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Soul Sustenance 01-07-2013
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Being Impressed By Others – Is It Beneficial?
To keep our self esteem intact, we need to make sure that we do not have an impressionable
intellect. Being impressed by people, in itself, is not bad, but we can fall into
the tendency of staying trapped in the superfluous (excessive and unnecessary) and
in appearances. What impresses us influences us and even moulds our awareness at
that moment. We lose the ability to create our thoughts and feelings and these are
influenced by the impression that we have allowed the other person to leave on us.
Sometimes the impression is such that we completely give ourselves to it. We give
up our power to the other, and we allow them to dominate our emotional world. The
results of allowing oneself to be impressed are varied and on different levels.
For example, when we are impressed by the other's position; it is fine to respect
the authority and the position of the other, but when we allow their position to
impress us, our ability to relate to the person in a smooth way is blocked. This
can make it difficult for us to be the authority in our own life. Another example
is when we are impressed by the achievements of the other and put them on a pedestal.
We compare ourselves with him or her and have weak thoughts of ourselves, such as
that we are not as good or effective as them, or we might feel jealousy or guilt.
All of this acts as an obstacle on the path towards our own achievement. It is good
to recognise and appreciate the achievements and skills of others, but when we allow
them to impress us, in some way, we submit ourselves to their influence and we weaken
our self-esteem and our respect towards ourselves. Without realizing, we use the
other to fill a gap that we feel in ourselves. This will not always work. It will
not strengthen us; rather it will create a dependency and dependencies weaken us.
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Message for the day 01-07-2013
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Faith enables the creation of elevated fortune.
Projection: Usually there is a tendency to leave things to destiny. When
something goes wrong, we blame fate for it. Then we feel the situation to be totally
out of our control, which prevents us from taking responsibility for our own life.
And we will not be able to work in any way for bringing about a change and improving
the situation.
Solution: Instead of blaming fate for whatever is happening, we need to take
up responsibility for creating our own fortune for the future. When we have faith
in ourselves, we will take up responsibility for our own life. We will, then, be
able to work at making our each thought beneficial, contributing to our success,
making a better future for ourselves.
In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris