Brahma Kumaris

23.07.17 Speak Sweetly and Touch Hearts When speaking to others we usually speak from our head, or intellect. Words spoken from the head rarely touch the hearts of others. This means they don't create any impact and are soon forgotten. The solution lies in touching the hearts of others when I speak. To do that, I need to speak with my heart as well as my head and fill my words with love. Enjoying My Stay Inside The Physical Body An interesting comparison to understand clearly the relationship between the soul and the body is that the soul is the resident of a house or an apartment which is the physical body. It's the awareness of who is the resident living, which is separate from where he is living. I need to realize, that like a resident of a house cannot be the house; he does not and cannot identify with the place in which he resides; in much the same way, I am not my body, the place in which I reside, but I am a resident. A resident of a physical house may or may not stay in the house for 24 hours, depending on his/her role. But I, as a spiritual resident of this physical body spend all my time inside it, in fact a complete lifetime, then I move in to another house or apartment. Since I spend so much time inside it, I need to maintain the body, take care of its upkeep and the kind of physical and spiritual atmosphere that exists inside it. When I keep it clean, fresh and vibrant, only then can I live in it comfortably. Do not forget, there's plenty of rubbish and dirt waiting to enter the apartment. My apartment's windows are my eyes and ears, through which rubbish can come in. This rubbish can be in the form of negative information, scenes, images and words. Rubbish dirties the resident, in this case my consciousness, taking me away from my true, positive, spiritual state. My nose, facing outwards, is like the front door of my apartment: it's the first part of me that faces the world. If harsh winds of difficult circumstances blow, and I don’t know how to protect myself, I will catch a cold or fall sick i.e. my front door will be harmed and I’ll become vulnerable. The living room of the apartment is my tongue which makes the first impression on anyone, whether it be positive or negative. There will be constant attacks on our windows, doors, living room, etc. But if I am aware and alert, I will keep my house in order. If any rubbish does get in, I need to soon clean it out again, so that the atmosphere inside the house remains positive and I, the resident can enjoy my stay in it. Criticism When there is criticism that comes one's way, there is a tendency to ignore or to defend oneself. Naturally we then lose the power to listen. We then find that we are not able to correct our mistakes and so they repeat. We thus find that we are not able to experience progress. We need to carefully analyze to see if there is any truth in any criticism that comes our way. If there is, correction can be made accordingly. When we listen to others with honesty, we are able to discover even the most negligible aspect in our behaviour which we can change. So we find ourselves constantly improving and progressing and moving on towards success. So having brought about a change, even the criticism that comes our way stops. Message for the day Faith in one's progress brings contentment. Thought to Ponder: Even when the situation is not according to what is expected, there is contentment for the one who has faith in his own progress. Such a person will not just sit back waiting for things to change nor will he just curse his fate. Instead he'll do his best and use all his resources in bettering the situation. Point to Practice: The understanding that all life's situations are a training for me, automatically keeps me content in all situations. There is naturally an experience of constant progress and a feeling of having gained something from all situations.