Daily Positive Thoughts: September 25, 2015: Silence

Daily Positive Thoughts: September 25, 2015: Silence

Silence

It is when we silence the chattering of our mind that we can truly hear what is in our heart and find the still, clear purity that lies within the soul. Spiritual love carries us into the silence of our original state of being. This silence contains the power to create harmony in all relationships and the sweetness to sustain them.

Spread Fragrance

Some people say that it is very difficult to be positive in this highly negative world. But just as an incense stick spreads fragrance everywhere and dispels bad odour,  the power of constantly pure and positive thoughts can transform the negative attitudes and atmosphere of any person or place.

Consciousness

There are two different basic levels of consciousness; * I am a body (which is illusory (false)) or * I am a soul, (which is real). When the feeling is * I am a body, the thought process is trapped in the limitations, problems and vision of the physical identity. Its reaction to others is on the same level.

Given below is an awareness-thought-decision-action-result cycle in the case of a typical father-son relationship. You will notice the difference consciousness can make to the cycle.

Awareness
Body Consciousness: I am the father. I know the most.
Soul Consciousness: I am a soul. My natural state is love and peace.

Thought
Body Consciousness: My son should listen to me as he is my own flesh and blood.
Soul Consciousness: My son is a soul too. As a soul he is my brother.

Decision
Body Consciousness: I will teach him a lesson.
Soul Consciousness: I will respect his idea also.

Action
Body Consciousness: Father argues with son.
Soul Consciousness: Father and son discuss with respect.

Result
Body Consciousness: Ill feeling between father and son.
Soul Consciousness: Respect maintained.

Soul Sustenance

Understanding The Different Types Of Thoughts That The Mind Creates (Part 4)

We have explained Negative Thoughts yesterday. Today we continue with the same:
Negative Thoughts (cont.)

If your thoughts are based on the five vices or related emotions (as explained yesterday), it is as if you had poisoned your own mind and the atmosphere around you. However much you may be right, it does not matter. By thinking negatively you will always be the loser, since negative thoughts take away the respect you have for yourself and others respecting you. Generally speaking, people who think very negatively about others will often find themselves alone, even though they have many relationships. Other people will try to avoid someone who has angry thoughts since anger is like a fire that destroys and causes damage, and nobody wants to approach this fire.

A negative person who only sees the negative side of things causes disharmony in their immediate environment. These types of thoughts are more prevalent in people today, and are one of the causes of stress, fragmentation, aggressiveness and suffering in our current society.

At a practical level, negative thoughts make you lose energy and weaken you. They are a form of inner pollution that must be cleansed so that your mind becomes a more efficient tool.

(To be continued tomorrow …..)

Message for the day

The one who is free from desire is the one who is able to maintain positivity.

Projection: When I put forth my ideas to others I expect them to listen to me. My idea changes to desire and when it is not accepted I then tend to become irritated. And along with it also comes jealousy or dislike for the others and I find myself caught up in negativity.

Solution: I need to make sure that I share my ideas with others but at the same time I need to keep myself free from any selfish motive. When I put forth my idea in a detached way, I too will be open to learning and I will be able to accept any criticism or rejection that comes my way. Thus I will be free from negativity. 

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: September 24, 2015: Purpose

Daily Positive Thoughts: September 24, 2015: Purpose

Ludwig van Beethoven: 1770–1827. Pianist, Composer: He was an innovator, widening the scope of sonata, symphony, concerto and quartet, and combining vocals and instruments in a new way. His personal life was marked by a struggle against deafness, and some of his most important works were composed during the last 10 years of his life, when he was quite unable to hear.

Purpose

The purpose of our lives is to give birth to the best that is within us.

Reducing and Recycling

It's so easy to accumulate "stuff" - gadgets, clothes, appliances, shoes.... It not only takes up space in our home but also in our head. So, simplify your life by reducing and recycling. Just look around your living space and take stock of what stays and what you can easily live without.

How does the accumulating "stuff" begin? Shopping!
So, the next time you go shopping, question the "I need" items on your shopping list. Do you really need it?
Shop less and simplify your life.

Taking Time Off From Busy Lifestyles (cont.)

To rise above the monotonous and busy existence explained in the last two days' messages, we all require a regular dosage of newness to keep our hearts and minds fresh. How can we define newness? It is a change of thoughts, feelings, words, actions, circumstances - when all or some of these deviate from the normal or are new, they give us an experience of joy. On a physical level we go on a holiday or a party, watch a movie, etc., all of these and many more such activities explained earlier in this message series, achieve the purpose mentioned above. We then get back to our daily routine of thoughts and actions, with more freshness, which makes the routine more interesting.

On a spiritual level, to become silent, to be still in the ocean of hectic, noisy action is a choice many people are now making. When this is achieved, this stillness acts on the mind like oxygen, giving the breath to both understand and enrich life. Of course, action is a necessity, an expression of ourselves through time, relationships and the roles we play. However, if we do not sometimes stop and take a breath of silence, then the mind begins to suffocate, thoughts speed like bullet trains and the brain feels as if it is in a pressure cooker. Emotions erupt and react like volcanoes, eyes become dizzy with mountains of information and the head feels like a rollercoaster. This is stress. The mind needs to come up for air, to leave the jungle of pressure, deadlines and speed and slow down and find the point of silence within. Also a daily dose of new and different spiritual knowledge at the start of the day does the work of newness and helps us rise above the monotony. It rekindles our creative spirit. Newness in our thoughts then flows into our feelings, beliefs, attitudes, personalities or natures, perceptions, actions, interactions, relationships, etc. bringing newness in all of them and removing the stagnancy of the regular routine. Also feeding spiritual knowledge to the mind benefits silence or meditation immensely, because meditation, which is not just a process of reducing the mind to a nil stage but the creation of positive, constructive thoughts to take the mind to a positive experience of peace and bliss, can then become an interesting, new and creative exercise each time one practices it. Spiritual knowledge is the foundation of good meditation or silence.

Soul Sustenance

Understanding The Different Types Of Thoughts That The Mind Creates (Part 3)

We have explained Necessary and Unnecessary Thoughts in the last couple of days. Today we explain:

Negative Thoughts
Negative thoughts harm you and are not good for you. As well as the impact they may have on others, these thoughts disturb your peace and weaken your inner strength. If these thoughts occur on a regular basis, they can cause health problems, both physical and mental. They can even become destructive.

Negative thoughts are based on the five vices primarily – lust, anger, greed, ego, attachment. They are chiefly caused by selfish and harmful reasons, without taking into account the values and inner qualities of the person.
* If he speaks to me again in that way I'll beat him up (rage), * I think they should pay me more without having to do any more work to earn it (greed).

Negative thoughts also arise from unsatisfied expectations, in disagreements, in laziness, vengeance, racism, jealousy, criticism, hate and an excess of power.
* My boss never appreciates my work but he always values my colleagues more (jealousy). * An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth or * He who lives by the sword, shall die by the sword (vengeance).

(To be continued tomorrow …..)

Message for the day

The one who fulfills promises with determination is the one who overcome all problems.

Projection: When I see some weakness working within me I usually make a promise to myself with a lot of enthusiasm. But if I face even a little opposition or difficulty in fulfilling this promise, I tend to lose hope and usually give up trying altogether.

Solution: In order to bring about a change in me and fulfill my promise, I need to use the virtue of determination. Every time I find myself becoming careless in it, I need to remind myself strongly of the importance of the promise that I had made. Then I will be able to win over all the obstacles that come my way in bringing my thoughts and words to actions.

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: September 23, 2015: Think Big

Daily Positive Thoughts: September 23, 2015: Think Big

Think Big

Rise above little things. Be a big thinker. You are what you think. So just think big, believe big, act big, dream big, work big, give big, laugh big, live big.

To understand is to be open to learning. 

When someone says something that I don't like, I usually see the other person's negativity and continue to find fault with him. This is usually because I am not able to understand the particular situation. I need to recognize the fact that people in my life are there for a reason and I can learn from everything that happens through my interactions with them. Recognizing this fact will stop me from blaming others and start using each learning for my own personal growth.

Taking Time Off From Busy Lifestyles (cont.)

Technology can be our best friend, and technology can also be the biggest party spoiler of our lives. It interrupts our own story, interrupts our ability to have a thought or a daydream, to imagine something wonderful and create something beautiful, because we're too busy bridging the walk from the cafeteria back to the office on the cell phone, one of the favourite pastimes of our current lifestyle.

We've talked of being busy for so long that we've forgotten that being busy was never the goal. We are not on this earth to be busy. We are here to build relationships, experience life, go places, create things, help others, or whatever else you decide. Our reasons for being will all be different but if you reflect deeply, you will realize and also feel that none of us feel we are here simply to be busy. But this thinking has lead us to think being busy is good, no matter what we're busy with. Being busy is not the way we should measure our worth and being busy is a not a worthy goal for any of us. Before you know it, you might get caught up being busy doing worthless things. Sadly the business world continues to train us this way as employees are expected to put in 8-10 hours of work a day even though on some days they might have only 2 or 4 hours of productive things to do. Poor training!

God's plan for enlarging and creating His beautiful kingdom of heaven, a new world order of peace, love and happiness of the future is so simple - one person telling another about God, the Savior and the Liberator i.e. giving the Supreme's message of joyful, loveful and spiritual soul-conscious existence to each one. Yet we're busy and full of excuses. Just remember, someone's eternal destiny is at stake, that someone who is to receive the message from you. The joy you'll have when you see that person in a liberated and joyful state not only here but in that kingdom of heaven being created will far exceed any discomfort you felt in sharing the gospel or message with him by taking out time from your busy existence.

(To be continued tomorrow ...)

Soul Sustenance

Understanding The Different Types Of Thoughts That The Mind Creates (Part 2)

We had explained Necessary Thoughts yesterday. Today we explain:

Unnecessary (Waste) Thoughts
Unnecessary thoughts are thoughts that are produced at untimely moments that fill us with worry and anxiety when they appear in our minds. They have no constructive use. Unnecessary and useless thoughts are quick and repetitive which lead you nowhere. Often they refer to things from the past: * If this hadn't happened? * Why did she have to say that to me? Too many thoughts are about things that we cannot change, or worries about the future, like: * What will happen tomorrow? * How will it happen? * What will I do if I find myself on my own? * If I had been there at the time, this disaster would not have happened. * If I had had this information at the time, I would have won the case. * When I get the qualification, I will be more respected by my superiors.

Your ability to concentrate is weakened by these useless thoughts. If you have a lot of these thoughts you use more energy and time to undertake each task. The origins of negativity also reside in them.

From the time that the past has already passed and the future is yet to come, these kinds of thoughts are not useful and they also weaken your inner strength and exhaust you. It is vital that we learn to avoid this pattern of thinking. In this way you will be more focused and your decision making capacity will improve.

(To be continued tomorrow …..)

Message for the day

To be successful I need to have the balance between the head and the heart.

Projection: In my interactions with others, I sometimes only use my head, i.e., my logic. I am very logical and understand the facts very clearly. But if I keep myself limited only to the facts, I tend to forget to use my heart. I then am not available to the other person and fail to understand him.

Solution: In order to be successful in my interactions with others I need to have the right balance between my head and my heart. I need to see beyond what the facts say and try to listen and understand the other person too. When I do this I will not hurt people with my attitude but will be able to maintain harmonious relationships.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: September 22, 2015: Deep Within

Daily Positive Thoughts: September 22, 2015: Deep Within

Empire State Building and skyscrapers in midtown Manhattan, New York

Deep Within

Just as the highest tower needs a deep foundation, so too our higher thinking is based on going deep within.

Center Point

In a world that bounces from action to reaction, expression to opposition we are surrounded by polarizing opinions. The soul feels pulled in all directions. A state of duality internally pulls me apart.
However when I find my center point - the center of myself - I find a quiet place that is untouched by the push and pull of daily living and the tensions of a seriously tense world. It's time to be whole, beyond polarity by staying in my center.

Taking Time Off From Busy Lifestyles

Gone are the days when 'idle' was not just a word in the dictionary, but a practical reality and life's inclusive component. The world is dazed and squinting and so are we. When did you last sit on the window pane looking out at the squirrels or the sunset? Or when did you last read a book on self development or spare a few minutes for spiritual relaxation? Or when did you last spend an idle weekend shopping or with your family? Or when did you meet your old friend for a lunch and laughed till your eyes dropped? If you were to ever pass through a busy market place, you will have plenty of time to observe the running men and women with blank faces. Who has the time to smile? To stop where you are and thank God for the life you have.

Being busy is now not just an activity but a disease. People who are working day and night have an obsession for it, also called workaholicism (being a workaholic). They can't sit idle and anxiety takes over when they do so. The day isn't far when humans will be called sheer machines. Today, the lifestyle of a child to that of an aged person is such that there is no scope for personal time. A student's timetable is like a train schedule. Just one after another. From school to tuitions, from tuitions to vocational classes, then to the sports complex and again to another tuition. A corporate professional's day moves from one assignment to another revolving around the emotions of * I need, * I want and * I own, without ever thinking of rising above the monotonous existence. Is speed is what we are born for? We cannot only blame our lifestyle. There are more internal causes you would guess, like meeting expectations, pleasing everybody and reaching your idol self, your goals and ambitions is what makes you work like there's no tomorrow.

(To be continued tomorrow ...)

Soul Sustenance

Understanding The Different Types Of Thoughts That The Mind Creates (Part 1)

By understanding each one of the thoughts that the mind creates we can keep the beneficial thoughts and discard those which are useless or harmful. Today we explain:

Necessary Thoughts
Necessary thoughts are those relating to your daily routine, such as, * What am I going to have for dinner? * What time am I picking up the children from school? * What is the number of my bank account? * What have I got to do today? They are also thoughts connected with your profession or job. These necessary thoughts relating to your daily life come into your mind according to your responsibilities and needs at a more physical, material and professional level. When these thoughts are repeated over and over again, they become unnecessary or waste thoughts.

(To be continued tomorrow …..) 

Message for the day

To make thoughts as pure as the actions is to be truly elevated.

Projection: There is usually attention on the self not to perform any negative acts. There is also considerable attention not to speak any words that are harmful or negative. But very rarely is there that attention on the thoughts. Because of this a lot of negative thoughts tend to remain in the intellect causing trouble for me.

Solution: I need to understand the fact that my thoughts form the basis for my words and actions. The more I pay attention to make my thoughts positive, the more it will make a positive impact on my words and actions too. Constant awareness of a positive thought enables me to maintain my own inner positivity.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: September 21, 2015: Magic

Daily Positive Thoughts: September 21, 2015: Magic

Story of Cinderella:  Despite her circumstances, she refuses to despair. Her Fairy Godmother magically appeared and transformed Cinderella from a house servant to the young lady she was by birth. She turned a pumpkin into a golden carriage, Cinderella’s rags into a beautiful jeweled gown, complete with a delicate pair of glass slippers.

Magic

When you want nothing, magic happens.  All that you need and more arrives in your life, at the right time, in the right way.

 

Gossip

Gossip, like fire starts with a tiny spark and if fuelled, it creates a fire which spreads and spreads.

If you have the habit of fueling gossip, remind yourself: relationships thrive on trust. How would you feel if others gossiped about you?

Even though most of us delight in gossip, resist the urge. Try not to say anything about others which you wouldn't say to their face.

And when someone else starts to gossip, say you're not interested or you're not comfortable discussing it. Alternatively, you can just opt out of the conversation or change the topic.

The Triangle Of Spiritual Energy (cont.)

Referring to yesterday's message, in the triangle of harmonious energy, all three points (the self, the Supreme and others) need to be equidistant - not too much one way or the other. The equidistant triangle in ancient mathematics was the symbol of harmony. Harmony, peace, order and balance is what is natural in human life and if we wish to return to that condition, we need to realize the importance of equidistant relationships. It requires constant attention to keep the three points in balance and in working order. Otherwise, when we get over-focused on any one of the three, we become inflexible. This inflexibility causes us to go out of balance and the result is disharmony and disunity, which can also be called violence, an unnatural condition, or even hell when it reaches an extreme point.

In order to maintain a balance between the three, I need silence: times of introspection when I can check the flow of three of my relationships - with the self, Supreme Source and others. This checking mechanism protects, sustains and develops the qualities of these three points.

Soul Sustenance

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 the image 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 sanskara (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.

Message for the day

Where there is faith there is victory

Projection: When someone has faith there are no doubts or questions about the self, others or situations. Faith also enables a person to see and understand simple things in life with a new understanding. It shows direction and courage to go on.

Solution: When I have faith, I experience myself to be lucky and thus receive cooperation from many others. I would also be able to experience success at every step. There is then no worry for me and am troubled less by aspects that keep changing around me. My thoughts then would always be positive and I experience victory.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris