Daily Positive Thoughts: July 31, 2017: Life Is Nurtured By Attitude

Life Is Nurtured By Attitude

When you extend pure love to everyone with selfless motivation that is an attitude of kindness.

When you send good wishes and pure feelings to those who are in deep sorrow, that is an attitude of mercy.

When you see the virtues rather than the weaknesses in people that is an attitude of compassion.

When you bless and uplift someone even as they defame you, that is an attitude of forgiveness.

When you tolerate a situation and take responsibility as well as give cooperation even when not appreciated, that is an attitude of humility and self-respect.

Every second, every moment and every breath of your life is nurtured by attitude.

Breaking Down Patterns Of Negative Thoughts And Feelings

Having understood that the source of our feelings are our thoughts, we realize that right through our journey in the physical world, in many births, we have repeatedly built up enormous webs of negative and harmful thoughts and feelings, creating many unnecessary difficulties for us, internally as well as externally. The habit continues in my present life too. Meditation helps me to untangle this mess, and break the habit. It helps me come to terms with what is going on in my own inner world and understand how I create thoughts and feelings, how to take responsibility for them, and how to tap into my original, positive inner resources, which helps me displace negative patterns of thoughts and feelings. So, meditation is not merely a relaxation technique but a powerful tool for a seemingly difficult task of self-transformation.

To get the positive cycle of thoughts and feelings working in my life, the easiest place to start with is our thoughts. It's not very difficult to change our thoughts. It just requires attention. And by changing my thoughts, it becomes easy to change my feelings. In meditation, I decide that for a few minutes, each day (it could be as less as 1-2 minutes or as much as 25-30 minutes, depending on the external setting I am in) I am going to set aside negative thoughts which are weak or wasteful, and create pure, positive, powerful thoughts, based on the awareness of my spiritual identity. As I do this, I begin to experience the original resources or treasures of the self. As a result, positive and powerful feelings for the self and others emerge.

Meditation

Meditation simply means the management of your thoughts. It is to have
the ability to think of what you want and when you want, without
interference from other thoughts. Meditation is to develop the ability
to concentrate on a particular subject without being attracted and
influenced by the five senses, the five vices and the five elements.
Yoga, which is associated with meditation, simply means to have union
or make connection with some object, subject, person or God. However,
yoga is usually associated with spirituality. Yoga is to have
connection and to have dialogue or sweet conversation with the divine
source of inspiration, whom many call God. Meditation, therefore is a
prerequisite or condition that assists spiritual seekers to have
unbroken, undisturbed and continuous access with divinity and this
experience is called yoga, another form of prayer.

Message for the day

Simplicity enables one to become an example 

Expression: Simplicity is free from the complications of waste questions, doubts and expectations. The one who is simple is naturally accurate and inspiring in his actions. He is able to understand the demands of the environment and mould himself accordingly, so he himself has no demands. And he is able to move forward to his satisfaction. 

Experience: When I am simple in my thoughts, I am also able to be simple in my responses to the outer environment i.e., to both situations and people. So internally I am able to remain content. This contentment further brings newness and creativity in the way I respond to situations, and I naturally experience further progress. 

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: July 30, 2017: Achieve the Impossible

 

Achieve the Impossible

When you refuse to set boundaries to what is achievable, you can inspire others to believe that they, too, can make the impossible happen.

Adopting A Wiser Perception

Depending on my choice of perception, I may see life as a battleground, where I face a constant battle from morning to night. The constant to and fro between family and work may tire me emotionally and mentally. If I let it and see it that way, life can also itself become the cause or source of my tensions. It may even seem as if the path of life is scattered with rocks blocking my way. Instead of stepping around or over them, I perceive them as being obstacles. The thoughts may come easily to my mind - If it was not for so-and-so or such-and-such, I would be able to.... I may mention the same to my loved ones. Instead of bringing me any benefit, these complaints take me away from the power that I, the soul, have within of changing anything. I simply pass on my capacity to change, to persons or objects over whom or which I obviously have no control.

If I am fortunate to have a wiser perception which spirituality can give me, life can become a great place to learn and grow. Behind seemingly difficult situations are my major lessons. Disguised in routine tasks are the sign boards that point me back towards truth. Relationships that bring with them repeated scenes of negativity with the same person and for the same reasons show me the weaknesses I have to work on. Indeed, until I work on the eradication of my weaknesses, I keep repeating them. Challenges do come, but they help to bring out the best in me. If I have the subtle eyes to see and the courage to go forward... life is a constant experience of reminders and benefits to progress along the road to my highest consciousness.Speak to the Point

When we want to convey something to others, we tend to use a lot of
words for it. Yet we find many times that our feelings are not
conveyed. Then there is a tendency to use more words, creating a
negative impact on others, sometimes even hurting others' feelings.
Also they don't bring about accurate result.  Accurate words means
there is nothing extra spoken. Such words being short are sweet to
hear too and are those that never hurt others. When our words are to
the point, there is a lot of lightness experienced within ourselves
and our physical energy is saved too. Others too experience benefit
through our words and so we naturally get blessings from them, which
helps us move forward with lightness.

Message for the day

True knowledge brings humility. 
Expression: True knowledge inspires and encourages one to bring about a practical change in one's life. The one with knowledge naturally imbibes it, which is also revealed in his practical life, because he is humbly willing to learn from all situations. As much as there is knowledge, so much there is divinity revealed in all words and actions. 

Experience: When I am able to humbly learn from all situations I am able to enrich my own knowledge. This knowledge further enables me to become more and more practical. So during all difficult situations, I am able to remain light and internally stable. There will be no fluctuation experienced within, whatever the challenges may be. 

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: July 29, 2017: You Choose

 

You Choose

Life is all about choices. When you cut away all the junk, every situation is a choice. You choose how you react to situations. You choose how people affect your mood. You choose to be in a good mood or bad mood. The bottom line: It's your choice how you live life.

Playing My Part As A Hero Actor (Part 3)

In yesterday’s message we had discussed how some of us believe that our life script has been written by God and we do not play any role in the same. In this regard, it is very important to state that respecting, thanking and remembering God in good as well as bad times is obviously very very good and the right karma but submitting ourselves blindly to God’s will is an inactive response which prevents each of us from using our free will to make any choice at any moment and shape our future.  While there is a master plan which is being played out on the stage of the world, a part of the plan is that we each have free will and an opportunity to decide our actions and responses.  We need to realize that each one of us possesses an intellect, which absorbs the capacity to discriminate right from wrong, good from bad, from God and decides how to act on the world stage.

In this regard, there are two aspects. The first aspect is – God writes my life script completely for me without me playing any role in the same. The other aspect is - I perform actions and create my responses, based on God’s knowledge of good and bad karmas which he has given me, so as to shape my destiny and write my life script accordingly. There is a fine difference between these two aspects, the second aspect being the correct one. This knowledge given to me by God is stored in my intellect; I am the master of it and can decide how to use it to play my part.

Have Enthusiasm

Whenever problems come my way, I tend to feel heavy with waste and
negative thoughts. At that time I am not able to feel free and light.
When there is heaviness in my mind, I can't move forward with
enthusiasm and thereby find it difficult to contribute for others'
progress too. Whatever the circumstances I am faced with, I need to
make special effort not to reduce my enthusiasm in any way. Enthusiasm
gives me courage and this courage in turn helps me use my own
specialties for others' benefit too. I begin to discover new resources
within me, which can be used for everyone's benefit.

Message for the day

Cleanliness of the intellect brings accurate decision making. 
Expression: When the intellect is not clear, it is constantly wandering and it becomes tired. A tired intellect is not able to concentrate properly and so whatever decisions are made at that time are not so accurate. When there is cleanliness within there are no waste or negative thoughts and the entire thought power is used in the right way and so the right decisions are made. 

Experience: When I am clean within, I am able to experience lightness. Because I am clean and clear within, I find that I do not have any conflict or difficulty in making decisions. Instead I will be able to find the flow of thoughts moving in the right direction very naturally. So I find things also moving in the right direction. 

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: July 28, 2017: Creating Harmony

 

Creating Harmony

Love dissolves hate.

Kindness melts cruelty.

Compassion calms passion.

Cooperation evokes love and when we bow, others bend.

This creates harmony.

Playing My Part As A Hero Actor (Part 2)

In yesterday’s message we had discussed how we possess the potential in our hands to write the scripts of our lives, our destinies. Some of us do not like this idea because we have been taught since we were small that life is all about luck, but this incorrect belief does not let us realize the immense internal power or potential that we possess of shaping up our destiny, our future. By resigning ourselves to a life of luck, we do not use our potential and conveniently avoid doing the inner work of becoming awake and aware of who we are as spiritual beings and the masters of our own destiny.   This is why waking up from the sleep of this wrong belief is the first step towards empowering ourselves, towards taking responsibility for our life, for our present, our future.

Also there are some of us who hold the belief that the course taken by each one of our lives is not written by luck but is decided by God, so it is egoistic on our part if we believe that we can write our own scripts, interfering with the plan that God has in his mind for us. So in times of challenges in our lives, although its not wrong to pray to God at those times, we commonly use words like - if God would like it, I shall overcome this obstacle or I will be successful in this particular task or my health will get okay or I will pass this exam etc. In times of happiness, although it’s not wrong to thank God at those times, we completely submit ourselves to God’s will, thinking that it is he and he alone responsible for what good that is happening in my life. In the case of the sorrow we forget that although God can help us to some extent, whether we will surpass the sorrow or not is very largely dependent on our past actions which are influencing the present situation. In the case of the happiness, we forget that though God’s blessings do help and work, our past actions are a very important dominant factor which is creating situations of positivity in our present lives.

(To be continued tomorrow…)

Focus on the Goal

While moving towards my destination, I tend to get distracted with
even the little things that happen. Even a small negative or positive
incident is enough to distract my thoughts from my destination. I am
sometimes so busy with such things that my vision moves away from my
destination and I stop moving forward. I need to first clarify my
goal. Once I have done this, I need to take care that my vision is
focused on it. Even when situations come by, trying to distract me I
need to remind myself that these are only side-scenes which are not
important for me. It is more important to keep my energies focused
towards the goal.

Message for the day

The right solution is found by the mind which is free from worry. 

Expression: No matter how hard one worries about a problem, there can be no solution found. When the mind is free from worry, it is able to be calm. Then there will be no struggle but very naturally the right decision is made, which would be for the benefit of the self and that of others too. On the contrary, a mind that is worried would make decisions that are harmful, even after a lot of thinking and rethinking.

Experience: When I keep the mind free from worry in the most difficult situation, I am able to experience inner calm, in spite of the outer disturbance, because there is no disturbance in my natural thinking process. There is a lot of peace within, which enables me to be free from negative feelings for everyone. I also naturally have good wishes for myself and others, so whatever I do would be for everyone's benefit. 

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: July 27, 2017: Good Vibrations

 

Good Vibrations

 

Every thought creates vibrations. Vibrations are like sound waves or radiations. No obstacles, no hurdles can stop them.

Start each day by creating and nurturing good vibrations within, this will then silently touch everyone I come into contact with.

Playing My Part As A Hero Actor (Part 1) 

While just as beings we reside in the soul world, as human beings we play our many roles through many physical bodies in this beautiful world drama on this amazing, colorful and round stage called planet Earth. Each day is filled with multi-million scenes in different locations on this very big stage. Some scenes are directly related to us, some indirectly and a lot many aren’t related at all. Each scene that we are directly involved is an opportunity to not only play our role in the best possible way but also as a result shape the role in the most appropriate way possible. Therefore, we are all hero actors who by playing our roles as well as possible, create the script of our own life i.e. create our own destiny.

And do remember doing this has a positive influence on others’ scripts also, which rebounds back to us and in return helps us in our making our scripts better. While we have been given a role to live the entire birth right from childhood to old age, we possess the power, the remote control to dictate and control as to how exactly we will live the day, the year and each year of our present birth, our present role.  Each day offers us multiple options as to not only how we act but also how we respond to the world around us and our script or destiny gets shaped up according to the options we make.  Our destiny is decided not by what happens to us or around us, but by (i) how we act (sometimes the actions are responses to external events and sometimes they are not) and (ii) how we respond to a million events and circumstances which we encounter as we make this complete journey of life. 

(To be continued tomorrow…)

Give Support

Usually in relationships we begin to expect from people whom we get
close to. We feel that because we have love for them we have a right
over them. Because of our expectations we are not able to give the
other person freedom to move forward or progress.  When we have true
love we are able to provide the right environment for people so that
they can bring about progress in their life. We will not hold on to
them and expect them to do everything according to our needs, but give
them real support.

Message for the day

A powerful stage is like a switch which finishes darkness of negativity in a second. 

Expression: Darkness is dispelled when a light is switched on. Similarly, a powerful stage is also a light switch. When this switch is on, one can put an end to all wasteful darkness and no longer have to labour to stop any wasteful thoughts. By becoming powerful, one can naturally become a donor, as there is nothing waste within. 

Experience: When I am aware of my positive qualities and what I can contribute to others, I am able to be powerful. This naturally enables me to be light and spread the inner light to others. I am never influenced negatively with any kind of waste or negative, but am always able to maintain my own positivity and that of others too. 

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: July 26, 2017: Garden of your Mind

 

Garden of your Mind

The most important part of you is your mind. Care for your mind, make friends with it, always feed it healthy food, engage it in positive activity, and exercise it with knowledge and wisdom.

Like a garden returns fragrance and beauty according to the care invested, so your mind will repay you with thoughts, ideas and visions of great beauty when tended and invested with care.

The Method Of Realizing Your Purpose (Part 2)

A question that can help you to find the purpose for your self is: when you feel absolutely on top of the world, very much content and full of enthusiasm, what is there in you? Who are you at that moment? What is the energy inside you at that time? What do you give to your surroundings and to others? This stage is something that you want to reach all the time and keep with you. Ask yourself that question. Visualize that moment, which at some time in life you must have experienced. If not, visualize what you would like to experience.

Second question to find your purpose related to the world: What is it that you want to radiate to others? What is it that you want to give? That is, what do you want to devote yourself to? This isn't limited to your job or a hobby or a sport for e.g., but rather applies to what you offer and radiate in the whole day, in relationships, with people through your thoughts, words and actions - in the family, at work, in the market, friends, acquaintances and even strangers.

To carry out this inner inquiry (in both the cases above) you need to go to its deepest part. What is your purpose? Not your purpose for this weekend you want to go for the club meeting or not, or that in the holidays you want to visit a hill station; all these are short term purposes. Your life purpose refers to what it is that you really want to reach. If you clarify it, it will help you to make decisions with clarity and determination in your life.

Hero Actor

Normally it is understood that to get the best role is to be a hero
actor.  So we are more inclined towards a role where we can get
people's praise.  If people praise us we feel good about it and if
they don't we are disappointed.  We are usually dependent on people's
appreciation. Yet it doesn't come by so consistently.  We can be a
hero actor at all times when we have attention on every act of ours.
We make sure that none of our words or actions are ordinary or waste.
Since we pay constant attention to everything we do, we find that we
are able to give our best.  We are then satisfied with whatever is
happening since we know what we do is not as important as how well we
do it.

Message for the day

Success comes to the one who absorbs only the good and positive aspects. 

Expression: The one who has the power to absorb, naturally absorbs only the positive aspects of everything he comes into contact with. So the response too is always positive. Never is there reactions towards difficult situations or people, but there is the natural ability to absorb all that is good and respond positively accordingly. 

Experience: Once I instill the habit of seeing only the positive aspect in everything, I find myself getting free from negativity. It is like filling in fresh water into a pail of dirty water. When there is a continuous flow of fresh water into even the dirtiest water, gradually the water getting purified. So too I find myself getting internally cleansed of all negativity with a continuous flow of positivity. 

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris