Contemplation: February 24, 2020: Listen-ability

Contemplation: February 24, 2020: Listen-ability

Listen-ability

To really listen, we have to filter out both inner and outer 

distractions to get the WHOLE message.

Self-respect creates inner peace and harmony. 

When I take pride in my own role and have value for the contribution I (can) make, there is self-respect. Self-respect helps me to let go of expecting to be understood, to be considered, to be recognized. It helps me understand that it is my mixed emotions that create dependence, taking away inner peace and harmony. Today I will tell myself that everything cannot always happen as I wish. When something unwanted happens, I know I have to deal with it and am also well equipped to do so. This helps me know what I can do to correct the situation, without losing hope, peace and harmony.

The Psychosomatic Effects (Effects On The Body) Of Fear

The human being is psychosomatic by nature – what that means is that our health is deeply influenced by our behavior, thoughts, emotions and social relationships. Therefore, in order to experience good health, we should care for our life style, our mental, sentimental, emotional and relational world, as well as our communication. Fear is bad for our health. It manifests itself in the form of anger and promotes coronary diseases. Fear suppressed for a long time ends up producing diseases such as cancer. Apart from cancer and heart attacks, there are other illnesses brought on by fear: addictions, anxiety, arthritis, asthma, irritability, nervous breakdowns, memory loss, gastritis, back pains, baldness, diarrhea, sciatica, crying attacks, alcoholism, constipation, hypertension, cystitis (bladder inflammation), vomiting, palpitations, digestive disorders, ulcers and migraines.

When we get old, our neurons do not die, but rather the connections between them disappear,that is what recent scientific research suggests. The neuronal connections or synapses keep us lively and young. When we have pleasant experiences, such as during meditation or when we are on a holiday or are surrounded by friends or while working in a team, some examples of activities in which we feel happy, the neuronal connections are more fluid. However, the lights go out when we feel fear. It is an emotion that is capable of slowing down and blocking the electrical impulses between the neurons. With fear we are less creative and we get older more quickly. If we do not want to suffer illnesses (or want our illnesses to get worse) we should learn to manage and overcome fear.

Soul Sustenance

Life Beyond Life (Part 1) 

Have you ever looked at a new born child and glanced at the expressions on his face? Why is there a magnetic aura about a baby’s features that attracts one and all? The innocence, the sparkling smile, the beautiful eyes, the angelic cheeks, the shining forehead, the round, cherubic (pretty) face and the soft whispering sounds makes one wonder what is so special about the spiritual energy inside such a baby that talks to us and tries to convey so much as to move us and even bring tears in our eyes. Such a spiritual energy is in a state of nirvana or a meditative state or a soul conscious state, a state which we as adults, practice to achieve. 

We would like to share with our readers that in the nine month gestation (pregnancy) period of a mother, the spiritual energy which has to own a particular physical costume, enters the womb of a mother and adopts the physical foetus (which is semi-developed) as its own in the fourth or fifth month. A wonder of nature is that a spiritual energy that has been exposed to different types of situations and relationships and played different roles as an adult in its previous life in a state which is not really spiritually self-aware, more of a state which is focused towards the gross or material existence, suddenly forgets all that and becomes a very pure and divine being temporarily as soon as it enters the fetus inside its mother’s womb, a being that is cut off from physicality and almost in a thoughtless state of meditation – here by meditation we mean a state that is self-aware or soul conscious, not in body consciousness. It even forgets its past life almost completely and starts adopting itself to the new environment inside the mother. On one side its physical body continues to receive physical sustenance from the mother as before its entry and on the other side it vibrates its mental energy to its physical body which also helps it grow physically. As the personality of the spiritual energy, so is the energy radiated, resulting in a healthy or unhealthy body. Once the baby is born, a few subtle traces of consciousness or remembrance of the past life do remain inside the spiritual energy, because of which sometimes when these remembrances surface inside the minds of babies, they smile or become sombre (serious) or even cry in their sleep, depending on the type of past remembrance. 

(To be continued tomorrow …) 

Message for the day

The actions performed with happiness become a means to draw the line of fortune as long as you want.

Contemplation: The more actions are performed with a feeling of happiness, the more they will bring benefit to yourself and others. Thus it becomes a basis for creating your elevated fortune. 

Application: Instead of blaming fate when things go wrong, it is good to remember that to create our line of fortune is in our hands. Take the thought to be happy in whatever you do. This practice will enable you to change your situation into a more positive one. 


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

https://astudypoint.blogspot.com/

Contemplation: February 23, 2020: Look for Goodness

Contemplation: February 23, 2020: Look for Goodness

Look for Goodness

In everything, goodness is there. Our goal is to find it. In every person, the best is there. Our job is to recognize it. In every situation, the positive is there. Our opportunity is to see it. In every problem, the solution is there. Our responsibility is to provide it. In every setback, the success is there. Our adventure is to discover it. In every crisis, the reason is there. Our challenge is to understand it. By seeing the goodness, we'll be very enthusiastic and our lives will be richer.

Asking the right questions brings learning and progress. 

When I am too focused on answers, I don't find them. I need to ask the right questions and also letting go of the dependency of wanting answers. Right questions are like brooms that sweep the mind clean. Once the mind is clean, answers flow. There is then, learning, growth and progress. Today I will ask questions that help me progress rather than expressing doubt. There need to be more "hows" and "whats" rather than "whys". These questions will lead me a step forward, instead of getting stuck with difficult situations.

Loving The One (Part 3)

Dedicating love to the One whom we have many a times disrespected out of ignorance, not to take away the fact that we have loved Him also, but true love for this sweetest and nicest One in the universe is recognizing Him with the eyes of spiritual wisdom, who He is and what are His virtues and how He uplifts mankind from the claws of impurity and wrong beliefs which continue to bring human instincts to the lowest levels, as we see today in society, where lust and other negative illnesses in the human psyche have brought it down tremendously, which man had not even dreamt of, just 100-150 years ago, all under the garb of advancement and modernity. So let us just stop for a minute and reflect on all the qualities of purity that the world possessed a few thousand years behind, on the world time line, which was the world that the God had made with His own hands, which we spoiled due to our self created beliefs and attachment to physicality. The world lost its sanctity (purity) and that was the time when we had disheartened God and broken our promise to Him, made to Him in our prayers and other forms of worship, to take care of what He had created and not to let it destroy our inner selves, which it did. They say, God is above sorrow and joy but God isn’t unemotional either. He watched the decline in a mode of detachment and He was above it, but at the same time He wasn’t liking it happen. The same world children, who had loved Him and left Him in the soul world, which is above the physical world of 5 elements, when they stayed with Him there, had abused that spirit of love and fallen down.

So, if we were to realize this deeply, we would say – Yes! Today I will give the return to the Spiritual Father of Humanity, the Highest One; I will make myself so pure, as He would like me to be. This would be dedicating my true love to someone who has lived by His word of helping us every time even though we did not keep our word to Him that we would remain the purest and the most virtuous beings and keep His creation – the world in the same light.

Soul Sustenance

Taking Responsibility, Overcoming Guilt (Part 3) 

There is a difference between when we have established our own code of values or beliefs in life, and when we feel obliged (forced) to obey an imposed code of beliefs. It is important for us to accept on an inner level the code by which we think we should be guided and act. When we act out of obligation (compulsion), by following a code of beliefs or behaviors that we feel have been imposed but aren't accepted as our own, we should ask ourselves why we act out of obligation (compulsion), basing ourselves on a code we have not accepted. Are we perhaps afraid that, if we don't do it, we will feel guilty? 

When we violate the codes of belonging to a group, family, social class or community, generally we feel guilty. If this guilt leads us to question ourselves about what is right for our conscience, we progress in our personal growth and improve our clarity. It is necessary to respect ourselves, being clear about what the beliefs are on which we base our life, think, feel and evaluate. This will help us to avoid the gap between what we should and what we want to do. Until the should and the want are joined, we leave an open space for guilt. 

When we act according to how we feel we should, we will feel guilt for not doing what we want. While we act according to what we want, we will feel guilt for not doing what we should. 
When guilt warns us that there is something to check and correct within us and we are willing to see it, have a dialogue with the self and clarify, we are on the right path. Sometimes guilt acts as an excuse for us to apologize without really taking on the responsibility for what happened; we pass on the responsibility to the established norms, norms that in this case we haven't accepted as our own. In any case, the solution to guilt is to take on self-responsibility.

Message for the day

Happiness comes when there is self-sovereignity. 

Expression: Being a self-sovereign enables you to have total control over yourself. If not, when there are negative or difficult situations, there would be sorrow. When you are in control you will not expect situations to change but you will have the courage to change yourself. 

Application: When things go wrong, instead of worrying or waiting for things to change, tell yourself that you are a self-sovereign and you can bring about a change in yourself. When you work on yourself and change you can be happy. 


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

https://astudypoint.blogspot.com/

Contemplation: February 22, 2020: Self-Trust

Contemplation: February 22, 2020: Self-Trust

Self-Trust

When there is respect and love for the self, there is trust.  When you believe in yourself, then you have the courage to maintain your strength even in the face of disappointments and setbacks.

Give Good Wishes

The festive season gives us opportunities to meet up with many more people. 

If you find that you have negative feelings towards certain people, than take a moment to transform your feelings.

Follow your spontaneous instinct to give. The heart gives and is full of grace. So, don't just limit your good feelings to just one or two people.
With an open heart, greet everyone with sincerity and love. Make your heart big and silently give good wishes to everyone you meet.

Loving The One (Part 2)

Remembering God whom we respectfully call the One, because He is unique in the sense that He is the only spiritual energy in the entire Universe who has never experienced lust or anger or ego or hatred. God is faithful to the eternal laws of humanity which state that soul consciousness is the right karmaand body consciousness is the opposite; soul consciousness will give and attract joy and body consciousness will give and attract sorrow.

There have been instances in history when God was mistakenly called omnipresent or present in every molecule (whether pure or impure), although He is a permanent resident of the soul world. This was ridiculing Him in a sense. Also, sometimes God’s status and qualities were given to humans, like the worship of deities, whom we started calling gods and goddesses and founders of religions like Christ and Buddha were worshipped as if they were God, although they all were pure and divine human beings and not the One i.e. God. If that wasn’t enough, some people called lust as the eternal component of the world drama and also went to the extent of saying that lust was God’s creation, which even gave birth to many shastras and essays on lust in India a few hundred years after the time of Christ, although lust did not exist in the pure world, which existed hundreds of years prior to Christ, which God had created. These shastras were given undue importance, instead of being banished (discarded) from society which God would have desired, since they sowed the seeds of sin in the minds of humans and were the cause of the moral degeneration of society. Even deities, who were God’s creation of the past, were shown mistakenly as lustful in some temples of India, which was an indirect insult of God, the purest and the most innocent One, the Supreme Father of humanity. God was also called by us, mistakenly, as the One who gives sorrow as well as happiness, forgetting that it was our own actions which brought us both of them. The worst insult for God was by those people of scientific temper who gave God the status of a man created concept and his fantasy, saying God is an imagination and not a reality. So, God was a detached spectator to these insults, never taking them to His heart, but on the other hand He showered sweet mercy on each one of us through His blessings and sweet vision of love, all that time.

(To be continued tomorrow …)

Soul Sustenance

Taking Responsibility, Overcoming Guilt (Part 2) 

If there are people or situations that lead you to fall over the same stone i.e. they lead you to make the same mistake, which was committed earlier, again, perhaps you will have to avoid them for a few days or a time, until you have strengthened yourself and have the inner security that they will not influence you. This is not running away; it is wise knowing your weaknesses and knowing that to get into similar situations with the same people is only to repeat the same errors and to worsen your wellbeing and that of the other. Trust in yourself. You can overcome these mistakes and stop making them. It is a question of loving yourself and living. Out of love, you stop hurting yourself and hurting the other. 

Crying over past mistakes, you don't mend anything. Open yourself to forgiveness. Raise the level of your thoughts so that they don't keep you in a state of sadness and loss of hope. Don't allow your inner judge to sentence (punish) you each time that you act, since that way you won't feel free. Your judge that you carry within makes your life bitter; however, it is you that gives this judge the capacity to exist. If the inner judge is in harmony with our conscience, it is good, because it wants to protect us. On creating guilt it warns us that we have broken a rule of our code of beliefs, values or behaviors. It alerts us to the fact that we are acting against something important of ourselves. At those moments it helps us to observe and question what is real, true, important and even sacred in our life and for us. 

(To be continued tomorrow …) 

Message for the day

The one who is truly happy knows the importance of taking happiness as much as he knows how to give happiness to others. 

Expression: In order to be fully happy, it is important not to take sorrow from situations or people. Usually we pay attention not to give sorrow but it is now equally important to just take happiness from whatever happens. 

Application: Today take the thought in your mind that you will just give happiness and take happiness from each and every person you meet. Think of something nice to say to every person you meet. Then you will find that you are constantly happy because you are not expecting from them but you are giving. 


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

https://astudypoint.blogspot.com/

Contemplation: February 21, 2020: Gently Right

Contemplation: February 21, 2020: Gently Right

Gently Right

Determination makes you sit up straight and love everything, because it's all part of moving forward. Day and night you have the feeling that you only have to seek and can touch the hard core of wisdom that rests inside each moment. You can focus on that, let the toughness be in seeking that and then action is automatically as it should be. Gently right.

Use the present moment well

When the mind continuously dwells on the past, we miss out on the opportunities of the present.

So, if you're still thinking about something you don't need to be thinking about - stop!

Remind yourself: time is too precious to waste on time-wasting thoughts.

Become present and take the opportunity to use the present moment well.

Loving The One (Part 1)

Discovering the love hidden within every spiritual being for the One who has performed thousands of favours for us from the time we experienced a life devoid of love and happiness goes beyond prayers and hymns, devotional songs, chanting of mantras, reading of scriptures and idol worship. Instead of asking for love, peace and happiness from Him, always called by the male gender, whom we have called out to in many phases of the life and death, birth and rebirth cyclic story, in which we lost our way many times, we need to know a method of connecting with Him in such a way so as to empower our inner selves completely to bring about changes inside us that would fill us with what we were searching. There will always be love for this One since He brings with Him thousands of love filled surprises which the soul does not even believe it can expect from God, but He being the One with the most number of enchanting and pure treasures, will always be remembered as the highest One whom the world looks up to in times of trouble.

If we look back at our present birth, we will remember thousands of times when God has hugged us and taken us beyond sorrowful circumstances and trying problems. We have thanked God so many times that remembering the same brings us into tears and we realize that we owe a lot to this One who goes out of his way to forget his remaining children for that one moment, which we feel is our own personal moment with Him, as we continue to fall in love with His continuous favours that he showers on us and we promise Him again and again to be faithful to Him by sharing all that He brings into our life, with those children of Him who search for Him and are sometimes disheartened when they feel lonely or disappointed, when things are not as pleasurable as they desire.  So let us celebrate our long lasting loving relationship with not only thousands of loveful gratitudes but also by giving humane inspirations to His loving children so that they unite with this One, the amazing One.

(To be continued tomorrow …)

Soul Sustenance

Taking Responsibility, Overcoming Guilt (Part 1) 

When you free yourself of guilt, you live in peace within. You take on responsibility and stop sentencing (punishing) yourself internally with feelings of guilt. Taking on responsibility is constructive; it allows all your potential to remain awake and flow. You feel free and unburdened. When you get it wrong, you can find different methods to relieve yourself of the burden that it might imply. For example, being sorry for or feeling sad for something that you have done means that you are aware that you have acted against your own wellbeing or that of another. Realizing it is good; it is the base for any positive change. The important thing is not to sentence (punish) yourself. Learn the lesson. Say sorry, if it is the right thing. Put it right. 

Remember that yesterday has already passed. The past cannot be changed. You can't swallow the words that you said, since you already said them. You can't repeat the scene from yesterday in a different way because it already happened and stayed recorded on the film of this world drama. Therefore, don't repeat the words or the scene in your mind over and over again; doing that, you keep alive something that is dead, since yesterday already stayed behind. Learn from the error and commit yourself to you and to your life, promising to yourself that you will not fall over the same stone again. You will think about it before speaking or acting. 

(To be continued tomorrow …) 

Message for the day

Happiness is earned by those whose actions and attitudes are pure and selfless. 

Expression: When the actions are pure and selfless there is no trace of negativity. Where there is no negativity, the mind becomes free from feelings of guilt, fear etc. This automatically ensures constant happiness. 

Application: If there is no happiness, there is definitely some kind of negativity. So check the actions that you perform. Let them be not only for your benefit but also for the benefit of all and you will find that you are able to be in constant happiness. 


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

https://astudypoint.blogspot.com/

Contemplation: February 20, 2020: An Ancient Peace

Contemplation: February 20, 2020: An Ancient Peace

An Ancient Peace

There is a silence into which the world cannot intrude. There is an ancient peace you carry in your heart and have not lost. There is a love you have missed for so long and will always come back to.

Focus

Remove the confusion that comes from too many options and too much information by sharpening your focus.
Just as a photographer decides where and what to focus the lens on, we too must select what really matters and what doesn't.
Whilst capturing the overall picture and all the details, put the spotlight of your focus on one particular thing.
And just as a photographer adjusts the camera to each picture they take, know when to redirect and adjust your lens of focus.

The Limitless Mind

If we compare the two entities – mind and matter – the most obvious difference between the two that comes to the forefront is that one is non-physical and the other is physical. Another very important difference between the two is that whereas on one hand, matter has limits, in the sense, that’s its fixed in time and space. The mind, on the other hand, is beyond limits, in terms of physical parameters. It’s not fixed in time and space.

When we take a close look at what is going on in our mind, its power becomes visible to us. Since its not fixed in space, it can link me to a friend in, as far as, Washington or Singapore in less than a second. My mind can even move in many different directions at once. Since the mind is not fixed in time, I can think about yesterday, or about fifteen years ago; about tonight, or the next three years. That’s the reason we can say that the mind is limitless, hence powerful.

Thoughts also have different levels of power. Sometimes they fly past the mind leaving hardly any impact on us. At other times, they are accompanied by such feelings so as to influence our entire perception, even our complete inner mental state. Thinking about a visit to Kashmir I made last year, for e.g., I could find myself carried back mentally into the beautiful experience and its attached emotions. Filled with happiness, I will even radiate this happiness to others nearby, through my thoughts, facial expressions, words and actions. On the other hand, thoughts about the death of my close relative a few years ago will have an opposite impact on me in the present moment.

Soul Sustenance

Being An Observer And An Actor – Maintaining The Balance 

In relation to the other, we have the possibility of observing and intervening (interfering) when we wish to; that is, maintaining the balance between being an observer and acting; playing between forming part of the audience and being the actor. On being actors, sometimes we can lose ourselves in the acting of the other in his or her or their dramas; we get in so deep with what is happening to the other that we lose distance. We get mentally and emotionally involved in the other's stories. When our awareness gets lost in those stories, we stop being the creators of our own life and of our own story. This habit exhausts us; we lose energy; we lose our concentration and control over our thoughts and our emotions. We lose our inner peace and we begin to look for it again. 

We can choose to observe the dance of ideas, images and acts of others, and not get involved in their complications. Only thus will we be at peace with ourselves and with the world. Remember that you create your own story. If you want to live in peace and exercise a positive influence on the people around you, don't try to control or to change the stories of others. In order to enjoy a painting you do not poke your nose onto it; you remain at a certain distance so you see it with greater clarity. The same thing occurs with the painting of life. By learning the art of being a detached observer and then intervening, of keeping a healthy distance, we manage to be connected with what is essential without losing ourselves in the waste and superfluous (excessive). That way, our intervention does not arise out of a reaction which has shades of frustration, anger and negative judgements. We are then the creators of spaces of trust and love in relationships. 

Message for the day

The method to stay in constant enthusiasm and to keep others enthusiastic is to see specialities in others. 

Contemplation: Many times while I am sincerely working towards my task, I find myself losing my enthusiasm. I also might find people not very happy with me or my work. I do make an attempt to understand their feelings but fail to do so. Such negative responses further reduce my enthusiasm. 

Application: I need to develop the art of looking at specialities in people. The more I am able to see their positive qualities, the more I am able to relate to them with that speciality. This encourages the other person further to use that speciality. This will naturally keep me constantly enthusiastic. 


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

https://astudypoint.blogspot.com/

Contemplation: February 19, 2020: Miss Nothing

Contemplation: February 19, 2020: Miss Nothing

Miss Nothing

Being enlightened means being self aware. Awareness of yourself means you don't miss anything inside. You are aware of things like the quality of your thoughts and feelings, of how you sometimes give your power to others, and how your self-esteem occasionally fluctuates. You don't miss anything because you know that knowing yourself is vital to being comfortable with yourself. Are you comfortable with yourself? No! Then be with yourself, talk to your self, listen to your self today. Take a few moments out and have a meeting with yourself. Put yourself in your diary. Put yourself at the top of your to list. And write next to it, 'being with myself'. Miss nothing in yourself.

relax7

Do you usually walk fast - everywhere?

Not because you're running late but just because it's a habit!

If you're feeling rushed all the time, try to walk at a slower, leisurely pace. Let your rushed thinking slow down and let ideas and creativity flow. Discover how life's much better when unrushed!

When you are in a rush, walk fast, walk briskly, not because you're in a hurry, but because you value the exercise for your legs and heart.

Becoming Aware Of What Is Ego

All of us are familiar, to different extents, with the emotion of ego. All of us don’t even define it in the same way. We are also aware to different extents, about the negative repercussions (effects) of the emotion of ego on us and on others. Depending on how aware we are about the effects, we work to eradicate the emotion from our daily lives, so that it neither disturbs us nor others. Some of us even consider it a positive emotion and feel it contributes positively to our personal and professional progress. To be aware completely of the negative effects of ego and to realize clearly whether it is a positive emotion or not in the first place, it is important to first become aware of what it is exactly. So, how can we define ego?    

Ego is attachment, inside my consciousness, to an incorrect image of my self which I then mistake for myself. When the attachment takes place, you lose your sense of identity in theimage of the object of attachment which you create on the screen of your mind. That object can be something physical like your body, your physical personality, a relationship, a material possession, your status, money, a particular skill, respect from others, etc. or something non-physical like a belief; an opinion; a  mindset, a memory, a particular virtue, specialty, power or a sanskar (positive or negative), etc. Therefore ego is the self attaching to and identifying with an image that is not the self. This process takes place entirely within our consciousness many times in the day, on the screen of the mind. E.g. When we say this is my salary package (something physical) or my opinion (something non-physical), we are (without being aware about it) creating an image of the salary package or the opinion inside our consciousness and becoming attached to it, so that we lose our self identity in the salary package or the opinion, believing that I am the salary package or the opinion. So at that time, the salary package or the opinion becomes an incorrect image of the self to which I am attached. This is ego. If while thinking, feeling or speaking about my salary package or my opinion, we do not become attached to or do not lose our self identity in either of the two, then that is not ego.

Soul Sustenance

Worry Confused With Concern (Part 2)

We are all linked together at a subtle, invisible level, and communicate with others invisibly. We not only send but also pick up the energy that others radiate, especially the ones that we are close to. We demonstrate with an example how this can work positively as well as negatively when we find ourselves in negative situations in our practical lives. 

Suppose the class teacher of your child (we take the example of your son) calls up and says that while playing in the school playground, your son has injured himself. She doesn’t explain much but says there is nothing to worry. She requests you to come and pick him up from the school. At this point of time your son is radiating his own spiritual energy which is most probably the negative energy of fear, stress, anxiety and sorrow (although the teacher has informed you that he is fine). At the same time he is also picking up your subtle spiritual or mental energy. You are driving to his school to pick him up. At this point of time, you only have a rough idea of what situation he is in exactly at that moment because you are physically far away from him. Guessing about the exact situation is making assumptions and is a waste of your mental energy. If you make negative assumptions i.e. you worry and are scared, then you are sending him the same vibrations of fear, a negative energy, which he is going to pick up and it is not going to empower or help him in anyway but is more likely to weaken and disturb him and even disturb you in your driving. You have been told that there is nothing to worry but still you know he is in a slightly difficult emotional situation and only he knows how he will come out of it. What will help him? He needs your support, but what will support him the most - we are talking about subtle support, because you are going to take some time to reach the school and provide him physical support? Your negative vibration of fear which you may mistakenly call concern or care as you imagine something bad has happened? Or the positive vibrations of your unconditional love and your good wishes, which is true concern or care? What will you send him to support him from far away? Worry vibrations or the vibrations of love in the form of your good wishes for them? Vibrations of love will keep you also in a positive state as you drive through the city. Besides, what is care or concern? It is you sending your positive inner spiritual light to help another and worry is definitely not that. 

Message for the day

Faith in others enables them to be powerful. 

Contemplation: Faith in others is usually mistaken for blind faith - observing helplessly, only hoping for the best in our heart. We, then, don't consciously do anything but just hope for the best. In such a situation we subtly experience fear or tension. But this is not true faith nor is the outcome usually right. 

Application: Faith in others means to remain alert to what is going on and then to fill the other person with the strength of our faith to such an extent that they feel able to do whatever needs to be done. Our faith will fill them with confidence and they will be able to give their best to the task. 


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

https://astudypoint.blogspot.com/

Contemplation: February 18, 2020: The Influence Of Gossip

Contemplation: February 18, 2020: The Influence Of Gossip

Artist: Helena Nelson Reed

The Influence Of Gossip

I cannot afford to overlook the influence that other people have on me. There are cases where people quarrel, fight and even commit murder because they are influenced by gossip, influenced by the words of others. To what extent do I check that I am not being influenced by gossip? Negativity in the mind is like poison. Negative thoughts are the seeds of negative actions. It might seem like a simple everyday occurrence - my friends tell me in the strictest confidence that such and such a person is like this and does so-and-so. I listen and accept without question because of the friendship. My attitude and actions now become influenced by my friends words, and I find myself acting and reacting in accordance with the information fed to me. Gossip and guessing bring sorrow, heaviness and distrust. Poison can come in many disguises, but poison is poison whether from an enemy or a friend.

Be positive now and you'll generate more positivity.

That means, in all that you do, do it with a positive intention and feeling.
The more positive you are, the more your inner strengths get nurtured.
Even when something goes wrong, or someone behaves negatively towards you, it's your choice how positive you are.

The Power To Transform Emotions (Part 2)

Thoughts may be temporary. Feelings (either positive or negative), accompanying repeated thought-patterns, stay a bit longer inside us. But when a soul suffers a major setback, loss or failure in life that it is not able to deal with, it becomes emotionally damaged and the results of that can be extreme.

Suppose I lose a loved one all of a sudden. If the feelings that come to me because of this loss can be taken care of at that time, through any means like the remembrance of God, meditation, developing a positive hobby to divert my mind, spending more time in the positive company of other family members, etc.; I will deal with the feelings and move on. If however, I am unable to deal with my feelings through any of the means mentioned, the experience of loss I feel is going to cause a lot of deep damage on the emotional level. Then it will not just be a feeling of loss, but it will actually have wounded the soul emotionally. Until that wound has healed, I'll carry it with me long after the loss has suffered. The emotions linked to it will come to the surface repeatedly, though I may have no idea where my sorrow is coming from. Due to the emotional wound, I'll be unable to stay happy, no matter how positive my circumstances may be today.

Meditation does not require me to go into the subconscious roots of my pain. Instead, through thought, meditation enables me to take conscious control of my feelings and emotions, so as to displace the negative, which brings sorrow; with positive, which brings happiness.  It helps me experience pure, powerful emotions and loveful feelings to such an extent that the wounds left by past experiences are healed. Raja Yoga means royal union - it means having a loveful relationship with God. The experience of God’s love is a soothing balm for my emotions, and a remedy for the emotional pain the soul feels.

Soul Sustenance

Worry Confused With Concern (Part 1)

One of the most incorrect beliefs that we have acquired since childhood is that to worry is to care, worrying is caring. Our parents are the people whom we grow up with and are closest to in our childhood. As soon as we are born, in fact even before we are born, even when we are in our mother’s womb, they start transmitting the energy of this belief through their thoughts and later on when we are physically present in front of them, through thoughts, words and actions; to us, which we catch, because we being a spiritual energy, not only transmit or radiate but also absorb energy. As we grow up, this false belief keeps reaching us from everyone on a subtle as level as physical level from whom we meet and are close to including our friends, siblings (brothers and sisters), spouse etc. and slowly we start accepting this belief as being completely true and lead our lives according to it and even transmit the same to others. That is why it is extremely difficult to find a single person today who does not live according to this belief or does not bring it into their daily lives to some extent or the other. 

A very common example of the above belief which we all have gone through sometime or the other is when we are late by just a few minutes in coming back home from office. On reaching home, we are asked a thousand questions and by our family members, perhaps our parents or spouse or children about where we have been and why hadn’t we bothered to call and also informed about another thousand negative assumptions they had made in that much time. Why? Because they had been worried for us. We are normally surprised with the fact they are worrying, because 9 out of 10 times we are late because of a not so serious reason, but our family members explain that we were worrying for you because we care for you. But worrying is not caring. Worry is fear or anxiety and care is love or concern, they are two opposite emotions which can never exist together at the same time. 

In tomorrow's message, we shall demonstrate how on a subtle energy level, true love and concern is more beneficial than worry in coming out of negative situations, in which we find ourselves every now and then. 

Message for the day

Problem solving is to work at the roots of a problem.

Contemplation: When a problem comes up we usually try to work at removing the problem at hand by trying various methods based on the understanding we have. We don't go deep into the actual cause of the problem and so find it repeating again and again. Unless we understand the root cause of the problem we will not be able to get rid of it fully. 

Application: The trick to problem solving is to go to the root, i.e. to find the actual cause. When we find and work at removing the actual cause of the problem we will never find it repeating. For example, if the actual problem might be inability to finish everything in time, the cause behind might not be lack of sufficient time, but my own carelessness. 




In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

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