Daily Positive Thoughts: September 30, 2016: Unity

Daily Positive Thoughts: September 30, 2016: Unity

 

Unity

Unity is harmony within and amongst people. It is built with a shared vision for the good of all and a common goal. Unity is appreciating the value of each person and their unique contribution. When there is willingness to accommodate others, unity blossoms.

False Attachments

Are you aware that whenever you lose your true self-awareness (soul-consciousness), you will identify with and get attached to something that is not you?   It could be another person, your work, or some material possession.   Let's say you are attached to your job and one day, due to rising costs, your company decides to downsize and starts laying off thousands of its employees - all of a sudden you are asked to leave.  The attachment to and identification with your position in the company, which has become a habit (sanskara), causes the creation of fearful and angry thoughts (e.g., I'm going to lose my job (fear related to the future) or How dare they downsize the company and damage my position (anger towards the company and its leadership)).  The destructive energy of these thoughts becomes emotion (energy in motion) which then invades your entire mind so you cannot have clear and calm thoughts (the prime requirement of that moment).   It hijacks your intellect so you cannot make correct, wise decisions and choices (also the prime requirement of that moment) for the future.  Any connection you had with your inner peace is broken.   All this happens because you forgot who you really are and had begun to think you are what you do.   When seen from the point of view of this example it sounds ridiculous that we should identify with what we do or what we have, but this is currently how the world and its people work.  So, never forget who you truly are!

Acceptance

Sometimes our perceptions can be like a stuck record. 

If they're not positive we end up losing out.

If you notice yourself having a negative perception about someone or something, just say to yourself: 
"Although it's not my preference, I accept".

Acceptance dissolves and releases whatever you were holding onto. It frees you up to be how you want to be and feel how you want to feel.

Message for the day

True knowledge brings humility. 

Expression: True knowledge inspires and encourages one to bring about a practical change in one's life. The one with knowledge naturally imbibes it, which is also revealed in his practical life, because he is humbly willing to learn from all situations. As much as there is knowledge, so much there is divinity revealed in all words and actions.

Experience: When I am able to humbly learn from all situations. I am able to enrich my own knowledge. This knowledge further enables me to become more and more practical. So during all difficult situations, I am able to remain light and internally stable. There will be no fluctuation experienced within, whatever the challenges may be. 

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: September 29, 2016: Truly and Permanently Happy

Daily Positive Thoughts: September 29, 2016: Truly and Permanently Happy

Truly and Permanently Happy

The secret to life's purpose is to be happy. In order to be truly and permanently happy, we have to fulfil our best intentions and act on them right away ... even if that means we start by just giving good thoughts to them.

What Are Thought Vibrations?

The word atmosphere has two meanings. One refers to the physical air around us and the other to the more subtle effect that thought vibrations create in a particular space. No one can deny that the atmosphere of a crowded restaurant is different from that of a temple. This is mainly because of the effect of different types of thoughts and feelings in that space. Even someone deaf and blind would have the ability to pick up the difference. Sound vibrations are invisible but their impact isn't. A pneumatic drill or a jet breaking the sound barrier jolt both our minds (non-physical effect) and the walls of our houses (physical effect). Thought vibrations can't be seen but their non-physical as well as physical impact is even more powerful and influential. The panic that people generate during a stampede or an earthquake and the euphoria (absolute joy) of victory in a World Cup final cricket game are examples of how thoughts create an atmosphere.

On a subtler level, many of us have the experience of basic telepathy - I was just thinking of you and you called. Thoughts connect individuals over large distances. Doctors inform us that over 90% of the physical body's illnesses have a psychosomatic (mental) origin i.e. they are a direct or indirect result of our state of mind. That makes the human body the prime example of how thoughts affect matter.

Since the world is made up of the collective, personal worlds of all individuals, then it's easy to see how the international political, economic and social atmosphere is nothing more than the collective effects of all our thoughts.

Reluctance

When "I have to...." do something, it can easily turn into an experience of continuous reluctance. 

If you keep thinking, feeling, saying and living with reluctance in one area of your life, it soon becomes a habit which starts turning up everywhere else in your life! 

Nothing productive, fulfilling or empowering ever gets created with the energy of reluctance. Are you ready to put the reluctance habit aside? 

Change "I have to...." to "I want to...." and go from reluctant to 'reluctantless'!

Message for the day

The power of thought has the power to create.

 

Thought to ponder:  A seed sown and tended to, gives fruits in plenty. In the same way, the seed of a positive thought, when sustained from time to time, has the capacity to create. I find that instead of situations controlling me, I am able to be a master and control the situation with ease. 

Point to practice: Today I will create a positive thought and sustain it throughout the day. Whatever else comes in my way to change this thought, I will not let it influence, but will continue to sustain this thought consciously. I need to start observing and appreciating small little positive results that I get with this practice. 

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: September 28, 2016: Trust In Others

Daily Positive Thoughts: September 28, 2016: Trust In Others

Trust In Others

Trust in others wins co-operation from them. To have faith in others also means reinforcing other people's faith in themselves. This naturally increases their self-confidence and creates enthusiasm. Then they become better able to respond to positive feelings and access their full potential. If I notice someone I work with is not co-operating with me I need to check my own faith in that person. When I am able to appreciate them for their own unique qualities, my faith in that person will grow.

Seven Techniques To Let Go Off The Past (Part 3)

Correction - Memories inside the soul are like imprints or impressions on the soul. Some impressions are deep, some are not. Negative past experiences leave very deep negative impressions or scars on the soul, which sometimes take a lot of time to heal and sometime an entire lifetime can be sent without them getting healed. Negative past experience imprints and negative emotions like anger, hatred, attachment etc. are closely linked. So, correcting the self or incorporating positive sanskars fills the spiritual self with positive impressions. This, over a period of time, nullifies the effect of these negative impressions and as a result, the related negative memories. 

Donation - Donation can be simply defined as the distribution of the invisible attainments one has experienced through spiritual self transformation, to others. It helps one receive blessings or positive energy of those whom we donate to and gives life a focused positive purpose, both of which help us immensely in forgetting our past. People who live only for themselves will find it more difficult to forget their past as compared to ones who spend a lot of time for others. Giving happiness to others helps us in forgetting our griefs.

Interaction - The more we interact with and remain in the company of positive minded people and have positive conversations with them, we give and receive positive energy and the more our past gets erased from my consciousness. Spirituality teaches us to look inwards and experience introvertness, which we haven’t experienced for a long time. At the same time, spirituality also teaches us to keep a balance between looking inwards and outwards. Composed and balanced extrovertness and healthy, happy relationships with virtuous people help us remain more in a present consciousness, not giving the mind to drift too much into the past.

Are you reacting or responding?

Each day brings new situations. The way we respond to those situations creates our attitudes, habits and our personality.

Rather than react, give yourself a moment to understand the situation and develop a considered response.

Message for the day

To use the treasure of thoughts well is to get richer with all other treasures. 
Thought to ponder: The biggest treasure is the treasure of thoughts and all other treasures can be got on the basis of using this one treasure well. If I continue to think waste and negative, I will not be able to use other resources well. On the other hand, if I create positive, powerful thoughts, like iron that is without rust, I will be able to attract the magnet (all good things) towards myself. I become aware of my treasures and I find them growing too. 

Point to practice: Today I will keep a balance of the account of my thoughts. I will keep checking from time to time the quality of my thoughts. If I find that thoughts are negative, waste or even ordinary; I will create a positive thought and sustain for it a minute at least. 

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: September 27, 2016: Diamond Consciousness

Daily Positive Thoughts: September 27, 2016: Diamond Consciousness

The Hope Diamond is a large, 45.52-carat deep-blue diamond, now housed in the National Gem and Mineral collection at the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C.

Estimated value‎: ‎$200–$250 million USD. Mine of origin‎: ‎Kollur mine‎, Guntur District, India.

Diamond Consciousness

When you look at the world through your physical eyes, you will see all the facets of our diversity: culture, race, personality, religion and so on. Seeing only through your physical eyes, it is easy to become stubborn and to try to prove yourself right. However where there is stubbornness there is no love. And trying to prove the self-right is equally offensive. A diamond will sparkle even in the dust; you do not ever need to prove that you are right. In the face of the dangers that come from seeing only with the physical eyes, always think: now is the time to go beyond all divisions, beyond all that limits us and our sense of self. Whatever the race, the religion, the class - our consciousness now has to go beyond all of that.

Seven Techniques To Let Go Off The Past (Part 2)

Positive Information and Intoxication - The more we listen or read positive and constructive spiritual knowledge, even if it is for 10 minutes daily, and imbibe (absorb) it, the more our negative memories fade into the background. Also the regular input of knowledge lifts our consciousness to a higher level and gives us an experience of intoxication or spiritual bliss, in which the memory of our past sorrows and negative experiences gets dissolved. Even on a physical level, there are lots of people who indulge in some kind of addiction or intoxication only because it temporarily helps them to overcome and forget the negatives in their life.

Karma Realization - Another benefit of spiritual knowledge is that it makes us realize the various shades and details of the Law of Karma and its application in the World Drama, which helps us immensely in letting go of the past and concentrating on our present so that a bright future can be built, irrespective of the quality of the past.

Self and God Realization - One of the most important benefits of meditation, an important aspect of spirituality, is that it makes us realize and experience the spiritual self and the Father of the spiritual self, the Supreme Soul, accurately. This is an experience of liberation, in which there is no room for past repentances. Past repentances are more a reflection of excessive attachment to the physical or material or attachment to incorrect emotions related to body-consciousness, remembering the damage caused by it to the self and experiencing sorrow due to the same.

Connection and Relation - Also, meditation being a deep connection between me and the Supreme Father, it fills me with immense power and it is also an intense relationship, which fills me with love, happiness and peace. In the experience of these attainments, over a period of time, my past ceases to burden my consciousness.

(To be continued tomorrow …)

'Google Earth'

Would you like to do more for the world? Actions make a difference. But our thoughts also make a difference.

When you meditate, take a few minutes to create positive, powerful thoughts for the world.

Take a bird's eye view of the planet; just as you would watch the world from 'Google Earth'. Let the light of warmth and wellbeing radiate through you and out into the world. Envelop the whole world with your positive and powerful thoughts.

Message for the day

Your humility enables people to realize their mistakes and correct themselves. 
Thought to ponder: Real humility results in so much power of truth that you don't need to say anything at all in words. The very power of your inner state of being will make the other person realize the error of their ways. 

Point to practice: When you are giving directions or corrections to someone, check your own attitude, remind yourself of the humility within and then say whatever you have to say. With humility your words will be for their benefit and this will enable them to learn. 

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: September 26, 2016: Non-violence

Daily Positive Thoughts: September 26, 2016: Non-violence

Non-violence

True non-violence means never hurting others even through words. Most of us make a great effort not to hurt people physically, but sometimes we hurt others through our words, often accidently.

Today I will really think about the consequence of my words before I speak and consider how they might hurt others, I will also notice how when I do express negativity it makes those around me feel negative, which in turn affects me for the worst too.

Seven Techniques To Let Go Off The Past (Part 1)

Almost each one of us carries a heavy or subtle burden of negative events and happenings that have taken place in our life sometime in the past, either an immediate past or a far-off one; which reduce our present contentment levels immensely. The negative past could be of any form – you experienced the loss of a close loved one due to a break-up or sudden death; you went through a serious physical illness or a very lean phase of financial loss, you were abused on a mental or physical level; you were not treated properly by a colleague at office and undue advantage was taken of you; you performed an inappropriate action and you repent up till now, even after many years have passed, and many such similar and different types of  incidents.

There are three different types of processes for removing negative past memories from our consciousness:

Modifying - A negative past event is modified into a positive, beneficial form and then stored in the consciousness.

Forgetting - Memories of a negative past event are forgotten and do not exist either in our conversations or in our conscious mind or thoughts, but traces of those memories exist in the sub-conscious mind.

Erasing - No traces of the negative past exist in the consciousness and memories of it are completely removed from the sub-conscious also.

We need to take the help of all the different aspects or techniques of spirituality and not depend on only one or two for these removal processes. In the next two days’ messages, we will explain all these different techniques of spirituality, which if incorporated in our life, help us experience lightness and emotional freedom from the past. All of them have their own unique importance.

(To be continued tomorrow …)

Gossip

Most of us enjoy listening to gossip; it seems harmless and unavoidable, but is it? 

Listening to gossip actually encourages more gossip. The information doesn't contribute to your wellbeing.

So, if you don't want to listen to gossip, walk away from the conversation or try to make the conversation more constructive.

Message for the day

To use treasures in a worthwhile way is to be content.

Thought to Ponder: We are all endowed with a lot of treasures. Treasures like our specialties, our time, our good wishes, our encouraging words are in our access. Without using these treasures, if we ask God for more, or expect from others, it is difficult to get them. When we start using what we have in a worthwhile way, we find these and other treasures increase automatically.

Point to Practice: Today I will remind myself of any one specialty of mine and make a conscious attempt to use it in my day to day activities. I will remind myself of this, from time to time, and use it consciously whenever I can. When I am busy using my own inner treasure, I will not only be content, but also start achieving success in all I do. 

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: September 25, 2016: True Peace

Daily Positive Thoughts: September 25, 2016: True Peace

True Peace

True peace can be experienced only when we stop giving and taking sorrow. In order not to give sorrow we need a clear heart that has no ill feelings and for not taking sorrow we need a big heart that can tolerate and help other souls to get over their weaknesses.

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 benefitting our role, our over-concern for it starts affecting it adversely.

Acceptance

When we offer an idea, an opinion, or an opportunity to others, we want it to be accepted. But we can't make anyone take or accept anything.

Try this: 
Offer without expectations. Offer with confidence and humility.

When you offer and then let go, you might discover how much more others will accept and appreciate your offerings.

Message for the day

To be cheerful is to contribute to others.

Thought to Ponder:  When I am happy, that happiness is reflected in my face. This becomes a means of help for many others. There are a lot of people today, who are going through their own situations and are looking for some support or help. The biggest help that we can extend is to spread the warmth of happiness. Situations continue to be there. But, with happiness comes hope and a willingness to work towards making things better.

Point to Practice: Today I will make someone happy. Whether I am able to overcome my own situations or not, I will make a special attempt to bring happiness and hope to someone around me. It could be for a colleague, an acquaintance or even a family member. 

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris