Contemplation:Trust yourself

Contemplation:Trust yourself

                                                     Trust yourself

You must begin to trust yourself. If you do not then you will forever be looking to others to prove your own merit to you and you will never be satisfied. You will always be asking others what to do, and at the same time resenting those from whom you seek such aid.

To limit your faith to one set of beliefs

or an institutional belief 

system is to commit intellectual suicide. We shut down the possibility
of being enlightened and enriched by others' experiences, which may be
derived from their beliefs. We build a barrier between ourselves and
our fellow travellers and then feel threatened, even in small and
subtle ways, by someone of a different faith. The deepest faith is the
intuitive conviction that all is as it should be, despite appearances,
and that every human being is intrinsically good, despite appearances.
This reminds us to keep our minds open, not take the law into our own
hands, and look out for the best in others, regardless of what they
say or do. This is faith in life, not faith in a set of learned or
inherited beliefs. Have you ever noticed how people don't go to war
over their faith in life?
relax7

Factors That Shape Our Perception (cont.)

There are four main criteria that may influence how our perception of reality is distorted or altered (changed). We had discussed "Mental Positioning" yesterday. Today we discuss:

Mental Limits
It is said that the solution to important problems we face cannot be obtained in the same consciousness (state of mind) we are in when we create them (the problems) - the consciousness needs to be changed to see the solution.

Mental limits are those which we have imposed on our mind. We create these limits ourselves or they can come as a result of our education, the family environment and the society in which we live. For example, at work a mental limit is always thinking in the same way. So we always take the same decisions and get the same results. Experience itself may also generate mental limits. You think you know how to do certain things and these convictions act as mental limits. The greater the mental limitation, the greater will be resistance to change. Due to the mental limits, we usually have a series of readily prepared responses. They are excuses and justifications that provide us with poor results. We are always trying to solve problems using the same formula and this often causes stress because we cannot find the answer.

The main mental limits are related to identity. We create a very narrow and limited image of ourselves. * I am a man, * I am a woman, * I am a Christian or a Gujarati, * I'm young, * I'm old, * I am white or black. The image we have of ourselves may be limited, because we do not have sufficient knowledge of our own resources, virtues, values, and identity. A deep investigation into our inner selves will help us to change the image we have of ourselves.

(To be continued tomorrow)

Soul Sustenance 

The Three Root Causes Of Anger (Part 1)
Any time we sense irritation, frustration or anger emerging inside our consciousness, if we take a close look at it, we will notice we are fighting a war in our consciousness with one of these three: either with another person, most obviously or with the past or with our self.

We are at war with the past because our anger is always towards something that has already happened and looking at it we react emotionally which means we are trying to change it, which is impossible. Any scene that has taken place a year ago, a month ago or even a second ago cannot be changed. We may be completely convinced and we may believe we can. That's because we hold this belief subconsciously. Somewhere and sometime in the past, we have picked up and absorbed the belief that the world and its circumstances should shape up exactly as we want.

When our internal desire of a certain type of circumstances is not fulfilled, or in other words something against this belief happens, our instant reaction is one of the various forms of anger and we tend to try and change the incident that has happened in a far-off past or a past that has just gone by. We keep replaying a revised incident, with words and actions that we would have liked and that suit our convenience and we also keep nullifying the actual incident or remain in a un-acceptance mode towards it. This is like fighting a war with the incident. We tend to do this inside our minds, repeatedly, even realizing somewhere deep within, that it is impossible.

(To be continued tomorrow…)

Message for the day 

The sparkle of a true diamond reveals itself.

Projection: Whenever we make a positive contribution, we expect those around us to recognize and appreciate it. But there are occasions where we do not receive such recognition and we then feel disheartened which in turn doesn't let us give our best in all we do.

Solution: Whenever we find ourselves expecting people to appreciate us, we need to remind ourselves that the diamond doesn't need to speak about it's own sparkle but is recognized because of its speciality. We, too, need to discover our own speciality and work with it. We will, then, be satisfied whether we get recognition from others or not.

Contemplation: Riches

Contemplation: Riches

 Rare Stamps

Riches

The greatest good we can do for others is not to share our riches with them, but to reveal to them their own.

The method to finish negativity is to fill with the power of
positivity.

There are a lot of negative characteristics, which continue to work in
one's lives colouring words, actions and behaviour. Such negativity
cannot be removed by reminding oneself of it again and again.
Instead, a reminder and an excuse to use positivity, helps finish this
negativity very naturally. It is when even the tiniest ray of light
comes that the darkness begins to disappear. When we start discovering
and working with our inner positivity, we are able to easily win over
our seemingly strong weaknesses. The lesser attention we give our
weaknesses and the more attention we give our strengths, we are able
to have an influence over our weaknesses and convert them into
strengths. So there is a total experience of positivity, whatever the
situation may be.

Factors That Shape Our Perception (cont.)

If someone believes that Indians are very generous, good-hearted people, and they have this ingrained in their subconscious, this thought will form part of their perception of India. Perhaps not only part of their perception: they may even identify fully with this belief. In other words, the thought becomes a belief and finally one identifies with the belief. The same holds true for any negative belief about anything or anyone.

There are four main criteria that may influence how our perception of reality is distorted or altered (changed). These are:

Mental Positioning
Mental position is the internal position from which we see situations, and may be positive or negative. For example, we are really excited about owning a new car, but after buying it we start worrying about where to park it, if it may be stolen or we might meet with an accident. Another example is that of the professional who has always dreamt of being promoted at work and, when he gets it, starts to fear losing it. According to our mental positioning we experience fear (a negative state of mind) or we feel confident (a positive one). A correct mental positioning broadens our conscience and improves our lives and relationships.

To live in the present in a relaxed way and planning the future with an open and optimistic view, we should be able to free ourselves from preconceived ideas and the influences that dominate our perceptions. To do this, the best mental position is that of being an impartial observer. In this way we can observe, recognize and transform (change) those thoughts, attitudes that cause us pain, anxiety and stress.

(To be continued tomorrow ...)

Soul Sustenance

Understanding The Process Of Birth And Death

When the body has become unserviceable due to age or disease, or it suffers a fatal injury, the soul leaves the body. At the moment of death, the soul withdraws its energy from the organs of the body and vacates its seat in the middle of the forehead. Like a bird, it leaves the cage made of skin and bones, and taking its sanskaras, it enters into another, a new body, in the womb of the new mother. From the very birth, the sanskaras of a soul are apparent (visible); whether the new-born baby is happy, unbothered, sad, shy, mischievous, quiet, violent or agitated.

Death occurs at the precise moment when the account of giving and taking with other souls through a particular body is finished. The new birth is determined by the soul's account of karmas with another set of souls. One may be born into a cultured, wealthy family, another as a beggar, one may be born deaf, dumb, blind or crippled, another with a strong supple body. The type of body and the conditions of birth are determined by the thoughts and actions performed in the previous births. 

Message for the day 

To remind ourselves that we are the children of God is to take the gift of positivity.

Projection: We usually turn to God only when the situation at hand becomes the worst, i.e., when there is no hope from anyone else. So, we find that in a negative situation our mind naturally goes into negativity and then we have to make great effort to turn it positive again.

Solution: We need to remind ourselves that we are the children of God. When we remind ourselves in this way we find that we have a right to our father's property, of all the positive qualities. Then, there will naturally be peace, happiness and love in our life.

Contemplation: Anger

Contemplation: Anger

Anger

Anger destroys the beauty of the heart as well as the beauty of the face

To establish real world peace,

every individual must first have a peaceful mind. Every individual contributes to the measure of our society. A man can attain peace of mind only when his actions are good because the basis of happiness and unhappiness is the activity of the individual which consciously or unconsciously stems from the mind.

Factors That Shape Our Perception

The factors that contribute to creating our perception (way of looking at the self, situations, people, etc.) are our memories, experiences, beliefs, values, people, places, situations and time. Out of all these factors there are two which are chiefly responsible for creating our perception: our beliefs and our experiences.

The first thing you should do is have a clearer perception of yourself. You should develop the perception of who you really are and what your true identity is. This does not refer to the image you see every day in the mirror. Your external appearance or physical beauty, your age, your gender, your occupation, your status in society should not be the basis for your self-perception. You may live with others or alone, have a family, run a business or have a job, which you undertake with responsibility. What is your conscience, however, while you are doing these tasks? This will lead you to a clear perception of yourself.

We have been brought up and conditioned to have a perception of everything that is external: perception of other people at the workplace or in the family, of other countries, of movies, of the country's cricket team, of what our neighbors are doing, of the government and so on. However, the last thing we have a perception of is ourselves. We thus lose the internal link with our own happiness and our own peace. When we re-establish the perception of our true identity (the correct way of looking at ourselves) based on spiritual knowledge, we are capable of recognizing all the false beliefs about ourselves that have taken root in our inner selves. When we discover these beliefs we are capable of recognizing those sanskars of ourselves we need to change.

In the next few messages, we shall be discussing a few factors that shape our perception.

Soul Sustenance 

Realizing Our Natural Nature Of Peace

If we look at nature, we will notice that everything in nature – plants, flowers, etc. do everything they do peacefully – they grow, flourish, decompose and die in peace. We get an obvious impression from them that peace is their natural nature. Even the five elements – earth, wind, water, fire and sky are mostly peaceful by nature. It’s only when we try and exercise control over them and interfere with their balance that they lose their peace. Most of us, irrespective of our age, even in these stressful and hurry filled times, act peacefully and express our peaceful nature in relationships by means of peaceful thoughts, words and actions, unless something is wrong in the relationship. We instinctively like peaceful relationships. If something is wrong in a relationship and it lacks peace even to a small extent, we do not feel good or comfortable about it. All this proves to us that we, like nature, are essentially peaceful by nature. That is our basic personality.

Most of us have, at some time in our lives and even more frequently in the case of many of us, experienced and expressed our peaceful nature. It's so natural, we are not even consciously aware of it. What we are more aware of is when we are distanced from the natural i.e. we are unnatural - worried, scared, irritated etc. But these unnatural phases always pass and we finally return to our peaceful self. There are some people who are permanently grumpy and tight with someone or the other, because of something or the other. On some days we also feel as if we are continuously living on the edge and continuously succumbing to frustration and anger. But even then, away from everyone’s eyes; everyone, the compulsive angerholic (one who cannot live without anger) and you also, will, at some stage, look inwards, relax and have an inner personal spiritual retreat in which they will find relief by experiencing their true nature of peace.

Message for the day 

True progress is to bring perfection to the role we play.

Projection: Usually when we think of progress we think of changing the role we play. The idea of progress is to change the place or the position that we are in. We rarely associate progress with the present position that we are in.

Solution: We need to recognise the fact that we can bring perfection to whatever role we are playing. When we continue to work at improving ourselves wherever we are, we will not only experience progress but also will be able to move forward in the position we are in.

Contemplation: The Wonder Of Silence‏

Contemplation: The Wonder Of Silence‏

The Wonder Of Silence

When the soul goes deep into silence, easiness emerges. The deeper I go into silence, the greater will be my power of tolerance. It is in very deep, extreme silence that the soul becomes elevated. It is in deep, deep silence that God can come in front of the soul.

To be intuitive (instinctive) often means that the third eye

is able to tune in to the hidden silent vibrations of other people and
situations. Vibrations are energies, which are constantly being
transmitted by all things, particularly living things and people. A
person may not say anything, or may even say the opposite of what he
or she is feeling, but we are able to understand this contradiction,
either through facial expressions, or body language, or by picking up
the thoughts.

The doctor uses the stethoscope to 'hear' the body of the patient and
to examine and understand the pulse and rhythm of the body in
order to judge the health of the person; so it is like a third ear!

If the intellect wishes to understand the mental pulse of another
person, in order to truly cooperate and help properly, then it has to
have the capacity of a third ear, which means developing the art of
really listening and catching the needs of the situation and person.
When the intellect is used like a stethoscope, it needs to be very
introspective (thoughtful), very concentrated and very open. In this
way, the intellect is used like a third eye and a third ear; seeing
and listening become the same thing.

Soul Sustenance 

Ending The Day In The Presence Of God (Part 2)

Inspite of the fact that the Supreme Soul already knows whatever I have done right through the day on a physical as well as on a non-physical level; there is immense benefit in meditating for a few minutes, before going to bed at night. It is wise that before I sleep, I have a face-to-face meeting with the Supreme and I become a child, become humble, and put my entire day with obedience, transparency, loyalty and love; before the Supreme. In this stage of transparency, I definitely receive a response from God, which may be in the form of a thought vibration immediately or as soon as I get up from sleep or through some other medium the next day, when I read something positive the next morning or may be in the form of a loved one at home or even a friend or colleague at office, who may become instruments used by the Supreme to communicate with me. The Supreme Being has His ways of responding to your act of honesty and love of sharing the day’s happenings with Him.

He is the Ocean of Truth and His response will be one which is filled with the light of truth or wisdom which I make use of, to illuminate the path or road of my life. Using this light, I'll find I am helped to see clearly where there has been progress, and where I failed, with accurate judgment, so that I learn. God, the Supreme Companion or Friend or Beloved is with me, wanting to lead me to my destination of perfection. I want to fulfill my side of the relationship with Him, so His light will help me recognize where I must change, and what I must do to make corrections to any damage for which I have been responsible. Where my actions have been positive and right, the subtle blessings of ‘well done child’ that I receive from Him, will make me aware that the strength behind these actions came from my relationship with the Him – He is permanently and was my back-bone right through the day. Then there will be neither worry (due to mistakes committed by me) nor laziness or complacency (due to positive actions done by me), but only love and contentment in my dreams. If I do not surrender the day’s happenings to Him in this way, although He loves me and is concerned for me, He might and will most probably remain detached and not guide me in any way.

Message for the day 

Success means to have positive thoughts which bring right actions in our life.

Projection: When things go wrong we usually find ourselves flooded with negative thoughts. We, no longer can think right and so our actions go wrong, too. We try to correct our actions but we cannot succeed in it and so we give up.

Solution: We need to change the way we think before we can think of changing our actions. Success comes in the ability to maintain positive thoughts even in the most negative situations. For this, we need the practice of maintaining positive thoughts under all circumstances.

Contemplation: Resent Not

Contemplation: Resent Not

Resent Not

There are no justified resentments. To resent someone is to fall under the illusion that they are the cause of our suffering. No one can die from a snake bite. It's the poison that kills them. You may receive the poison of another’s words, or even just in a glance, but you don’t have to absorb it or allow it free passage through the veins of your consciousness. The consequence of not absorbing the poison of others is you never experience enmity towards others. And people notice when you have absolutely no enmity. It draws them close, it empowers them, it builds trust, it enables harmony to break out! It is only because the lion has no thought of killing the lamb that the lamb feels able to come so close.
relax7

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

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

Resolving Conflicts In Relationships

In relationships, sometimes we feel that the other person is not only a problem but also a source of conflicts. We have to be aware that there always have to be two people involved for there to be an unhappy or conflictive exchange. When we are in any conflict, it is difficult to see and understand the true causes and the real energy of the process of the conflict. The emotions that arise inside us during a conflict distract us and even blind us.

In the first place, it is important to recognize that your response in any situation of conflict is your contribution to the conflict. The process of responding to any person or situation is something that takes place in you. Nothing can make you feel anything without your permission. If you have been in conflict with someone for a time, for sure, you create fear or anger towards them, expressing thus behaviors of resistance when you communicate or relate to them. The other person is not responsible for your emotions or for your behavior.

Your experience of conflict and your contribution to the conflict begin in your consciousness and you keep them in your consciousness. It begins with your perception of the other (how you see others). If you perceive them negatively you will think negatively; you will feel negative and create a negative attitude; you will behave negatively, and so you will transmit a negative energy. You don't have to do it like that. Perception is a choice.

When there is conflict there is mental and emotional pain, even physical. Who creates that pain? You! Who creates at least half of the conflict? You! Where do you dissolve it? In your consciousness - in you. Freeing yourself of the conflict is a matter of a decision. At any moment you can decide not to be in conflict. One party has to dissolve their contribution to the conflict, even if it is temporarily, for the process of resolution to be able to begin.

Soul Sustenance

Ending The Day In The Presence Of God (Part 1)

On a physical level, there is complete transparency in a parent-child relationship. When a child is born to a mother and father and the parents see the child for the first time, the child is completely bare. As the child grows in the canopy of the parents, the parents see and know everything about the child, not only in a physical way, but also the child’s personality or nature right from childhood. Sometimes, there are certain things about the child that even the child himself does not have an awareness of, but the parents are aware of the same. So, in short, there is nothing that the child can hide from the parents.

In the same way, the Supreme Being, who is a permanent resident of the soul world, has seen from that world, each soul right from the time when it was completely bare or bodiless residing in the soul world with Him, to the time when it took its first physical costume or body on earth and then changed many costumes in the process of birth and rebirth. He not only knows the soul’s original sanskaras, which were there in the soul in the soul world, but also each and every costume that the soul wore. He also knows every soul’s different relationships while wearing each and every costume; every thought, word or action created while wearing each and every costume and the different personality traits or sanskaras of the soul while wearing each and every costume. That is on an unlimited level. On a limited level, there is no doubt that the Supreme Soul who is the Supreme Parent of all human souls and is said to possess a thousand eyes; very well knows the mental, emotional and physical activity of the complete day of each soul. Thus, there is nothing that is hidden about the soul from this Parent.

(To be continued tomorrow...)

Message for the day

To have the right discrimination is to save time.

Projection: When we find someone doing something wrong, we immediately start giving corrections and directions. Yet we find that the other person is not in a position to listen to us. In the process of explaining to others we find our time getting wasted.

Solution: When we give directions to others we have to first see if they will understand what we are trying to say. We need to understand the other person before we speak. Then our words will make their full impact on others.

Contemplation:Love & Hate

Contemplation:Love & Hate

Love & Hate

Love blinds us to people's faults but hate blinds us to their virtues.

Why do you suffer so much when things that you have brought so close
to you are changed or lost?

It is because they are too close.

When someone damages your car and you suffer it is because you think
you are the car! This is the deepest mistake. It is the deepest
cause of the suffering called anger. You are not aware of this of
course, but if you were to take a moment and see what you were doing
in your own mind, you would see you have brought the image of the car
up on the screen of your mind. You have then gone into that image of
the car in your mind, and you have lost your 'sense of self' in the
image of the car. In effect you identify with the car. So if the car
outside is scratched or damaged in any way, it feels like it is
happening to you and, as a result, you become disturbed. The
disturbance is called anger. In spiritual terms this would be called
attachment. Attachment is a mistake we all make within our
consciousness and it creates what is known as ego. From a spiritual
point of view, ego is the root of all suffering, and all suffering can
be found and felt at an emotional level in the various forms of fear,
anger and sadness.

Soul Sustenance 

Radiating Positive And Powerful Energy

You will notice many people in your life who are very much in need of love but they attract the opposite energy. This is because the negative energy of lack of love for the self and low self esteem which they continuously radiate causes them to attract that same negative energy from others. In the same way, there are many people who are very much in need of success but they attract failure repeatedly. Failure is directly related to the quality of energy we radiate i.e. how positive and powerful our expectations of success are. Once we set the goals that we wish to reach, we need to be careful that we move towards our aim without creating the negative energy of fear inside our consciousness. Failure appears when we make an effort to achieve those goals and we damage the result or attract failure without us desiring so, simply because of our fears of failure. Even then, if at that step we feel that we have failed, we need to have a positive and constructive attitude.

We need to emerge the power to face and power of acceptance inside us. That way our creative energies will flow and we will carry on going forward without the failure (whether real or only perceived by us to be real but actually not real) becoming an obstacle in our path from doing so. Although at that time it may seem as though we have missed an opportunity or that some openings have closed for us, have faith and be fearless. If we are fearless and radiate positive and powerful energy, other possibilities will open up. We have this deep rooted belief that our fear will keep us safe, and we treat it like a comfort zone, a red signal that tells us that we should stop. Creating a time every day to do something that you fear, helps you to re-condition yourself internally to begin to see the fear as a green signal and to develop inner courage, so that you can move towards your goal of success. Each day, do what you fear and the fear will soon be removed.

Message for the day 

The one who is accurate in every thought, word and deed is the one who becomes praise-worthy.

Projection: We do take care most of the times to see that our words and actions are not negative, but sometimes we are not as attentive with our thoughts. When there are waste thoughts we are not able to make even our words and actions right.

Solution: Instead of making great efforts to change our actions and our words, we need to pay special attention to our thoughts. When our thoughts are right filled with good wishes for others as well as for the self, we find that they become accurate. And with this comes accuracy in our thoughts and actions too.

Contemplation: Embrace Change

Contemplation: Embrace Change

Iceland-Aurora borealis

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

There is a common notion (belief) that positive thinking

makes one 'soft', a bit weak. But quite the opposite is true. The more we
understand and experience our own inner qualities and powers and
realize our own weaknesses, the stronger, more stable and less
dependent we become on others.

Soul Sustenance 


Natural Qualities and Acquired Qualities

When we look at ourselves from outside we can only see the surface of what we have become. We can't see or perhaps cannot even imagine the inner core (center), which, like in the example of the coconut, is the only part that really can nourish us and give us energy. The shell (in the case of the coconut) serves as a protection but we certainly can't eat it.

In our case, the core (center) consists of natural or inner qualities such as peace, love, power, truth, happiness and so on. The shell is the ego which consists of features or personality characteristics we have acquired through the journey of our lives such as experiences, abilities, memories, learning, habits and beliefs – in short, all that we are referring to when we say: 'I am so-and-so, from such-and-such family or organization or city'.

While we are limited to these acquired characteristics, our true qualities remain inaccessible. Through deep reflection and meditation we can break the shell and activate our inner qualities from which our values or principles are born.

Message for the day 

True contentment brings contentment to others as much as to the self.

Projection: When we have to do something, we usually do it the way we like. We don't bother about others and only see if we are happy about it. So we find that others are not content with us although we are happy with what we are doing.

Solution: Our actions need to be such that they do not cause sorrow to anyone so we need to check our actions and change them. When we do something in the right way others will be content with us as much as we are.