Daily Positive Thoughts: August 31, 2016: Feeling Great

 Feeling Great

Enthusiasm is the master key to feeling great. It keeps the self extremely positive beyond the pull of negativity while simultaneously making others feel uplifted too. To develop enthusiasm, have faith in the goodness of life, and in the original goodness of the self and others.

Living Relationships The Soul Conscious Way (Part 6)

This is the last part of this detailed message series on how to live your relationships in the right manner and in this last part, we explain the method of becoming a good relationship manager. In other words, how do we manage our relationships in a manner that the other person in all our relationships is always full of love and blessings for us in his or her heart? Also we continue to experience that love from them in the form of good wishes which reach us in a way so as to fill us on a spiritual level.

Soul-consciousness is the way of living relationships spiritually. Spirituality teaches us that each and every human being in this world is a soul whose original qualities are peace, love and happiness and each one is originally full of these qualities when they come down in the world to play their roles down in the physical world from the soul world up above. This initial stage of ours is called the soul-conscious stage, in which the soul’s qualities are like a fragrant flower and everyone experiences these qualities from us, in all relationships. It’s when we started coming under the influence of negativity of different forms that the soul started losing its qualities and fragrance and it started looking outwards in need of these qualities. This is when the balance in relationships was spoilt and we starting becoming dependent on others for our love and joy. It is like the famous story of the musk deer, who did not realize that the scent it was searching for was from its own navel. In the same manner as the musk deer, we lost the connection with our inner selves and the method of accessing peace, love and joy by becoming soul conscious and started looking for it from our mother, our father, our child, our brother, our life partner, our friend etc. The right way of restoring the balance is completing the triangle of spirituality, by including God as the one whom I absorb peace, love and joy from. I also become soul-conscious and access these qualities inside myself and increase them. And then I share all these qualities with others, instead of expecting them to give me those qualities of peace, love and joy.

Overthinking

Personal power is within you. But when your power gets depleted, everything becomes more difficult.

Know what drains your personal power. Is it because you 'think' too much or 'emote' too much? Or is it something else?

Know how to recharge your personal power. Sometimes all that's needed is to stop for a minute and just be.

Message for the day

The method to bring about a permanent change is to bring about newness in thinking.

 

Thought to ponder: To bring about a permanent change for the better means getting the mind trained to new ways of looking at the same situation. Only with this new understanding will there be a new response. Trying to bring about change in a superficial way will not bring about a long-lasting change. 

Point to practice: When I train my mind to think creatively I'm able to keep my mind busy. In this way I'm able to free it from thinking negative and waste. Also I find myself enjoying every scene that comes in front of me and I also find myself constantly progressing. 

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: August 30, 2016: Words of Peace and Purity

Words of Peace and Purity

A pure mind makes for pure words. It is said that speech may exalt someone to kingship or send him to the gallows. I should never let myself indulge in false, bitter and vicious speech. My words should reflect my true, inner nature, that of purity and peace. Words, once spoken, can never be recalled.

Living Relationships The Soul Conscious Way (Part 5)

Sacrifice in any relationship is an important characteristic or quality that one needs to imbibe to make it successful. Remember the one who only keeps himself or herself ahead without caring for the needs of the other in a relationship is the one who loses respect and also the one who can lead in the relationship with the head but is the loser, when it comes to the heart. The one who gives up the ego to accommodate the needs of the other is the true winner in a relationship of love, which could be relationships involving any two people and in any type of relationship, not necessarily relationships between life partners, which some people think, are the most difficult relationship to play. So, wherever it may be, the one who says I in every dealing is the loser at the level of the heart. That means he or she will lose the blessings of the other, even though he or she may be smarter and more skilled than the other and the other person accepts that also. So respect is gained at the external level by the egoistic role player but love and respect is lost at the internal level.

You must have heard this some time ago that to fear is not to respect, which happens with egoistic people. Egoistic people are sometimes respected out of fear because they are more skilled in many ways and good at doing many things of the world and also good at making things work their way but what they are lacking is humility and the way of winning people’s hearts. Remember, there have been people in the world who have been more successful because they were compassionate and sweet natured and not necessarily best at the ways of the world and being skilled and the best at achieving success on a materialistic level. Humble people are true leaders of people’s hearts and God helps them to achieve big, because of this quality that they possess.  (To be continued tomorrow …)

New Perspectives

Sometimes we can get a little blinded by our own expertise 
and for that reason, it's useful to step out of our comfort zone and seek out new perspectives.

You might want to ask a younger colleague for their advice; they may offer fresh ideas; a simpler approach or a more adventurous one. 

You don't have to follow their advice, but be humble enough to give it your honest consideration.

Message for the day

True decoration lies in using specialties.

Thought to ponder: All of us are bestowed with some or the other qualities. Everyone has the inherent tendency to want to be their best. So we tend to really take care about external appearance. But, in the same way, if we take care of our inner qualities, nurture and help them grow, we would find them decorating our personality in the true sense.

Point to practice: Today I will identify one quality that I feel is unique about me, I will consciously put it into practice and make sure I remind myself about it at least 10 times throughout the day. Even if challenges come to shake that quality, I will still continue with my practice for today. 

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: August 29, 2016: Good Relationships

Daily Positive Thoughts: August 29, 2016: Good Relationships

Good Relationships

In order to create good relationships...

- with your mind, think about what you have to learn from others,

- with your eyes, look into good qualities of others,

- with your words, recognize, value and appreciate their accomplishments,

- with your actions, cooperate and do something for others.

Living Relationships The Soul Conscious Way (Part 4)

Loving God in the right manner is also an important aspect of our lives in which God is also just like all our other relationships, although a very important one. Playing a role of child or friend to God also requires certain ways of acting and creating thoughts of love for Him. E.g. To always ask more and more from God and not think of returning enough is also an incorrect way of being God’s close one. Also, changing oneself to become like God is being a true loved one of God. Qualities like love, happiness and contentment and even a clean heart and truthfulness make you worthy of receiving God’s beautiful sustenance and support when you are facing difficult situations in life’s journey and you need God’s help, without which you cannot come out of them.

Another important relationship with God is one of a teacher and a student, in which God helps us become full of divine qualities apart from spiritual knowledge of course. In this relationship, we need to realize the importance of the effort made by God as a Supreme Teacher and how we should return all the energy and time that he spends on us in making us perfect human beings and lifting our spiritual intelligence to high levels which is required to become pure and perform good actions. Another relationship with God which we sometimes forget to play is one in which God is like a child who takes care of us in different ways. He does this in return of all the care that we shower on Him and also all the respect we give Him because He is a like a constant spiritual power canopy on us and His eyes never stop looking upon us and protecting us from all the difficulties that we might face. Also, whenever you remember God as the Supreme guru, it means following all the directions that He gives and also having a stage of purity when coming into contact with others, which is a stage similar to God’s. This makes you worthy of His constant good wishes which keep you light and happy.

(To be continued tomorrow …)

Right Direction 

Just as we put the car into neutral gear, in the same way we too can, in between activities, shift our mind into neutral. Just for a moment, bring everything in motion to stillness.

Neutrality brings rest, renewal and balance. 

This empowers us to operate at an optimal level, make clearer decisions and move forward in the right direction.

Message for the day

To be an embodiment of solutions is to be an embodiment of success. 

Thought to ponder: Everyone wants to be successful. But to achieve and feel success all the time, one needs to be an embodiment of solutions. Problems continue to come, but if we go on cursing problems, we will not be able to achieve success. We will only end up spoiling our state of mind. Instead, if we try and find solutions, we will find something somewhere. We will be in the right frame of mind to create solutions.

Point to practice: Today I will only focus on solutions. I will pick out one problem which I have been avoiding or not being able to do anything about. I will then think of some solution, even if it is a small little step that I can take. I will first believe that there is a solution and then find something creative to do. 

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: August 28, 2016: Hope in Myself

Daily Positive Thoughts: August 28, 2016: Hope in Myself

Hope in Myself

If at any time I begin to lose hope in myself, let me simply look inside my heart and see all the good actions I have ever performed, from the smallest to the grandest. When I see how much happiness I have given, I easily remember the purpose of my life.

Living Relationships The Soul Conscious Way (Part 3)

Whenever you want to experience joy in a relationship, learn to love with a big heart. This is something we hear commonly, but what this means is loving without any fixed boundaries of how the other person should be with me. In other words, we tend to create so many fixed images in our mind of the other person’s consciousness, attitude, words and actions about how they should be, that we don’t let the other person be themselves. This happens to the extent that the other person will in some cases stop expressing themselves freely and also sometimes their personality starts going into a cover which has been created by us and they will never come out of that cover for life in some cases. The meaning of that is simple that the other person becomes a puppet in our hands and he or she will do everything that we demand without ever thinking that they are no longer themselves. And who is responsible for that happening? We are. We create a person based on our personality. That’s in short a karma that we become responsible for. This happens in many relationships where people are a mirror image of the person whom they love and who loves them. This is called a conditional love.

On the other hand, a love that is unconditional wants the other person, whom you love, to be themselves and a different person from them with their own personality, their own special strengths, skills and qualities. This happens in such a way that these qualities and skills complement your strengths and the two of you become a beautiful pair of people who keep each other ahead and also at the same time focus on your own qualities and bring them into action. This is true love. Such a love, when brought into action becomes a beautiful foundation for a happiness filled relationship, in which two people enjoy each other’s loveful company without interfering in each other’s personal space.

(To be continued tomorrow …)

Renunciation

On the path mapped out by the true spiritual philosophers and pioneers, there is great emphasis placed on the idea and need for renunciation. It is seen as the way to enlightenment, and freedom from the attachments which we misuse as sources of limited happiness and contentment. 

Renunciation does not mean giving everything away, shaving our heads, saying farewell to family and friends and finding a Himalayan mountain top. 

It means seeing our attachments and dependencies, our weaknesses and our evasions, and consciously giving them up. There is no sense of loss. The material necessities still come to us, paradoxically more will come. And when we renounce our own weaknesses and dependencies there is always a strength and a new freedom to be found hiding underneath. Renunciation is a pathway to a simpler life and a highway to spiritual freedom - one of spirit's deepest yearnings in 'the age of accumulation'. 

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Message for the day

To have the right company is to ensure progress

Thought to ponder: The company we keep influences us to a great deal. We might not realize it, but we tend to get subtly influenced by the company we keep. Throughout the day, we do come across a lot of people and situations. We have to face them as part of daily routine or as part of our responsibilities. But we need to also have special attention to spend at least some time throughout the day with some good company.

Point to practice: Today I will go out of my way to find some good company. It could be a person, a book or even a spiritual place. I will spend at least 15 minutes today. This will help me have a different and more powerful attitude to deal with all other circumstances throughout the day.

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: August 27, 2016: Will Power

Will Power

If you believe ‘you can’ and have the strong desire to do so, then despite setbacks, it’s your will power that makes you ‘try, try, try again’. Both ‘will’ and ‘power’ are released when you go from ‘will do’ to ‘doing things willingly’.

Living Relationships The Soul Conscious Way (Part 2)

Loving others without expectations is the love which never gives you any unhappiness at any cost. Loving with desires and fixed demands will make love like a business deal i.e. you give me such and such an emotion or particular word or a certain type of action, which I like and I will give you back what you like. On the other hand, love which does not demand and also love which just exists without the requirement of any fixed conditions to be met is sometimes seen as a love which cannot exist. But it is the love which God is full of and by connecting with Him and seeing each human being as a loveful soul, who is my spiritual brother and a child of God, the ocean of unconditional love; I become a source of giving such a love to others. Also, such a vision for everyone in which love flows to the other person unconditionally because of our eternal relationship of spiritual brotherhood makes life very uncomplicated. In such a relationship you don’t feel tired or pressurized when love is not received and sometimes the other person does not return your love as much as you would like.

People have misunderstood the true meaning of the pure emotion of love and given it an impure form by mixing it with attachment, which always brings sorrow with it. Attachment filled love hurts because it comes with many strings or bondages with it and that is why many relationships where attachment is the foundation, tend to break after the initial phase of the relationship is full of happiness and lots of promises. Very soon, people, because they are not perfect, are not able to reach up to the other person’s level of expectations and also are not able to adjust with the other person’s nature and way of thinking and working, whether it is in personal relationships or in professional ones. This is because love is a characteristic which is the key to making any relationship successful and here we are not talking only about relationships involving life partners.

(To be continued tomorrow …)

Talk with Love

How do you talk to yourself? Is it a stream of fears, complaints and mindless repetition of old things?

If we spoke to others in that way, we'd have to apologize!

Apologize to yourself and talk to yourself, properly. 

Be supportive, loving, kind, encouraging....

Talk to yourself as you would to a friend, or as a mother would to a child, or like a coach or a cheerleader.

Message for the day

To be free from rust is to get attracted with the power of the magnet. 
Thought to ponder: When I perform any action which is against my true nature of peace, happiness or love, I am actually rusting myself. This rust does not allow me to attract the power of the magnet(goodness/God). The more I free myself from this rust, I automatically find that I am attracting the right things. 

Point to practice: Today I will not do anything that will take me go away from my true self. That is, I will keep myself free from things like anger, greed, sorrow etc. Even if the situation warrants for it, I will not react with the negativity. Instead I will just postpone the reaction. Thus, I will ensure I don't add rust to myself. 

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: August 26, 2016: Think Simply

Daily Positive Thoughts: August 26, 2016: Think Simply

Think Simply

Making it simple means making things easy and clear. The magic wand to wave over your life is 'planning and prioritizing'. Make plans, long and short term and then prioritize. Then practice taking one thing at a time, so you can have one thought at a time, with some space before you have to have your next thought. But don't get attached to your plans or priorities. Be flexible (easy) and yet focused (clear) and in this way you can teach yourself to think simply and act simply. One thought at a time. At your own pace… In your own space…. A simple life is a contented life.

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Living Relationships The Soul Conscious Way (Part 1)

We all live in a world where love is the most precious virtue or quality that exists and we are all souls full of love. It’s only when we lose access to our inner treasure of love that we starting expecting love from others and begin searching for it outside, from others and even from the physical world, which we commonly call flora and fauna. Flora refers to plants around us and fauna refers to animals.  It is not wrong to love and be loved by humans and nature. That is not searching for love. Giving love to humans and animals and receiving love from them and also loving plants and nature in general, has existed in the world right from the time the world was a beautiful paradise, full of happiness, love and purity. That world is also called the Garden of Eden or Garden of Allah or Swarg or commonly called the Golden Age or heaven.

There is a difference between receiving love and experiencing happiness because of that and searching for it from others. Also, when we make ourselves dependent on this love for remaining happy, it means there is an emptiness inside us. The love that makes us empty instead of filling us and giving us a feeling of fulfillment is a love based on a physical consciousness. On the other hand, a love based on soul consciousness is a love that does not attach itself to the other person so much, so as to bring about sorrow when it is not received or when the love is no longer available to us i.e. when the other person leaves us or stops talking to us or goes away or does not love us anymore for some reason or the other.

(To be continued tomorrow …)

Lighten up!

Take life as it is, full of drama and adventure. Experience the fun and the excitement, if not, it'll turn into melodrama!

So, the next time things get dramatic in your life, add the ingredient of humour and go from feeling heavy to being light.

Lighten up and you'll lighten up the situation; going from melodrama to enjoying the drama of life. 

Message for the day

To appreciate the value of something is to bring it into our own lives. 

Thought to ponder: When we see something nice or someone using good qualities, we tend to appreciate. Sometimes there might be negative feelings like comparison or jealousy. Either way, it is not going to help us. But when we truly appreciate something, we need to see how we can imbibe this in our own lives. If we have the capacity to notice, observe, understand and appreciate something, we surely have the capacity to imbibe it too.

Point to practice: Today I will start practicing something that I have noticed and appreciated. Instead of trying to do it fully immediately, I will start with a small step. When I start doing it, I will surely find it being absorbed into my own life. Bigger changes will come too, slowly but surely.

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: August 25, 2016: Ocean of Peace and Silence

Mo'orea Island, French Polynesia

Ocean of Peace and Silence

It is said that rest is best. Imagine an ocean of peace and silence and plunge into it. Let your mind relax and enjoy moments of tranquility. Free yourself from wasteful thoughts. This is the best type of rest.

Going Back To My Original Nature

Our present personalities are basically the combined habits of this lifetime (birth), built on the combined habits of previous lifetimes (births), all of which have left their mark (sometimes deep and sometimes not so deep) on our consciousness.  It may well be that habits such as becoming angry, upset, anxious, stressed, sorrowful or scared, have been with us for so long that, they feel a natural part of our inner world, so natural that when someone says our true nature is not anger but peace, not fear but love, not aggression but acceptance, not anxiety but calm, it does not feel right.  And even if it did feel right for a moment, we have become so attached to our old habitual moods, emotions and behaviors that we do not really want to change. It may even be the case that we have become so weak that we need help to change. It seems much easier to stay the way we are.
As we begin to meditate and develop our spiritual practice, our views on the above subject will fluctuate. When that does happen, imagine you are having a conversation with yourself and teaching yourself.  Give yourself permission to be peaceful by nature, full of love and joy by nature, naturally content by nature, wherever you are and in whatever you do.  After a while, you won't need to give yourself permission and you will find these states of being are there within you quite naturally at every moment.   They are our original and eternal nature.   Everything else is acquired or learned.  In so many ways introduction to spirituality, like many other approaches to inner awakening, is as much about unlearning (the acquired beliefs) as it is about learning (new beliefs).

Get It?

Some people really "get" you & some just don't! And that's fine, you might not "get" them either!

But do take this opportunity to see if there's something you can improve in yourself.

Try to be friendly & get along better with them but, if they don't reciprocate, then know when to stop trying too hard.

If they want to know you or befriend you, they'll make that choice. 

But between now & then, enjoy being you & keep the warmth of your good feelings flowing towards the other person.

Message for the day

To end waste means to be free from defeat. 

Thought to ponder: The one with faith in the intellect always remains at a distance from waste, whether it is waste thoughts, waste words or waste actions. To move away from waste means to be victorious. The one who is free from waste is busy with the positive and useful. Such a person is constantly searching for solutions and trying to make the best out of the situation. 

Point to practice: It is because of waste that I sometimes experience defeat and sometimes victory. If I am able to finish waste, I am able to finish defeat. Because whatever the situation may be, however challenging it may be, if I am able to finish waste I am able to recognize the benefit that is merged within it and so I am able to experience being constantly victorious. 

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris