Brahma Kumaris

02.11.15 Be Tolerant You have the power to tolerate anyone and any situation. But tolerance is not just suffering in silence. It means going beyond any personal discomfort you may feel, and giving a gift to whom ever you would tolerate. Give your time, attention, understanding, compassion, care - all are gifts, which paradoxically, you also receive in the process of giving. And, as you do, you will experience your own self esteem and inner strength grow. In this way you can turn tolerance into strength. Dynamic of Detachment If you get too wrapped up in all of the stuff coming at you, you lose your ability to respond appropriately and effectively. In other words, you can't do things faster and better until you learn how to slow down. Your ability to respond is directly proportional to your ability to relax. So, you have to step back and be quiet. It's all about the dynamic of detachment. Retreat from the task at hand so that you can gain a new perspective on what you're doing. Emotional Joy And Sorrow We commonly become emotional, either in times of sorrow e.g. at being separated from a loved one, at experiencing failure in an external event, on hearing a negative news, etc. or in times of joy e.g. when our child or spouse or even pet performs a warm act, while watching a movie, etc. While we have always believed that it is absolutely normal or natural to become emotional and some of us even believe that it is good to let go of our emotions and crying once in a while makes us lighter and stronger; on a spiritual level, becoming emotional comes under the realm of dependencies and dependencies always weaken us. This is because when we become emotional, instead of influencing our self on our own, we allow something or someone outside our self to influence us. We bring that something or someone or some event outside our self, inside, in front of the eye of our mind, attach our self to it, and lose our self in it i.e. we let the image hijack our internal world in a way, as we become subservient to it. As a result our thoughts, feelings, emotions, words, actions are influenced in a big way by the image. This is a spiritual definition of becoming emotional. Passing on the remote control of my internal world to the outer world in this way is a sign of a not so strong internal self. So what does one do instead? Instead of creating images of external events and people inside our minds and being influenced by them, we still watch these scenes, but instead of losing our self in them and taking from them, we contribute to them by giving them our internal energy, but at the same time make sure that while doing that, we are detached from them and not over-involved emotionally. Internal energy is given in the form of appreciation and love if it's a positive scene and power, compassion and co-operation if it's a negative scene, so as to help the scene to be corrected or resurrected. This is influencing instead of being influenced. This is a more empowering experience. In this way we regain the control over our inner world and rise above such emotional dependencies. Soul Sustenance The Mental Kaleidoscope (Part 1) A kaleidoscope creates beautiful patterns from chaotic bits and pieces, which are scattered everywhere. When the kaleidoscope is turned, disorder becomes order, chaos becomes beauty and symmetry. The Drama of Life is constantly turning and we are part of its cyclic movement; sometimes this cyclic movement of life is supportive, comprehensible (understandable) and enjoyable and, at other times, it is tense, fearful, stressful and incomprehensible (not understandable). There is confusion and fear because we do not understand what is happening, why it is happening and how it will get better. Things not only appear chaotic but also hopeless. If the intellect is able to go beyond the questions of Why?, What? and How? and just be still, without judgements, or pressure, for some period of time, then things do work out. To do this requires faith. The power of faith means that we know that somehow and somewhere right solutions and answers will come in their own time. (To be continued tomorrow…) Message for the day To be free from waste questions is to save time. Expression: When difficult situations come my way I usually have a lot of questions in my mind about it. I continue to ask myself why the situation has come and have no answers. These questions usually bring me no solution for the problems at hand but I continue to have waste thoughts. Experience: I need to understand the importance of the time that is in my hands. When I recognize the value of my time I will not waste time in unnecessary thoughts but will try to find a solution for the problem. If there is no solution for the problem I at least just stop thinking unnecessarily and just accept it.