Brahma Kumaris

14.04.17 Cheerfulness Protecting my sense of optimism is the best way to remain cheerful. I can do this by starting the day with meditation to pour light and love into the scenes I am likely to find ahead of me that day. And then if I keep touching base with God’s mind and His benevolent way of seeing things, the inner happiness I experience will help me pass through any situation without feeling weary. The Art Of Living (Part 1) A very significant and beautiful intention that all of us carry inside our minds is of making our lives full of plenty of joy in every sphere that is connected to us e.g. If our relationships lack love then the first thing that comes to our mind is to make ourselves so nice as a person so that people around us respect us and we receive love from them and life becomes fulfilling by doing that. Remember there are five beautiful aspects of our lives that need to be made perfect in every way. One is our physical costume or body which we need to take care of in every way including our health and physical personality which helps us in achieving life’s purpose through it. Spirituality helps us in making proper use of our body for achieving our purpose. This is called karma yoga or the art of performing day-to-day karmas in the remembrance of God for making the actions successful. Another aspect is our mind which is also like a temple in which we need to always have pure thoughts and feelings as well as emotions. Our mind is the place where our entire life originates and everything we do on a physical level first takes place in our mind. Remember the negatives and the positives will at times exist in our minds but it is the extent of both which matters. The negative needs to be minimal and the positive needs to be as much as possible. Also, our wealth is a third aspect of our lives, which needless to say, is important in its own way and life would be incomplete without it. (To be continued tomorrow …) Criticism Do you get defensive when being criticized? Get defensive and you stop yourself from taking useful suggestions from the criticism. The next time criticism comes your way, try this: get your focus away from the negative tone of the criticism and focus on deep breathing. Breathe away any heightened emotion and watch your defensiveness fade away. Now think about the criticism and keep the useful bits and filter out the rest. Message for the day The best dress is humility. Thought to Ponder: I need to always wear the dress of humility. When there is arrogance or ego of any kind, there is no beauty in anything I do. On the other hand, humility brings the willingness to learn and grow. It also keeps me cheerful at all times. So, there is beauty in all I do. Point to Practice: Today I will wear the dress of humility. I will consciously watch myself if I am caught up with ego of any kind. Feelings of inferiority or rigidity also come from ego. So, today I will be free from ego and do whatever I have to with the consciousness of being humble.