Daily Positive Thoughts: July 02, 2017: Detached Observer

 

Detached Observer

It is far better to observe than to absorb every word, feeling and attitude, to get over-involved, or react too much. Observing gives us the patience and clarity to think act appropriately. Observing creates an inner focus that allows us to see reality.

8 Steps On The Road To Success (Part 2)

Just for a minute stop what you are thinking and ask yourself is a goal or an achievement so significant that you do not mind losing some of the important relationships of your life. Also, what use is an achieved mission if in the process I suffer sleep disorders or my digestive system is weakened or I suffer from high blood pressure or diabetes? Also, I may even suffer from mental illnesses like depression or sometimes even end up attempting suicide. The same purpose of life can be achieved without losing mental peace, even if the achievement takes place at a date later than the one intended.

So, the first step on the road to success is revising your purpose to one that can be achieved at a slower speed than the speed we might see others working at. Of course, it’s needless to say that the wrong energy with which we are working that is giving us hurry and worry sickness is nothing but competition. Competition is not at all an un-required energy in mainstream society but when competition is accompanied by or mixed with comparisons, it becomes negative or self-harming. So compete, competition is healthy but do not compare, comparisons are unhealthy.  Also, ensure that while moving towards the destination of success it is important to set smaller goals to be achieved instead of targeting directly at the bigger cause. This is important because this keeps us extremely light in our journey and keeps us on the road to success and does not let us become tired when the going gets difficult at times. This is a way of unburdening oneself while travelling on the road to success which can be long at times. Another important feature of a relaxed journey to success is satisfying people who are a part of the journey and not developing cold relations with them. Very often, people are so obsessed with work or professional targets that a 12 hour day at the workplace is a common practice with busy professionals with no time for their family members. This causes distancing and differences between them and also very often children and husbands or wives are affected negatively by this and remaining dissatisfied.

(To be continued tomorrow …)

State of Inwardness

When we are living from our inner self, it means that we are focusing our attention on the internal and when we observe the external world around us, we do not get lost, threatened or frightened by the events. We remain stable and experience the feeling of security and tranquility. 

The biggest obstacle to Inwardness is living in our senses - organs of sight, hearing and eating. We lose sight of our

inner being. We look at things with feelings of desire, greed, anger, attachment or arrogance. We hear indecent or degrading talk. We utter harsh words or get addicted to the pleasures of the palate. 

Living in the outward is living far away from the state of inwardness, the consciousness that brings us serenity, happiness and peace.

Message for the day

Let there be a positive record of always talking with regard. 

Expression: When I have regard for others, there are good wishes expressed through my words. Such words are totally free from the slightest bit of negativity and bring a very positive result. When words are positive, they are few but essence-full. So they have a lot of impact on others. 

Experience: When I have regard for others, I will be able to keep myself free from negative and waste words. So I'll naturally find every word of mine being used in a positive and powerful way. So I find only accumulation and no waste through my words. My energy is saved and others too would have only good wishes for me. 

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: July 01, 2017: New Perspective

Daily Positive Thoughts: July 01, 2017:  New Perspective

New Perspective

It is easy to create new things, change places or do something different. To keep that sense of newness that creates enthusiasm is more difficult. The secret of newness in life is not to do new things constantly, but to see everything you do with new eyes, new insights and a new perspective.

8 Steps On The Road To Success (Part 1)

We all live a life which is filled with different actions which we perform from the morning to the night. Every action either in the personal, professional, social or financial sphere is filled with the energy of an intention or a pure desire that I have to achieve what I aspire or aim for. But things go wrong when the ambition starts becoming  an obsession and it starts affecting our relationships, health and mind sometimes individually and sometimes all together. With some people, the desire to succeed is so immense and so obsessive that it tends to influence their thoughts excessively. They lose interest in performing any action which takes them away from this aim.

They say success for some comes at a price – a broken soul, a stressful mind, an unhealthy body and harmed relationships. For some, life is like a continuous challenge to be overcome. Challenges are good; they bring out the inner powers and help in tapping the hidden potential inside you. But at the same time, a life which eats, sleeps and breathes challenges and goals is the wrong road to success. A main cause of professional burn out at a young age is an obsession to achieve and dream big. This is even causing a lot of people to become severely depressive, unenthusiastic and disinterested after a certain period of time in their careers and family lives. Many people are taking to meditation and relaxation techniques because they lost the balance at some time in their lives. They left the right road to success with the destination of success remaining away from them instead of coming towards them.

In the next two days’ messages, we shall explain 8 different steps one needs to take on an emotional level so that success is achieved. At the same time it is a success without any of the side effects in the form of love lost in relationships and physical and mental illnesses.

STOP!

An inner power needed to make accurate decisions is the power to tolerate. Tolerance is not about having to put up with or endure. 

It's about respect for difference. It is about being able to appreciate diversity, the beauty in that diversity and difference. We
need confidence to allow others to do what they are doing. Rigidity is a sign of lack of self-confidence and self-respect. It is better to have peace with someone than to have 100 percent perfection and tension. The quality of interaction comes from our ability to stop (that is not to be affected or influenced by what the other is doing).

When I learn to stop, then I become more perceptive of the situation and am able to do make the right decision.

Message for the day

The power of stability enables to cross over all obstacles. 

Expression: The one who is stable is not influenced by one's own old habits and tendencies to react, but is able to think and act properly under all circumstances. The power of stability brings forth the best decisions in the most difficult times, brings solutions and helps in lessening the impact of the obstacle itself. 

Experience: When I am stable on the seat of a master, I am able to be free from the influence of my own old habits, those that are of weakness. Instead I am able to transform old habits into new ones, making them into those of power. Learning to be stable in the most difficult situations, enables me to cross over all obstacles very easily. 

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: June 30, 2017: Great Expectations

 

Great Expectations

The root of all needs and expectations is an unfulfilled spiritual desire. Satisfy your spiritual desires through the practice of meditation and you'll be able to interact successfully with anyone. No longer needy, you will enter into relationships simply to share and enjoy. There'll be no strings attached in the way you give of yourself; your love will be unconditional.

Being A Good Transformation Agent (Part 2)

If you go inside yourself and observe, with sincerity, your feelings towards someone that you consider unbearable or intolerable, you will see that your perception (way of looking at them), your expectations and your bad feelings make you feel that the other isunbearable or intolerable. You have allowed the other to influence you in the creation of your bad feelings. You have lost compassion (kindness) and the capacity to accept and understand the other.

Being a good transformation (change) agent requires having full control over your inner world. If you are the victim of your rapidly moving mind, your bad feelings, your aggressive emotional states and of your not-very-healthy habits, you will easily feel yourself to be the victim of others, of circumstances, of time and of society. In relationships, the key is in living with your consciousness awake and not to do anything that your conscience does not agree with. In doing so, you don't have to fear the opinion of others. You don't have to feel insecure or doubt yourself. If not, we will continue to act against our own consciousness and we will feel ourselves to be victims. To avoid pain or the unhappiness that arises automatically when we act against our own consciousness, we look for guilt excuses: Because of... I haven't acted as I should. We blame or we make excuses. That way we suppress the voice of our consciousness until the suffering and unhappiness is such that our conscience scolds us, which increases our unhappiness even more. A good transformation agent will always obey the voice of the inner conscience. By remaining in tune with our conscience and creating right thoughts, words and actions, it becomes easier for us to move from victim consciousness to transformer consciousness (one who brings about change).

Want to make something happen? 

Well, an intention is a start, but it's not enough.  What is required is determination - from start to finish!

To keep your determination going, regularly revise and reaffirm your commitment.  

Then revive and reinforce determination, with determination.  Then you'll equip yourself with the enthusiasm and power to make your intentions happen.

Message for the day

The biggest treasure of all is the treasure of experience. 

Expression: The one who has the treasure of experience is able to bring benefit to others. He is clear in thinking and accurate in judgement. So he is naturally able to give directions or corrections based on his own experiences and is also successful in it. Also there is equality in what he talks and does. 

Experience: To be an embodiment of experience means to learn from everything that happens. So when I am able to become an embodiment of experience, I am able to feel mastery over every situation that comes my way. The power of my experience enables me to move lightly through all situations. 

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: June 29, 2017: A Free Mind

A Free Mind

A free mind is a mind that is open to everything and attached to nothing. Most people spend much of their time looking for reasons to be offended. An open mind is never offended because it is free of any attachments.

It is never the self that is offended but always the illusion that the self has of itself that is affected by insult! If you can really understand this, deeply grasp it's truth, live it each day, then pain will be no more.

Next time you 'feel' offended look closely within yourself at yourself and ask yourself what was offended? If you remain aware you will see that it was only an image of yourself which you had become attached to, and that image did not resonate with the image contained in the insult. If you weren't attached, if you didn't identify with the wrong image of yourself then there would be no offence taken. You would then remain free and therefore happy.

Being A Good Transformation Agent (Part 1)

Often, we feel ourselves to be victims of different factors that seem to direct the course of our life without us being able to control them. The world does not seem to dance to our music and our will, and we feel ourselves to be victims because things do not work out or are not as we want. Therefore, we give up and decide to resign ourselves to this reality; to be victims of it and observe passively (non-actively), resisting what comes, getting frustrated and bad-tempered. However, we could position ourselves in another way: being transformation (change) agents (the ones who are able to change the external factors like people or situations) by creating a different reality. To do so we have to change our perception. Also, it is necessary to strengthen our capacity to tolerate, accept, let go and forget. Tolerance here also refers to understanding, love and compassion (kindness). Not to put up with people or things, but to remain above them, to go beyond them; to co-operate with trust and motivation. It is difficult for us to tolerate because we have expectations and pre-conceived ideas of how others should act and be. Then we create negative feelings towards them because they are not like that or don’t act in the manner that we want. This makes our relationship with them difficult.

When your vision towards others is positive, you see their qualities, their efforts and their values instead of their defects and their errors. You are open to listening to them and to understanding their intentions. That way it is easier to have good feelings towards them. Basing ourselves on a positive and objective vision and on good feelings, we do not have to put up with, or even tolerate the other - the relationship becomes streamlined.

(To be continued tomorrow…)

NEWS

All the news that you watch, read, listen - have you ever thought about its impact on your wellbeing?  This week, think about becoming more discerning and selective about what news content to absorb.

There's no need to turn off the news or tune it out, stay informed but take better control of your newsfeed.  Maybe just like food and drink, news must also be consumed with an appropriate balance and moderation.

Message for the day

To be a giver means to give according to need. 

Expression: The one who is a giver would be sensitive to the needs of others and will be able to give what the other person needs at the right time, instead of giving what he wants to give. Also such a person is able to give without expecting anything in return.

Experience: When there is even a little thought to share with others whatever I have, I would naturally be able to perceive my own inner treasures and experience being full. Sharing with others whatever I can, enables me to get their good wishes also. I thus find myself experiencing the richness of life. 

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: June 28, 2017: Meditation

Circle Meditation at Changi Beach

Meditation

Meditation is the process of getting to know yourself completely, both who you are inside and how you react to what is outside. Above all, meditation is enjoying yourself in the literal sense of the word. Through meditation, you discover a very different "me" from perhaps the stressed or troubled person, who may seem superficially to be "me". You realize that your true nature, the real you, is actually very positive. You begin to discover an ocean of peace right on your doorstep.

Following God’s Footsteps (Part 3)

God’s positive characteristics are countless and one can never stop remembering them. All that He is and possesses inside Him, He shares with the world. That is why He is so loved and respected all over the world. In the same manner as He serves the world, we are His children and need to learn to follow in His footsteps and become similar to Him, if not the same. So, everyday check yourself whether you are an obedient child of God. Obedience means – Follow Father, that means always follow God and set an example for others to follow you.
God is the most perfect being that exists and becoming similar to Him means becoming full of peace, joy, love, bliss, purity, power and knowledge. We cannot become an ocean of these virtues like Him, but we can follow Him and become similar to His qualities. That should be our goal. So, in every thought, word and action, let these virtues show and flow to others. Give yourself in others’ service. God is a constant server. His service is giving these seven qualities to us human beings and to the world in general. The more we also keep an aim of doing the same, the more full of those qualities we will become. The more peace, love and happiness we give to others, the more peaceful, loveful and happy we will become because this is a principle of human emotions. Giving is filling inside oneself. Also, become soul conscious, pure and humble like Him. If God’s personality is to be made one’s own or my personality is to be shaped liked how God’s personality is, then remember God a lot. Also, all that you take from Him, share with others. That will bring them closer to this Highest One that exists – the Supreme Father, the Supreme Soul, the Supreme Being – my Father and your Father, our eternal Father - God.

Rethink your spending habits

Right about now is a good time to increase our spending awareness, even if we have things under control.  It can only improve our financial well-being!

So before you spend, ask yourself: Is this the best use of my money?  Do I really need or use this?  Would something less expensive make me just as happy?

Rethink your spending habits, not to cut out the fun from life, but to redirect your spending from things that are not important to things that are important.

Message for the day

To be a creator means to use all treasures for a positive contribution. 

Expression: Even in the most negative situations, the one who has the thought of creation, works towards bettering the situation. Every thought, word and action is towards creation and not towards worsening the situation. Such a person is not concerned about who spoilt the situation or how it got spoilt. To the extent possible, he works towards bettering the situation. 

Experience: When I am working towards creation, I am able to make the best use of my resources and treasures. I then experience constant progress. I also experience contentment of having made a contribution, however little it may be. I have no questions, but only answers under all circumstances. 

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris