Positive Thoughts: March 06, 2017: Make Time

Artist: Shiloh Sophia

Make Time

Make time to create the moments you need for silence. To create a time of silence takes just a second. A second is a drop of time ... a drop of time through which I step to renew myself deep inside. So I stop, for a second, and say to myself, "Now I shall go inside." In the space of a second, I pass beyond all the muddle and find myself in my original state of peace.

The Role Play Of Thoughts In Relationships (Part 3)

Parent-child relationships are the foundation of our complete life. The earliest habits that children acquire in their lives are from their parents. Very often parents try and impose positive habits on their children. A very common trend that we see nowadays where parents will scold their child for common negative actions like getting angry, for lying to them, for watching inappropriate stuff on different mediums of technology like television and the internet or for getting involved in relationships with the opposite gender at a young age. Very commonly parents are not satisfied with the change brought about by children by following the rules that they have set for them, causing parent-child relationships to get strained. Why is it that in spite of children knowing that parents are concerned for them, do not pay heed to their instructions and continue with the negative habits? A more powerful medium than words, which reaches children on a physical level, is the personality radiation of the parents which works on children and reaches them faster than and much before the words do. Parents dictate the change but don’t be the change i.e. similar habits of lust, anger, ego, greed, etc. exist inside them which keep travelling to the children on a subtle energy level and impacting (influencing) their minds negatively much sooner than positive words in the form of instructions, leaving the words as good as ineffective.

Also considering another common relationship that children have, the one with their school teachers; many investigations confirm that teachers' expectations, whether negative or positive, form one of the most influential factors in the academic performance of their students. If teachers expect good results from their students and have complete faith and confidence that they will succeed, their performance will be much closer to their real capacity than if they are expecting poor results. Very often in schools, the teachers’ words regarding the performance of the children are not a direct reflection of their thoughts i.e. words are full of faith and hope in the students’ success but thoughts are lacking in optimism with regards to the same. Negative thoughts of fear of probable failure of the children, in the minds of teachers, in spite of positive words of encouragement, negatively impact impressionable minds of children leading to their poor show in school exams.

Bless & be blessed.

Even though we may forget to notice, we are all blessed in life. 

And we also have blessings to give. 

When we have good feelings towards others, encourage & empower them, we bless. 

And when we do, the blessings return a thousand-fold. 

Message for the day

To be wise is to enjoy the beauty of life. 

Expression: Wisdom gives the understanding that life does not function haphazardly. It teaches that everything that happens in this theater of life has deep meaning and significance. Wisdom also brings the understanding that what is reaped today is a result of what was sown yesterday. So whatever actions are done now are filled with positivity and beauty - for, there is always the desire to reap better fruits. 

Experience: When I have the true understanding I find myself satisfied and content with everything that is happening in my life. Yet there is the desire and the urge to go on being creative and using my resources for the benefit of all. I go on planting beautiful seeds of positivity and power. So I continue to enjoy the fruits of the seeds I plant. I never stop with obstacles but move forward with confidence. 

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: March 05, 2017: Greater Success in Co-operation

Daily Positive Thoughts: March 05, 2017: Greater Success in Co-operation

Greater Success in Co-operation

If you think you can do something alone, either because you don’t trust others to do it or because you feel you are the most qualified…
* you will always be busy doing everything
* you will be unhappy with others because they are not doing what you want
* you will be dissatisfied
It is more effective to invest your time in training and developing others.  There is greater success in cooperation.

The Role Play Of Thoughts In Relationships (Part 2)

Husband-wife relationships, sometimes, are like castles of sand, extremely pleasing to the eye, but based on weak foundations and susceptible to destruction when challenged by negative tides of clash of opinions, personalities or lifestyles. In such relationships, the castles look good from outside because of energies like acceptance, trust, understanding and letting go existing on the surface i.e. these energies are displayed by both partners to each other in the form of words, gestures and actions but these castles can easily collapse because the foundations of these castles i.e. thoughts and feelings carried by the partners in their minds are filled with expectations, rejection, mistrust, misunderstandings, possessiveness and suspicion at times along with the positive emotions which are displayed in actions. Also both partners feel they have made their respective positive contributions in the relationship and so the same is expected from the other side, which is not fulfilled at times, further increasing the problems in the relationship. At the same time both partners are oblivious (not aware) of the negative emotional, much more powerful forces that exist inside them, which go against the positive contribution and are silently working on the castle of the relationship from below, ready to bring it down anytime.

Another e.g. - in corporate circles, apart from the external objective of profit making and generation of revenue and jobs, an important internal objective of any good corporate organization is creating a peace, love and happiness filled as well as obstacle free atmosphere in the company, which will be conducive (helpful) to the external objective. One spiritual principle states that the leader or CEO or Managing Director of the organization is like a seed of the organization, whose every thought reaches out to and influences every person of the organization as well as the organization as a whole. A second spiritual principle states that the internal ruling and controlling power of a leader of an organization is directly proportional to the handling (of the people of the organization) power of the leader. If in the inner confines (boundaries) of the leader’s mind, obstacles of waste and negative thoughts exist i.e. the inner atmosphere of the leader’s mind is not full of peace, love and joy, then as per the first spiritual principle, this gets transmitted to the people under the leader and as per the second spiritual principle, such a leader who is lacking in mind ruling power and mind controlling power is automatically lacking in handling power of people under him. Such a leader, due to the application of both these principles, is ineffective in creating a positive environment in the organization.  

(To be continued tomorrow …)

When things go wrong or not as planned, think 'maybe'!

Maybe it's not meant to happen now. Maybe there's something better to come. Maybe there's a benefit or something to learn here. Maybe I could have done things differently.

Think 'maybe' and you're not caught up in disappointment or labelling things as good or bad. 

Instead you're able to maintain your peace of mind, readjust, improvise and look at alternatives.

Message for the day

To change means to experience progress. 

Expression: Whenever there is a desire to bring about a change, there is also a simultaneous intense feeling to find a change instantly - and fully. Yet this does not always happen. However, true change is that in which there is at least a little change. When there is constant effort put in to be better and to do better, then naturally the best results are visible, even if there is not perfection seen overnight. 

Experience: When I bring about a change constantly, in whatever little way I can, I am able to experience constant progress. I do not have great expectations, but will be satisfied with the little changes that I make and will have the confidence to go on putting in effort. Even with the little results that I attain I will be able to take encouragement constantly. I am thus able to move on towards perfection. 

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: March 04, 2017: Radiate Happiness

Radiate Happiness

Have you ever noticed that happiness is not a dependency, it is a decision? You don't actually need anything to be happy. It's not something that comes from outside, it comes from inside, and when you radiate a happy energy you'll be amazed what it attracts into your life. Don't worry, be happy...sound familiar? Decide now, be happy, and watch magic begin to enter your life.

The Role Play Of Thoughts In Relationships (Part 1)

Relationships can be defined on the surface as a state in which two or more people are connected, the state of being related or interrelated or if the definition is expanded, the way in which two people, talk to, regard and behave towards each other, and deal with each other. Spirituality sees relationships from a deeper perspective – relationships are not only what we do or say to each other, but are built on the basis of what we think about each other. So relationships, when seen from a spiritual view point, are an exchange of energy at the level of thoughts and feelings, and then words and actions thereafter.

Relationships are one of the most important wealth of our lives and one of the most important sources of our happiness. In order to make them successful i.e. to create the wealth of positive relationships and to experience joy through them continuously, it is important to base them on the right belief systems. One major incorrect belief that we carry inside ourselves with regards to our relationships is that relationships are all about behaving and talking in the right manner, because we think people see, know and judge only what we speak and do, they do not sense what we think, and so we don’t give enough significance to our thoughts. But thoughts are more in number and being a more powerful and subtle energy, travel faster than words. When we interact with someone let us take care that along with the right action our thoughts are also right. If we have negative thoughts containing any type of impurity of hatred, greed, jealousy, resentment, selfishness, ego, etc. and we perform pure actions filled with the energy of virtues, neither will we be internally content nor will we be able to satisfy the other person. In all our relationships, it is the intention, the packets of thought energy or vibrations that we transmit, which matter more than the action. Giving significance to the inner intentions while coming into relationships is true transparency in relationships. Performing right actions packaged with thoughts which are coloured with negative emotions, will only transmit pain to the other on a subtle level, even though we did it for their happiness.

We shall further highlight the significance of thought vibrations in relationships using four examples in the next two days’ messages.

Be an observer.

Often we're either on autopilot & don't feel as much, or we're too absorbed with what's happening in our life. 

So pay attention to being fully engaged with life, without becoming too absorbed. How? Be an observer.

You can observe something random in the world around you, the shapes of the clouds or a friend's smile. Or observe your response to strangers or your reaction when you look in the mirror.

Capture your observations in a scrapbook, digitally or in your mind.

Observe & very soon, you'll be seeing, feeling & experiencing more!

Message for the day

Words that do not give courage are waste. 

Expression:  When someone is facing a problem, if the words are not those that give courage to the one facing the problem, then such words are wasted. There would be no use of speaking such words. In fact, to speak such words is to discourage the other person further. So when attention is paid to speak only those words that are for the benefit of all there is a positive and a powerful impact on others.

Experience: Even when I keep attention on a simple thing like speaking only positive words, or words that bring benefit to others, I find myself having only powerful thoughts and words. I am neither discouraged by others' behaviour nor will I ever discourage others. I continue to have faith in others and allow this faith to colour my words and actions. So I find that there is benefit in whatever I speak. 

In Spiritual Service,

Brahma Kumaris