Daily Positive Thoughts: August 10, 2017: Everything I See Is Precious

Sea of Stars, Vaadhoo Island, Maldives - This marine bioluminescence is generated by phytoplankton known as dinoflagellates.

Everything I See Is Precious

Let me learn to keep myself in a positive frame of mind and look for the beauty or benefit in everything that happens.

The Four Pillars Of A Spiritual Lifestyle - Achieving A Balance 

A balanced and fulfilling spiritual life is like a table.   It stands on four legs and if one leg is shorter than the others then both balance and equilibrium will be difficult.  The four legs or pillars of a spiritual life are given below in the form of four subjects. If any of the subjects is not a part of our lives or is a part of our life, but not to as great an extent as the others, then the overall balance of our spiritual life will be affected adversely (negatively).

1. Daily spiritual study (knowledge or gyan)
Daily spiritual study provides the right quality of nourishment for our mind and intellect, the two important energies of the soul.

2. Daily meditation (spiritual yoga)
Daily meditation provides the means to explore, discover and reconnect with oneself and with God.

3. The inculcation and development of virtues (dharna)
Giving some time each day to the conscious development of our character (virtue) helps to eliminate any negative sanskars or personality characteristics (vices) and improves our ability to build positive and harmonious relationships. The quality of our relationships is a mirror reflection of our dharna.

4. The service of others (seva)
A life purpose based on some kind of service is the foundation of personal growth through the practice of giving.  Finding appropriate ways to use our increasing spiritual power and understanding (through the three subjects mentioned above) for the benefit of others is the most satisfying way to use our energy today. It also ensures happiness for the present as well as for the future through accumulation of positive energy in the form of blessings of those who are served.

Sharing & Caring

When we think of sharing, we sometimes wonder if it is really
beneficial. Normally the belief is that when we share anything or
resource, we find ourselves a little poorer with that resource. So we
do not want to consistently share which is believed will bring benefit
only to the other person.  When we share inner resources like
happiness, peace, love etc. we are enriched. Every time we give, we
not only get back from others but also experience that quality
ourselves. When we share our physical resources too, it is our own
experience which is important than the outcome. That means, I enjoy
giving itself rather than expect appreciation (which may or may not
come!)

Message for the day

The one with zeal and enthusiasm is constantly tireless. 
Expression: Zeal and enthusiasm brings the willingness to move forward under all circumstances. Never are there are any excuses given, whatever the difficult situations or challenges that one might be faced with. Instead whatever has to be done is done without any tiredness. Also the best is made out of all situations. 

Experience: When I am able to be enthusiastic under all circumstances, I am able to be tireless. This tirelessness gives me the courage to move on and experience constant success. I become aware of my own resources and make the best use of them. So I also experience internal progress, constantly. 

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: August 09, 2017: The Gift of the Present

Daily Positive Thoughts: August 09, 2017: The Gift of the Present

The Gift of the Present

When the past is mixed into the present, it prevents you from experiencing the happiness the present offers.  So the question is how do you forget the past?  Focus your attention on that which is good in the present.  Do not compare the present to the past.

Carrying Feelings Experienced In Meditation Into My Interactions

If I keep close contact with my internal self, to check what my feelings are like and I maintain the meditative awareness at many moments during the day, even if it is for very short periods of time, I will find that the good feelings I have experienced through conscious choice, in meditation, I carry them with me into my interactions with others. Then, in any exchange, although the other person's thoughts, words or actions may not be as I would like them to be, I'll be better equipped to maintain a good feeling towards that individual, and towards myself.

For example, I meditate in the morning and then leave home and find myself in a situation in the office where two of my colleagues are arguing over an issue. When I try and intervene, one of them gets aggressive with me as well, but the feelings of peace I experienced in my meditation a couple of hours ago are still with me, using which I do not reacting angrily or fearfully. In fact, if my peace is powerful enough, it will make the other one also peaceful.

So the key is to emerge and collect positive feelings through meditation at regular intervals during the day. And then become a donor of positive feelings to negative situations as discussed above is an invaluable achievement. It is good for my own wellbeing, and for contributing to the creation of a peaceful atmosphere wherever I am, whenever required.

Trustee

When we think of resources that God has given us, we tend to think
that everything should be accepted blindly. Such acceptance sometimes
leads us to become passive, or even make us to get caught up in the
negativity of the situation. To consider ourselves as a trustee of God
is to appreciate what is happening, knowing that God is responsible.
It also means that we need to be a valuable instrument and do our bit
well. When we make full effort handing over the responsibility to God,
we are able to do our best using all the available resources. Yet, we
don't experience the burden of the situation.

Message for the day

True courage brings benefit to the self as well as to others. 

Expression: When there is fear, there is some kind of danger, either for the self or for others. The one who fears, or the one who doesn't have the courage to accept and face situations, is not able to bring out the best form within himself. Such a person is constantly thinking of excuses and is trying to blame others for the mistakes that happen.

Experience: With courage, if I am able to take up responsibility for every situation that I am faced with, I am able to be free from worry or tension. I will then be in a position to learn and so I find progress at every step in my life. I find others giving me a lot of good wishes for my sincerity. I also become an inspiration for all others too to bring about a positive change. 

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: August 08, 2017: Manage Emotions

 

Artist: Dorina Costras - Saint Etienne - France

Manage Emotions

 

When the energy of our consciousness is out of our control - the mind is agitated. We are being emotional. The solution is to detach from the inner storms, stand back and observe the hurricane pass. Detached observation withdraws the energy which your emotions require to sustain themselves. When you watch your own anger, it dies. If you don't detach from it, and observe it ...it will be your master.

Accept Change, Don’t Resist It (Part 3)

With reference to yesterday’s message, the third power shared by the Brahma Kumaris to the businessman was the power to let go of all the memories of past negative events. He was advised to take out time to indulge in pure service - share all that he had learnt at the Brahma Kumaris with one person every day. He made a principle of his life called Each One Teach One Each Day. This became his hobby. All the past negative incidents that were reducing his ability to perceive positively a negative situation and accepting it were pushed back and forgotten. He became a new person, from one with a negative past to one with a fresh mind eager to fill new positive experiences in itself. This would help him in crossing an uncertain present and constructing a positive future.


Also, another power to achieve success in the change of perception and then accept was the power to think correctly based on beliefs based on spiritual truths. E.g. the belief - I will be unable to emerge victorious over this negative event in my life was replaced by – Every negative situation is a blessing to achieve significant transformation in the self. This is not possible without the existence of the negative event. These spiritual truths were a part of the complete spiritual knowledge of the Brahma Kumaris which is in the form of a week-long, an hour per day, introductory study course. This course was undertaken by the businessman.

The last power was the power of an everyday morning input of holistic and pure knowledge after the week-long introductory course was undertaken. This was taken at the centre of the Brahma Kumaris, which as discussed earlier, went a long way in creating a positive environment inside his mind.  It was an environment full of positive perceptions. As a result, negative circumstances became easy to face.

Positive Aspect

When someone relates something to me about another person's
negativity, I tend to listen to it with great interest. I then find
that the other person is greatly encouraged to speak about it. But
such waste talk is not really useful for anyone and I find that there
is no solution for the problem at hand. When someone is talking about
the negativity in another person I need to question myself if
listening to this is of any use to me, or if I can do anything about
the situation. If I cannot do anything I need to remind myself that
there is no use listening to such waste talk. Instead I need to make
an attempt to look at the positive aspect in the other person so that
the other person can see that too.

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. This is because he is humbly willing to learn from all situations. As much as there is knowledge, so much there is divinity and elevatedness revealed in all words and actions. Also such a person keeps learning from all life's situations.

Experience: To have the ability to learn from all that life brings is to have love for knowledge. Since I have love for knowledge, I am able to experience self-respect. This self-respect gives me the humility to accept situations and people as they are and keep learning. So whatever the situation or whoever the person I come across, I only find myself enriching myself and moving forward. 

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: August 07, 2017: Thank God, It's Monday

Daily Positive Thoughts: August 07, 2017: Thank God, It's Monday

Google Workplace

Thank God, It's Monday

Forget TGIF (Thank God, It's Friday). Think TGIM (Thank God, It's Monday) ! Increase your motivation, commitment, passion and the feeling of fun in the workplace. In other words, love what you do. Then you'll happily go to work, Monday after Monday!

Accept Change, Don’t Resist It (Part 2)

Taking the message further from yesterday’s example of a businessman who resisted change, accepting a difficult situation wasn’t easy in his case. This is a case of a person who benefitted from the teachings of the Brahma Kumaris. He was given a five point spiritual power formula to implement. The five powers helped him reshape his perception into a positive one. As a result he accepted a difficult situation. 

The first power was the power to transform one’s thoughts as per one’s own desires using the power of meditation. Rajyoga meditation, as taught by the Brahma Kumaris, is a connection between two minds – your own mind and the Supreme source of spiritual power – God. He is invisible to the physical eyes but visible to the eye of spiritual wisdom or what we call third eye. This connection causes spiritual energy in its purest form to be absorbed from God. It flows into one’s sanskaras and changes the sanskara of thinking negatively.  

The second power was the power to discriminate between negative and positive information that one is exposed to throughout the day. Very often a negative piece of information received from the daily newspaper can make the perception of a negative situation full of confusion and a lack of clarity. This can cause us to become emotionally weakened. So, the businessman was given a simple advice – read the newspaper in the afternoon or evening and not the first thing in the morning. At that time, the mind is not so fresh and the absorption capability of the sub-conscious mind is lower than what it is during the morning.

(To be continued tomorrow …)

Love and blessings

The world is trapped in the mire of barriers (politics, language,
caste, gender) and this has distanced us from each other, and from
what we require for wholesome existence: love, respect, understanding,
and freedom.  We are scared to love for fear of being taken for
granted but God's love is very liberating, since God's vision
surpasses all physical and imposed barriers: every soul is seen for
what it is and what it is capable of; no one is condemned for their
past; no expectations are kept nor requests for anything in return but
yet God does know the value of His love.  God has the faith that love
and blessings will transform negativity in His children eventually.
True love and good wishes for another soul is the seed that shall bear
fruit in time.  God says, you cannot love Me completely if you dislike
any of My children because God cannot reside in a heart filled with
hateful feelings.

Message for the day

Introspection enables one to be free from the influence of negativity. 

Expression: Introspection means the desire to be good. Introspection brings the ability to look within and see the true self in the mirror of the heart, thus enabling one to activate the inner spirituality. Then all effort made will be towards activating this inherent goodness. And slowly one finds that the behaviour associated with negative traits are no more expressed, as they begin to lose their hold. 

Experience: When I am able to introspect and look within, I can find the goodness that is there within me. Because of this, I naturally am free from expectations from others that they should recognize my goodness or consider me good. Instead I find myself content with what I am and continue to bring out the best from within me. I also continue to learn from all situations and experience progress. 

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: August 06, 2017: Get Past Your Past

Daily Positive Thoughts: August 06, 2017:  Get Past Your Past

Get Past Your Past

Let the past be the past - both my past and the past of others. There's no need to keep repeating the past in my head.

Think: Whatever happened, happened, it's OK for me to move on. Let me be supportive and make it easy, not difficult - for myself and others. When I stay in the present, everything is pleasant.

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

Change resistance or the inability to adapt 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. The 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, who was very successful in everything he did. He earned success in his profession, relationships, earning wealth and everything else. It was all great going until one day his company began to go into a loss. At the same time, his relations with his family began to get disturbed, because of this. As a result, his self-esteem began to fall. Life was not the same again for him.

This can happen to any of us, a sudden change of fortunes. Suddenly one single negative event, only a single change, can change our lives. What should have the businessman have done, to remain positive? He became, from extremely successful to unsuccessful. A change of perception you would say. And here we also throw light on the golden principle of acceptance. Acceptance follows the change of perception and also cannot take place without the perception change. It is an opposite emotion than the one which we commonly experience – that of resistance, when faced with a difficult situation.

(To be continued tomorrow …)

Aim at the Goal

While moving towards the destination, we generally tend to get
distracted with even the little things that happen. Even a small
negative or positive incident is enough to distract our thoughts from
the destination. We become so busy with such things that our vision
moves away and there is no movement forward. We need to first clarify
our goal. Once we have done this, we need to take care that our vision
is focused on it. Even when situations come by, trying to distract us,
we need to remind ourselves that these are only side-scenes, which are
not important for us. It is more important to keep our energies
focused towards the goal.

Message for the day

The power of cooperation enables the most difficult task to be successfully done. 

Expression: To have the power of cooperation means to have the ability to see and use the specialities of others in any task that is to be done. It is the ability to respect and use the suggestions and ideas of each and every one which contributes for the success of the task. So the one who is able to use this power is able to be successful in any task that he takes up. 

Experience: When I am able to give cooperation and take cooperation from those around me, I never experience fear for any task that has to be done, but am able to be at ease, knowing that everything is possible. I am also able to earn the respect of those around me for having made the best use of their specialities, which further facilitates the success of the task. 

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: August 05, 2017: Trustee Consciousness

Daily Positive Thoughts: August 05, 2017:  Trustee Consciousness

Trustee Consciousness

We all have a relationship with everything. Obviously the relationship we have with the people and objects in our immediate vicinity is more intimate than the rest of the world. For most of us the most common relationship is possession. In our minds we think we own and possess things like cars and houses and carpets and golf clubs etc. This thinking easily spreads into jobs and tasks and positions and perhaps even other people. "I want you", and "You are mine alone", is the essence of many romantic film scripts and song lyrics. What we forget is that this relationship is wrong. It is not possible to possess anything. Care for..yes. Use...yes. But possess...no. You can't take it with you when you go, so we say! And yet it's the idea of possession which lies at the heart of all fear, war and conflict. Can you see it? Fear of loss, fear of not acquiring what we have already decided is ours in our minds. So what is a better relationship we can choose which takes all the fear away. Be a trustee. Everything comes to us in trust, for us to use and then to set it free. The consciousness of trustee sets us free of the tension of grasping and guarding. To see ourselves as trustees of everything that we receive, including our bodies, encourages our innate capacity to 'care for with dignity'. It is a much more relaxing way of relating to the things which we are privileged to receive in life.

Going Beyond False Identifications

The more I identify with the physical factors of my life, the more I become a prisoner to my destiny or the various up and downs of my life. E.g. if my self-respect is attached to my beautiful new car, how will I feel about myself when the car becomes old and its beauty and shine reduce? Or if I my car is stolen or gets immensely damaged in a road accident? Then, I shall find myself in an identity crisis. The same will be true if my business or job is everything to me. If one day, I am in a good financial state and I enjoy a very respectable and dominant position, and the next day I find myself in a dispute in my profession and I suddenly lose all of that, and nobody wants to know me, I will feel as if I have lost my soul and have almost died. The problem is sometimes so great that people do, literally, lose their desire to live. It happens, too, in relationships, when your partner leaves you either due to a separation, a divorce or even death - a partner in whom you have invested all your love and emotions. Or if my identity is tied to my back balance or property, and suddenly I am broke.

All of these are actually false identifications, and the crazy part of living this way is that I can never be satisfied, even if I succeed in maintaining my false identity. These kind of false identifications do not keep me placed stably on my seat of self-respect and either bring about an inferiority complex or a superiority complex - both of which are false, so both bring insecurity. Even while I am externally successful, having my identity based on that success means I am a slave to them. I've handed over my self-esteem to them. I become addicted to it.

Humility

To focus not only on the self but on others too brings humility.  Such
humility allows others to come close. The one who is humble is able to
give others what is required.  Yet he balances with certain
quietness, so that others don't become too casual and familiar. When
we are humble, we become easy and light giving the love that we have
within.  We are free from the sorrow of expectations.  Instead we
actually become a reservoir of treasures from where others can take
benefit.  We are constantly a giver, being available for others.

Message for the day

Success comes through maintaining self-respect. 

Expression: Where there is self-respect, there is naturally a stable state of mind, even in the most challenging and difficult times. This in turn brings right judgement at all times, which allows discrimination between right and wrong. Right judgement leads to right actions. So there is constant success for such a person. 

Experience: Self-respect is the state of mind where I am able to appreciate my own uniqueness and give regard to myself. When I am able to be in my stage of self-respect, I am able to be stable in all situations. This seat of internal stability keeps me light and easy under all circumstances. I am also able to experience constant success even in the most difficult and challenging times. 

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris