Brahma Kumaris

22.07.15 Give & Take Whatever you give comes back to you. Whatever you take will not stay with you. To be free from ego is to ensure lifelong learning. When someone corrects me, or when something happens that reflects my mistake, I tend to get defensive. This actually is a form of ego, which deprives me of learning. At least to myself, I need to be honest and see what I can learn from it. This helps me enrich myself and progress constantly. Today I will think of one incident where things went wrong. I will then see what I learnt from it. Even if 99% of it is another person's mistake, I will not think of that right now, but will focus only on what I can learn from it. I will repeat this exercise for any other incidents that happen today. Overcoming Mood Swings At each moment of the day, we have the capability to feel something. Our feelings vary throughout the course of the day. Sometimes they are joyful and sometimes they are painful. What we forget to do is to choose our feelings consciously. Instead, many of us have become lazy and allowed our feelings to be dictated and shaped by people and circumstances. In other words, we have become influenced. Our swinging, changing moods are the result of the inner karma of becoming attached to things, people, ideas and circumstances. If we are attached to a person and suddenly he/she leaves us we will feel gloomy and our mood of sadness will drain our energy just when we need to remain optimistic and enthusiastic about the future. Any form of loss will bring about a mood of sadness. If this sadness lasts for a long period of time, it will gradually turn into depression. When we consider the world around us to be our source of happiness and joy, our moods will fluctuate, even with the changing weather. But when we are spiritually empowered or strong our happiness and joy come from inside. We are stable in the face of praise or insult, loss or gain. We are no longer moody and stability becomes our basic nature. We are in control of our life, our feelings. And while we cannot control the waves of the ocean of life around us, we can control and choose how we will respond to outer events and people. When we do that, we will be able to choose what we feel, regardless of what may happen in our life. Life stops being a roller coaster and becomes more of a cruise, less a storm and more a gentle breeze. Soul Sustenance Practical Ways of Changing Old Habits or Beliefs (Part 3) Conscious Disassociation A useful method for transforming habits is that of conscious disassociation. This involves avoiding the situations that give rise to the habit occurring automatically. For example, if you often smoke after a coffee, you have to make sure there is no coffee. By breaking your habit, you will be less likely to have a craving to smoke. Instead of your habitual coffee, you can create a new pattern and have a cup of herbal tea and sit down to think or read, instead of smoking. Rajyoga Meditation Rajyoga meditation is an efficient method for transforming habits. By connecting with the Supreme Soul (who is the purest conscient energy) in the incorporeal (non-physical) world of divine light, which is called paramdham or shantidham, the soul purifies itself and one experiences a natural disinclination from negative habits that we have been trapped in for a long time. (To be continued tomorrow …..) Message for the day Regard for others brings trust. Projection: When something negative happens, my trust in people breaks. I then find it difficult to keep my mind free from the influence of my past experience. Even if the others try to correct the situation, I am not able to change my attitude towards them. Solution: When I see others, I have to see them with a vision of regard. I need to pay attention only to look at their specialities and keep myself free from the influence of the past experiences. When I do this, I will be able to trust others even while being cautious.