Brahma Kumaris

05.09.17 To use the treasure of time well is to ensure success. Everyone has the same amount of time in their hands. There are some who spend it waiting for something to happen, there are others who waste it thinking unnecessarily or talking unnecessarily. But those who invest time and perform beneficial and fruitful actions, find themselves successful at every step. Today I will not waste my time in small little things that I normally would. I will save small drops of time and invest them well. I will be careful and pay attention to see if everything that I do is using the treasure of time well. Becoming Aware Of What Is Ego All of us are familiar, to different extents, with the emotion of ego. All of us don’t even define it in the same way. We are also aware to different extents, about the negative repercussions (effects) of the emotion of ego on us and on others. Depending on how aware we are about the effects, we work to eradicate the emotion from our daily lives, so that it neither disturbs us nor others. Some of us even consider it a positive emotion and feel it contributes positively to our personal and professional progress. To be aware completely of the negative effects of ego and to realize clearly whether it is a positive emotion or not in the first place, it is important to first become aware of what it is exactly. So, how can we define ego? Ego is attachment, inside my consciousness, to an incorrect image of my self which I then mistake for myself. When the attachment takes place, you lose your sense of identity in the image of the object of attachment which you create on the screen of your mind. That object can be something physical like your body, your physical personality, a relationship, a material possession, your status, money, a particular skill, respect from others, etc. or something non-physical like a belief; an opinion; a mindset, a memory, a particular virtue, specialty, power or a sanskara(positive or negative), etc. Therefore ego is the self attaching to and identifying with an image that is not the self. This process takes place entirely within our consciousness many times in the day, on the screen of the mind. E.g. When we say this is my salary package (something physical) or my opinion (something non-physical), we are (without being aware about it) creating an image of the salary package or the opinion inside our consciousness and becoming attached to it, so that we lose our self identity in the salary package or the opinion, believing that I am the salary package or the opinion. So at that time, the salary package or the opinion becomes an incorrect image of the self to which I am attached. This is ego. If while thinking, feeling or speaking about my salary package or my opinion, we do not become attached to or do not lose our self identity in either of the two, then that is not ego. Message for the day To be careless means to misuse specialities. Expression: To be careless means that there is no awareness of one's specialitites and so there is the inability to use them for the benefit of the self and for the good of others. On the other hand there is also a tendency to become overconfident because of these specialities and not to work on self -transformation. The one who is careless is not able to recognize the need for self change and so is not able to bring about transformation. Experience: When I am able to be free from carelessness, I am able to understand the importance of the specialities that I have , and am able to use a particular speciality that I have , and am able to put them into use. So I find that the more I am able to use a particular speciality that I have, the more I am able to bring out and use the latent specialities that are within me. So I am able to experience quick transformation and constant progress.