Brahma Kumaris

18.10.15 Rethink your Thinking To get different results in life, we have to rethink our thinking. This is not just a matter of positive thinking; it's about reconnecting to our well-being. We then recapture our vitality and resilience and have greater capacity to change the way we think. Respect When I learn to respect myself, other people will respect me. How can I develop respect for myself? By keeping my mind positive and encouraging myself to grow and change for the better. Demanding respect because of my position or background is simply arrogance. On the other hand, listening with humility and valuing other people's advise naturally earns me respect. I get back exactly what I give out. The Lamp Of Hope You create the future basing yourself on what you think, feel and do in the present. If you act according to your values, it is easy for you to trust in your destiny. That strengthens your hope that all will go well, and, if it doesn't, you know and trust your inner resources or treasures to be able to deal with things and change. That trust feeds the enthusiasm, the motor energy that, along with motivation and passion, helps us to advance. When you lose courage and you feel weak, when you feel insecure and do not see with clarity where to go towards, hope lights the way for you to carry on going forward. If you fall, get up again and carry on looking ahead. Don't look back. Don't let your past be a burden that is too heavy and prevents you from advancing. Focus your vision on your objective and on all your potential to achieve it. Whatever happens, keep the lamp of hope lit. You can. You will achieve it. Change will become reality. You will free yourself from the shadows of fears, blockages and the other limitations that weaken you. Live each situation as an opportunity. Learn from criticism and failures. On living life as a constant opportunity for personal growth and learning, you keep hope always alive. Give yourself moments of silence on beginning each day, during the day and on finishing the day, to connect with your inner self. That way your awareness stays awake, the lamp of your hope, your motivation and your values remains lit. Soul Sustenance Natural Qualities and Acquired Qualities When we look at ourselves from outside we can only see the surface of what we have become. We can't see or perhaps cannot even imagine the inner core (center), which, like in the example of the coconut, is the only part that really can nourish us and give us energy. The shell (in the case of the coconut) serves as a protection but we certainly can't eat it. In our case, the core (center) consists of natural or inner qualities such as peace, love, power, truth, happiness and so on. The shell is the ego which consists of features or personality characteristics we have acquired through the journey of our lives such as experiences, abilities, memories, learning, habits and beliefs – in short, all that we are referring to when we say: 'I am so-and-so, from such-and-such family or organization or city'. While we are limited to these acquired characteristics, our true qualities remain inaccessible. Through deep reflection and meditation we can break the shell and activate our inner qualities from which our values or principles are born. Message for the day Creativity comes when there is happiness. Expression: Happiness touches the heart and enables the creativity to come from within. The one who is happy doesn't wait for the right opportunity to be creative, but uses each moment as a chance for using creativity - for bringing newness. Experience: When I am happy I am able to enjoy and make the best use of each and every moment of my life. I will want to do something new, unique and different. So I also have the satisfaction of having done my best.