Contemplation: December 12, 2018: A Moment Of Solitude

Contemplation: December 12, 2018: A Moment Of Solitude

 

A Moment of Solitude

When I start the day with a moment of solitude and contemplation, even the most crowded schedule runs more smoothly.

Acceptance

Would you reprimand a young child for their mischievousness or
mistakes? Though it's important to be firm in teaching discipline, a
good parent or care-giver realizes that the child is innocent of how it
should behave. Therefore, the approach is patient and loving. But what
happens when we see adults making big-little errors? Our mature self
makes us react, comment, argue and say "But they should know
better..." It's true that adults have to be more responsible for
their actions but that's not always the case. It's in our best
interest to accept that no matter how much we correct people, they are
likely to change at their own time. At times, we all come under the
influence of our sanskars which compel us to act against better
judgment. As we are in the same boat, keeping faith and good wishes for
others (and ourselves) is the best way to guide and bring about good
transformation.

Reversing The Flow Of Love In Relationships

If we ask someone who do they think has caused them the most sorrow in life, most will point out to someone they love or had loved a lot. Why is it so? It happens like that because we believe that the energy of love will come from the outside and will fill us inside. The energy of love from the other will fulfill our inner desire for the experience of love. Due to our own need, we attach ourselves and hold on to a particular person whom we love a lot, believing that they will fill us with the love that they possess inside them, which will make us stronger, fuller and more content. So we start depending on the other person for this need. When he/she is not able to fill us, which happens many times, we experience sorrow. Love is an energy, which exists inside us. It always goes from the inside out and reaches out to the other and brings benefit to the other. It does not come from the outside in.

If we try and reverse the flow of love i.e. we make the energy of love come from outside in, we start depending on the outside for love, which results in the vacuuming effect. When you vacuum to clean your living room, you absorb the good and the bad. If you have dropped something very small, but valuable and of utmost importance to you, on your carpet, the vacuum cleaner absorbs it or takes it away, together with the dust, which is negative and of no value to you and which you do not want inside your home. When you live with the vacuuming effect on an emotional level, you absorb the love, care, concern, virtues, powers, specialties, energy, etc. of the person you love but you also end up absorbing their weaknesses, their worries, their fears, etc. That way, a dependency is generated that is counter-productive and causes emotional pain. That does not mean we become cold and stop accepting love from others, but we are no longer dependent on it for our inner well-being and happiness. Also, on the other hand, we keep radiating or giving love. When we give love, we experience it ourselves first and that's what we want - an experience of love, isn't it?

Soul Sustenance

Experiencing And Maintaining A State Of Contentment

To reach, experience and maintain a state of contentment or fulfillment you have to first realize what true freedom is and then learn how to use it so that it strengthens you and also helps you to achieve the full potential of your individual self. Freedom is the key to contentment. You also need to check what brings you close to the state of fulfillment and what takes you away from it. Fears of different kinds are one of the main obstacles in experiencing contentment. Any weakness, inability to apply any virtue or spiritual power required in any situation, lack of focus, inner instability, etc. will cause a leakage of the energy of positivity that is required to feel content. Free yourself of any personality trait that hinders your progress and does not allow your inner being to manifest itself and express itself with all its potential. To live in contentment, you should be in charge of your inner mental and emotional world. If not, you will only be able to experience temporary periods of fulfillment.

To achieve fulfillment you not only have to have inner control, but you also need to check whether there is any door open to allow any weakness to enter the room of your personality. Because if you strengthen yourself on the one hand and on the other you are weakened, you will never reach the desired state of inner power. E.g. you keep a bucket of water under a tap of water. If it has even a single crack, however much water you pour into the bucket, it will never get filled completely. In the same way, this can happen to you. Because of this, you need to check, which cracks are present in your personality through which there are leaks of energy, because of which your efforts to become content do not give you the results you hope for.

Message for the day

To work with joy is to be free from tiredness.

Expression: When there is the happiness and joy of doing something, one can go on putting in effort even in the most difficult circumstances. For having done everything with happiness, there will be the inner quality revealed in each and every task. The happiness within will spread around to others too.

Experience: As I never leave my inner joy, and am constantly in touch with my inner qualities, I am able to enjoy everything that life brings. Nothing will then be experienced as work, but I feel everything to be entertainment. I will be able to enjoy the richness of life even when there is something actually difficult.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

https://astudypoint.blogspot.com/

Contemplation: December 11, 2018: Rise above the Noise

Contemplation: December 11, 2018: Rise above the Noise

Rise above the Noise

We're surrounded by noise. Then there's our noisy

thought - thinking head that never seems to cease.

Raise your focus out of the noise and float effortlessly above it all! Rise above the noise to enjoy inner peace.

Focus on your inner peace and the noise in your
thought-thinking head will subside.

Speak Less

We learn a lot about someone's personality simply by listening to
them. On a gross level it reveals a person's background, education,
intelligence, wittiness etc. However it also brings to light one's
attitude and sanskars (personality traits): How much do we live in the
past or future and not the present, do we appreciate the positive
aspects in situations and people, are our words spoken with arrogance
or humility, does my lax nature make me speak inappropriately or does
my intellect first judge the situation, time, person, and consequences
before I allow words to emerge? It pays to 'Speak Less, Speak Slowly
and Speak Sweetly' as it creates a place for me in other's hearts
in no time.

Understanding The Birth Rebirth Cycle (cont.)

We subconsciously know that we are souls. Birth, life and death are just stages in existence. In fact all natural processes can be found to have a beginning,  a middle, an end and a new beginning to continue the cycle. The soul takes a bodily form, gives life to it and after a period of time, long or short, leaves it and takes another suited to the continuation of its role. As long as the soul is in the body, the body grows like a plant from baby to child, youth to maturity. It then begins to decay and finally becomes unusable. The moment the soul leaves the body, the body becomes like a dead log of a tree. It immediately starts to decompose and eventually goes back "to dust".

Again the soul moves into a fetus inside the womb of a mother. After time it emerges as a newborn baby and immediately begins to show the sanskars it had developed in its previous life. It is the same soul but in a new physical situation. Thus death is merely the means by which a complete change of circumstances and environment for the soul takes place. Time never kills the soul, but the body, being a part of nature or matter, obeys the law of decay that everything new becomes old and eventually finishes. The molecular components of this body disintegrate only to re-integrate as another form (body) some time later.

The process of birth-life-death-rebirth is also eternal (without a beginning or an end). It has always been going on and will continue. The soul comes into the body, expresses a role and experiences the results of that for a certain time, then leaves it, and the process starts again. Similarly, souls come into this world, remain here as actors for a number of births and then return to the region from which they come, for rest. This process also starts again. The pattern is a cyclic one. This is called the eternal world cycle.

Soul Sustenance

Meditation to Experience My Inner Beauty

Experience the following thoughts one after the other:

I sit in a relaxed position, I am comfortable… I let my body relax, keeping my back straight, my legs supported comfortably on the floor, I breathe deeply... Now I begin to carefully observe my mind… What kinds of thoughts arise in my mind? Are they positive, negative? How are they moving? Slow, fast...

I carefully observe my mind and remember that I can choose my thoughts… Consciously, I begin to redirect my thoughts... I create positive thoughts about myself... I think about my good qualities, I identify a specific quality that is special to me and which I feel makes me a unique being… Perhaps the quality is being tolerant, sweet, patient or affectionate…

I create a space in my inner self to discover my best quality, and for a few moments I think about it… In my mind I see the beauty of this quality and observe how I feel... I am sweet, I am kind, and as I experience these special qualities, I begin to feel better about myself…

Now I imagine using this quality in my interactions with others. How do I feel when I express and put this quality into practice? Using a quality makes me grow, at the same time the good feelings I have about myself as a unique human being also makes me grow…

I enjoy these feelings for a few moments and little by little, breathing deeply, I am aware that I am here; I express my inner beauty…

Message for the day

To fail means there is the need to work a little harder.

Expression: To fail doesn't means to be a failure but it only means that it will take a little longer before success can be reached. It gives an indication that more effort has to be put in. So when things are done in a different way, it becomes possible to move towards success. Failure in a particular task is a process of strengthening that leads to success.

Experience: During the time of failure, when I understand the significance behind the incident, I am able to be free from negative feelings of fear or disheartenment. Then I am able to learn the right lesson from it and move ahead. So in the worst failures I am able to experience constant progress and thus I find that I am moving on towards success.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

https://astudypoint.blogspot.com/

Contemplation: December 10, 2018: Work Well

Contemplation: December 10, 2018: Work Well

Work Well

Work is only work if you prefer to be somewhere else. Work tends to be a negative perception of a task which we reluctantly approach. Work is only labour when we forget to see our life as it truly is - an opportunity to be creative, enrich others and be enriched ourselves. When we are able to see work in this way, we find something called enthusiasm inside. When we are enthusiastic we work well and we are valued. We are used as a role model. When we work well it is much easier to say no when we need to, for we know our own value, and we are not dependent on others' approval to feel good about ourselves. When we put love and enthusiasm into what we do, it rebounds in the form of opportunities and blessings, two of the most important ingredients of a truly wealthy life.

Attention to Expression

Our words can either spiritually sustain souls or damage their
self-esteem. Whether we are talking about someone's faults or
weaknesses, passing comments on a situation that does not concern us,
or giving private information we create an atmosphere that could
suffocate any soul in the vicinity and reduce chances of improvement or
productivity. Remember that it's very difficult to trust someone who
speaks without thinking of the consequences. We can save a lot of time
and energy by paying attention to how we interact and express ourselves
in relationships.

Understanding The Birth Rebirth Cycle

The realization of the self as a soul, an eternal (always existing) energy, naturally leads to the following questions:

* Where is the soul before it comes into a physical body?
* Where does the soul go after it leaves it?
* What is the purpose of the world drama?

These are questions that deeply concern human beings, yet until now there isn't 100% conclusive proof of life after death.

The images of "fires of hell" and a heavenly world beyond the clouds are talked about in the world's religions. Yet to the rational and logical minded, the states of living forever tortured in holes of fire (hell) or on the other hand relaxing in complete happiness in a fairy-tale kingdom (heaven), seem far away from the reality of the present.

Most accept that there is some order to the world creation, but viewing our drama through spectacles of body-consciousness it is impossible to see it, as the soul is imprisoned by bodily needs and sensual desires. In body-consciousness the soul is unable to see anything clearly. Only when we are at the point of death does one think about life after death. At funerals, everyone faces the new absence of a loved person, the departure of the personality and the temporary nature of the physical body. Everyone wishes that the person who has died will go to heaven and not to hell.
(To be continued tomorrow ....)

Soul Sustenance

The Power to Co-operate (cont.)

The more I practice meditation, and develop and live with the consciousness that I am a non-physical soul, a being of light, the quicker the ego associated with all the physical factors (explained yesterday) melts away. Coloring myself with the Supreme or God's company, I see others as the children of the Supreme Soul. I know myself as part of the family of human souls who have the same original qualities as me. In soul-consciousness, there is no way I can feel superior to others, though I'll value their specialties. We are brothers - equal yet different.

In this consciousness, a natural humility or egolessness develops, a genuine respect for each other. There is a strength and happiness in the awareness of being a child of God, but I'll see others also as the same. There is neither the ego of feeling superior, nor the inverted ego of an inferiority complex. I am not negating myself, I am recognizing the value of the self, but I'm also appreciating the value and qualities of all others around me. In that spirit of mutual respect, it becomes easy to work together.

The future of the world and the transformation of the planet actually depend on this transformation in each one of us, from ego and self-glorification to humility, respect and co-operation. Meditation, by lifting me beyond the factors that divide us, makes me deeply aware that we are one family, sharing one home, this beautiful planet, for which we have a common responsibility. In the awareness of where we are, and to whom we belong, there also comes the recognition of what we as a family must do together - create a world which is filled with the virtues of the Supreme Soul, by first imbibing those virtues inside us. 

Message for the day

To fill the ones who are hopeless with hope is the greatest service.

Expression: To have faith by seeing the positive qualities even in the most negative person is to fill them with hope. Also to fill hope means to encourage others to move forward in the most negative situation. When this is done they are able to use their potentials for a positive purpose and slowly bring about a change for the better.

Experience: When I am able to see positivity under all circumstances, I am able to have the courage and enthusiasm to make the best out of every situation. This also naturally makes me an inspiration for those around me too and makes me an image of support for those who want to make effort.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

https://astudypoint.blogspot.com/

Contemplation: December 09, 2018: Your Imagination

Contemplation: December 09, 2018: Your Imagination

Your Imagination

Do you let your imagination run wild and create worse-case scenarios?

Imagining the worst strengthens the possibility of creating the very situation you do not want. Instead, why not increase the possibility of creating the best!

Harness your imagination and create best-case scenarios.

Managing Thoughts

A great number of us wish we weren't forgetful or careless. But
interestingly enough, the mind generally forgets normal, routine things
but can't get away from contemplating on the past or future (could be
my own or others). It's not surprising that my mind finds it hard to
remember what I need for today, when it's trying to manage the
traffic jam of thoughts pertaining to yesterday and tomorrow. We could
argue that the past has many good things to adopt or that we need to
plan for the future, but along with that I end up encouraging the past
or future to weigh me down. Let me guard my thoughts carefully and not
allow any leakage of the mind power.

Quality Transformation

Quality change is the capacity to transform negative situations, or circumstances, into something beneficial for one's self and others. 'Quality transformers' are people who can turn walls of resistance into bridges of understanding and keep crossing them, who can change any obstacle into a stepping stone of success and can reverse the troubling, paralyzing dragon of doubt and insecurity into radiant self-confidence, dissolving the thought impossible from the mind.

Such people work with the undercurrents of life that determine the external reality, of human interaction. These undercurrents are their attitudes, thoughts and feelings. If these undercurrents are filled with resentment, anger and selfishness, then, despite being polite and cooperative externally with people, relationships will be subject to damage and deterioration. On the other hand, when the undercurrent is filled with trust and sincerity, then the quality of life and relationships is enhanced. The fundamental source of quality is the existence of a positive undercurrent. It is not a matter of our words, actions or role (which is the external reality), but rather the foundation, the undercurrent i.e. the thoughts and the activity of the mind.

Meditation enables the mind to tune in to that undercurrent of thoughts, feelings, and attitudes, which is the invisible creator of our human reality. The nourishing power of silence, attained through meditation and spiritual knowledge, gives us the means to bring about quality transformation (change) in this undercurrent. Such change enhances our self-confidence and the capacity to creatively and positively relate to life as it is and face situations easily.

Soul Sustenance

The Power to Co-operate

In India, there is a saying that when everyone gave a finger of co-operation, the mountain of sorrow was lifted. If we look with open eyes at the world of today, and at current social, financial and environmental trends, it's clear that there is widespread suffering and sorrow, that it is likely to get worse, and that to remove this sorrow will be a task like lifting a mountain. Meditation ignites a conviction inside us that the task will be done. Although we have such different backgrounds, cultures, personalities, and so on; meditation shapes our personalities in such a way that it becomes easy for us to share our resources, work together, and give our own finger of co-operation in the task.

The way meditation achieves this is interesting. Look at the other side - at what prevents co-operation: it is ego, where I am in a state of self-glorification, hungry for personal praise or fame, and not concerned about the wellbeing of the team. In ego, I think I am the only one who knows, the one who is right. Ego kills co-operation. Ego is closely connected to body-consciousness. An enormous 'I and my' factor comes in when I think of myself as this body, and lose sight of the soul. My race, my color, my gender, my physical appearance, my education, my family, my job, my position, my possessions - all these become part of the build-up of ego. Working with others with co-operation, who may at any moment challenge my ego with their own different agendas and needs, then becomes stressful.

(To be continued tomorrow ....)

Message for the day

The power of transformation brings all attainments.

Expression: When there is the ability to transform negative into positive, and waste into useful in a second there is the ability to be useful for the self and others. There would not be just complaints against the situation, but the best would be made out of all situations and move on to the aim set out.

Experience: When I am able to use the power of transformation to finish negative and waste, I am able to experience being free from obstacles. So I am able to experience contentment under all circumstances for having made the best use of everything available.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

https://astudypoint.blogspot.com/

Contemplation: December 08, 2018: Mind Matters

Contemplation: December 08, 2018: Mind Matters

Mind Matters

The most important part of you is your mind (not your brain - the brain is the hardware and the mind creates the software). 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. Your mind is not made of matter but it does matter what you give it and what you create with it. Where your mind goes, you go. What your mind creates becomes your destiny.

Trustworthy

When you have the power to accommodate, you are mature enough to merge gossip, rumours, people's weaknesses and sanskars and not spread bad vibrations. Just as a mother never talks ill of her children's
defects or as the ocean accepts the rubbish rivers bring along, God
teaches us to be sensible and discreet. These qualities make us
trustworthy and give us the power to build relationships rather than
walls.

Applying The Law Of Balance To Anger (cont.)

Yesterday we had explained how the law of balance can be applied to anger on a smaller level. The same law can also be applied on a larger level. Each time a group of people transmit the negative energy of anger physically to another group of people - at that time, either:

a) one party is disturbing the balance temporarily, which will be restored sometime in the future, by the second party indulging in similar behavior, or
b) balance is being restored at the present moment (because negative energy had been transmitted from the opposite party to the first party sometime in the past). This balancing must take place, because it's an unbreakable law. This is the law of balance.

This law that does not need to be enforced by us, the police or even by God. It is a natural law like other laws of nature. It gets enforced itself and cannot be broken by anyone. Understanding that this law is embedded in the human state of affairs at all times makes us careful and detached so that we don't hurt ourselves with violent, toxic thoughts, when someone acts negatively. We create these kinds of thoughts because we believe this is revenge that is justified. Also, knowing that anger that is radiated comes back doesn't mean we don't have any laws within society - they are required, but it helps us not to take the law into our own hands. We cannot force justice to take place before its fixed time. We cannot force the balancing of energies of anger. If we trying doing it, it is being egoistic and we only upset the balance of our energies as a result. Even to criticize those who try to take the law into their own hands is to take the law into our hands.

Soul Sustenance

Listening To the Voice of the Intellect

The subtle or non-physical sense organ of the non-physical soul which we use to judge something as right or wrong, good or bad and then make a choice or decision is the intellect. When we are body-conscious, we are attached to many things such as people, our role, objects, money, even our own ideas and beliefs, etc. Due to these attachments, we are constantly creating emotions of fear and anger in the energy of our consciousness. It is these two emotions which then overpower or influence our intellect and stop us from judging clearly and correctly between right and wrong. This constant inner emotional noise of worry and irritation (the seeds of fear and anger) do not allow us to hear the deepest part of our intellect, which is our intuition.

When we are soul-conscious, we are free from attachment and therefore fear and anger. Our consciousness is calm, focused and keenly aware of the quiet, but extremely wise voice of our intuition (inner wisdom). Decision-making is easier and choices are made out of wisdom rather than fear. Meditation is the method which helps us rise above our mental attachments and allow us to connect with the wisdom in our heart, our intuition, our inner voice, which suggests what the right response or action in any situation, is. A practical example of this is when, after being persuaded by your family members you decide not to smoke any more. You let go of the attachment to ‘my’ belief that there is nothing wrong with smoking, which then allows you to listen to the heart of the other (their feelings) and your own heart or intellect, which suggests to you the right action for your well-being in the long run.

Message for the day

To be free from guilt means to ensure quick and easy progress.

Expression: Blaming oneself for all that happens and taking the mind to extreme levels of guilt takes one to a sense of unworthiness. Such a person loses the strength and is unable to look for solutions in difficult situations. Hence there is nothing new that can be thought of, and the situation doesn't get any better.

Experience: When I continue to blame myself, I believe that I deserver neither happiness nor love and that the sorrow that I am experiencing is a deserved punishment. So I lose all enthusiasm to improve the situation and have no awareness of the treasures that I have. So I experience no progress in my life.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

https://astudypoint.blogspot.com/

Contemplation: December 07, 2018: Spirituality versus Science

Contemplation: December 07, 2018: Spirituality versus Science

Spirituality versus Science

Science can tell why a rose is red, but not why it is beautiful. Beauty belongs to the realm of spirituality.

Wanting a Change

When I am disheartened, I may do one of the two: I either suffer
quietly by admonishing my incapabilities and fate or I externalize my
problems by blaming God and those around me. Apart from the stress I
create for myself and negative karma with other souls, what's
important is that either way I am not solving the problem. Each one of
us face disappointment at our own times, but the longer I allow these
feelings to stay on the more attached they become. I can only begin to
heal the situation and myself by 'wanting a change', 'wanting
relief' and 'wanting something better as I deserve it.' This
positive attitude works as catalysis to transform circumstances, take
me closer to God and create a new destiny.

Applying The Law Of Balance To Anger

We are all very much aware of the law of gravity. It keeps us grounded on the earth. Gravity ensures everything returns to a state of balance. This is the law of balance on a physical level.

The law of balance can also be applied on a mental and emotional level, to the emotion of anger e.g. Too many angry thoughts of revenge and animosity (hatred) inside our consciousness can emerge in two ways:

a) either externally as toxic, violent behavior, which will attract toxic, violent responses from others, or
b) if these thoughts are kept bottled inside, they will eventually, after a period of time, emerge as some disease or the other in the physical body. This is because our consciousness then tries to find a way to get rid of the mental impurity, which enters our physical body and restores balance to the mental and physical system, which has been upset due to the creation of the toxic thoughts, in the first place.

The above e.g. is an application of this law on a micro level. We can apply this law of balance on a macro level, on the world at large, where we watch groups of people, even countries exchanging negative energy. We shall explain that in tomorrow's message.

(To be continued tomorrow...)

Soul Sustenance

What Are Some Of The Benefits Of Positive Thinking On Our Relationships?

• Your relationships are more harmonious.

• You possess greater ability to accept others with comprehension and without expectations.

• Your positive thoughts influence others and you share your happiness.

• You attract other people with your peace and harmony.

• You make others approach your true self and they feel comfortable with you.

• You break through barriers and build solid bridges of communication and understanding.

Message for the day

The ones who see specialties become special.

Expression: To see specialties and ignore negativity is to take a step ahead by imbibing those specialties. This creates a habit of seeing, taking in and expressing only positive qualities. So whatever the person may be, whatever his qualities may be, there is only a connection of positivity with him.

Experience: When I am able to relate to everyone in this way with only specialties, I become special. I also find others responding positively to me and using only their specialties while in contact with me. There are also a lot of good wishes that I receive from others because of my positive attitude.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

https://astudypoint.blogspot.com/

Contemplation: December 06, 2018: The Flow

Contemplation: December 06, 2018: The Flow

Douro River, Portugal

The Flow 

Everything that comes to us, comes to pass or, more accurately, for us to pass on. Not just the money in our pocket, but wisdom, objects, ideas, even opportunities, all come to us, so that, at the right moment, we can pass them on. This is called flow. Being in the flow means being aware that the river of life is flowing to us at every moment. Being in the flow means accepting whatever comes and putting it to good use, before passing it on. Going with the flow means allowing whatever comes to move on freely, without holding on to it in any way.

Uniqueness

We usually expect people to behave according to our expectations. We
would like to see people change according to our expectations and we
expect them to mould themselves with our own value system. Yet we
notice that this does not happen and then we tend to become
disappointed. We need to understand that each one is unique with his
own specialties, and uniqueness. When we are able to appreciate this
uniqueness we are able to respect each and every human being and the
unique contribution he can make. So with this change in our
consciousness we will not expect others to change according to my wish
but will take benefit from their uniqueness.

The Spiritual Director And The Actor

Spirituality adds great depth and value to Shakespeare's famous words - 'All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players.' Through spirituality, I realize and experience myself as a soul, separate from the body, playing a part on the stage of the world through my physical body costume. The difference between the actor and the role is clearly understood. An added dimension then, to this consciousness is that God or the Supreme Being is the Spiritual Director of the play we are enacting.

The Director - God looks at the entire drama and every actor's part from a broader perspective. His vision is not just limited to the present but stretches from the past (past not limited to this birth) to the future (future not limited to this birth) of each one's part. I learn from the Director how to play my own part with accuracy, now as well as his training helps me for the future. Like any good actor, I need to have a lot of respect, appreciation, loyalty and love for the Director and immense faith in him. The Director is like a mentor or guide for an actor, to whom he surrenders completely. He knows that by doing that, his act will be of the highest quality. If he doesn't do that and he performs his act his own way, his act will suffer and he will experience pain. As a result he will not be as successful as one who is willing to listen and learn from the Director. If I keep a little distance between me and my role, so I don't lose sight of the Spiritual Director's instructions and the way the play is moving, my part will be much easier to perform, better appreciated by all, and I will be extremely successful. Positive appreciation for a performance for an actor's performance by the spectators is of great value to any actor, sometimes even more important than commercial success. So surrendering to the soul's Director and having a strong relationship of mutual trust with him is particularly helpful at this time, when there is a lot of confusion on the stage of the Earth with billions of actors crowded here and our acts not exactly of the highest quality. So I, the spiritual actor need someone at this time who can tell me about mistakes committed by my in my past acts and improve my act of the present which will result in a positive present as well as future. Spirituality introduces me to that someone.

Soul Sustenance

Transforming (Changing) My Thought Patterns

Why is it that we can't change the pattern of our thoughts so easily? Imagine a bird being so comfortable in its nest that, though perhaps sometimes it stands on the branch of the tree to inflate its chest and adjust its feathers, it never wants to fly and does not even realize it could fly. It never knows the blissful freedom of flight, never feels the wind through its wings. It thinks the other birds that are flying around are unwise or foolish. In much the same way, we never really leave our nests of old thought patterns. Our habitual thoughts become our comfort zone and each repetitive thought pattern is like a twig in the nest, which makes the nest stronger and our stay in the nest seemingly comfortable and permanent. We never experience our true spiritual freedom or flight or feel the breeze of our inner beautiful nature. Even the thought, "I am a soul" has to be realized eventually, so that we can actually experience its deepest truth.

In the world of spirituality, thoughts are like the map, but they are not the territory nor the reality of the experience. Thinking * I am a peaceful soul or * I am a loveful soul or * I am powerful soul is not being soul-conscious, it is only theory or knowledge, but it is definitely an essential start. Maps are important and necessary, until we know the way home to experience. Reaching this final destination of experience makes it easier for us and empowers us to transform or change our old thought patterns.

Message for the day

To be victorious means to pass obstacles with ease.

Expression: The ones who aim to become victorious never think of not being faced with obstacles. Instead they look at each obstacle as a chance to use and express their own inner powers. So there is constant progress visible in them.

Experience: When I am prepared for the inevitable challenges that life brings, I will not experience fear, tension or anxiety but will always be confident and fearless. Apart from actually being victorious in the situation, I also experience winning over my weaknesses and discovering new powers within me.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

https://astudypoint.blogspot.com/