Think Simply With so many choices and decisions, so many demands from people and events, in our modern fast changing world, it's a real challenge to 'keep it simple'. Making it simple means making things easy and clear. The magic wand to wave over your life is 'planning and prioritising'. Make plans, long and short term and then prioritise. Then practise taking one thing at a time, so you can have one thought at a time, with some space before you have to have your next thought. But don't get attached to your plans or priorities. Be flexible (easy) and yet focused (clear) and in this way you can teach yourself to think simply and act simply. One thought at a time. At your own pace. In your own space. A simple life is a contented life. Full-stop Constant awareness of a positive thought enables me to maintain my own inner positivity. The way to remain stable is to apply a full-stop. When difficult situations come my way, it is very natural to have questions and exclamations in the mind. It becomes very difficult to apply a full-stop and finish the situation in my mind. Because of such waste thoughts I am not able to experience stability in difficult situations. I need to bring out in my mind one or the other positive point about the situation. When I understand the meaning behind the situation, I am able to accept it. This acceptance enables me to be free from waste questions and negative thoughts and I am easily able to apply a full-stop. This is what brings inner stability. (No question-mark.... why me, when, how, who...?) Negative Reactions To Negative Actions We very commonly react negatively with anger to another person's anger filled words or actions, which we perceive to be unjustified or unreasonable. But this kind of action on our part, which we feel is our right and is a justified reaction or response, only adds to the negative energy already existing inside a particular situation, increasing the energy and making the situation even more complicated and difficult to resolve. Two negatives never make a positive, they make a higher negative, to which a very high positive has to be added (as compared to before) to bring the situation back to neutral or normal. Also, when you react, you are doing exactly what you believe the other person, the attacker, is doing - injuring someone on an emotional level, which is a form of subtle violence. Lastly and very importantly, the other person's negative and impulsive behavior, directed at you, portrays that at that particular moment he/she is experiencing an emptiness or void of wisdom, joy, peace, love and power, a void which he/she believes you have created and can only be re-filled by you. The anger filled action is a desire directed towards you, for this filling up. Hidden behind his/her anger is the feeling, "Because of this person, I have lost my happiness at this particular moment and he/she should give it back to me immediately", which means that the other person is lacking the realization that no other person is ever responsible for your happiness. You are, always. Instead of switching on the awareness of this spiritual fact and emerging the value of forgiveness inside yourself, forgiveness because the other person is lacking this wisdom at that moment of time, you react, which makes you similar to him possessing a similar belief, something which you will definitely not appreciate too much. But, what happens is that the emotional storm inside you at that moment hides your ability to see how you are yourself injuring your spiritual heart. While you are in that emotional state, there is no way you can heal the wounds of the other's heart i.e. correct the other person. Soul Sustenance Stress Management Standing Back, Observing and Steering - Standing Back : We can do this individually or as a team, when stressful situations occur. We may take a few minutes to stand back mentally and physically from the situation or scene. Observing : The next step is to re-view the situation, as if we are an onlooker or a detached observer. Being as silent as possible, we can ask ourselves if the thoughts we are having are the ones we wish to keep, if they are going where we would choose them to. Steering : In the resulting silence, it is possible to steer (change direction) our thinking to where we want it to be; perhaps to personal affirmations (positive thoughts) we use to calm us. The affirmations can be: 'I am aware of myself as calm and peaceful or, ….as happy and satisfied’, etc. This technique changes our attitudes and feelings, which influences positively the situation as well as how others respond. Message for the day To have a clear aim of where the action will lead is to be successful in everything. Expression: Many a times it so happens that one acts immediately seeing a situation. But the one who is successful analyses the situation and predicts the outcome of the action that he performs and then acts keeping the end result in mind. Because of knowing the consequences of the actions before actually performing that action, he is able to continue putting in effort in spite of the challenges and difficulties. So he continues to give his best to the task. Experience: When I am able to give time to myself to think before performing any action, I am able to take the opportunity to be clear in my thinking. The consequences of the action I wish to take are clear in my mind and so, the action taken to overcome the situation is right. Hence, I receive easy and sure success.