Response
If you can see and accept that you create your own
stress according to how you are responding, you will
then see that there is something you need to unlearn as
well as learn. The old response needs to be unlearned,
and a new response needs to be learned.
Chatting with God
One of the best ways to
remain light, even in the middle of chaos and heaviness,
is to keep a conversation with God. Chatting with God,
whose responsibilities are unlimited, about trivial
matters that are wearing us down gives us a more
entertaining view of life. It requires a certain
stillness of mind to hear His advice, but with practice
we learn to sense His perspective on our minor
irritations. Since His mind radiates lightness and love,
the very act of opening ourselves up to Him enables us
to lighten our burdens.
At Peace With Time
(cont.)
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.
Soul Sustenance
Improving the Quality
of Different Areas of My Karmas (Part 3)
Karmas performed for leisure or entertainment
When someone says they don't have time for
meditation or for their spiritual development, it
generally reflects an unwillingness to face the self
rather than an actual lack of time. The fact that
average T.V. viewing time in many countries runs to more
than 15 hours a week tells its own story. To the extent
that I value my time, I value my life and make myself
valuable. Valuing my time, energy and money is very
much a part of the whole karmic story of give and take:
what they are used for, how well they are used, whether
they are wasted and so on. Difficulties with time,
one's own bodily energy and finances are the fruits of
past indifference or wastage of these resources (either
in this birth or previous births). The world financial
crisis is the karmic sum total of all such individual
difficulties. Am I using all that I have in a worthwhile
way? Am I just wasting it or am I using it for benefit
for myself and for others? These questions, answered
correctly, often spell the difference between success
and failure.
Message for the day
True service is to spread the light of happiness to all
around.
Expression:
In
any negative situation, the usual reaction is to feel
disheartened and unhappy. With this reaction to the
situation, the people around too are affected as the
unhappiness spreads around. Focusing this way only on
the problem creates such negativity that it doesn't
inspire anyone to work for a solution.
Experience:
Instead of spreading unhappiness in a difficult
situation by seeing the negative aspect, we need to
think of how to bring a solution. Even if we can't, we
need to look at some positive aspect in it that will
enable us to maintain our own positivity. When we keep
ourselves happy in this way, we will be able to spread
this happiness to others too.