
Monk feeding a 3 year old 350kg male tiger
The
Quality of Mercy
A person with the quality of mercy works on such
a subtle level that the support given never
demeans or implies weakness in the other person.
Smile
You never have to be
miserable because of someone else's bad
attitude.
Your own attitude is yours to control, and you
can do with it what you
please. Others will often attempt to draw you
into their negativity.
They may whine, scream, glare, pout, or call you
all sorts of names,
but never does it mean that you must pick up on
any of it. You can
lovingly and politely choose to stay positive.
Simply realize that
another person's negative attitude is that
person's problem, and does
not have to dictate your behavior in any way.
The most powerful
response to negativity is not more negativity.
The most powerful,
confident, effective response is to keep
yourself focused on moving
positively forward. Smile, and know that you are
in control of how
you feel, what you think and how you act. Offer
your best, most
sincerely positive face to the world, no matter
what kind of faces you
find looking back at you. Rather than being
pulled down, you'll be
lifting up. And that's a powerful, effective
place to be.
Defining Failure
Given below are some definitions of failure:
* Depending on your perception: failure actually
does not exist.
* Staying stuck in what you could have done and
haven't done. Letting your though patterns to be
influence by the same.
* Experiencing emotions of frustration, pain,
suffering.
* Losing your notion (idea) of the dream, of the
ideal life you want to lead.
* Not fulfilling set expectations.
* Not having enough courage and bravery to walk
through life.
* Not being the ruler of your thoughts,
feelings, actions and life in general.
* Allowing yourself to be led by something
negative that a particular situation causes.
* Distancing yourself from your values.
* Not being in harmony with your inner
conscience (while performing actions).
* When the self does not accept what life brings
it.
* Putting your life in the hands of, and
blaming, others and circumstances with feelings
of emptiness and confusion.
* False expectations.
* Excessive attachment.
* Excessive materialism.
Tomorrow we shall discuss some factors that
bring us closer to failure.
Soul Sustenance
Imbibing
(Absorbing) Spiritual Knowledge
The first step into experience, particularly the
meditation experience, is knowledge. What does
it mean to 'know'? Knowing involves four steps,
which ultimately give the meditator the
experience of realization:
The first step of knowing is
information. With information, our intellect
opens to new ideas and opinions.
The second step of knowing is
knowledge, when we begin to reflect and
think on the ideas and views that we have
listened to. At this point, we often have to
select only a few of the ideas we have heard, as
it is not always possible to reflect (think) on
all the information that is fed to us. In order
to deepen our understanding, we reflect on the
information and sometimes discuss our findings
and thoughts with others.
The third step of knowing is when we move
from thinking to doing, that is, from
knowledge to wisdom. Wisdom is gained when we
commit ourselves to doing. Knowledge translated
into our everyday behaviour is called wisdom,
which, in turn, is called quality life. A life
of quality is where personal values are not only
realised but also lived and experienced through
our practical actions.
Doing, or practice, naturally brings us to the
fourth and final step of knowing, which is
called Truth.
Message for the
day
To be merciful
means to transform the pain and sorrow of
others.
Expression:
The one who is merciful
always has the feeling of mercy and is able to
help those who are in need or in distress. Such
a person is able to bring about transformation
in others too because of his own pure feelings.
He is able to put in effort that becomes a
contribution for the progress of others.
Experience:
When I have mercy for others,
I am able to accept their feelings, emotions and
behaviour and provide them with the right kind
of mental support. Then I am able to give them
courage without being influenced negatively with
their feelings of pain and sorrow. So my mercy
influences myself positively too as I am able to
keep myself positive under all circumstances.