Daily Positive Thoughts: December 26, 2015: CONTROL YOUR ANGER

Daily Positive Thoughts: December 26, 2015: CONTROL YOUR ANGER  

Mount  Pinatubo - Eruption in the PHILIPPINES, 1991

CONTROL YOUR ANGER
Then you will be able to:
  - respond rather than react
  - be assertive rather than aggressive
  - know when to stand up for yourself and when to step back.

The art of giving happiness lies in being happy. 

If I am not happy with something or someone and I am not able to resolve it, I will not be able to give happiness to others too. If I am bringing about a change in myself for someone and am not happy about it, I will not be able to make a difference. Whatever I do for others, I need to do it with happiness. Today I will make a small change in myself or my life style for giving happiness to someone important in my life. This could be something that they have always been expecting, but it need not be anything big. But, while I am making this change, I need to first ensure I am not bothered or am not feeling heavy about it. When I do it with love, it will give me power and positivity.

Improving The Quality Of My Actions (Part 4)

Karma as spiritual service of others
Service of others can be seen on a very basic level as physical charity but the real service is to uplift the souls of others by inspiring them to re-claim their state of self-respect. There is the old saying that if I give others chapattis, I feed them for a day. If I teach them how to cook chapattis, I feed them for life. In a spiritual way, this refers to the fact that instead of merely performing a positive karma like the donation of money, food, clothes, etc. if one can show others the understanding of karma and how it works and also teach them the ultimate, pure karma of coming closer to the Supreme on a spiritual level, they can make efforts to change their negative karmic situation and bring happiness, peace and positivity back in their lives. When there is a change at the mental and emotional level, then changes will begin to show at the physical level too. Over a period of time, due to understanding spiritual knowledge (as a result of which the soul starts performing positive actions) and a deep connection with the Supreme (due to which negative actions or sins performed in the past are burned up), the karmic situation of the soul, which has been served, starts improving.

Soul Sustenance

Taking The Path of Spirituality (Part 2) 

Religion also tends to encourage us to have faith, to pray and perhaps beg to an entity to whom we are not worthy enough or high enough to look face-to-face with. On the other hand, spirituality would have us believe nothing blindly and never reduces our own basic but now suppressed value or divinity. Spirituality is a path of high self esteem. The spiritual approach to God is one of remaining in that self esteem and cultivating a relationship that is as real, direct and as dynamic as we might have with a member of our family, a friend or a companion. Even worldly relationships work best when the people involved in the relationships maintain their self esteem. It means that personal experience is the only real proof of God's presence in our life. 

While religion would tend to encourage the strict following of a set of recorded beliefs, which have been declared by religions or religious organizations, spirituality would say, "You must not believe me when I say it is raining outside — go and see for yourself. Here, I'll show you the way, but you must go and see and touch the rain for yourself." Spirituality would not encourage blind faith in an historical set of other people's beliefs, but would encourage the cultivation of an enlightened faith based on one’s own personal experience. God, as the Supreme Father, does not want to be worshiped; He only wants to see His loved ones, His children awakened from their self-imposed spiritual sleep – that is what spirituality does – wake us up! 

(To be continued tomorrow …) 

Message for the day

Instead of thinking of the situation, think of your own stage. 

Expression: When you find yourself questioning the things that are happening in your life, ask yourself if your own stage is good. The situation might be bad, but check if your own stage is good and if you have the power to face the situation. 

Experience: The reason for losing the stage in a negative situation is because of negative thoughts. In order to finish such negative thoughts, remind yourself that you are learning from the things that are happening so that you can improve your own stage. 
In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: December 25, 2015: Balance

Daily Positive Thoughts: December 25, 2015: Balance

Balance

Most of us find it hard to keep a balance whilst trying to juggle all the different things in our life.
Whilst we may not be in "perfect balance", the key is to continually reflect and make small adjustments.
Make time for what matters most. Enhance your well-being and quality of life by creating a lifestyle that works for you.

Value time

Punctuality matters.  It's a sign of respect for yourself and others.  So if you have the habit of running late, it's time to be punctual.  

Value time and manage it properly.  Prepare beforehand and avoid leaving things to the last minute.  Aim to arrive early and then if there are delays or any unexpected problems, you'll still arrive on time.

Improving The Quality Of My Actions (Part 3)

Karma performed for leisure or entertainment
When someone says they don't have time for meditation or for their spiritual development, it generally reflects an unwillingness to face the self rather than an actual lack of time. The fact that average T.V. viewing time in many countries runs to more than 15 hours a week tells its own story. To the extent that I value my time, I value my life and make myself valuable. Valuing my time, energy and money is very much a part of the whole karmic story of give and take: what they are used for, how well they are used, whether they are wasted and so on. Difficulties with time, one's own bodily energy and finances are the fruits of past indifference or wastage of these resources (either in this birth or previous births). The world financial crisis is the karmic sum total of all such individual difficulties. Am I using all that I have in a worthwhile way? Am I just wasting it or am I using it for benefit for myself and for others? These questions, answered correctly, often spell the difference between success and failure.

(To be continued tomorrow ...)

Soul Sustenance

Taking The Path Of Spirituality (Part 1) 
To rediscover, become aware of and finally experience our relationship with God, beliefs in God are initially, not a necessity; in fact, on the contrary, they can be an obstacle! Sounds strange, but before being introduced into spirituality, if we have already developed or learnt certain concepts or beliefs about God, these concepts or beliefs may themselves be a barrier in our spiritual progress. To start your personal journey on the path of spirituality, the only requirement is openness to a basic idea that there may be a greater or higher source of spiritual energy than ourselves. Only if our minds are open, can we be ready to communicate personally and directly with this source.

What tends to keep our minds closed to God are either the beliefs we have learnt or inherited from our family, our education, our culture or the trust that we have in those who themselves, whether it be our parents or grandparents or our spouse or our friends, have a closed mind and are unaware of it. It is at this point that we find that religion and spirituality part ways.
Religion would have us 'believe' there is a God, and often a belief that it is not possible to know God, directly or indirectly, or to even approach God i.e. there are fears and inhibitions related to God. Religion sometimes teaches us to be in awe of God. Spirituality, on the other hand, encourages us to leave all limited beliefs behind and be both humble and open to the possibility of the presence of God in our life. Hence, in spirituality, personal experience is given more importance than a learned or inherited belief.Hence the essential need for a method such as meditation to make the bridge from belief to direct experience. In meditation the soul/self releases any false attachments, including learned beliefs, and opens to receive and directly experience the spiritual light of the Source.

(To be continued tomorrow …) 

Message for the day

You will experience all attainments when there is faith. 

Expression: At the end of each day, check if you are aware of and experiencing the things that you have attained for the day. If you are not able to experience the attainments, it means you do not have sufficient faith in yourself or in the things that are happening.

Experience: Tell yourself each day that you have the faith in yourself and in things that they will ultimately turn out to be the best. When you practice in this way you can begin to experience your attainments.
In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: December 24, 2015: Peaceful Mind

Daily Positive Thoughts: December 24, 2015: Peaceful Mind

Peaceful Mind

Learn how to keep your mind peaceful by feeding good thoughts to your mind. Let your mind rest.. let it be restful… not restless. Remember: my mind is my own. I mustn’t let my mind cause me distress. I cannot slap my mind (suppress the mind) – I have to give it love. By giving your own mind love you will make it peaceful.

Lightness

We can only feel comfortable adapting to new situations and different ways of doing things if we are light and easy. We often resist new ideas from others or changing circumstances because we harbour jealousy, mistrust or resentment. Letting go of such negativity, we begin to see with a positive vision and can embrace new scenes in life with a sense of openness and adventure.

Improving The Quality Of My Actions (Part 2)

Karma performed for the self
If I, the soul, am the master of my body, then I have to look after its upkeep. The consciousness with which I feed and take care of the body has to be such that my actions don't bring me into further attachment to it.They have to be of such quality that they bring me closer to God and help to reduce my bodily ego or the pull towards physical desires. I have to work, cook, feed and wash the body but these activities can be done in such a way that they bring me closer to my destination of perfection, of freedom and of liberation.

Karma in our relationships
There is specific energy that drives all relationships - that of credit and debit, give and take. These are the so called karmic accounts that have been created in the past (either in this birth or previous births) and which now determine the quality and quantity of all our interactions and their results, in terms of joy or sorrow, in all our relationships. It's not necessary to find out exactly what the karmic root cause of a problem in a relationship may have been. A very simple guideline to improve the quality of our interactions is:

Rather than take, let me give, so there won't be any further debts. Whether it is colleagues at work, family relationships or friends, let me see if there is a way in which I can fulfill my responsibility with integrity and honesty. If I am not doing that, if I am moving away from my responsibilities, I am adding to my karmic burden. In what way can I give or serve, so that there is no longer conflict, tension and struggle but just sweetness and respect in my relationships?

(To be continued tomorrow ...)

Soul Sustenance

A Message On Christmas 

Its Christmas once again, the time to celebrate. 
As we decorate the Christmas Tree, let us remind ourselves. 
The tree is a symbol of humanity. 
The trunk is when we were all united in one religion of peace, love and truth. 
We then divided into branches of different religions and then each religion divided into twigs. 
The leaves of the tree represents each soul of humanity. 
The Shining Star on top, is God who is now giving us the message to unite once again. 
As we decorate the tree, let us decorate the soul with virtues of compassion, forgiveness and trust. 
Santa Claus, symbolises The Supreme God Father, who comes in these times of darkness, into the dirty old world (chimney), to give us gifts of Purity, Power and Peace. 

Christmas is the time of Angels. 
We have always looked for our guarding angel, one who would always be there for us, guide us and love us. 
Today let us start becoming an angel instead of looking for angels. 
When we remember our original nature of love and purity, we accept each one as they are. 
We love them and our love and acceptance protects them and empowers them. 
We then become an angel to them, 
An angel who is a parent, a spouse, a boss, a friend. 
When we live by our virtues, we are angels to each one around us. 

As we celebrate Christmas let us remember what Christ lived for - Love and Forgiveness.
Why is it so difficult for us to forgive others? Sometimes, even years after a certain incident; sometimes, even after they have apologized; Why? 
When we forgive someone, we actually do ourselves a huge favor because through forgiveness, we release all the negative thoughts, emotions and energies that we are holding onto in our anger. 
Replaying the moment again and again in our mind, we torture ourselves in so many ways. It hurts us more than them, when we don't forgive. 
So even if you do it for the most selfish of reasons, go ahead and forgive. 
First, forgive yourself for holding onto the grudge for as long as you did. 
Then, forgive the other person. 

Message for the day

Where there is zeal and enthusiasm, success is guaranteed. 

Expression: If you are not able to experience success in all that you do, check if you are filled with enthusiasm or not. Also find out the reason for not being enthusiastic. This helps you to realize and overcome your weakness. 

Experience: In order to increase your own enthusiasm throughout the day, create an aim for yourself and see that you work towards this aim each day. When you find yourself progressing towards the aim you will become enthusiastic. 
In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: December 23, 2015: Exploring Silence

Daily Positive Thoughts: December 23, 2015: Exploring Silence

Exploring Silence

Human beings often think about things that don’t concern them and about other people. When you think a lot you will use the word 'why'. To become silent means to emerge wisdom from within. To move into dead silence means to go beyond the consciousness of the physical body. This is a very wonderful experience for the soul, it empowers and refreshes the soul.

To be full of all powers is to be giving according to need. 

If I do not have all powers or if I am not able to recognize the need, I cannot provide what is needed. If I give even variety food to someone who is thirsty, he will not be satisfied. In the same way, I need to understand what power or virtue the other person needs and give accordingly. It is not what I think he needs but I need to understand and recognize what he really needs. Today I will give one person a quality, virtue or power that he needs. I will pay attention not to judge or have negative thoughts. Instead, I will give. This practice will help me give instead of just expecting.

Improving The Quality Of My Actions (Part 1)

Karma yoga (experiencing meditation in practical life situations) functions in two ways:

* By filling the self with power, the transformation of action is possible. This in turn brings about change in my  sanskars.
* By absorbing the qualities of the Supreme Being my sanskars change.

It's necessary to experiment with this to discover its validity. On one level, whatever I have done, I have to receive the return for that but, on another level, just simply pure love for God is the factor that purifies, cleanses and forgives. Whatever my past karma may have been, the fire of God's love, the fire of a powerful connection with Supreme is able to resolve it and remove its impact from within the soul itself, in terms of negative personality sanskars and also in terms of negative karmic effects in real life situations. Thus it can be seen why yoga or the union of love with God is so crucial.

If one looks at the whole pattern of human life, there are four areas of karma which need to be improved:

* Karma that I perform for myself, for my own sustenance and upkeep.
* Karma that I perform with or for others in terms of relationships.
* Karma that I perform, not out of need or necessity, but for leisure or entertainment.
* Karma that I perform as service of others.

In the next three messages, we shall explain how we can improve these four areas of karma.

Soul Sustenance

What Is Clean Communication? 

With the self covered by the clouds of so many external influences and many of its own negative beliefs and past experiences, the self is normally unclear about its own self. The light of spiritual knowledge brings clarity to the self, about the self. This helps me to communicate with others much more clearly than when I am not sure or clear about what is going on inside me. There is a direct connection between the quality of subtle activities in the form of thoughts and feelings going on inside me and the quality of my interaction and communication with others. 

Very importantly, relationships are also connected with attitude and vision. Sometimes, I may feel I have said and done the right things to someone, yet still someone is not behaving towards me as I would wish. At such times I need to check my attitude towards that person and the vision with which I am seeing them. I may find inside a slight feeling of disapproval towards that person, a feeling of discomfort, a resistance to something in their personality. Neither of us may be conscious of it, but my negative feeling casts a shadow on the other person. They are not receiving the acceptance or respect from me, that they should (on a subtle level), although externally I may be showing them a lot of respect. This subtle lack of acceptance and respect from my end influences their ability to hear me clearly (on a subtle level), and the way they behave towards me. The practice of meditation enables me to clean out my thoughts, feelings, attitudes and vision, ensuring that what I share with others on a physical and on a subtle level is positive. Then it is much easier for me to connect with others and for others to connect with me in a positive way. This is called Clean Communication. 

Message for the day

Become the one who is special by seeing only specialties. 

Expression: Throughout the day, among all the people you meet check if you are seeing any negative quality in them. Also check if you are seeing specialties in others or not. 

Experience: Each day tell yourself, "I am special and I only see the specialties in myself and others." Then practice seeing only the good qualities in others and you will become good too. 

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: December 22, 2015: Win-Win

Daily Positive Thoughts: December 22, 2015: Win-Win

Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar, a former Indian cricketer and captain, widely regarded to be the greatest cricketer of all time.

Win-Win

Competing versus doing my best: 

The best sportsmen ask themselves, "Was it a personal best?"  Not was I - 1st, 2nd or 3rd, but "Did I exceed my best?" 

Then, we can all become winners

We seek it here, we seek it there, and we look for love everywhere! 

We expect it to come to us, usually through another person. All our conditioning says it is something that happens to us. The mythology of our fables, legends and modern day entertainment industries say it is something we 'fall into'. And yet...and yet real love cannot be acquired, possessed or accumulated. It cannot be known when we think it comes from outside ourselves. 

The ultimate paradox is we are it. We are love. Each one of us is a source of love that has forgotten that 'love is what I am'. Say it now "I am love". Doesn't feel right does it? That's because it’s been so long since we knew and experienced ourselves in this true way. And yet we all know that the deepest trust and the purest love is known and experienced only when we give it, not take it. As we give love in whatever way is appropriate, we are the ones to experience it first, on the way out. Falling in love is impossible. It is only infatuation, obsession with an external object which appears to fill a gap in ourselves. As soon as the object or person is remembered when they are not present and when they do not need to be remembered, it is simply attachment which, if sustained, will become a dependency. And attachment and dependency are not love. But you already know that...don't you?relax7

Imbibing Or Absorbing Spiritual Knowledge

The first step into experience, particularly the meditation experience, is knowledge. What does it mean to know? Knowing involves four steps, which ultimately give the meditator the experience of realization:

The first step of knowing is information. With information, our intellect opens to new ideas and opinions.

The second step of knowing is knowledge, when we begin to reflect and think on the ideas and views that we have listened to. At this point, we often have to select only a few of the ideas we have heard, as it is not always possible to reflect (think) on all the information that is fed to us. In order to deepen our understanding, we reflect on the information and sometimes discuss our findings and thoughts with others.

The third step of knowing is when we move from thinking to doing, that is, from knowledge to wisdom. Wisdom is gained when we commit ourselves to doing. Knowledge translated into our everyday behaviour is called wisdom, which, in turn, is called quality life. A life of quality is where personal values are not only realised but also lived and experienced through our practical actions.

Doing, or practice, naturally brings us to the fourth and final step of knowing, which is called truth.

Soul Sustenance

The Cyclic Functioning Of The Three Faculties Of The Soul 

The soul consists of three faculties – the mind, intellect and sanskaras. They work together in a cyclic fashion. How they work together can be illustrated by looking at how habits or sanskarasare formed e.g. if you are used to scolding your children to get them to do their homework, here is what happens when you visit a friend’s place and watch, for the first time, how your friend is doing the same to his/her child, you might think (done by the mind): * I should adopt the same method to discipline my children, they never listen to me. Your intellect discriminates and judges whether that thought is right or not. Seeing others using the same method, and also seeing that the children are not being affected in any negative way (at least in the short term, not realizing the long term harm) and also seeing them get the desired result, you make a decision to do the same, which leads to the action of scolding your children. This creates an impression or memory within the soul, somewhat like cutting a groove in a piece of wood. This groove in the soul becomes a characteristic of your personality and is known as a sanskara. Within the groove is recorded the memory of, firstly, the action of scolding the children and, secondly, the desired result from the action. Now, whenever your child disobeys you even a little bit, this sanskara is activated and the memory of the action and result associated with it emerge in the mind triggering a thought: * Let me scold my child, that’s the best way to get him to do things. The intellect judges the thought, remembering the proof of the scolding, based on past experience, and then makes the decision that it is alright to using anger as a weapon to discipline the child. In this way, the sanskara keeps getting deeper and deeper. The cyclic process explained above, applies to all habits, whether physical or non-physical. 

Message for the day

To find reasons to be happy is to increase happiness. 

Expression: When the mind searches for reasons to be sad and sorrowful, even situations with no great significance are seen with a vision of negativity. So there is constantly an expression of words and actions that reflect the need for sympathy and reassurance. On the other hand, when there is the search for happiness, then everything is positive giving happiness.. 

Experience: When I am happy, I start perceiving everything with that vision. It is like wearing coloured glasses. Whatever colour my glasses are, the whole world is coloured with it. Then, I am no longer able to perceive and recognize negativity and I am able to remain happy with everything. 
In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: December 21, 2015: Acceptance

Daily Positive Thoughts: December 21, 2015: Acceptance

Acceptance

When you accept others unconditionally, they can remove their masks and feel at ease with who they are. The security of being accepted gives them the freedom to be themselves.

Being impressed by others

To keep our self-esteem intact, we need to make sure that we do not have an impressionable intellect. Being impressed by people, in itself, is not bad, but we can fall into the tendency of staying trapped in the superfluous and in appearances. What impresses us - influences us and even moulds our awareness at that moment. We lose the ability to create our thoughts and feelings and these are influenced by the impression that we have allowed the other person to leave on us. Sometimes the impression is such that we completely give ourselves to it. We give up our power to the other, and we allow them to dominate our emotional world. The results of allowing oneself to be impressed are varied and on different levels. 

For example, when we are impressed by the other's position; it is fine to respect the authority and the position of the other, but when we allow their position to impress us, our ability to relate to the person in a smooth way is blocked. This can make it difficult for us to be the authority in our own life. 

Another example is when we are impressed by the achievements of the other and put them on a pedestal. We compare ourselves with him or her and have weak thoughts of ourselves, such as that we are not as good or effective as them, or we might feel jealousy or guilt. All of this acts as an obstacle on the path towards our own achievement. 

It is good to recognize and appreciate the achievements and skills of others, but when we allow them to impress us, in some way, we submit ourselves to their influence and we weaken our self-esteem and our respect towards ourselves. Without realizing, we use the other to fill a gap that we feel in ourselves. This will not always work. It will not strengthen us; rather it will create a dependency and dependencies weaken us.

Breaking The Cycle Of Negative Energy Exchanges (Part 5)

To conclude, we all know that every individual is inherently good. A little shade of the incorrect or improper personality exists inside each one, however light the shade is. We also know that this shade was not there originally in the soul but is an acquired one. And also the person with the shade does become aware of it in times of solitude and also is making an effort to remove it so that no discomfort or sorrow is caused to anyone because of it. Along with the negative shades every person possesses many positive personality traits which are their strengths. Now when we are having an exchange of negative energies with such a person, what does a spiritually sensible person do, look at those light shades of negativity which are coming into action at that time or focus on so many positive colours of the personality of the other, colours that we have seen or heard about from others many times in the past. Also, an accompanied realization that even I have my share of negative shades which I am working on erasing, makes this vision easy to practice.

Practiced consistently, this kind of positive vision accompanied by a deep hearted appreciation of the positive personality colours of the other person is mercy in action, which is a shade of pure soul-to-soul love. Such appreciation makes it easier for others to reflect on and see what they need to do to change. But the first impact of this appreciation is on me, in keeping me free of negative and waste internally. So appreciating the other's strengths in my mind and emerging them in my consciousness at such a time is very important as this not only keeps my perception, which is susceptible to being influenced by the negative at that time, clean, but also reaches the other person on a vibrational level and he/she is inspired and empowered to bring those strengths into action, as a result playing his/her part to end the negative energy exchange. This is spirituality at its most magical. I'll not only have removed a source of pain, which is the negative shade of the other's personality in this case, which is coming into action; I'll have grown spiritually as well.

Soul Sustenance

Positive Thinking 

Given below are some examples of simple positive affirmations (thoughts) that you can make about oneself, others, real life situations and the future, which will help you in becoming a positive thinker. 

The self: I do like myself; I accept my weaknesses; I understand myself; I have special skills and qualities; I value myself; I believe in myself; I am lovable. 
Others: I accept others as they are; I look for the best in others; there is something good in everyone I meet; I appreciate others. 
A real life situation: I am capable of handling the situation; I have all I need; I am fortunate; there is a bright side to everything; nothing lasts forever. 
The future: I look forward to each day; every difficult situation is an opportunity/challenge in disguise; each day brings something new and beautiful, something to learn. 

Message for the day

To listen to others fully is to be able to be free from repeating mistakes. 

Expression: When there is criticism that comes one's way, it should be carefully analyzed to see if there is any truth in it. If there is correction can be made accordingly. On the other hand, if others' criticism is ignored or there is a tendency to defend oneself, there cannot be any correction and mistakes are repeated. 

Experience: When I listen to others with honesty, I am able to discover even the most negligible aspect in my behaviour which I can change. So I find myself constantly improving and progressing and moving on towards success. So having brought about a change, even the criticism that comes my way stops. In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris