Daily Positive Thoughts: July 25, 2015: Steady Light of Hope

Daily Positive Thoughts: July 25, 2015: Steady Light of Hope

Steady Light of Hope

No matter how dark the situation, let me always hold on to the steady light of hope.

As is the aim, so are the qualifications. 

If I have a high aim, I will imbibe qualities to reach that aim. I may or may not get what I set out to, but I will surely gain a lot
of qualities while doing so. On the other hand, having no aim or a low aim, is to be content with whatever I have. I will get nothing new, internally or externally. Even if I get something externally, I will not be enriched personally because of it. Once that situation is over, the benefit is over too. Today I will create an aim in keeping with what I want. One small aim is enough to focus all my energies on it. This will ensure my personal qualities keep improving with every passing situation. Further, I will not be deterred or distracted with anything.

Self-Empowerment

To strengthen the self we need to realize and review our weaknesses or those aspects of life that are holding us back in some way and/or are causing us some sorrow or discomfort. The next step is to use techniques of meditation to remove these weaknesses.

To know your weaknesses, perform the following exercise:
A. Remember the negative times in your life, when you experienced failure. What was the common weakness present in your behaviour at those times?
B. What are the negative or destructive trends in your behaviour because of which you or others experience pain or sorrow?
C. Sometimes certain traits or behaviour of others can arouse a negative response in us. What is that negative response?
D. What are you most frightened of?
E. Now review your answers and summarize.  What are your three main weaknesses?

Soul Sustenance

Emotional Joy And Emotional Sorrow

We commonly become emotional, either in times of sorrow e.g. at being separated from a loved one, at experiencing failure in an external event, on hearing a negative news, etc. or in times of joy e.g. when our child or spouse or even pet performs a warm act, while watching a movie, etc. While we have always believed that it is absolutely normal or natural to become emotional and some of us even believe that it is good to let go of our emotions and crying once in a while makes us lighter and stronger; on a spiritual level, becoming emotional comes under the realm of dependencies and dependencies always weaken us. This is because when we become emotional, instead of influencing our self on our own, we allow something or someone outside our self to influence us. We bring that something or someone or some event outside our self, inside, in front of the eye of our mind, attach our self to it, and lose our self in it i.e. we let the image hijack our internal world in a way, as we become subservient to it. As a result our thoughts, feelings, emotions, words, actions are influenced in a big way by the image. This is a spiritual definition of becoming emotional. Passing on the remote control of my internal world to the outer world in this way is a sign of a not so strong internal self.

So what does one do instead? Instead of creating images of external events and people inside our minds and being influenced by them, we still watch these scenes, but instead of losing our self in them and taking from them, we contribute to them by giving them our internal energy, but at the same time make sure that while doing that, we are detached from them and not over-involved emotionally. Internal energy is given in the form of appreciation and love if it’s a positive scene and power, compassion and co-operation if it’s a negative scene, so as to help the scene to be corrected or resurrected. This is influencing instead of being influenced. This is a more empowering experience. In this way we regain the control over our inner world and rise above such emotional dependencies. 

Message for the day

To bring speciality to actions is to make them special.

Projection: I am usually looking for something better to do. What I do seems to be monotonous and ordinary and I try to think of something better to do, something that will bring benefit to others too. But I really am not able to easily bring about such a change.

Solution: What benefit I bring is not based on what I do, but it is based on the attitude I do it with. So I need to maintain an attitude of bringing benefit to as many as I can, with whatever I do. Then nothing I do will be waste or ordinary.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: July 24, 2015: Embrace Change

Daily Positive Thoughts: July 24, 2015: Embrace Change

Aurora Rainbow, Dead horse to Homer Alaska

Embrace Change

When you are aware and accept that everything around you is constantly changing, and that you have no control over 99.99% of it, you are able to embrace change like a close friend! Change is a like a river, constantly flowing and moving things around. The river of life is constantly bringing you ideas, people, situations – each one is an opportunity to be enriched or to enrich others, and to learn. Change is the play of the universe as it entertains us in the biggest light and sound show of all time. Why not sit back and enjoy the show!   

relax7

To be free from carelessness is to be constantly enthusiastic. 

Carelessness has a tendency to spread from one person to another. 

When I see someone working carelessly, I need to remain strong within myself and pay close attention to my work. 

This will help me to move ahead with enthusiasm.

Symptoms Of Stress

When we feel stressed we experience certain physiological (related to the body) and psychological (related to the mind) symptoms, whose importance we may not fully understand. These are normal signs that we should re-check our priorities - our body, or our state of mind, is telling us that something in our lives needs to change. Listed here are some of the common signs:

1. Loneliness - We may feel isolated (lonely) from friends and family, or experience a lasting sense of being "lonely in a crowd".

2. Insecurity - We may suddenly feel shy or exposed around people with whom we are usually filled with confidence. Or we may believe that we are always being judged or criticized.

3. Loss of concentration and memory - We may find it hard to recall recent conversations or promises. We may often feel confused, so that understanding and remembering information could also be very difficult.

4. Fatigue (Tiredness) and sleeping difficulties - Although we may feel constantly tired, we could also find it impossible to get to sleep.

5. Tears and mood swings - One of the most common symptoms is that we cry easily. We may also experience mood swings - joyousness followed by sadness or vice versa.

Soul Sustenance

Practical Ways of Changing Old Habits or Beliefs (Part 5)

Exercises of Silence

Exercises of silence help you concentrate your mind and intellect, and go within yourself to recover the positive and eternal energies. With the appropriate concentration of the mind and intellect towards your constructive inner forces of peace, love and happiness, you can strengthen yourself. Being strong means staying positive when faced with negative situations, peaceful when everything around you is chaotic: in other words, not being influenced negatively but influencing the situation with your positivity. When you stay calm in your inner power of peace, you can transmit this to others and help them to calm themselves. When you begin exercises of silence, concentrate primarily on peace. This is the basis of the practice, as when there is inner balance and harmony it is easier to build over these the other values love, happiness, truth and sincerity. The experience of deep peace calms you, clarifies you and fills you with energy to think and act positively and achieve your purpose that you have set for yourself.

Message for the day

The fruit of elevated actions will be revealed at the right time.

Projection: When I do something good for someone I expect them to reciprocate the same. But not always does this happen, in fact sometimes I find a negative response. This discourages me from being positive.

Solution: I need to understand that the seeds of my elevated actions will bear fruit at its own time. When I have this in mind, I will continue to do good without expecting immediate fruit. And I find the result coming naturally at the right time.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: July 23, 2015: TWA

Daily Positive Thoughts: July 23, 2015: TWA

Thoughts Words & Actions (TWA)

Fill every thought with determination, every step with courage and every word with love.

Law of ‘Karma’

Human laws can be adjusted, manipulated and even ignored by some, but no one can do the same with the Law of ‘Karma’. On the physical level, there is no time interval between an action and its reaction. If I throw an object in the air, it falls back immediately with the same force. With the Law of ‘Karma’, however, there can be a delay between the action and its result or fruit. The seeds of certain actions (negative or positive) bring immediate fruit. Others can take years or even many births to bear fruit. If I eat too much ice-cream, I will see the result or karmic effect of the negative ‘karma’ of greed within a space of ten-fifteen minutes in the form of a headache or after two days in the form of a cold and flu. This is an e.g. in which we realize the working of the Law of ‘Karma’, we realize clearly the cause and its effect, but on a subtle level, when we see the effects of actions, we do not realize that the cause may have actually been in a previous life. There is a total connection between the cause and the effect.

I can say that there is nothing which happens to me for which I am not responsible. Whether I remember what I did to make it happen or not, whether I realize it or choose to ignore it, I am ultimately responsible.

What Are Thought Vibrations?

The word atmosphere has two meanings. One refers to the physical air around us and the other to the more subtle effect that thought vibrations create in a particular space. No one can deny that the atmosphere of a crowded restaurant is different from that of a temple. This is mainly because of the effect of different types of thoughts and feelings in that space. Even someone deaf and blind would have the ability to pick up the difference. Sound vibrations are invisible but their impact isn't. A pneumatic drill or a jet breaking the sound barrier jolt both our minds (non-physical effect) and the walls of our houses (physical effect). Thought vibrations can't be seen but their non-physical as well as physical impact is even more powerful and influential. The panic that people generate during a stampede or an earthquake and the euphoria (absolute joy) of victory in a World Cup final cricket game are examples of how thoughts create an atmosphere.

On a subtler level, many of us have the experience of basic telepathy - 'I was just thinking of you and you called'. Thoughts connect individuals over large distances. Doctors inform us that over 90% of the physical body's illnesses have a psychosomatic (mental) origin i.e. they are a direct or indirect result of our state of mind. That makes the human body the prime example of how thoughts affect matter.

Since the world is made up of the collective, personal worlds of all individuals, then it's easy to see how the international political, economic and social atmosphere is nothing more than the collective effects of all our thoughts.

Soul Sustenance

Practical Ways of Changing Old Habits or Beliefs (Part 4)

Visualization

Visualization consists of creating positive images by means of the ability to imagine, and in this way reinforce positive thoughts and strengthen your will to achieve positively what you affirm for yourself in your mind. With visualization you manage to intensify experiences of positive affirmations and self-motivation, and it also helps you to specify and clarify your goals. The basic principle of using images in our mind is to act as if the desire we have in our mind has already been achieved. If we place images of success, health, wellbeing or inner peace in our mind, these will materialize in positive situations and experience, and this image of success will become real in our lives.

(To be continued tomorrow …..)

Message for the day

The method to make use of all treasures is to be a master.

Projection: When difficult situations come my way, I usually become a slave to them. My feelings and emotions are controlled by the situation. Then I am not able to have the discrimination to see right from wrong.

Solution: I need to remind myself that I am the master of the situation. The situation is definitely not in my hands, but the way I respond to it definitely is. When I keep this in mind, I'll be able to make the best use of whatever is available.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: July 22, 2015: Give & Take

Daily Positive Thoughts: July 22, 2015: Give & Take

Give & Take

Whatever you give comes back to you. Whatever you take will not stay with you.

To be free from ego is to ensure lifelong learning. 

When someone corrects me, or when something happens that reflects my mistake, I tend to get defensive. This actually is a form of ego, which deprives me of learning. At least to myself, I need to be honest and see what I can learn from it. This helps me enrich myself and progress constantly. Today I will think of one incident where things went wrong. I will then see what I learnt from it. Even if 99% of it is another person's mistake, I will not think of that right now, but will focus only on what I can learn from it. I will repeat this exercise for any other incidents that happen today.

Overcoming Mood Swings

At each moment of the day, we have the capability to feel something. Our feelings vary throughout the course of the day. Sometimes they are joyful and sometimes they are painful. What we forget to do is to choose our feelings consciously.  Instead, many of us have become lazy and allowed our feelings to be dictated and shaped by people and circumstances.   In other words, we have become influenced.   Our swinging, changing moods are the result of the inner karma of becoming attached to things, people, ideas and circumstances.  If we are attached to a person and suddenly he/she leaves us we will feel gloomy and our mood of sadness will drain our energy just when we need to remain optimistic and enthusiastic about the future. Any form of loss will bring about a mood of sadness. If this sadness lasts for a long period of time, it will gradually turn into depression.

When we consider the world around us to be our source of happiness and joy, our moods will fluctuate, even with the changing weather.  But when we are spiritually empowered or strong our happiness and joy come from inside.  We are stable in the face of praise or insult, loss or gain.  We are no longer moody and stability becomes our basic nature. We are in control of our life, our feelings. And while we cannot control the waves of the ocean of life around us, we can control and choose how we will respond to outer events and people.  When we do that, we will be able to choose what we feel, regardless of what may happen in our life.   Life stops being a roller coaster and becomes more of a cruise, less a storm and more a gentle breeze.

Soul Sustenance

Practical Ways of Changing Old Habits or Beliefs (Part 3)

Conscious Disassociation
A useful method for transforming habits is that of conscious disassociation. This involves avoiding the situations that give rise to the habit occurring automatically. For example, if you often smoke after a coffee, you have to make sure there is no coffee. By breaking your habit, you will be less likely to have a craving to smoke. Instead of your habitual coffee, you can create a new pattern and have a cup of herbal tea and sit down to think or read, instead of smoking.

Rajyoga Meditation
Rajyoga meditation is an efficient method for transforming habits. By connecting with the Supreme Soul (who is the purest conscient energy) in the incorporeal (non-physical) world of divine light, which is called paramdham or shantidham, the soul purifies itself and one experiences a natural disinclination from negative habits that we have been trapped in for a long time.

(To be continued tomorrow …..)

 

Message for the day

Regard for others brings trust.

Projection: When something negative happens, my trust in people breaks. I then find it difficult to keep my mind free from the influence of my past experience. Even if the others try to correct the situation, I am not able to change my attitude towards them.

Solution: When I see others, I have to see them with a vision of regard. I need to pay attention only to look at their specialities and keep myself free from the influence of the past experiences. When I do this, I will be able to trust others even while being cautious.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: July 21, 2015: Clean and Tidy

Daily Positive Thoughts: July 21, 2015: Clean and Tidy

Clean and Tidy

The most important places to keep clean and tidy are my mind and heart. If I allow thoughts to flourish that I wouldn't want to see the light of day, I can never have any real self-respect. By starting each day in quiet reflection and pouring positive, loving thoughts into my mind, I gradually clean out cynicism and unkindness.

Create an Aim

Each one of us is capable of so much more than we currently believe possible. Everyday, create an aim for yourself.

Rather than aiming at what you know you can do, challenge yourself to aim higher than where you are at right now.

Go on, aim high and set yourself a high standard. Stretch, and make effort to reach that aim.

Forgive To Forget

A key principle to remain light and stable in relationships is - forgive and forget - it's a well-known principle - one that we sometimes find difficult to practice. It can be modified to forgive to forget. Sometimes we spend many years with so much bitterness inside us for a particular person, with an inner violence of wanting to make the other pay (emotions of revenge), the one who has supposedly hurt you. If you don't strike back immediately, you at least want to keep this guilt card in your pocket, to be pulled out at a later date: "Oh yes, well what about the time when you...." We keep this bitterness inside us because we haven't forgiven. It does not resolve the situation; the only thing it does is increase our pain, makes us heavy and does not let us remain in peace.  So the key is that if we do not forgive, we cannot forget. When someone has offended or insulted us, the last thing we want to do is to let it go. And yet, if our desire is to have a healthy, lasting relationship, that is exactly what we've got to do.

Sometimes, when it is a question of a broken relationship, it is not only a matter of forgiving the other, but of forgiving yourself for having allowed yourself to enter that experience. It was you that took the step to allow that experience to be entered into. If you hadn't taken that step, you wouldn't have had that experience. You accepted that challenge, that relationship, and what might happen in it - you were aware of the possibilities when you entered in the relationship. So not only do you have to learn to forgive the other, but also to forgive yourself in such situations. Only then will you be able to forget.

Soul Sustenance

Practical Ways of Changing Old Habits or Beliefs (Part 2)

Positive Affirmations
Affirmations are promises that we make to ourselves. They are helpful for breaking negative habits or weak thoughts that have been created as a result of mistaken attitudes. Affirmations help to strengthen the mind, although to be effective there must be acceptance and understanding behind them. It is interesting to begin experimenting with them and, later on, we can begin to create variations of new affirmations, according to our individual needs.

Here are some examples:
* Today I will experience peace through positivity. I will see what is good in others and will not think about what is negative or harmful. I will see others in the way I would like them to see me.
* From now on I will not judge others.
* Today I will speak peacefully and share peace with everyone around me. I must speak as softly as I can.
* Today I will make the past the past and look towards the future with a new vision.
* Today I will not react angrily. I will stay calm and in peace and will not sacrifice this for anyone or any situation. I must not allow anything or anyone rob me of my peace.

For the affirmation to be effective, we must repeat it to ourselves often, so that it becomes recorded in our subconscious. It is also important to proclaim the affirmations with feeling, believing in them and not in a monotonous and impersonal voice. As a minimum, you should repeat each affirmation at least five times a day. If we listen to something repeatedly, we begin to believe in it. In reality, this is the origin of the majority of our beliefs, when as children we heard our parents tell us things over and over again. Advertising uses this technique constantly. They create a phrase, a slogan, and repeat it over and over again in the media until, finally, people believe it. To be able to control your life, first you must know and dominate your beliefs. One way of doing this is through affirmations.

(To be continued tomorrow …..) 

Message for the day

Determination is the best companion.

Projection: When things go wrong, the first reaction is of fear. Because of this, I can't put in any effort to better the situation. I start looking for a companion, a support who can provide me help. But I rarely get help from outside.

Solution: When I have to look for something to rely on, the only support I get is from my own determined thought. I need to make it my companion, not letting go of it till I succeed. This will help me overcome my fear and move towards success.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: July 20, 2015: Big Heart

Daily Positive Thoughts: July 20, 2015: Big Heart

Big Heart

Be quick to forgive any form of insult, and slow to forget the importance of a big heart.

Traffic Control

The mind thinks many thoughts, leading us in different directions. No wonder there is so much chaos in the mind, creating traffic jams and even a few accidents!

Now imagine the state of the roads if we didn't have any traffic controlling mechanisms! So, what's needed is a traffic control system for our mind.

At regular intervals throughout the day, stop and control the traffic of your mind. Change negative to positive. Where there are waste thoughts, put a full stop and let it go.

The Principle Of Focus and Flow (cont.)

With reference to the sun and the earth (explained yesterday) - in certain situations and moments we need focus (like the sun), that is, a concentration of thought, will power and understanding.  These three need to be together in one focused point if we are to reach depth and newness.  However, if we become over-focused, then rigidity and pressure gradually set in. This subsequently leads to an imbalance that makes us lose our creativity and openness to new vision. Once we have learnt to focus, then it will require less effort and, eventually, the flow (like the earth) will become natural.

In focus, we find vision, inspiration and understanding, and in the flow, we find expression, experimentation and experience.

It is important not to over-flow, otherwise we get lost in a flood of over-thinking, over-speaking and over-doing. In such a state, there is no direction to guide the expression and things become unclear and delicate. At such a point, we need to recognize that it is time for focus again.

According to necessity, a human being needs to move between focus and flow and it is only through the ability to discriminate, that we can know when and how to do this. Everything has its time. We are eternal beings working in time, so we need to know the balance between focus - where we find truth and purpose - and the flow of time - where we find expression and experience.

Soul Sustenance

Practical Ways of Changing Old Habits or Beliefs (Part 1)

Motivation for Change
An important factor to start positive change in our lives is for there to be a passion, a powerful force that leads us, a final goal that keeps us motivated. It is important to set yourself goals, to be convinced and to have the confidence and faith that one can reach them, since in this way we will make a daily effort to achieve those goals. There needs to be a clearly defined sense of purpose to your existence, clarifying the values that must guide your life in order to achieve these goals and establish the steps you must take for inculcating these values. If, at a subconscious level, you allow a mistaken purpose to be created, or there is a lack of true purpose in your life, then you will not be motivated to know and change yourself. Many people think that the purpose of their life is to survive and they use the language of survival in this way: "Life is hard out there. You must get whatever you can". They are not aware that they have chosen this purpose, but subconsciously it is what they believe they are here for, and this makes them think that they must accumulate, take, create barriers to protect themselves and compete with others.

(To be continued tomorrow …..) 

Message for the day

The one who is selfless is the one who is the best judge.

Projection: When I have to take a decision, either for others or myself, there is some kind of selfishness or greed involved in it. When I think only of my selfish desires, my judgment would not be accurate.

Solution: I need to be detached and see what benefit there is for each one with the choice that I am going to make. The more I think of the benefit of all, the more my judgment is accurate.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: July 19, 2015: Something New

Daily Positive Thoughts: July 19, 2015: Something New

Library at the Benedictine Monastery of Admont, Admont, Austria

Something New

Focusing on developing a positive aspect of one's life can achieve a goal more easily than by trying to give up the negative habit.

After all, it seems to be easier to take on something new than to give up something old!

The old way often falls away out of disuse.

To be special is to do ordinary things in a special way. 

If I want to be special, I don't really have to do something special and spectacular. Probably, the opportunities for doing such things are also very rare. But we surely have plenty of opportunity to do each and everything in a special way. That means, I value the contribution I make and I value the action itself. Today I will bring specialty to my actions. Before I start any action, I will remind myself of the contribution I have to make and also understand the significance of the task itself. I will then start the action. This will bring specialty to all I do.

The Principle Of Focus and Flow

If we look at the sun and the earth, we appreciate a basic and fundamental law of life, which we as human beings can learn from, that is of great help in the right movement of life. By means of light, the sun gives life to the earth; in addition, the sun is fixed in its position (a symbol of focus) to enable the earth (a symbol of flow) and all the other planets of our solar system to continue in their rhythmic, harmonious orbit. Otherwise, there would be chaos, upheaval and great damage. The earth on the other hand, constantly moves in repetitive cycles around the sun. This movement allows for changes and expression on the earth, which have a beginning, middle and end. In other words, the phenomenon of time is created as a direct result of the earth's balanced and harmonious cyclic movements.  Both the fixed position of the sun and the movement of the earth are necessary for life. The earth has all the potential for life but, without light from a fixed source, there would be no life.  In the same way, the sun has the power to give life, but if the moving earth did not hold the potential, even with light, there would be no sustenance of life.

Tomorrow we shall explain how this fundamental law involving the sun and the earth can be applied to real life (the principle of focus and flow)...

Soul Sustenance

The Invisible Impressions That Shape Me

While the mind and intellect are two faculties of the soul which play their role on the surface of our consciousness; at a deeper level, hidden beneath these two faculties, there lies a third faculty commonly called the sanskaras. The sanskaras is not only a store house of personality traits, as we commonly know it to be, but a store house of millions and millions of impressions or imprints. Such a large number of impressions are created by millions of experiences that I go through my sense organs not only in this life but in all my lifetimes. Everything that I hear, see, touch, taste, etc. I process or analyze or summarize in my own unique way; basically I give the experiences a unique form depending on my personality, before this form gets stored in the form of impressions inside me. I even process my subtle experiences, which are in the form of thoughts and feelings.

This process of experiencing and processing takes place during each and every second of my life including the time I sleep, when my mind may not be experiencing a lot but it is busy processing the physical and subtle experiences of the day that has gone by and storing the processed information in the form of impressions. From this, one can get an idea of the magnitude of the database of impressions stored within me, the being. These imprints which are unique to me, make up my sanskaras, and shape up my unique personality in a cyclic process. My personality shapes what type of impressions are created out of my experiences and the impressions in turn shape my personality, my thoughts, words and actions e.g. if I constantly keep the company of people who gossip, a large number of respective impressions based on the experience of gossiping keep getting stored inside me, which in turn influence my personality, the personality characteristic gets stronger and over a period of time I do not find anything wrong with it and indulge in it more and more. As a result more such impressions get stored. Thus it is a cyclic process.

Message for the day

Success comes about only when there is an effort to bring about transformation.

Projection: When I am working towards being successful I usually want to work with just those personality treats that I have always been working with before. But this does not always bring me success. Then the reaction is to blame the people around you or blame the people around you or the situations.

Solution: Learning from each situation and working to bring about steady transformation brings constant success for me whatever the situations I will surely feel successful.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris