Contemplation: June 23, 2019: Anger

Contemplation: June 23, 2019: Anger

 Anger

A sensible person knows that it is a waste of time and energy to get angry. Effort will then have to be made to reconstruct that relationship. It is much more useful to breathe deeply, pay attention to your attitude and answer without rushing. In this way, improve and strengthen your relationships with others. Create trust and your mistakes will be forgiven.

  

A true diamond reveals its sparkle wherever it is. 

Sometimes, we tend to get affected by the negativity of the situation. We then lose touch with our inner qualities. But reminding myself that I am like a true diamond keeps me free from negative influences. I then continue to sparkle with my inner qualities wherever I am. I can thus help get in touch with their qualities too. Today I will smile at myself and be proud of what I am. I will remind myself that I am the true diamond who can never lose the sparkle of my inner qualities and happiness where ever I am. This practice will help me be prepared to deal with the variety of situations that life brings my way.

Seeing Yourself In A Positive Light

Sit down in silence, relax, breathe deeply and create a space within you... Now feel yourself looking at your inner being, with your third eye, in a different light...  Instead of focusing on your weaknesses, failures, what you lack inside, what is lacking in your life, look out for what beautiful treasures, your qualities, specialties, talents, etc. you have inside you, look at the positive aspects of your life and bring them into your conscious awareness... Becoming 'self-aware' in this way, realize, you have so much to offer, so much to give to others...

Now, create a beautiful image of yourself where you see yourself as free... free of negative feelings for yourself and others, with a pure heart and a peaceful mind... Feel and see your inner greatness, discover that you are special and unique...  Come back to being your own friend... Love yourself, accept yourself and respect yourself... Appreciate and value the qualities of others...

Feel fine being yourself, in that space, in that room that there is within you, where you are secure and safe, where you can enjoy the marvelous thing that is your own company, the company of a positive being...

Be awake and full of life... you are happy... at peace... feeling peace... sharing peace... feeling free... Having seen yourself in a positive light, prepare yourself to enter into action, maintaining your stage of self-esteem...

Soul Sustenance

Understanding Qualities And Virtues

Human beings have original qualities that are values which define our human and spiritual nature. The original qualities of each person are similar. The only difference is to be found in the intensity with which they are expressed. There are seven intrinsic qualities in human nature: peace, love, purity, happiness, power, bliss and truth. These qualities, that we all possess, are expressed in our life, relationships and activities in the form of different virtues. Any virtue that we express in our life and day-to-day interactions is not usually a unique quality; normally these virtues are a variety of qualities (listed above) that work together and express themselves. If we blend some primary colours, we get a wide range of colours. While we are expressing these original qualities in action, they mix together and become virtues.

For example, patience is not an original quality of the self, but it is an important virtue, necessary for keeping calm in today's world. Patience possesses a little of the quality of love, wisdom and peace. If these original qualities are missing, in the sense that we have lost our contact with them, then impatience and irritability will arise. The virtue of tolerance requires inner strength, love and peace.

From the moment we are born, we are subject to many negative influences from our family, society, religion, education, the media, culture, social class and ethnic background, that tarnish our basic values and often restrict our ability to express them in the form of different virtues in our daily actions and interactions. Spirituality helps us to revive these basic values.  

Message for the day

Obedience takes one towards the right direction.

Projection: Obedience means understanding everything that comes one's way and allowing it to guide life in the right way - because nothing comes without a reason. An obedient mind is able to see the positive aspect and understand why there is that kind of a situation and humbly allows the situation to do its work.

Solution: When I am obedient I am able to remain content and positive. I am not disheartened by low situations but understand that every low situation pushes me upward with greater force. So I enjoy being obedient and easy under all circumstances, yet being powerful within.


In Spiritual Service,

Brahma Kumaris

https://astudypoint.blogspot.com/

Contemplation: June 22, 2019: Deep Sleep

Contemplation: June 22, 2019: Deep Sleep

Deep Sleep

Ignorance is like a deep sleep in which you dream you are still awake. It is a disease of humanity. The human soul forgets who it belongs to and starts reacting without referring to spiritual values.

The one who is full with all attainments is the one who is creative. 

If I am forever dissatisfied with what life brings me, I will never be content. Without contentment there cannot be creativity and beauty in my actions. I will be able to make of what I have for something better when I am able to appreciate what I today. If I go on complaining about what I don't have, I will never be able to progress. Today I will make a list of all that I have as a gift. What I could include in the list could be a skill, a talent or even a quality. I will then put at least one of them to use, starting today. This will encourage me to use my other qualities too in a better way.

Rising Above Limits

From the moment the soul has occupied the physical body, it has been living a life completely surrounded and absolutely controlled by limits. The domination of these limits has been increasing as it has taken body after body. Not just physical limits such as of gender or power, money or material possessions, but of time - the time I spend with my children, the time it takes me to finish a particular task, the time my friendship lasts, the time it takes me to drive to the office, etc.

The beauty of meditation is that it detaches me from the consciousness of the body and as a result I rise above these physical limits and limits of time. I experience the pure and very importantly, free and independent consciousness of the soul. I step out of the boundaries of both space and time. I begin to feel my own eternity, in which I simply am, without a beginning or an end. I existed before the formation of the body and I shall exist after it has returned to dust. This awareness of my eternal (with no beginning or end) identity is powerful, because it removes the fear of death. With that goes away a lot of the ego-driven, pressure filled behavior, the desperate need to make a mark through my profession or material objects which I own or in my relationships. This is the behavior in which I indulge when there isn't the realization of my eternal identity.

I, the soul, become aware of a continuity to my existence. Very importantly, I am also able to have the feeling of a place that is my eternal home, a place of rest, of peace, of complete stillness and silence. It is my place from where I began my journey. I exist in that home, and I come from that home to play my role on Earth, and I return there when my role is completed. This realization makes me internally full, fearless and content.

Soul Sustenance 

Meditation In Action (cont.)

The churning over of points of knowledge throughout our active hours strengthens and maintains the meditative state of mind.

There are five basic points to churn over. We had discussed two yesterday.
The remaining three are given below. Create your own thought commentaries around each point.

What Is My True Religion?
No matter how much surrounding turmoil there may be, I can remember that my true religion is peace and purity. I am not a Hindu, a Buddhist or Christian, I am a peaceful soul. Just as people do not want to convert from their religions, I resist any attempt to pull me away from my true religion of peace and purity.

Where And What Is My Home?
Just as people love their homeland, I can have the same natural love for my original home, the soul world. At the same time I can be aware of my original form of light and power. In this way I can cross any situation that comes in front of me. I am also aware that I have soon to return home and so I must settle all my karmic accounts.

How Is This World a Drama?

With the consciousness of the eternal world cycle, I can see my role and the roles of others in a perfect and unlimited drama. Even though others and I are playing parts, we are separate from the roles. Now that I know the Director (Supreme Soul) and story of the whole drama from a spiritual perspective, there is no point in getting upset over tiny little scenes. I know that in the beginning of the drama when I had come on this world stage from the soul world, I was full of peace, love, purity and happiness and so now I can re-emerge the sanskaras that I had in the beginning. 

Message for the day

Humility brings excellence

Projection: Humility means there is no expectation of being perfect always. So whatever is done comes naturally. There is no feeling of threat about others' opinion, but the one who is humble is able to express inner talent without any fear and expectations. So humility takes one forward towards excellence:

Solution: When I am humble, I am able to stabilise myself in my state of self-respect always. This naturally is felt even when I am not able to bring perfection in my actions or even when others are not satisfied with me. Internally there is a feeling of satisfaction, knowing that I am constantly learning and moving forward.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

https://astudypoint.blogspot.com/

Contemplation: June 21, 2019: Oasis of Peace

Contemplation: June 21, 2019: Oasis of Peace

Oasis of Peace

Deep inside our consciousness is an oasis of peace. This is the molten core of the soul, but it is not hot, it is cool. Not passive, but a source of inner power to fuel our mind and intellect, so that we can create powerful thoughts and make accurate decisions. If you can learn to go to this centre, peace will be your companion, positivity your partner, and you will be able to chill out in one second, anywhere, anytime. Returning to the centre of your self is the journey of one second. It is the regular destination of clever souls. And it is the source of your power and peace.

Being a Peacemaker - It's not about winning the Nobel Peace Prize. It is about choosing to be a peacemaker and working towards a win-win solution in every situation.

First, stop being at war with yourself, and when the turbulence in your mind ceases, you can begin to make peace with the world.

Smile

Does a kangaroo wish it were an elephant?
Would a duck desire the life of a hippopotamus?
Does a jellyfish long to be bumblebee?
Would a snake be happier as a giraffe?

How much time and energy do you spend wishing to be someone or something that you're clearly not?

Why not wake up everyday and smile because you're YOU!

Identify The Filters In Your Life

Like different types and different colour filters on a physical level; on a spiritual level, there are many different types of filters that work in our lives e.g. the jealousy filter, hatred filter, attachment filter, fear filter, greed filter, etc. and many more. Due to these filters, we do not see people and things as they are, but as we are, because the filters are our own self-created ones.   If we want to see people and things as they are, we need to check which filters are working most in our lives. Each one of us has different filters working to different extents, depending on our personality e.g. someone might have the jealousy filter working more regularly as compared to the fear filter in his/her life.

Because of these filters, everything that we see is not only coloured by the colour of the filter we are using at that time, but our look is also biased as we choose what to see, what to give more importance, what to be affected by more, what to let through the filter etc. and what not to. We have and form a deceptive vision of the things and people that surround us inside our minds. And the longer this deformed vision lasts, the more we will convince ourself that that is the true image of the world, because our filters continue to process new data depending on what they see that make the image stronger. This reinforcing of the incorrect image builds up our database of incorrect beliefs based on different filters and makes them stronger and stronger as we go through our life journey. Beliefs are fixed ways of looking at reality. Thus, the world that we perceive is no longer the real world, but a world created by our own mind. So in a way we become deaf and blind on a spiritual level towards the world. To heal this deafness and blindness, we do not have to remove each filter one after the other, which may become a difficult task; but we have to discover the  pure, original internal self and start seeing everything without the filters, based on the pure-self point of view. As a result of that, gradually our incorrect beliefs start dissolving and correct beliefs start setting in based on our clean unfiltered view.

Soul Sustenance

Can Love And Freedom Co-Exist (Exist Together)?

Is it possible to love each other and be free at the same time? Yes. To reach this state in a relationship great wisdom is required. Most people love one another and tie one another down. Thus they lose their freedom. When freedom is lost, happiness goes away, and true wellbeing gives way to unhappiness. Often we look above all for love, a love we believe will change our life. We see it as the recognition of our inner value by another person. However, we trip over ourselves in looking for this love. Necessity is what motivates us and we try to satisfy it with an object or person who matches up to perfection. We have an immense emotional need for love, and the fear of remaining in a state of unsatisfied wanting. In our search to fill our need, we are prepared to deceive ourselves with unsuitable partners. Many people allow the love of another person to define their personality to such a point that, if they are rejected, they lose any sense of who they are and of the purpose they have in life. Often the relationship is colored, through one of the partners or both, by fear.

To free ourselves of the tendency to depend, we should have a strong heart, without any selfishness; a heart that has nothing to hide and that, as a result, is free and without fear; a heart that does not hold on to closed beliefs, to old negative experiences; a heart that has good feelings and is free of bitterness; a heart filled with the true values of peace, love, freedom and solidarity – which as a result is stronger and fuller.

Message for the day

To use the inner powers is to be a constant success.

Projection: While moving forward I sometimes have doubts about my own power to succeed. So sometimes my powers remain hidden and I am not able to have the confidence or the enthusiasm to work on the situation.

Solution: Whatever the situation I am faced with, I must not forget my own inner powers. I need to recognise and use those powers which will help me overcome the situation. When there is faith within me, my mind will be open to the recognition and the use of these inner powers.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

https://astudypoint.blogspot.com/

Contemplation: June 20, 2019: Think Eternity

Contemplation: June 20, 2019: Think Eternity

Artist: Caroline Urbania Naeem -  Night on the Magic Carpet

Think Eternity

Life experiences are like sentences - we are always looking for the full stop, the conclusion. It's OK to end a train of thought, but not thought itself. Thoughts are the beginning of our creation and are here to be creative. Thoughts are like the magic carpet on which the soul rides across eternity - in reality, there are no endings, no conclusions. Rest for the spirit (which is what we are) is when we allow only the current of the purest thoughts to flow through our mind - thoughts which carry good wishes and blessings for ourselves and others. This is not so much going with the flow, as being in the flow, and being refreshed by the flow. It is how we refresh ourselves. For when we have powerful, positive thoughts for and about others, who experiences them first? 

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Positive thoughts are the best nutrition for the mind

While we know that positive thoughts are the best nutrition for the mind, we need to recognize the source of these thoughts. One good way is to spend quality time with something that acts like a good company- a person, a book or an environment. As is our company, so are our thoughts. Also, it is good to avoid bad company- company that has a subtle influence on our thinking. Today I will spend some quality time with someone or something that will generate positive thoughts. I will spend at least 15 minutes today, which will help me to be positive and help me re-energize, because only the one who has power within is able to maintain positivity even in negative situations.

Identify The Filters In Your Life

Like different types and different colour filters on a physical level; on a spiritual level, there are many different types of filters that work in our lives e.g. the jealousy filter, hatred filter, attachment filter, fear filter, greed filter, etc. and many more. Due to these filters, we do not see people and things as they are, but as we are, because the filters are our own self-created ones.   If we want to see people and things as they are, we need to check which filters are working most in our lives. Each one of us has different filters working to different extents, depending on our personality e.g. someone might have the jealousy filter working more regularly as compared to the fear filter in his/her life.

Because of these filters, everything that we see is not only coloured by the colour of the filter we are using at that time, but our look is also biased as we choose what to see, what to give more importance, what to be affected by more, what to let through the filter etc. and what not to. We have and form a deceptive vision of the things and people that surround us inside our minds. And the longer this deformed vision lasts, the more we will convince ourself that that is the true image of the world, because our filters continue to process new data depending on what they see that make the image stronger. This reinforcing of the incorrect image builds up our database of incorrect beliefs based on different filters and makes them stronger and stronger as we go through our life journey. Beliefs are fixed ways of looking at reality. Thus, the world that we perceive is no longer the real world, but a world created by our own mind. So in a way we become deaf and blind on a spiritual level towards the world. To heal this deafness and blindness, we do not have to remove each filter one after the other, which may become a difficult task; but we have to discover the  pure, original internal self and start seeing everything without the filters, based on the pure-self point of view. As a result of that, gradually our incorrect beliefs start dissolving and correct beliefs start setting in based on our clean unfiltered view.

Soul Sustenance

Meditation In Action

Meditation is not something we do but rather something we have. It is not that we spend 23 hours in an extrovert state and only one hour in introspective self-effort. In this sense, extroversion means to have the attention drawn by all the goings-on outside the soul. True introversion, also, does not mean to sit in a corner and not speak to anyone; it means to pay attention that all thoughts, words and actions are flowing in the right direction. In this respect, the churning over of points of knowledge throughout our active hours strengthens and maintains the meditative state of mind.

There are five basic points to churn over. Create your own thought commentaries around each point.

Who Am I?
I am a soul. The body is my chariot. All human beings are souls too, my brothers and sisters. I see them with spiritual love. Whilst walking and talking I see others as souls. Maintaining this vision I cross all the barriers of worldly differences.

Whose Child Am I?
Just as I naturally have the awareness of being the child of my physical father, receiving sustenance and a form of inheritance, so too I can have the natural consciousness of being a child of the Supreme Father. I can reflect on the sustenance and inheritance in the form of knowledge, virtues and powers I receive from Him.

(To be continued tomorrow ….) 

Message for the day

Humility brings excellence

Projection: Humility means there is no expectation of being perfect always. So whatever is done comes naturally. There is no feeling of threat about others' opinion, but the one who is humble is able to express inner talent without any fear and expectations. So humility takes one forward towards excellence:

Solution: When I am humble, I am able to stabilise myself in my state of self-respect always. This naturally is felt even when I am not able to bring perfection in my actions or even when others are not satisfied with me. Internally there is a feeling of satisfaction, knowing that I am constantly learning and moving forward.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

https://astudypoint.blogspot.com/

Contemplation: June 19, 2019: The Key of Optimism

Contemplation: June 19, 2019: The Key of Optimism

Puerta, San Sebastian, España.

The Key of Optimism

Optimism opens a door in difficult or hopeless situations. Optimism knows that there is always a way, no matter how many doors have been shut. Optimism believes that there is always a useful alternative. No matter what the crisis, an optimist maintains the outlook that it is a sign, time for a different way of thinking, or a new way of doing things.

Tolerance

The one who is tolerant is the one who is successful. Tolerance frees
the mind of waste thoughts, as there is no negativity towards anyone.
Also tolerance frees us from questions about things that are going
wrong. When we are free from waste thoughts, we can do our best and
thereby ensure success. When things go wrong or when someone is
creating obstacles in our way, instead of worrying or having questions
about it, we need to accept it with the power of tolerance. We need
to see within ourselves what strength or speciality we have that can
make us face this situation.

The Law of Self Control

The more control we have over ourselves and our lives, the happier and freer we will feel.

We sometimes get angry with other people. Why does this happen? It is probably because they have not met our expectations or we were trying to control them and they have not let us. Sometimes, the simple expectation that a person should behave as we want them to is in itself an attempt to control them. When we try to control another person, which is impossible, we are bound to fail, feel frustrated and stressed.

We are capable of having power over ourselves; we can be more responsible for our thoughts and feelings. We have the capacity to choose how we respond to different situations and people that we come across in our lives. If we do not exercise much control over our thoughts and emotions, we easily fall into the tendency of seeing ourselves as victimized, and we blame others, making them responsible in our own minds for how we feel. When we do this, we are forgetting that we create our own thoughts. When this happens, we are handing over the control of our thoughts to those who influence, criticize, attack or slander us.

If we want to recover the control over our life, we must learn to control our thoughts and feelings and not blame anyone else for them. The more self-control we have over ourselves, the less will we want to control others and our capacity to influence other people positively will be greater.

Soul Sustenance

The Relationship Between My Conscience And Intellect

To act from a state of truth, it is important to realize the relationship between my intellect and conscience and what role these two play in experiencing this state of truth in my thoughts, words and actions. The quality of my thoughts, words and actions is based on the quality of my intellect and conscience. There are three different stages of the intellect conscience relationship.

* The first stage is one in which my conscience and my intellect, both are so pure and transparent that whatever is right and true is naturally brought into my thoughts, words and actions and nothing negative or impure manages to enter into my thoughts, words and actions.

* The second stage is one in which my conscience acknowledges that which is the truth, but the intellect does not have the strength to be able to bring the truth into practical. The conscience tells me one thing, but my intellect pulls me elsewhere, and it overpowers me. I do what I know I shouldn’t.

* The third stage is one in which my conscience is not clean enough or aware enough to acknowledge the truth so the question of it influencing the intellect to bring the truth into practical does not arise. As a result my intellect, which is not at all backed by the conscience in this state, takes complete control of me. I do what I shouldn’t and I am not even aware of it.

When my intellect overpowers my conscience repeatedly, my conscience loses its influence on my intellect. As a result the conscience keeps weakening until its voice is stifled or silenced. As a result of that, I can then no longer discriminate between truth and falsehood. I will feel that there are no fixed ways of defining right and wrong, that each has their own judgment or definition of truth and falsehood. True spiritual knowledge, which gets stored in the intellect, and the experience of meditation, which purifies the intellect as well as my conscience, both together, make me aware of the definition as well as give me an experience of what is the truth and what is false, what is right and what is wrong. As a result of that, I am able to maintain the first stage of the intellect conscience relationship very easily in my day-to-day actions.

Message for the day

To be a well wisher means to think of changing first.

Projection: Being a well wisher just doesn't mean wishing others well. It also means having good wishes for the self and having the pure desire to bring about a change for the better in the self. So whatever the kind of situations, instead of just judging others and what they need to change, the one who is a well-wisher constantly brings about transformation in the self.

Solution: For having worked on myself under all circumstances and having used every situation as a chance for self-progress, I constantly enjoy every thing that comes my way. I have no expectations, but just think of benefit for others and myself. I then never find any situation to be an obstacle, but use it as a step for progress.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

https://astudypoint.blogspot.com/

Contemplation: June 18, 2019: Start Early

Contemplation: June 18, 2019: Start Early

Start Early

The best time to awaken both body and spirit is in the early morning. We are fresh, in solitude, and the vibrations of the world are at their calmest. It is not surprising that you will find all experienced meditators and yogis up with the dawn, inviting the sun of spirit to shine into the heart of their soul. The first half hour of conscious awareness will be the foundation of your day. Make an early start. Meditate, set the switch of your consciousness and calibrate your energy for the day. You'll be surprised the difference it makes.

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Tolerance

Those with the power of tolerance will be content and will make others
content too. When there is tolerance, there is also continuous
improvement. This in turn brings satisfaction for the self and also
enables us to become a source of support for those around too. This
will make them content with themselves and with us too. Let us take a
thought to make it a point to learn at least one thing from all the
suggestions that we get throughout a given day. When we keep this in
mind we will be able to tolerate even negative comments very easily
and we will find ourselves improving.

Role Induced Stress (cont.)

It's not at all wrong to treat what we do seriously, but it's a mistake to believe what we do is extremely extremely important and we are extremely busy people living an extremely busy lifestyle. This kind of consciousness makes us over-serious. A very common sign of this is carrying a lot of thoughts of one role into the other. E.g. Aarti, a young mother, switches roles from a software executive in the corporate sector, a role which she plays in the entire day, to a parent and wife in the evening. If she is over thinking about her day-role while playing her evening-role, it is a sign she is over-identifying with her day role and there is a lack of detachment. As a result she starts becoming over-serious and suffers from 'role induced stress' as a result. There is a deep connection between seriousness and fear. E.g. In this case of Aarti, as a result of attachment to her role, there are lots of fears that she carries regarding her role of software executive - fear of loss of position; loss of love, respect and reputation - either in her company or in general in society, not succeeding, not getting promoted etc. because of which she is over-serious and she carries the role in her head almost all the time, even when she sleeps. That is why so called 'extremely busy' people sometimes complain of sleep problems.

This can happen with us, with any role we play. This kind of stress, just like in the case of the actor (explained yesterday) is generally made up sorrow, anger and fear - one of these three different negative emotions from time to time or more than one at the same time - phases of dejection or feeling low or a lack of enthusiasm or a general disinterest in life events; phases of frustration and experiencing a lack of control of events and people, due to which there are frequent outbursts of anger and phases of immense worry regarding the future, all of which affect our mind, our physical body, relationships and even success of our role; although it is our role itself (our over-identification with it) which is the root cause of this emotional turmoil inside us. So instead of benefitting our role, our over-concern for it starts affecting it adversely.

Soul Sustenance

Accessing Spiritual Power

In the inner depths of the soul there is pure, spiritual power of peace, love, wisdom and un-conditional joy. This power provides us with the inner strength needed to change. But how do we access this power? Meditation is the method – it allows this power to come to the surface of our consciousness and into our minds and influence our thoughts, feelings and personality. In the same way as lava flows from the inner depths of the Earth to the surface through a volcano, we can also create volcanoes of spiritual power when we meditate. Note, though, that we want to use our power in a positive way: we are not seeking the kind of power that is physical in nature and may cause damage, we are seeking spiritual power.

When we get access to our own personal source of the power of peace, love and happiness, we essentially become free of any dependency on external sources for feelings of the same. When we generate our own feelings of love and self-respect, we stop being dependent on others and our addiction to their acceptance and approval reduces and finally disappears. When we generate our own feelings of contentment and joy within ourselves, we become free from the need for substances, places or physical experiences in order to be happy.

Using this inner power in the right way allows us to uproot or remove completely the old negative habits within our personality. Any unwanted habit can be changed and the scars of all the negative habits, which have developed within the soul over a long period of time, during the journey of birth and rebirth, can be healed in a short time span. 

Message for the day

The ones who are constantly happy are truly fortunate.

Projection: Whatever the kind of situations needed to be faced, whoever the people and the different kind of personalities they come into contact with, the ones who are fortunate constantly enjoy. They also continue to take benefit and bring benefit to others too. Their fortune lies in their ability to perceive the positive aspect in everything and take benefit accordingly.

Solution: When I am able to be happy under all circumstances, I am able to make the best use of whatever I have with me. I then find myself full of all resources. I don't think of what I don't have but I am aware of and make the best use of what I have. So I find myself to be always lucky. I constantly move forward.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

https://astudypoint.blogspot.com/

Contemplation: June 17, 2019: True Diamonds

Contemplation: June 17, 2019: True Diamonds

True Diamonds

Become a true diamond. Eat the nourishment of happiness and never give sorrow to anyone. There is a difference between true and false. True diamonds sparkle from afar.

Tolerance

Tolerance enables one to learn from mistakes. When one is sure of what
he is doing and he is in his stage of self-respect, criticism can be
taken in the right way. This will give the ability to look within
when something goes wrong. Instead of justifying mistakes there will
be the ability to learn from them and improve. When someone criticizes
us, we need to remind ourselves that we have something to learn from
it. Let us ask ourselves if there is at least a small aspect that we
could learn from and incorporate in our life. Let us take this aspect
and leave the rest.

Role Induced Stress

A very common form of stress which has raised its head in recent years is stress induced due to one's role.  There was once a famous movie actor, well known as one of the best of all time and he was obviously very much aware of the same. One day as he was shooting for his new film; his director, a very prominent figure in the film-making arena, mentioned to him that there was a general perception spreading in the film industry as well as in the film going audiences that the actor was getting older with time and his performance was dropping and he needed to spruce up his performances if he had to compete with the younger actors. As soon as he heard this, he started taking his acting role and everything related to it over seriously and lost his happiness completely because he had been used to listening only to praises regarding his performances and reputation all his life. He also forgot all that the world had given him all his life, all the love, respect and adulation and became angry, bitter and resentful towards everyone he met, believing that they no longer held those feelings for him as much as before. Also a general sense of fear and nervousness started developed inside him regarding his next performance.

One piece of information had changed him altogether. What had gripped him - 'Role Induced Stress'. His emotion of stress was made of three sub emotions - sorrow, anger and fear (or worry). What was the cause - he over identified with his role. He 'believed' he was an extremely famous hero actor. But was hero actor what he was? It's what he did. But he learned to believe it is what he is.  Even we need to remind ourself that we get to play various roles on the world stage of action and that if we over-identify with any of the roles, which a lot of us do, then just like the actor, our creativity, spontaneity and lightness is reduced and we start to take things far too seriously, more than necessary, and as a result get stressed.

(To be continued tomorrow ...)

Soul Sustenance

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.

Message for the day

Faith in one's progress brings contentment.

Projection: Even when the situation is not according to what is expected, there is contentment for the one who has faith in his own progress. Such a person will not just sit back waiting for things to change nor will he just curse his fate. Instead he'll do his best and use all his resources in bettering the situation.

Solution: The understanding that all life's situations are a training for me, automatically keeps me content in all situations. There is naturally an experience of constant progress and a feeling of having gained something from all situations.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

https://astudypoint.blogspot.com/