Daily Positive Thoughts: March 15, 2017: Barriers to Love

 

Barriers to Love

 

Whatever is in your heart that is not clean, not true, will ultimately begin to act like a wall, obstructing the natural flow of love. People who say that there is no love in their life, are being blocked by this wall. Actually there is love, but they just can't accept it. Ego is the clearest example of this. Ego limits the flow of love by placing conditions on the love you give and receive. Ego uses love to satisfy its own needs and desires. It produces a love which is deceptive, one which brings only temporary satisfaction. Ego does not allow you to experience true love or share it. If fact, ego is capable of destroying your ability to feel love altogether.

Newness At Every Step (Part 1)

Living a life of positivity and creativity makes life a beautiful journey which one loves completely and enjoys to the fullest extent. Different thoughts, words and actions full of newness and enthusiasm are the driving energy of your life. Life should not be a routine with the same type of thoughts, words and actions every day. On the other hand, life should be a journey full of happiness and variety with different types of events and not the same scenes and situations every day. Also making a lot of interactions with different types of people every day gives life a new touch of positivity and relaxation which would not be possible if we met the same people every day. So, make it a point to meet new people every day and give life a new meaning and purpose by doing different types of creative activities. Even in your job, look for different types of activities which give life a new purpose. Don’t become accustomed to a similar routine everyday which can make the job or even the house work a boring exercise. Be creative and bring newness at every step.

Also, whenever you start your day, create a few positive thoughts or affirmations in your mind. Let them be full of success and energy and a lot of determination which will keep you full of positive energy in the entire day, so that actions can be performed without getting tired. This is what joyful living is. Also, after every couple of hours in the day, stop your work for 3 minutes and check the thoughts in your mind. If they are going in the wrong direction, give them a new direction by meditating and creating a lot of powerful thoughts or at times if you feel it more comfortable, experience silence. One is an expansion of thoughts and the other is packing up. Both are spiritual methods of empowering the mind. Both have their own benefits and are opposite type of methods but both help in mind control. Try either one depending on the situation. Also, at some points of time in the day, talk to God and make Him a part of your life as you would make a close relative or friend, in the same manner.

(To be continued tomorrow …)

If you were to hang onto the word 'happy', all day, what would happen?

Apply it to your thoughts, moods & responses. Let it awaken your memories, associations, ideas & images. Allow the word to stay with you, whatever happens.

Today, give yourself permission to think: Happy, Happy, Happy, like a mantra, & see what happens!

If you see benefits, then do the same tomorrow, the next day, & the day after that! 

Message for the day

To order whilst being seated on the seat is to ensure obedience. 
Thought to Ponder: Before I expect obedience from others, I need to check if my own mind and sense organs are obedient. For this, I need to be seated on the seat of my own self-respect (of the qualities I have). Thus seated, like a king, when I order, I find that orders are obeyed.

Point to Practice: Today I will practice a point of self-respect. I will recognize and appreciate one quality in myself. I will remind myself of this quality, from time to time, throughout the day. If I find my mind wandering or my sense organs disobedient, I will give orders with the same consciousness of self-respect. Then, I will find positive results. 

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: March 14, 2017: Look Inwards

Look Inwards

 

We all have three eyes. Two for looking out and one for looking in. Why would we want to look in when everything is happening 'out there'? Because the treasure we seek is inside, not outside. What is treasure? Beauty, truth, peace, happiness. You already have what you seek. You already are stunningly beautiful. You are already peaceful and loving. How come you don't know this? Simple, you never look inwards, beyond superficial memories or recent experiences, so you never see your own riches. Take a moment to stop, look in and see. Don't rush. Don't search. Just look. And be aware.

Qualities, Virtues And Powers

Innate or basic characteristics are properties that are unchangeable. It's impossible to take the heat out of the sun or sweetness out of sugar. Heat and sweetness are part of the unchanging make-up of the sun and sugar respectively; they are the basic properties of each of them. In the same way, in spite of whatever I have become as a human individual, my deep basic characteristics are still the same ones that have always existed in me. It's my inner core of qualities that in fact inspires me to seek the ideal in whatever I do. The impulse to seek and to dream comes from my own store of innate attributes that is just waiting to be found and brought into practical activity. 

The innate qualities of the soul are those that are the most basic: Peace, Truth, Happiness, Love, Purity, Power and Bliss. They are so basic that they themselves are the foundation of all virtues and powers. They are like primary colors and virtues and powers are secondary colors. Just as orange (a secondary color) is made of red and yellow (both primary colors) and blue is made of yellow and green, virtues such as patience, tolerance, courage, generosity etc. and powers, are obtained by mixing the basic qualities e.g. 

Patience - peace, love and power
Humility – love, peace and truth
Courage - power and truth

The aim of meditation is to emerge and enhance my qualities so that my behavior becomes full of virtues and powers.

Tame your stress

When stress looks like it's getting out of control, take a moment and 'tame your stress'. How? Be present.

As soon as you start dwelling on the past or the future, release the need to control the uncontrollable & be present. Keep bringing yourself back to the present moment & let everything else fall away.

Feel the stress reduce & realize that you're OK & so is everything else. Now you're ready to get back on track! 

Message for the day

To order whilst being seated on the seat is to ensure obedience. 

Thought to Ponder: Before I expect obedience from others, I need to check if my own mind and sense organs are obedient. For this, I need to be seated on the seat of my own self-respect (of the qualities I have). Thus seated, like a king, when I order, I find that orders are obeyed.

Point to Practice: Today I will practice a point of self-respect. I will recognize and appreciate one quality in myself. I will remind myself of this quality, from time to time, throughout the day. If I find my mind wandering or my sense organs disobedient, I will give orders with the same consciousness of self-respect. Then, I will find positive results. 

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: March 13, 2017: Members of a Great Family

Members of a Great Family

 

Values are related to each other as if they were members of a great family. From peace and happiness emerges inner joy. From this state of wholeness love awakens and with is the desire to share and give.

Two of its relatives are tolerance and respect.

All values have a shared origin which unites them – the peace of spirituality.

When you lose peace you begin to lose everything.

Keeping The Watchman Of Attention Alert 

All the religions and spiritual groups place a lot of importance on the virtue of discipline.  Without discipline you do not manage to transform negative habits and you do not create a new state of awareness where the self is nourished through the experience of spirituality. Every day you eat, you brush your teeth, bathe, drink water and breathe, and all of this you do not consider a discipline; you have adopted them as something natural in order for your body to continue working. On a spiritual level you also need to nourish yourself and to have a discipline that, with practice, a time comes when it becomes natural because you incorporate it into your life. In the process of change you need to discipline yourself in order not to let old habits come to the forefront. Until you have burnt them and they have died, you should keep the watchman of attention alert in order to maintain your self-control, given that each time you use a negative habit in action, you strengthen it. When you do not use it, you allow it to die.

The path of the spiritual traveler is therefore one of waking (awareness of self as soul) and sleeping (under the illusion that we are our body), waking and sleeping. We tend to fluctuate between the two (like dawn and dusk) until we find stability in soul-consciousness. This is why it is important to awaken and stay awake, and why it's important to give our mind and intellect good spiritual food (knowledge) and exercise (meditation) every day to keep them fresh and alert. Being conscious of the soul, acting from that consciousness, the scars (habits and tendencies) left by past actions based on illusions of bodily awareness are healed. Discipline is necessary for growth and personal transformation if you want to obtain satisfying and permanent results. If not, the old habits continue to rule in your life. The evidence that our discipline in the practice of meditation is working is mental lightness and an increasing easiness in our interactions with others.

Do you try to do everything yourself?

Don't trust others to do things right?

Do everything yourself & you'll always be busy doing everything! Instead be less busy & more efficient.

Decide what to do yourself & what to delegate. Consider when to take cooperation from others, & when to invest in developing others' skills.

When possible, let people choose which tasks to take on, if not then match the person to the task. Know when to be clear about what & how, & when to let others use their creativity & initiative. 

Message for the day

To invest rightly is to increase savings.

Thought to Ponder: How we spend is more important than not spending at all. When it comes to our biggest asset, our thoughts, we need to invest well. When we have positive thoughts, they become a saving for the future too. 

Point to Practice: Today I will spend at least half an hour with something that gives me a feeling of positivity. Today I will also be careful to avoid anything that will create negative feelings in me. This will ensure that I will be investing my thoughts in the right way, without wasting them. 

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: March 12, 2017: Eternal Star

Eternal Star

There is a part of you that is perfect and pure. It is untouched by the less-than-perfect characteristics you have acquired by living in a less than perfect world. This part of you is a still and eternal star. Make time to reach it and this will bring you untold benefit.

Effort To Manipulate The Law Of Action

Human laws can be adjusted, manipulated and even ignored by some, but no one can do the same with the Law of Karma. On the physical level, there is no time interval between an action and its reaction. If I throw an object in the air, it falls back immediately with the same force. With the Law of Karma, however, there can be a delay between the action and its result or fruit. The seeds of certain actions (negative or positive) bring immediate fruit. Others can take years or even many births to bear fruit. If I eat too much ice-cream, I will see the result or karmic effect of the negative karma of greed within a space of ten-fifteen minutes in the form of a headache or after two days in the form of a cold and flu. This is an e.g. in which we realize the working of the Law of Karma, we realize clearly the cause and its effect, but on a subtle level, when we see the effects of actions, we do not realize that the cause may have actually been in a previous life. There is a total connection between the cause and the effect.

When we analyze a natural calamity such as a major earthquake that uproots buildings and trees, overturns vehicles and kills thousands of people. The physical cause may be tectonic activity associated with faults inside the earth’s surface but at the same time, we realize that such a calamity could have its roots in a process initiated by human beings a few hours, days or months ago – an e.g. being testing of nuclear weapons. On a personal level, I can say that there is nothing which happens to me for which I am not responsible. Whether I remember what I did to make it happen or not, whether I realize it or choose to ignore it, I am ultimately responsible.

Down & Out?

Sometimes when we feel down, all our thoughts of dejection and feelings of discontent block us. It's as if, in that moment, we're not open to receiving all the good that is coming to us; it just can't get through.
When this happens, start by taking a deep breath and relaxing. Allow your heart to feel more open, your mind more expansive, and allow your natural good feelings to emerge.
Now notice if anything has changed from a moment ago. Notice all the good that is coming to you, right now. 

Message for the day

To invest rightly is to increase savings. 

Thought to Ponder: How we spend is more important than not spending at all. When it comes to our biggest asset, our thoughts, we need to invest well. When we have positive thoughts, they become a saving for the future too. 

Point to Practice: Today I will spend at least half an hour with something that gives me a feeling of positivity. Today I will also be careful to avoid anything that will create negative feelings in me. This will ensure that I will be investing my thoughts in the right way, without wasting them. 

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: March 11, 2017: Natural Flexibility

Daily Positive Thoughts: March 11, 2017: Natural Flexibility

Outdoor Tree Cathedral

Natural Flexibility

With humility and love, flexibility becomes natural. When I come across someone who is not being co-operative I need to become humble and try to understand what the other person is communicating, if not through words at least through actions. When I am able to listen with love and understanding, I will not be rigid anymore but will be able to adapt to communicate and co-operate with others.

When We Change Others Change (Part 3)

While being involved in action, make it a point to remain connected with your inner centre of peace, love and bliss which is the spiritual centre or the soul. Also, feel the presence of God or the Higher Power in your life at each and every step without which we cannot succeed in our actions, especially in our relationships and interactions, where powers from both the soul and God are required. So, satisfying others with your behavior and through the energy that you share with them, will only be possible when you first carry positive energy inside yourself.

You can try and do everything possible to make people’s ideas similar to yours and make them work the way you want them to, but a single action of yours which is full of goodness can achieve that much faster than you can if you tried through other methods. Say for e.g. a person in your family constantly has a habit of disobeying you and going against your requests and he or she does not believe in being on good terms with you and will always find a reason to differ with you in opinions. You have tried for many months to come to good terms with this person, but you have not succeeded. Now, you make yourself a sweeter and more tolerant person and work on making yourself more humble. Suddenly, what you could not achieve in such a long time becomes very easy and gets done in a few days because seeing your practical change, the other person gets inspired to change him or herself much faster than by just persuading the other person constantly, to change. Remember when we change, others will change and until we do not do that, changing others will remain the most difficult thing to achieve and in fact it will be impossible. So, change yourself and set an example for others to follow.

Think for Yourself

When we hear something negative about someone, the negativity seeps in & easily influences our perception, attitude & behaviour towards that person, even when our experience of that person is not negative.
The next time you hear something negative about someone, rather than go by hearsay, keep an open mind & make up your own mind. 

Message for the day

To understand is to be understood. 

Thought to Ponder: When there is a difference of opinion, we try hard to convince the other person of our point of view. However, since they are doing the same, there is no meeting point. Our effort needs to be in trying to understand the other person first. Even if we cannot understand the logic, we need to understand the emotions behind the argument.

Point to Practice: Today I will go upto one person whom I had an argument with and tell him I understand. For this, I will first change my own thinking and see how well I can understand the other person. I will then find that, because I respect people's opinion and feeling, they too are able to understand us. 

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris