Brahma Kumaris

26.12.15 Mount Pinatubo - Eruption in the PHILIPPINES, 1991 CONTROL YOUR ANGER Then you will be able to: - respond rather than react - be assertive rather than aggressive - know when to stand up for yourself and when to step back. The art of giving happiness lies in being happy. If I am not happy with something or someone and I am not able to resolve it, I will not be able to give happiness to others too. If I am bringing about a change in myself for someone and am not happy about it, I will not be able to make a difference. Whatever I do for others, I need to do it with happiness. Today I will make a small change in myself or my life style for giving happiness to someone important in my life. This could be something that they have always been expecting, but it need not be anything big. But, while I am making this change, I need to first ensure I am not bothered or am not feeling heavy about it. When I do it with love, it will give me power and positivity. Improving The Quality Of My Actions (Part 4) Karma as spiritual service of others There is the old saying that if I give others chapattis, I feed them for a day. If I teach them how to cook chapattis, I feed them for life. In a spiritual way, this refers to the fact that instead of merely performing a positive karma like the donation of money, food, clothes, etc. if one can show others the understanding of karma and how it works and also teach them the ultimate, pure karma of coming closer to the Supreme on a spiritual level, they can make efforts to change their negative karmic situation and bring happiness, peace and positivity back in their lives. When there is a change at the mental and emotional level, then changes will begin to show at the physical level too. Over a period of time, due to understanding spiritual knowledge (as a result of which the soul starts performing positive actions) and a deep connection with the Supreme (due to which negative actions or sins performed in the past are burned up), the karmic situation of the soul, which has been served, starts improving. Soul Sustenance Taking The Path of Spirituality (Part 2) Religion also tends to encourage us to have faith, to pray and perhaps beg to an entity to whom we are not worthy enough or high enough to look face-to-face with. On the other hand, spirituality would have us believe nothing blindly and never reduces our own basic but now suppressed value or divinity. Spirituality is a path of high self esteem. The spiritual approach to God is one of remaining in that self esteem and cultivating a relationship that is as real, direct and as dynamic as we might have with a member of our family, a friend or a companion. Even worldly relationships work best when the people involved in the relationships maintain their self esteem. It means that personal experience is the only real proof of God's presence in our life. While religion would tend to encourage the strict following of a set of recorded beliefs, which have been declared by religions or religious organizations, spirituality would say, "You must not believe me when I say it is raining outside — go and see for yourself. Here, I'll show you the way, but you must go and see and touch the rain for yourself." Spirituality would not encourage blind faith in an historical set of other people's beliefs, but would encourage the cultivation of an enlightened faith based on one’s own personal experience. God, as the Supreme Father, does not want to be worshiped; He only wants to see His loved ones, His children awakened from their self-imposed spiritual sleep – that is what spirituality does – wake us up! (To be continued tomorrow …) Message for the day Instead of thinking of the situation, think of your own stage. Expression: When you find yourself questioning the things that are happening in your life, ask yourself if your own stage is good. The situation might be bad, but check if your own stage is good and if you have the power to face the situation. Experience: The reason for losing the stage in a negative situation is because of negative thoughts. In order to finish such negative thoughts, remind yourself that you are learning from the things that are happening so that you can improve your own stage.