Daily Positive Thoughts: February 27, 2017: The Colour of Flowers 

The Colour of Flowers

Leave worries aside and you will be surprised by the beauty of the sky and the colour of flowers, of the freshness of the breeze and the generosity of the sun. You will feel you are part of creation, and life will start to make sense. The greatest wealth is to appreciate what we have and what we are.

Overcoming The Fear Of Communication

When the fear of communicating effectively exists inside you e.g. when appearing for a work interview, it may be due to personal insecurity. You have to work on it in order to have more security, confidence and authoritativeness. Being secure and full of authority in the moment of communicating and expressing yourself requires practice and effort. Most importantly, to feel secure in such situations, when the person whom you are faced with is in a position of power, you have to value yourself. Self-value brings self-security and a feeling of fearlessness. When someone is normally asked to talk about what his/her personality is like or what is his/her basic character traits are, they normally speak about their weaknesses. Very rarely does one speak of his/her strengths or positive personality traits. Realizing your strengths requires introspection. Meditation, based on the complete spiritual knowledge about the self, is one of the simplest methods to do this. Once you realize your own strengths, you are able to value yourself immensely. If you value yourself, it does not matter so much to you whether another values you or not. However, if you aren't able to value yourself, then doubts exist: Let's see if this person values or respects me; perhaps this job is not for me; perhaps my communication skills are not very good. Then you need recognition and appreciation. Since you cannot give it to yourself (because you have not realized your strengths), you depend on others giving it to you.

You need to know that you are unique and that you are worth a great deal. If the other person does not value you it is their loss; they are losing something precious. If you are established in that self-esteem of Who am I, a very elevated consciousness and that awareness – here comes a treasure whom you will be interviewing, your words and your body language will be sharp, secure and stable. Within you, you value yourself; and if you value yourself, it will be easier for people to value you. On the other hand, if you do not like and respect yourself, you will cause the same energy, which you radiate, to come back to you from others.

To accept responsibility is to accept challenge. 

In many situations that life brings our way we have two choices - we meet it bravely and take up responsibility for our own lives and the choices we make or we just try to escape. Many times we find ourselves taking the second way, which brings no internal satisfaction. Internal satisfaction lies more in accepting challenges than in trying to escape them. I need to remain on the field in the game of life instead of just being a spectator. The more I play the more expertise I gain. This thought enables me to accept the different challenges that life brings.

Message for the day

Cooperation is to give people what they need.

Thought to Ponder: We tend to give people what we feel they need. In the process, we tend to advice or force our ideas on them. But, what really works is trying to understand what people need. If someone, is angry, they lack peace at that time. So, I need to give peace. And of course, I need to be peaceful and patient, in order to give the peace that they need.

Point to Practice: Today I will really help one person, by giving what he needs. I will try and understand what people around me really need and start giving those qualities. This will help me create a habit of providing the right thing at the right time. 

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: February 26, 2017: Achieve the Impossible

Daily Positive Thoughts: February 26, 2017: Achieve the Impossible

On 29 May 1953, Sir Edmund Hillary and Nepalese Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay became the first climbers confirmed to have reached the summit of Mount Everest.

Achieve the Impossible

When you refuse to set boundaries to what is achievable, you can inspire others to believe that they, too, can make the impossible happen.

At Peace with Time – The Key To Relaxed Living (Part 3)

To live at peace with time is to live it with peace, trust and determination. It is different to living it out of conflict and forcing things. In order to live true freedom of being, we have to make friends with time and stop living stressed in time. We have to trust. Trust that you will arrive on time, that you will do it on time and, if not, that a particular problem will be solved. Don't let time be a stress factor. When we live stressed because of time, we lose the best of life. We stop living what is essential and important, and we get lost in the details: I have to go here, I have to finish this, I have to call up someone and endless amounts of - I have to…s that consume our mental energy and make us get lost in the details of the trivial (ordinary). As well, in hurrying, we lose quality. You can do everything, but without losing what is essential; do it with love, with care, with interest, with enthusiasm, with motivation and with focus. That way every small action that you take will have a greater impact, will be more fulfilling and will bear a more positive fruit.

You choose whether, each morning, you want to get up and begin with watching television, reading the newspaper over a cup of tea, or you want to get up and listen to peaceful music, read a couple of pages of spiritual knowledge that inspire you and you begin the day with enthusiasm and by visualizing it positively: today will be a marvelous day, I shall enjoy it ... yes!! Such spiritual practice will give you a feel of time being elastic. In such a consciousness, a minute will seem eternal i.e. time can seem to come to a standstill (if I am surrounded by a positive set of circumstances which are spiritually uplifting) or can seem an instant, i.e. I get a feeling of time passing very fast (if in a negative set of circumstances). Thus, I learn to be a creator of time; living in time without being a slave to it. True freedom lies in being content now. You can be content in the present moment by resolving the inner dialogue that generates stress and conflict in you. When you are content, enjoying yourself and having a good time, you don't realize how time passes. This means that, if we lived in a state of constant happiness, we wouldn't realize how time passes. Time would be at our service. We would be the rulers and controllers of time and not the other way round.

True victory is to have internal stability. 

Whenever the situation is good and I am experiencing success, my internal state of mind is good too. But when something challenging happens, I begin to experience fear or anxiety. More than the situation going wrong, it is in fact my reaction that goes wrong. In order to experience success or to feel victorious, I need to change the way I respond to situations. Even in the most negative situations I need to remind myself that the situation itself is not in my hands but how I choose to respond is surely in my hands. So I naturally make the best choice. 

Message for the day

To have self-respect is to move ahead with confidence. 

Thought to Ponder:   Normally, we are very caught up with the opinion of others. This leads to fear of making mistakes. Also, it makes us weak, when we don't get appreciation. But, I need to ask myself if I am leading my life in a way that I am proud of myself. Then, I am able to appreciate myself first and others are also able to appreciate me.

Point to Practice: Today I will appreciate the qualities in me, pat myself on my back for what I am and move on. Only when I appreciate myself, others will also be able to appreciate me. So today I will appreciate myself, even by learning from mistakes. I will do things, not just to please others, but to please myself first. 

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: February 25, 2017: The Influence of Gossip

Daily Positive Thoughts: February 25, 2017: The Influence of Gossip

The Influence of Gossip

I cannot afford to overlook the influence that other people have on me. There are cases where people quarrel, fight and even commit murder because they are influenced by gossip, influenced by the words of others. To what extent do I check that I am not being influenced by gossip? Negativity in the mind is like poison. Negative thoughts are the seeds of negative actions. It might seem like a simple everyday occurrence - my friends tell me in the strictest confidence that such and such a person is like this and does so-and-so. I listen and accept without question because of the friendship. My attitude and actions now become influenced by my friend’s words, and I find myself acting and reacting in accordance with the information fed to me. Gossip and guessing bring sorrow, heaviness and distrust. Poison can come in many disguises, but poison is poison whether from an enemy or a friend.

At Peace with Time – The Key To Relaxed Living (Part 2)

Not only is your strength reduced by the way that you live the past and project onto the future, but also how you live in this moment. When, for example, you oppose the present and have resistances, these consume your energy and cause you stress. If you accept the present you can flow flexibly without wasting your energy. Accepting does not mean submitting yourself or feeling a victim of what is happening now. From acceptance, you confront and transform. If we learn to live the dimensions of time in a healthy way we will keep up our vitality, we will heal the past and we will feel at peace with it. Accepting the present and trusting in the future helps us to be well.

Accepting the present means stopping comparing yourself with others; you want what the other has, their money, their talents, their beauty, their personality, their achievements, their virtues, etc. So, instead of being grateful for what you have and accepting yourself as you are, you try to have and be like the other. In this way, you are never satisfied. The dissatisfaction causes you a constant unhappiness that reduces your vitality. When you feel happy and satisfied your energy flows more easily. The most important thing that you should do in this moment is to feel content. Next, what is the most important thing? To be content. Therefore, the priority, and what is essential, is that whatever happens in the moment, the most important thing is to be content. So, tell your mind - Oh, mind, be quiet and don't think so much. Oh, mind, kindly trust that everything is and will be fine. Give your mind the basic instructions and the key thoughts with which to be content. Don't let your own mind create the thoughts that trap you. It is we ourselves who create our emotional cages.

(To be continued tomorrow …)

To be free from negativity is to be truly free. 

All of us like freedom and we expect that others should give us the chance or opportunity to express ourselves as we like to. But sometimes this type of freedom is misused and I am not able to do the right thing. Such actions based on false freedom are harmful to others and myself too. True freedom is to be totally free from negativity. When I can free myself from the negative influences I will be able to take up responsibility for my actions and everything I do will be right. This will automatically give me the freedom to do what I want to do without misusing it.

Message for the day

Powerful service is when there is service without pity. 

Thought to Ponder: When we serve through our words and actions, we also need to serve through our mind. Only then will it be powerful service. If I get affected by the negativity of someone or something that is happening, I cannot be powerful. There will be pity, but I will not be able to empower the other person. 

Point to Practice: Today I will empower someone with my words and also with my good wishes. I will help someone with a feeling of positivity. For this, today I will maintain a positive state of mind throughout the day, so that I can give rather than be influenced. 

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: February 24, 2017: Banish Ego

Daily Positive Thoughts: February 24, 2017: Banish Ego

Banish Ego

Ego is not just having a big head. Ego is present every time you feel any kind of fear, or hear yourself saying "That's mine". The truth tells us that nothing is 'mine' or 'yours', we are all trustees, and fear is only present where there is the voice of attachment. Detach from everything, and you will banish ego, fear will be no more, and only then can true love return.

At Peace with Time – The Key To Relaxed Living (Part 1)

To live in freedom you have to live at peace (harmony) with time; live the dimension of time as a creator of time and not a slave of time; live without being either a prisoner or victim of time. To live at peace with time is to live in harmony with nature, beginning with your inner nature. When you plant a sapling today, you cannot accelerate the process so that the next day you have a tree. When it is summer, you cannot make the earth revolve around the sun quicker or slower for winter to arrive before or later. Everything has its rhythm in nature. We have distanced ourselves from the natural rhythm and our accelerated mind exercises pressure, creates stress and causes anxiety. We plan the future, we are stuck in the past and the present escapes us.

Many worries have to do with how we live time: the past, the present and the future. Worrying about what might happen (future), when the moment has not yet come for it to happen, takes away from us the necessary energy to deal with it when it finally arrives. Living in memories drains our energy; the past already happened and no longer exists, except in our memory. We feed memories, not realizing that emerging the memory in our mind distracts us from the present and weakens us. It is like being a plug that connects to a socket with no current passing through. We lose our energy. We want to relive an experience that already happened, and in the end we feel disappointed, feeling a mental and emotional waste.

(To be continued tomorrow …)

To give regard to all is to have control. 

I usually want to control people and want regard from all. In the process I show my authority to those around me and try to get things done. Yet I find that when I do this I am not able to have any control others or their behaviour. The best way to get things done is by giving regard to all. When I have true regard for them, I am also able to receive regard from them. It is this regard that will make others understand and behave according to my needs.

Message for the day

The more I sow seeds of effort, the more I reap the fruits of result.

Thought to Ponder: When I go on putting in effort in the right direction, I will keep gaining qualities. I will be able to keep drawing the best from everything around and also keep receiving cooperation from people. If, in between anything or anyone hinders this, effort needed to be put in at that time will be not so much because I am continuing to put in my efforts anyway.

Point to Practice: Today I will put in efforts towards my aim, without worrying about the results. I will at least do 3 things that can take me towards my aim. This will ensure that I have a practice of continuous inputs. For, I know the result will come anyway, at its own time. 

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: February 23, 2017: Simplicity

Daily Positive Thoughts: February 23, 2017: Simplicity

Trulli, Italy

Simplicity

Complications seem to be an inevitable by-product of modern living. Simplicity gives birth to inspirations. Keeping my own mind calm and clear is the easiest method to sort out messy situations. Maintaining a balance of living simply yet comfortably, and only using what I really need of the earth's resources, I will always have abundance in my life.

Love And Suffering (Part 3)

When there is too much pain we cannot lean back into our true power and experience our energy of love. Only the power of pure love, unconditional love or love of God, can help us to get rid of the suppressed pain inside the subconscious. When you live through a situation that causes pain in you, you have to love yourself, stabilize yourself and enter into silence. Observe that pain without being afraid of it. Observe it to let go of it and understand what it is that it brings about in you.

The answer, generally, is connected with others: He/she doesn't love me anymore and that's why I feel pain, Things are not like they were before, The company of this loved one doesn't give me the benefits it was giving me before.

If a person loved you and now has stopped loving you, does that make you feel pain? Or is it your own expectation and your desire for that person to keep on valuing you or loving you like before that trap you in pain? Is it that you don't accept change? The truth is, we bring on suffering ourselves. If you don't want to make yourself suffer, starting from now you do not have to bear any more suffering. Nobody can wound you or can cause you pain, except if you allow it. So how do you allow it? By being a vacuum that sucks in everything of the other, the good and the bad, and you suffer. It is expectations from our loved one that make us vulnerable to the experience of suffering.

To have hope in the hopeless is real service. 

When we see someone behaving very negatively, we tend to react negatively too. We think and speak about his negative qualities and further increase his negativity in our minds. This creates a negative environment which doesn't allow him to change for the better. When I come across someone who is using his negative qualities, I need to make special effort to give him that positive environment where he can get encouraged to use his positive qualities. Only then can I do the special service of bringing about a positive change in him. 

Message for the day

Great actions make life worthwhile.

Thought to Ponder: To make actions great, I need to pay special attention to what I am doing on a daily basis. I don't have to do anything great or spectacular. Instead, my attention should not be more on what I do. Instead, it should be on how I do it. Adding quality to everything I do makes my actions special. Then I can really enjoy what life brings my way.

Point to Practice: Today I will remember my specialties before I start any work. I will make sure I will add that specialty into what I do. Even the way I sit or walk or see or talk can make a difference when I make my actions special using my specialty. 

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: February 22, 2017: Compassionate Soul

Daily Positive Thoughts: February 22, 2017: Compassionate Soul

Compassionate Soul

You are a soul who does not over-think, over-speak, or over-act- because you understand.

Love And Suffering (Part 2)

We have the inner belief that love, worry, fear and suffering go together. It is difficult to transform (change) fear until we eliminate that belief. You are love and you need to share that love. Life is a sharing of love, it is loving the body, loving oneself, loving others, loving God, loving nature, loving work. That energy of love in the end purifies us and helps us to go forward. But while the belief exists that love has to be linked to fear and suffering, we will be blocked and will put a brake to the flow of pure love. In the name of love, we worry, we suffer and we are afraid. Instead of helping from a place of freedom in love, we help out of worry and fear, and in doing so we stifle, control, depend, and the other person feels their inner freedom restricted. We do not let them be.

If we review our personal life and see the moments when we have experienced most pain in our lives, we realize that it is with the people we have most loved, and that have most loved us that we have suffered most. We experience pain in a relationship of love, where there is possession, control, submission and dependence. Other times the pain is caused by a loss that generates an inner emptiness. That person filled me, they gave me wholeness, they were the reason for my existence and now they have either left me or they have gone. In the second case, we wouldn't say that they have died, but rather that they have gone to another level of existence i.e.  the soul has taken a new physical costume.

(To be continued tomorrow …)

To admire or to praise is to imbibe those virtues too. 

When I notice someone's specialities, I begin to admire them and describe them to others too. I really like those virtues in the other person, but rarely do I make effort to imbibe them in myself too. I need to understand that I like these particular virtues in the other person because they are subtly working within me too. When I work on them more consciously, I will be able to emerge them easily. 

Message for the day

To be free from desires is to be free from the burden of problems. 

Thought to Ponder:  When I chase my shadow, there is sorrow, but when I face the sun, I find my shadow following me. Unreasonable desires are like the shadow which I am trying to catch. What I need to do is, have a clear aim and work towards it. That is like facing the sun. I find more attainments when I am connected with my efforts.

Point to Practice: Today I will check my desires and ask myself if I am doing anything to earn them. I will then see what I really want, make a clear plan to achieve it and follow this plan in order to get to it. This will enable me to be connected with my efforts and the fruit of my efforts would surely come, bringing along with it a lot of other qualities in me.

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris