Contemplation: Contentment

Contemplation: Contentment

Hawa Mahal, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India

Contentment
Contentment is the king of all virtues. A contented man lives naturally peaceful life. Remain happy with what is available and at the same time keep trying for better.

Tolerance

Tolerance does not mean to suppress something. Suppression is a negative energy which causes stress. In time anything that is suppressed rebound.

To tolerate means to accept through understanding. Acceptance is a change in my internal attitude towards that which I feel I need to tolerate. Tolerance is actually about respecting the differences I see.

First I have to learn to tolerate my own inner reactions. This can only happen when I learn to disengaged from the thoughts and feelings creating my inner reaction.

I am not my thoughts or feelings, they are my creation, thus I am able to separate myself from them if I wish.

If I can take a second to step back and become an observer of the drama that is going on within, then I will have the opportunity to see it from another perspective, and so understand and accept it.

Make a friend of the power to tolerate.

Meditation

Imagine you are walking along a crowded platform in a train station.

You know that where you want to go to is the other end of the platform where your train is waiting. You don't stop and talk to anyone on the way. If you did you would be delayed. You would fail to arrive at your train if you interacted with everyone on a platform that is continuously filled with new people. Meditation is exactly like this. Just as you cannot empty the platform of people just because you have a train to catch, you cannot just empty your mind of all thoughts just because you want to get to the destination (goal) or seat of your inner peace. Not at least until you are able to practise meditation correctly.

Remind yourself that you are not your thoughts, you are not your feelings, you are not your memories, you are not any of the voices in your head. You are the creator and they your creation, but they are not you. In fact they represent a platform of absolute strangers.

Soul Sustenance

The Relationship Between Virtues And Vices

When we are internally strong, our nature characteristics and skills are reflected, from inside us to the outside, to everyone we interact in, in the form of virtues. If we are internally weak, those same traits emerge and radiate as vices. Vices are just qualities or virtues that have lost their focus and strength. For e.g. if we take the quality of love - when a strong soul radiates love, it is unlimited and without any conditions. Such a soul respects and has good wishes for everything and everyone and under all circumstances, irrespective of whether love and respect is coming from the other side or not. When a weak soul radiates love, he/she tends to restrict the love to limits e.g. the love would vary from person to person and from situation to situation. In a sense, if spiritual might (strength) and spiritual light (understanding or knowledge) are taken away from the virtues, they get transformed into the six vices, which make us spiritually unhealthy or weak:


Ego - developing an image of the self that is false, temporary or imaginary.
Greed - finding short term fulfillment by acquiring material goods, a role in society or money or through the physical senses – eyes, tongue, ears, etc.
Attachment - finding security by developing a feeling of possessiveness over loved ones and material objects.
Lust - using excessive satisfaction through the senses as a means of fulfillment.
Anger - the feeling of hatred and revenge when any of the other vices are threatened or being taken away from us.
Laziness - becoming inactive on a spiritual, physical or mental level.

Message for the day

The one who wins over situations with the power of one's own stage is a winner.

Projection: When difficult situations come our way, it is usually our own stage that is affected. We feel disheartened, or frustrated which makes us feel helpless in the situation. We can, then, do nothing to bring about any change and lose out to the situation.

Solution: Whenever a difficult situation comes our way, we need to remind ourselves that the situation is here only for a short time as a test for our own stage and to give us a chance to progress. This thought will help us be stable in the worst situations and will enable us to learn from what has happened in order to improve ourselves.

Contemplation: Inner Calm

Contemplation: Inner Calm

Inner Calm
The greater the demands on me, the more I need to sustain my inner calm and stability by taking time out for a little daily inner reflection and meditation

Real beauty

Real beauty comes from within. 

It comes from being comfortable in your skin, after all no one can wear it better than you can. 

It comes from accepting yourself as you are; your personality, skills and even your limitations. 

It comes from seeing what's beautiful in everyone and everything around you.

Maintaining Your Self Esteem In Relationships

When a person is in love with another human, the marvelous thing about being in love is that it is a totally positive projection. There is a person who projects on to you all that is positive: you are marvelous, you are unique, you are indispensable, you are a treasure. That positive projection generates a euphoric state, of bliss, of wellbeing, whereby you are flying. You feel loved, cared for, needed and valued. That positive projection lasts for a time until, with the dependencies and expectations, the negative projection begins. "You should have called me, you should have told me, you should have come at this time, you should be more like this, you should be less like that, you should have done this or that."

With these expectations, demands and dependencies, that positive projection and flying state disappear. The other has started interfering in your personal space and the harmony that was there previously is lost. One needs to learn to have a positive vision of oneself. You are marvelous, you are unique; don't depend on them telling you so. This does not mean you need to feed your ego, but that you need to make the most positive emerge from within you. Resort to all your creative, positive, spiritual capacity, so that you do not depend on others having to project positive things onto you in order to feel good. On feeling good in an independent and autonomous way, you will be able to share with others peace, love and positivism. You won't be in the state of a victim but will be true rulers and controllers of your own life with solid self-esteem.

Soul Sustenance
Positive Thinking

Given below are some examples of simple positive affirmations (thoughts) that you can make about oneself, others, real life situations and the future, which will help you in becoming a positive thinker.

The self: I do like myself; I accept my weaknesses; I understand myself; I have special skills and qualities; I value myself; I believe in myself; I am lovable.
Others: I accept others as they are; I look for the best in others; there is something good in everyone I meet; I appreciate others.
A real life situation: I am capable of handling the situation; I have all I need; I am fortunate; there is a bright side to everything; nothing lasts forever.
The future: I look forward to each day; every difficult situation is an opportunity/challenge in disguise; each day brings something new and beautiful, something to learn.

Message for the day

The one who transforms oneself is the one who is victorious.

Projection: When in a discussion or debate with someone, we usually want to have the last word. We want the others to understand us. When we succeed in this we feel we are a winner. But we find that neither is the other person satisfied with us nor are we able to learn anything new.

Solution: In order to be a winner in all situations, we need to pay special attention to keep learning from each situation. We need to see in what aspect we can bring about transformation in ourselves instead of trying to prove ourselves right. This will make us truly victorious.

Contemplation: Stillness

Contemplation:  Stillness

Stillness
Journey into the stillness of your inner being. Here, in the shade of your true self you will find true comfort and true support.

Thoughts

Most of us think far too much - somewhere around and in fact more than 40,000 thoughts a day on average! Why is that too much? Because most of our thoughts are based on insecurity and worry about uncertain futures. In fact, most thinking is really worry, which we wrongly think is care; anxiety, which we wrongly think is concern. Thinking does not give us the strength we need to live a calmer, more fulfilling life. It drains our energy and hinders the access we need to our own inner spiritual wisdom. Thinking can easily be an inner noise that drowns out the voice of our heart. When we say, "I just need to think about that”; we really mean "l'm not sure”; which means there is doubt, and doubt is one of those habits, which turns into worry and anxiety, and all they do is subtly drain our energy.

Understanding Fear

Everyone, when they are young, knows what their destiny is. At that point in their lives, everything is clear and everything is possible. They are not afraid to dream, and to wish for everything they would like to see happen to them in their lives. But, as time passes, a mysterious force begins to convince them that it will be impossible for them to realize their destiny... There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.

Fear is an energy that puts a brake on you and prevents you from doing what you want and aiming where you want to go. It blocks you in the communication and expression of what you want to say. Fear makes you hide, suppress and not express the most attractive; the most beautiful part of your inner self.

Fear has an influence on our capacity to reason, discriminate and take decisions. It makes us doubt, it makes us indecisive even in the simplest decisions of our lives. Fear does not allow your energy to flow, and that weakens your state of wellbeing and general health. Fear locks you into yourself and makes you become indecisive. It is a shadow over your inner self that prevents you from acting with ease and fluidity. It reduces your capacity of expression, of being yourself, of dealing with life and flowing in it.

Soul Sustenance

Overcoming Fears Connected With Negative Past Experiences (cont.)

The work with oneself to see what aspects of your past burden you and coming to terms with those aspects, requires silence, reflection and meditation. When you come to terms with your own past, you can let go of it and be free of it, not be afraid that the past will come back to you. If not, sometimes, it is like a shadow that follows you. If your house was robbed once, the shadow follows you that, perhaps, you might be robbed again. If they hurt you, you fear it will happen again. Sometimes that experience presents itself in dreams, in the subconscious or in present attitudes. Reliving the past in your mind, you do not fully enjoy the present. You have to accept the pieces of your past so that they do not continue to generate upsets. Accept that you had to live through them and live the present with a constructive vision of the future.

In the above context, it helps to write letters to God about your experiences. The exercise of sharing them with God in writing brings clarity inside you and helps you to bring the spiritual light and might in your life in order not to be burdened by unnecessary experiences, unhappiness or grief. Have you ever written to God? You could do it at night and tell Him the things that affected you or that you have learned. You can tell Him the things or intimate feelings that other people perhaps wouldn't understand or wouldn't be there to listen to. You could also talk to Him about all that you question, and you do not have an answer to. And the following morning, when you meditate and study a little bit of spiritual knowledge, you often receive answers. 


Message for the day

To be clean means to be a success.

Projection: We usually interact with others based on our past experiences with them. Even if there has been a single negative experience with someone, we keep that in our mind and all our responses are based on that experience. We are, then, not able to be fully successful in our relationships.

Solution: In order to succeed in our relationships we need to keep our mind free from the experiences of the past. We can do this when we look at the uniqueness and speciality of each individual that we come into contact with. This practice makes us respect all and be free from the negativity of the past.

Contemplation: Virtues and Specialties

Contemplation:  Virtues and Specialties

Virtues and Specialities

If I listen to even the slightest defamation of anyone, I lose some spirituality.  I lose some value if I start interacting on the basis of what I have heard about them.  Let me see only virtues and specialities.

'To-do list'

When the mind is idle it may wander from one thought to another. If you want to stop your mind thinking unnecessarily, think useful and constructive thoughts.

You're thinking anyway, so you may as well keep the mind busy with the right thoughts.

Make a schedule for your mind. Just like a 'to-do list', create a 'to-think list'!

Experiencing A Spiritual Lifestyle Without Renouncing Society

A good meditator is one who has a mental link or union with the internal self and the Supreme Soul or God who is the source of all goodness. This, along with an understanding of the laws of action or the laws of karma, which govern the behavior of souls, means that one does not have to renounce or leave society in order to achieve enlightenment. Rather, the soul filled with spiritual illumination faces society directly with understanding and the generosity to serve it and to elevate (improve) it.

The soul becomes elevated not by the renunciation of responsibilities or worldly duties but by a renunciation of the negativity that exists within the role being played by it in society. A good meditator does not try to escape social obligations (duties) but rather purifies those duties by becoming filled with light, love, peace and happiness. The stage of self-awareness and God-communication injects a subtle richness into one's life-patterns.

There are those who believe that the elevated state is beyond society and its duties. They find a quiet spot in the jungle or an ashram and contemplate (think about) deeper things. There are others who are stuck in the quicksand of their problems, and believe that those who leave society and take up a spiritual lifestyle are saints. However, holiness and virtue are qualities attained in one's life situations, not in running away from them. The elevated state is not merely a matter of elevated thoughts (which can be experienced in a sanyas), but elevated actions also, for the benefit of the self and the world. We are what we do and not so much what we imagine ourselves to be.

Soul Sustenance

Overcoming Fears Connected With Negative Past Experiences 

Some of our fears arise due to the situations we have lived through; for example, if you are driving a car and you have an accident. Then you take some time to drive again, because the memory of the accident awakens the fear of having another one or reliving the one you had. The person that has never had a car accident gets in the car with confidence, because they do not have that scene recorded, since they haven't lived through it.

There are fears that we carry within us that are not of the present. Something happened to us in the dark and we are now afraid of the dark. Fears in relationships: you opened your heart, you fell in love and, after a time, you experienced pain, you felt hurt, misunderstood, manipulated, deceived or mistreated, and now you no longer open your heart for anything; it is closed off with the shields that you yourself have created. To overcome this kind of fear due to experiences you have lived through, you have to come to terms with your past and accept it fully. You cannot change your past; lamenting the past doesn't help you; complaining about the past doesn't benefit you. Those shields brought about by fears do not disappear unless you do a deep cleansing. Begin to heal your experience of the past. Part of the past is healed with forgiveness. Without forgiving, you cannot forget.

(To be continued tomorrow …) 


Message for the day 

To be free from bondage means to be able to fly.

Projection: Sometimes we find that we are not able to progress as much as we should. We also find that we are not able to be light in all circumstances. At such times we might blame the situation and just stop making effort, as we cannot see the real cause for our lack of progress.

Solution: We need to understand that the lack of progress that we are experiencing is not because of the situation itself but because of our own weakness that is like a bondage. When we recognise this fact, we will be able to know the right method to overcome our own weakness so that we will then be able to fly forward.

Contemplation: Create Vision

Contemplation: Create Vision

Create Vision

Never believe anyone who says we cannot change. Vision is one of the secrets of personal transformation. We are all artists, our mind is the arena of creation and vision is what we are constantly creating. What is your vision of yourself today - patient, relaxed, positive or tense, tight and negative? What do you prefer? So be creative - what does patience look like, feel like, what are you doing that is different when you are patient and you are expressing your power to ....wait? Always start with vision not action. See it and you will be it. Be it and you will do it. This is how we create our own life.  
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Anger

Anger can be likened to a bull in a china shop. In the process of expressing its own truth, it destroys all the goodness that may still be around. Then the question arises: would it have been better to live with the minor untruth than to cause such extensive damage?
Anger is a vice which, in its gross form, will directly and instantly cause great harm to the self and others.
Sometimes we use the vice of anger for the sake of truth or what we believe to be right. We use it to justify the fact that someone else has lied or stolen or worse. However, anger in itself is wrong and thus it can never be justified. Two wrongs do not make a right. And someone else's wrong does not give me the permission to commit an even greater violence.
Anger will finish only when we begin to understand the real damage it causes.

The Search For Happiness And A Beautiful Relationship

Throughout history, human beings have desired and searched for two things, happiness and a perfect loveful and beautiful relationship.   It is interesting to realize that you cannot search for what, you have not already had or known. In other words, we search for these two things because inside us we have a deep subconscious memory of the original, perfect and eternal relationship with our Friend, Guide and Parent, the One remembered as God, Allah, Ishwar, etc.   It is only when we restore our relationship with this Being is that we can experience true happiness or bliss.   Bliss is the highest form of spiritual happiness we can experience.  It is experienced only when we are free of all attachment, when we no longer identify wrongly with anything physical and when our inner mental state is not dependent on anything or anyone.

At its highest level and in its purest state, our relationship with God is non-dependent and unconditional, and therefore blissful.   Deep within the soul, there is a memory of the bliss of this perfect union and it is this memory that inspires us to search for the perfect relationship, for the perfect happiness.   However, instead of seeking it at the spiritual level, we seek at the level of personality and body.   We search in those around us for the perfect partner - our soul mate. It is not incorrect to have worldly relationships, but there needs to be a deep realization inside each one of us that our true soul mate, is the One with whom we can have an ever-lasting, eternal relationship, the One with whom we have the deepest eternal bond (over a period of many births), the One from whom we will experience everlasting, eternal, unconditional attainments.

Soul Sustenance

Stepping Inside … (cont.)

When we learn to become silent we become more compassionate (generous) in our outlook and start accepting others for who they are.

The more we are able to accept, the sooner we find that there is harmony (peacefulness) in our relationships. We start saving energy, sparing or reducing our thoughts and our words. This is accompanied by more patience, tolerance, flexibility, easiness and lightness. Silence teaches us the art of living. Silence can be misused to isolate oneself and go into loneliness, but true, positive silence gives us a balance between our inner and outer worlds. Having explored our inner self we collect our positive energy, become aware of our qualities, and then very naturally these are expressed externally. We move our concentration to the inner self and then to the external world. Then we go inwards again. It is a circular movement. As we go into silence, we recharge our inner energies, become one with the self, heal our self, relax and release our self from negativity. There are so many benefits by simply stepping inside to meet our true self. As we draw out our internal riches and resources, what do we do with them? We share them and give them out and in doing this we receive and we learn.

Message for the day
Knowledge and faith bring the ability to be positive

Projection: Whenever things don't happen according to what we expect we begin to look at everything negatively. We are caught up with the negativity to such an extent that we are not able to find anything that might be positive in it.

Solution: We need to understand and develop the faith that behind everything seemingly negative there is something positive. It is up to us whether we want to see positive in negative or negative in positive and be influenced accordingly.

Contemplation: Good Feelings

Contemplation:  Good Feelings

Good Feelings

Good feelings for others are like ointments that heal wounds and re-establish friendships and relationships. Good feelings are generated in the mind, are transmitted through your attitude and are reflected in your eyes and smile. Smiling opens the heart and a glance can make miracles happen.

Ego

Ego is one of those vices which some would class as 'good to have'; it allows one to be 'positioned' and 'noticed', and 'respected' even.

However the thing with ego, specifically subtle forms of ego, is that it sits you on a false seat. Then when the truth reveals itself, which it will, there will be realisation and pain. And also the shame of knowing that everyone but you always knew.

Unlike any other vice, ego cripples the intellect's ability to discern. Ego adopts a form based on a speciality - on whatever is good within the self - and so disguises itself in that. It attracts the soul and it deludes it so that it is difficult for the self to recognise that this is ego.

Like salt mixed in sugar, it is not obvious and not everyone would know. However the moment it is tasted and experienced the truth is revealed. Its character and taste cannot remain hidden and salt can never be sweet! Everyone will be able to taste it except you. For the self it is something that has to be realised.

Watch out for that attractive form of ego!


Imbibing Or Absorbing Spiritual Knowledge

The first step into experience, particularly the meditation experience, is knowledge. What does it mean to 'know'? Knowing involves four steps, which ultimately give the meditator the experience of realization:

The first step of knowing is information. With information, our intellect opens to new ideas and opinions.

The second step of knowing is knowledge, when we begin to reflect and think on the ideas and views that we have listened to. At this point, we often have to select only a few of the ideas we have heard, as it is not always possible to reflect (think) on all the information that is fed to us. In order to deepen our understanding, we reflect on the information and sometimes discuss our findings and thoughts with others.

The third step of knowing is when we move from thinking to doing, that is, from knowledge to wisdom. Wisdom is gained when we commit ourselves to 'doing'. Knowledge translated into our everyday behaviour is called wisdom, which, in turn, is called quality life. A life of quality is where personal values are not only realised but also lived and experienced through our practical actions.

Doing, or practice, naturally brings us to the fourth and final step of knowing, which is called truth.

Soul Sustenance

Stepping Inside …

One aspect of meditation is that it teaches us to face life from the inside.
It takes us to that point of stillness where we find the strength to change and heal the inner self. In that silence, we are able to find perspective and insight. In a deep state of introspection, we clearly observe our thoughts, seeing our true motives and intentions behind our words and actions; when we understand that our intentions are perhaps not quite right, then we are in a position to say to ourselves, 'Hold on a minute!' When we use silence to check our thoughts at that level, then we begin to realize that many of the things we are thinking about are not really worth thinking about. At this point, we become spiritually economical, which in fact leads us to becoming very generous. A lot of precious energy is lost, both mentally and emotionally, on wasteful and negative thinking. Ninety-five percent of our time is wasted on thinking about others; we go on and on with a string of expectations from others, which becomes like a hammer of demand on other people's heads. Take a combination of expectations and demand, and what does it equal? Conflict!

When we learn to become silent and to reflect on our inner self, we start feeling satisfied with what we find inside, expectations from others gradually come down and there is a deep sense of contentment. 

(To be continued tomorrow …) 


Message for the day

The one who is a special flower keeps spreading the fragrance of virtues.

Projection: Being in situations that are not always positive it seems very difficult for us to be positive. As is our environment and the situations, we find, so are our own responses, too. That is, we find ourselves reacting negatively in a negative situation and positively in a positive situation.

Solution: We need to remind ourselves that we are a special flower with our own specialities. The more we remind ouselves of these specialities, the more we are able to spread the sweetness of this fragrance to all - whatever the situations may be.

Contemplation:Bring Light

Contemplation: Bring Light

There is some darkness in most human minds today, so there is a darkness component in most scenes and situations. Why else is there so much unhappiness and sorrow in the world? So how much value can be given to someone who is able to bring light and lightness to a place or a moment, where others have brought their dark? Like a crown of sparkling jewels, their presence and their words are priceless. It may only be a gentle smile of comfort, an attitude of genuine interest, some words which diffuse an awkward moment. Those who stay light in spirit while others weave their dark are both illuminated and illuminators. Watch out for such a moment today where you may illuminate. Make that moment momentous!

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Understanding The Difference Between Control And Influence

The moment we become upset with someone in our family or at work it
means we are trying to control them. And the moment others sense we
are trying to control them, they distance themselves from us, and that
reduces our ability to influence them in that situation. This in turn
kills our effectiveness at getting things done through others, and
leaves us frustrated and stressed, wondering why the world does not
behave the way we want it to. This finally turns into the a very
important realization - the more we try to control, the less influence
we will have, whereas the less we attempt to control others, the more
influence we will have.

Soul Sustenance & Message for the day 

Are You Directing Your Inner Orchestra Well (Part 2)?

You can direct your orchestra well, which means that you can:

• Achieve what you want.
• Reach where you want.
• Be who you are.
• Stop being who you are not.
• Feel what you want to feel.
• Stop feeling what you do not want to feel.
• Be. You can be in your space.
• Do. You can do what gives meaning to your life.
• You can stop doing what lowers you, is ordinary and you do not want to do.
• You can reach excellence by crossing inner mental barriers.
• Let go of that which you have clung on to.
• Free yourself and fly.

If you believe that you can, you can. You have to harmonize your inner voices. Listen to those that allow you power, strengthen you and accompany you. Silence the voices that suppress you, judge you badly and limit you. 

Message for the day 

To be an inspiration to many is to be a hero actor.

Projection: When we see negativity in others, we usually think and speak about it. We then take no inspiration to think and act positive. The more the attention is drawn towards negativity, our actions will become negative too.

Solution: Whatever the situation we are in, we need to make effort to change our own actions and turn them to positive. We will then be free from looking at the negativity in others and our actions will become positive.