Daily Positive Thoughts: April 15, 2016: Aim High

Daily Positive Thoughts: April 15, 2016: Aim High

Aim High

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

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

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

Accept Change, Don’t Resist It (Part 1)

Change resistance or the inability to adopt to change is the most common reason for the life stresses that all of us are faced with. There used to be a time when change was not so sudden as it is now, but modern lifestyles have made change so sudden that we have reached a point where change resistance has almost become like a syndrome or illness. There was once a businessman named Mr. Rai (name changed), who was very successful in everything he did, whether it be his profession, relationships, earning wealth, earning a name for himself and with a superb personality. It was all great going until one day came when suddenly the government’s policies bought the stock market crashing down and his company, which he headed – its stocks (shares) took a dip and at the same time the fall in his professional stature saw an egoistic life partner turn away from him out of dissatisfaction. These two downs in his life saw his self esteem nosedive (fall down) to its lowest. Life was not the same again. His teenaged children developed bad habits because of a rocked marriage and Mr. Rai was struggling with the sudden changes in his life so much that he took to drinking excessively and even resort to gambling, causing emotional instability and depression.

This can happen to any of us, a sudden change of fortunes, where suddenly one single negative event, only a single change, can rock your life boat and cause it to become unstable in the life ocean and even sink. What should have Mr. Rai done so that he could have prevented a downslide in his fortunes – from extremely successful, one of the wealthiest and the very best to be seen as unsuccessful. A change of perception you would say. That’s what all self-help books talk about. But how? And here we also throw light on the golden principle of acceptance, which follows the change of perception and also cannot take place without the perception change and is an opposite emotion than the one which we commonly experience – that of resistance, when faced with a difficult situation.

(To be continued tomorrow …)

Like a lighthouse, stay stable through the storms of life.

The storms of life may trouble or affect others, but if you maintain hope and light, then your stability provides direction and encouragement to others to move forward.

Message for the day

Fulfill your promise instead of just keeping it in a file and you'll find progress. 
Expression: In all that you do throughout the day, check to what extent you are able to fulfill the promises that you make to yourself. Also check the reason for not being able to fulfill some promise that you have made recently. 

Experience: Think of that promise that you had made to yourself recently that you had not been able to fulfill and think of the reason why you had made that promise and how important it is for you to fulfill that promise. When you practice in this way you'll find yourself getting enthusiastic to fulfill that promise. 

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: April 14, 2016: In the library of your mind

Library at St. Florian Monastery in the town of Sankt Florian, Austria

In the library of your mind

Have you ever wondered why libraries have special atmospheres? They are places where many congregate but where silence is the code. Quietness in an atmosphere means there is the presence of quiet minds, and quiet minds are not only relaxed, they can concentrate easily and create more freely.

Imagine you are in the library of your mind, browsing the accumulated wisdom on the shelves of your life - listen to the silence, be aware of the stillness. Now you can really listen. Now you can really hear. Now you can really think. Now you can create. And behold, you are an artist. Did you not know that silence and creativity are lovers?

Adopting A Wiser Perception

Depending on my choice of perception, I may see life as a battleground, where I face a constant battle from morning to night. The constant to and fro between family and work may tire me emotionally and mentally. If I let it and see it that way, life can also itself become the cause or source of my tensions. It may even seem as if the path of life is scattered with rocks blocking my way. Instead of stepping around or over them, I perceive them as being obstacles. The thoughts may come easily to my mind - If it was not for so-and-so or such-and-such, I would be able to.... I may mention the same to my loved ones. Instead of bringing me any benefit, these complaints take me away from the power that I, the soul, have within of changing anything. I simply pass on my capacity to change, to persons or objects over whom or which I obviously have no control.

If I am fortunate to have a wiser perception which spirituality can give me, life can become a great place to learn and grow. Behind seemingly difficult situations are my major lessons. Disguised in routine tasks are the sign boards that point me back towards truth. Relationships that bring with them repeated scenes of negativity with the same person and for the same reasons show me the weaknesses I have to work on. Indeed, until I work on the eradication of my weaknesses, I keep repeating them. Challenges do come, but they help to bring out the best in me. If I have the subtle eyes to see and the courage to go forward... life is a constant experience of reminders and benefits to progress along the road to my highest consciousness.

Do you find yourself apologizing, a little too often? 

Over-apologizing can reflect a lack of self-confidence and, as a result, lower your impact and influence.

Cut down on unnecessary apologies. Express yourself assertively and politely, without devaluing yourself.

Apologizing is important. Know when it's appropriate to apologize, and make your apology sincere by not repeating similar mistakes in the future.

Message for the day

The one who is responsible is the one who is always light. 

Expression: To be responsible means to do everything with the best of one's ability. It comes with the recognition and the understanding of the importance of the task. No action is wasted, but everything meaningfully connects to the fulfillment of the task. So there are not even ordinary actions, but only those that are meaningful. 

Experience: When I take up every task that I need to do with full responsibility, I am able to give my best. Then I will be able to be light having done my task well and in time. There is never the pressure of work, but there is plenty of time for the self and for others. I also find my inner resources being used to the fullest extent. 

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: April 13, 2016: Can't Concentrate

Daily Positive Thoughts: April 13, 2016: Can't Concentrate

Can't Concentrate

How often do you hear yourself say, “I can't concentrate!"  Actually, concentration isn't a gift and it isn't about intelligence.  

Concentration is driven by interest, and interest is driven by attitude.  If your attitude swells with interest, concentration is astonishingly easy.

Increase your concentration by reducing multi-tasking and any of the many distractions at your fingertips.

Applying The Law Of Balance To Anger (Part 2)

Yesterday we had explained how the law of balance can be applied to anger on a smaller level. The same law can also be applied on a larger level. Each time a group of people transmit the negative energy of anger physically to another group of people - at that time, either:

a) one party is disturbing the balance temporarily, which will be restored sometime in the future, by the second party indulging in similar behavior, or

b) balance is being restored at the present moment (because negative energy had been transmitted from the opposite party to the first party sometime in the past). This balancing must take place, because it's an unbreakable law. This is the law of balance.

This law that does not need to be enforced by us, the police or even by God. It is a natural law like other laws of nature. It gets enforced itself and cannot be broken by anyone. Understanding that this law is embedded in the human state of affairs at all times makes us careful and detached so that we don’t hurt ourselves with violent, toxic thoughts, when someone acts negatively.  We create these kinds of thoughts because we believe this is revenge that is justified. Also, knowing that anger that is radiated comes back doesn't mean we don’t have any laws within society – they are required, but it helps us not to take the law into our own hands. We cannot force justice to take place before its fixed time. We cannot force the balancing of energies of anger. If we trying doing it, it is being egoistic and we only upset the balance of our energies as a result. Even to criticize those who try to take the law into their own hands is to take the law into our hands.

Generosity

Generosity can be defined in many ways but respect, kindness, benefit and accessibility are its key characteristics. Generosity is like a fruit tree in season. All its fruit is available to anyone for the picking. When I am full, complete, when I have conquered selfish needs then I can be naturally generous. My being is open to others to share the best without any obligation.

Message for the day

The one who is open to learning always finds an opportunity to learn and change. 

Expression: Life has plenty of opportunities for the one who wants to learn. Each situation and person that comes one's way is an instrument for a new learning. Constant learning brings about a deep internal change and progress in one's life. 

Experience: When I am able to learn from all that happens, I am able to be content for both what I have learnt and the change that I have been able to bring about. This contentment also keeps me enthusiastic and my mind open for further learning. I naturally become an embodiment of what I have learnt. 

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: April 12, 2016: Patience

Daily Positive Thoughts: April 12, 2016: Patience

Patience

Patience is a reflection of the peaceful mind. My peaceful mind is able to cope with all situations without becoming disturbed and agitated. It calmly accepts the resolution of circumstances and, with this patience acquires the power to deal with all situations.

Applying The Law Of Balance To Anger (Part 1)

We are all very much aware of the law of gravity. It keeps us grounded on the earth. Gravity ensures everything returns to a state of balance. This is the law of balance on a physical level.

The law of balance can also be applied on a mental and emotional level, to the emotion of anger e.g.  Too many angry thoughts of revenge and animosity (hatred) inside our consciousness can emerge in two ways:

a) either externally as toxic, violent behavior, which will attract toxic, violent responses from others, or

b) if these thoughts are kept bottled inside, they will eventually, after a period of time, emerge as some disease or the other in the physical body. This is because our consciousness then tries to find a way to get rid of the mental impurity, which enters our physical body and restores balance to the mental and physical system, which has been upset due to the creation of the toxic thoughts, in the first place.

The above e.g. is an application of this law on a micro level. We can apply this law of balance on a macro level, on the world at large, where we watch groups of people, even countries exchanging negative energy. We shall explain that in tomorrow’s message.

(To be continued tomorrow…)

Being Perfect

Perfectionism at its best leads to excellence and great results. But too much perfectionism is not so perfect! It often leads to stress and lower productivity. 

So know when good enough, really is good enough and when to use perfectionism in a good way.

Have high standards without setting extremely high standards. Strive to do your best without expecting to do everything perfectly.

Message for the day

A deep understanding and an attitude of pure feelings results in positive thinking. 

Expression: When we talk about positive thinking, it is usually just 'think positive' and 'be positive'. But just saying this, either to others or to myself, doesn't help to change my thoughts permanently, in fact usually, not even temporarily. 

Experience: Real positive thinking is much deeper than just to think positive. For this I need to understand and see things as they are, without colouring them with my own attitudes. Then I can deal with things in the most appropriate way, having understood everything accurately. 

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: March 02, 2016: Beyond Judgement

Daily Positive Thoughts: March 02, 2016: Beyond Judgement

 

Beyond Judgement

If I've done nothing wrong, and my attitude is well-meaning, a difficult situation is just a test for my ability to remain beyond the judgement of others.

Gut Feelings

When faced with decisions, most of us experience a gut feeling. Your gut feeling 'knows' what you need and what to do. But sometimes gut feelings can be wrong.

To make better decisions, listen to your gut feelings, but verify it with logic and data.

The Gender Of God

In a large number of religious traditions, all over the world, God is always referred to as a male entity. But, just as the soul does not have a gender and is neither masculine nor feminine, God’s i.e. the Supreme Soul’s gender is neither male nor female specifically. Therefore, as a soul, a spiritual child of God, I can come close to God without any inhibitions or difficulty, which I may experience in any relationship in the physical world, due to the gender of the body I am occupying.

We need to take a look at the Supreme Being or God closely. The Supreme Being is the Supreme Mother who provides spiritual sustenance and whose love is full of unconditional acceptance. No matter what has happened, how my nature or personality may be, I experience unconditional acceptance from God. It's a love that strengthens me, as well as it purifies me. At the same time, God is also the Supreme Father, a very powerful entity, who provides protection and fills the soul with the inheritance of divine qualities and powers. It's a question of just being an innocent child and claiming that inheritance. These are the first two relationships that have to be experienced with God. The Supreme is a balance of being feminine, having the qualities of caring, giving and full of good wishes and masculine at the same time, having the qualities of power, authority and fearlessness. He is She and She is He. These two relationships with God, whereby God plays both the roles of both parents are the basis of my spiritual development. Spirituality introduces to us the concept of taking a new spiritual birth to the Supreme Father and Mother. This birth is based on a change of consciousness. One needs to let go of the negative, impure and sorrowful past and develop a new consciousness, based on the present introduction to spirituality, which is positive, pure and blissful. The awareness of the self as a soul changes my way of looking at things immensely, but the consciousness of being a child of God, who is the Mother as well as the Father and seeing others with that vision brings respect and love for myself. Then all these qualities start showing in my actions and interactions as well.

Soul Sustenance

Role Induced Stress (Part 2)
It’s not at all wrong to treat what we do seriously, but it's a mistake to believe what we do is extremely extremely important and we are extremely busy people living an extremely busy lifestyle. This kind of consciousness makes us over-serious. A very common sign of this is carrying a lot of thoughts of one role into the other. E.g. Aarti, a young mother, switches roles from a software executive in the corporate sector, a role which she plays in the entire day, to a parent and wife in the evening. If she is over thinking about her day-role while playing her evening-role, it is a sign she is over-identifying with her day role and there is a lack of detachment. As a result she starts becoming over-serious and suffers from role induced stress as a result. There is a deep connection between seriousness and fear. E.g. In this case of Aarti, as a result of attachment to her role, there are lots of fears that she carries regarding her role of software executive – fear of loss of position; loss of love, respect and reputation – either in her company or in general in society, not succeeding, not getting promoted etc. because of which she is over-serious and she carries the role in her head almost all the time, even when she sleeps. That is why so called extremely busy people sometimes complain of sleep problems. 

This can happen with us, with any role we play. This kind of stress, just like in the case of the actor (explained yesterday) is generally made up sorrow, anger and fear – one of these three different negative emotions from time to time or more than one at the same time – phases of dejection or feeling low or a lack of enthusiasm or a general disinterest in life events; phases of frustration and experiencing a lack of control of events and people, due to which there are frequent outbursts of anger and phases of immense worry regarding the future, all of which affect our mind, our physical body, relationships and even success of our role; although it is our role itself (our over-identification with it) which is the root cause of this emotional turmoil inside us. So instead of be benefitting our role, our over-concern for it starts affecting it adversely. 

Message for the day
Understanding brings happiness. 

Expression: Happiness lies in understanding the secret of whatever is happening. When one is able to remain happy in this way, he is able to spread this happiness to those around too, influencing the lives of all.

Experience: When I am able to remain happy under all circumstances, I am able to be free from the influence of others' negativity. Instead I will be able to become a major source of positive influence to those around me.
In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: March 01, 2016: Spaces Of Silence

Daily Positive Thoughts: March 01, 2016: Spaces Of Silence

Spaces Of Silence

Push yourself like a machine and you will eventually run low on energy. Love your mind by allowing it spaces of silence and it will serve you tirelessly.

NEWS

As you read or listen to the news, do you find yourself muttering, "Oh no!", "What?", "That's dreadful!"

Does this help the situation in anyway? 
It does, when your justified indignation is channeled into action, but armchair indignation generally doesn't.

Even if you can't take action, you can always take a few seconds to send peaceful and compassionate thoughts out to the situation or to the troubled spots around the world.

Understanding What Is Aura

The mind is the thinking energy of the soul (negative or positive). It is the mental energy, which makes the aura (subtle body) of a person. The soul, situated in the brain, radiates its mental energy to all the brain centers e.g.: hypothalamus (thinking centre), limbic system (centre of emotions and attitudes), frontal cortex (memory centre), respiratory centre, speech centre, visual centre etc., in maximum concentration as these centres are located near the soul. In fact the soul radiates the mental energy to each cell of the physical body. This radiated mental energy which exists inside the whole body is of the same shape as the physical body, which is nothing but the aura.

Now the aura of a person can be photographed by Kirlian photography. If a person most of the time thinks negative, the aura around him has various shades of white light e.g.: violet, indigo, blue, green, yellow, orange, red or can be black if there is no flow of mental energy. If a person thinks positive most of the time then aura around him is made up of silvery white light. Such a person is liked by all and radiates all the innate qualities of the soul e.g.: purity, peace, love, bliss, power around him. Other people coming in contact with him can feel the soothing effect of these qualities. Good meditators normally have clear white auras.

Kirlian photography has been proving useful in diagnosis of disease in a particular part of body and organ system before the disease becomes clinically visible in the form of signs and symptoms.

Soul Sustenance

Role Induced Stress (Part 1) 
A very common form of stress which has raised its head in recent years is stress induced due to one’s role. There was once a famous movie actor, well known as one of the best of all time and he was obviously very much aware of the same. One day as he was shooting for his new film; his director, a very prominent figure in the film-making arena, mentioned to him that there was a general perception spreading in the film industry as well as in the film going audiences that the actor was getting older with time and his performance was dropping and he needed to spruce up his performances if he had to compete with the younger actors. As soon as he heard this, he started taking his acting role and everything related to it over seriously and lost his happiness completely because he had been used to listening only to praises regarding his performances and reputation all his life. He also forgot all that the world had given him all his life, all the love, respect and adulation and became angry, bitter and resentful towards everyone he met, believing that they no longer held those feelings for him as much as before. Also a general sense of fear and nervousness started developed inside him regarding his next performance.

One piece of information had changed him altogether. What had gripped him – Role Induced Stress. His emotion of stress was made of three sub emotions - sorrow, anger and fear (or worry). What was the cause – he over identified with his role. He believed he was an extremely famous hero actor. But was hero actor what he was? It's what he did. But he learned to believe it is what he is. Even we need to remind ourself that we get to play various roles on the world stage of action and that if we over-identify with any of the roles, which a lot of us do, then just like the actor, our creativity, spontaneity and lightness is reduced and we start to take things far too seriously, more than necessary, and as a result get stressed.

(To be continued tomorrow …)  

Message for the day 
The one desire for perfection ends all other desires.
Expression: The desire for perfection brings the capacity to keep on learning from all situations. There is something new to learn and so there are no other desires. Since the mind is busy with bringing about perfection, there is no time for waste and negative. There is the ability to transform negative to positive.

Experience: Love for perfection makes me experience constant progress. I have no thought about what I have to get, but continue to attain from each moment and each situation. I am then naturally free from all other desires.In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: February 29, 2016: Creating Thoughts of Benefit

Creating Thoughts of Benefit

Acts of virtue emerge from deep within, from an inner sanctuary of silence from which inspiration flows. Every action has its seed in a thought and every thought is a creation of the thinker, the soul. I choose what thoughts I want to create and as is my thinking so are my actions and also my experience in life. Going within, I touch the stillness and pure love that lie at the core of my being and every thought that I create is of benefit to myself and of benefit to humanity.

Boredom

Boredom can be a result of routine. Do the same thing everyday and you're likely to switch into auto-pilot mode and get lazy in your thinking.

Try to relieve boredom by doing the same thing, differently. Maybe take a different route to work or change the time when you do the laundry. Just get interested, get creative and add a bit of fun to the routine tasks.

Cooking A Meal – Subtle Energies At Work (Part 3)!

The low subtle energy of certain foods like meat, fish, chicken, eggs, onions, garlic, etc. and also alcohol is a deterrent in the purification of the soul, which is carried out by any wise person as a life objective and they also affect the body negatively on an energy level although you might vouch for their physical benefits, which may even be correct. So excessive consumption of such foods should be avoided, in fact completely avoided. This is a spiritual principle and given significance by the spiritual minded, based on their experiences, because these foods cause the minds to become agitated and lustful, even subservient (under the influence of) to other negative emotions like greed, attachment, ego and jealousy. On a lighter note, you might say, then why not purify these foods by meditation and then consume them but these are foods that come in the tamsic category and giving them pure emotional energies in the form of subtle vibrations does not transform their inherent tamsic or impure nature so much so as to not have a negative effect on the mind and the body.

Also, along with being selective about your meal menu ingredients, taking into consideration their different natures, it’s important to maintain a higher spiritual consciousness while cooking and having meals. This can be done by mothers by creating positive and peaceful thoughts or by playing a few songs of the spiritual type or even playing soothing meditation tunes which performing the cooking karma. Also, before consuming any food item or even water, spend a few seconds in creating a powerful thought of spiritual self-respect and focus your vision or drishti on the item. In this way, the food or liquid item will be charged with positive vibrations through your eyes and its negative nature, both on a physical as well as spiritual level, will be healed. This is in short a spiritual perspective of cooking and consumption of meals and the intention of the message is not to prevent you from having tasty meals and delicious dishes which you are addicted to.

Soul Sustenance

Healing Of Wounds Inside The Soul Through Meditation 

Our connection with the Supreme Soul, through meditation, is the best way of healing the inner wounds and negative traces, inside the soul, which have been left by the negativekarmas of the past. Given below is a meditation commentary that will help you to absorb the positive healing energy of the Supreme in order to do the same: 

I become aware of myself as a tiny sparkling star of light, situated just above the eyebrows – a soul... In soul consciousness, I experience the beauty of the many qualities like peace, love and bliss; of the spiritual being that I am... Now I turn my mind to the soul world… Over there, I visualize, in front of me – a sparkling Sun of golden light - God, the Father and Mother of me, the soul... He radiates immense spiritual energy... I turn my mind and intellect to his light... I feel the warmth of His presence and the light of His love for me gently healing the wounds of the past that are buried deep inside me, the soul... wounds left by ego, fear, sorrow, jealousy, hatred, anger… 

While I sit and absorb this healing energy from the Source, I also transmit that light and positive energy out into the world... This light touches everyone I know and have ever known... It is a light which also heals my negative vision of them... I now recognize everyone around me as brother souls, playing their own unique roles... With this new soul-conscious vision, I experience unconditional love for each soul and all negative memories and past hurts associated with each of my relationships is consciously released... The past is forgotten, resulting in a deep feeling of freedom inside me... 

The beauty of the Law of Karma is realizing that when our consciousness is filled with happiness, peace and love for others today; and we transmit that positivity to others through our words and actions, the energy received back from each of our relationships, as a result of doing that; ensures that our own future will be bright. 

Message for the day

Creativity comes when there is happiness. 

Contemplation: Happiness touches the heart and enables the creativity to come from within. The one who is happy doesn't wait for the right opportunity to be creative, but uses each moment as a chance for using creativity - for bringing newness. 

Application: When I am happy I am able to enjoy and make the best use of each and every moment of my life. I will want to do something new, unique and different. So I also have the satisfaction of having done my best. 
In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris