Soul Sustenance & Message for the day 30-06-2014

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Soul Sustenance 30-06-2014
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Practical Ways of Changing Old Habits or Beliefs (Part 4)

Visualization

Visualization consists of creating positive images by means of the ability to imagine, and in this way reinforce positive thoughts and strengthen your will to achieve positively what you affirm for yourself in your mind. With visualization you manage to intensify experiences of positive affirmations and self-motivation, and it also helps you to specify and clarify your goals. The basic principle of using images in our mind is to act as if the desire we have in our mind has already been achieved. If we place images of success, health, wellbeing or inner peace in our mind, these will materialize in positive situations and experience, and this image of success will become real in our lives.

(To be continued tomorrow …..)

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Message for the day 30-06-2014
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The method to make use of all treasures is to be a master.

Projection: When difficult situations come my way, I usually become a slave to them. My feelings and emotions are controlled by the situation. Then I am not able to have the discrimination to see right from wrong.

Solution: I need to remind myself that I am the master of the situation. The situation is definitely not in my hands, but the way I respond to it definitely is. When I keep this in mind, I'll be able to make the best use of whatever is available.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Soul Sustenance & Message for the day 29-06-2014

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Soul Sustenance 29-06-2014
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Practical Ways of Changing Old Habits or Beliefs (Part 3)

Conscious Disassociation
A useful method for transforming habits is that of conscious disassociation. This involves avoiding the situations that give rise to the habit occurring automatically. For example, if you often smoke after a coffee, you have to make sure there is no coffee. By breaking your habit, you will be less likely to have a craving to smoke. Instead of your habitual coffee, you can create a new pattern and have a cup of herbal tea and sit down to think or read, instead of smoking.

Rajyoga Meditation
Rajyoga meditation is an efficient method for transforming habits. By connecting with the Supreme Soul (who is the purest conscient energy) in the incorporeal (non-physical) world of divine light, which is called paramdham or shantidham, the soul purifies itself and one experiences a natural disinclination from negative habits that we have been trapped in for a long time.

(To be continued tomorrow …..)

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Message for the day 29-06-2014
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Regard for others brings trust.

Projection: When something negative happens, my trust in people breaks. I then find it difficult to keep my mind free from the influence of my past experience. Even if the others try to correct the situation, I am not able to change my attitude towards them.

Solution: When I see others, I have to see them with a vision of regard. I need to pay attention only to look at their specialities and keep myself free from the influence of the past experiences. When I do this, I will be able to trust others even while being cautious.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Soul Sustenance & Message for the day 28-06-2014

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Soul Sustenance 28-06-2014
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Practical Ways of Changing Old Habits or Beliefs (Part 2)

Positive Affirmations
Affirmations are promises that we make to ourselves. They are helpful for breaking negative habits or weak thoughts that have been created as a result of mistaken attitudes. Affirmations help to strengthen the mind, although to be effective there must be acceptance and understanding behind them. It is interesting to begin experimenting with them and, later on, we can begin to create variations of new affirmations, according to our individual needs.

Here are some examples:
* Today I will experience peace through positivity. I will see what is good in others and will not think about what is negative or harmful. I will see others in the way I would like them to see me.
* From now on I will not judge others.
* Today I will speak peacefully and share peace with everyone around me. I must speak as softly as I can.
* Today I will make the past the past and look towards the future with a new vision.
* Today I will not react angrily. I will stay calm and in peace and will not sacrifice this for anyone or any situation. I must not allow anything or anyone rob me of my peace.

For the affirmation to be effective, we must repeat it to ourselves often, so that it becomes recorded in our subconscious. It is also important to proclaim the affirmations with feeling, believing in them and not in a monotonous and impersonal voice. As a minimum, you should repeat each affirmation at least five times a day. If we listen to something repeatedly, we begin to believe in it. In reality, this is the origin of the majority of our beliefs, when as children we heard our parents tell us things over and over again. Advertising uses this technique constantly. They create a phrase, a slogan, and repeat it over and over again in the media until, finally, people believe it. To be able to control your life, first you must know and dominate your beliefs. One way of doing this is through affirmations.

(To be continued tomorrow …..)

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Message for the day 28-06-2014
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Determination is the best companion.

Projection: When things go wrong, the first reaction is of fear. Because of this, I can't put in any effort to better the situation. I start looking for a companion, a support who can provide me help. But I rarely get help from outside.

Solution: When I have to look for something to rely on, the only support I get is from my own determined thought. I need to make it my companion, not letting go of it till I succeed. This will help me overcome my fear and move towards success.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Soul Sustenance & Message for the day 27-06-2014

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Soul Sustenance 27-06-2014
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Practical Ways of Changing Old Habits or Beliefs (Part 1)

Motivation for Change
An important factor to start positive change in our lives is for there to be a passion, a powerful force that leads us, a final goal that keeps us motivated. It is important to set yourself goals, to be convinced and to have the confidence and faith that one can reach them, since in this way we will make a daily effort to achieve those goals. There needs to be a clearly defined sense of purpose to your existence, clarifying the values that must guide your life in order to achieve these goals and establish the steps you must take for inculcating these values. If, at a subconscious level, you allow a mistaken purpose to be created, or there is a lack of true purpose in your life, then you will not be motivated to know and change yourself. Many people think that the purpose of their life is to survive and they use the language of survival in this way: "Life is hard out there. You must get whatever you can". They are not aware that they have chosen this purpose, but subconsciously it is what they believe they are here for, and this makes them think that they must accumulate, take, create barriers to protect themselves and compete with others.

(To be continued tomorrow …..)

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Message for the day 27-06-2014
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The one who is selfless is the one who is the best judge.

Projection: When I have to take a decision, either for others or myself, there is some kind of selfishness or greed involved in it. When I think only of my selfish desires, my judgement would not be accurate.

Solution: I need to be detached and see what benefit there is for each one with the choice that I am going to make. The more I think of the benefit of all, the more my judgement is accurate.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Soul Sustenance & Message for the day 26-06-2014

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Soul Sustenance 26-06-2014
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The Invisible Impressions That Shape Me

While the mind and intellect are two faculties of the soul which play their role on the surface of our consciousness; at a deeper level, hidden beneath these two faculties, there lies a third faculty commonly called the sanskaras. The sanskaras is not only a store house of personality traits, as we commonly know it to be, but a store house of millions and millions of impressions or imprints. Such a large number of impressions are created by millions of experiences that I go through my sense organs not only in this life but in all my lifetimes. Everything that I hear, see, touch, taste, etc. I process or analyze or summarize in my own unique way; basically I give the experiences a unique form depending on my personality, before this form gets stored in the form of impressions inside me. I even process my subtle experiences, which are in the form of thoughts and feelings.

This process of experiencing and processing takes place during each and every second of my life including the time I sleep, when my mind may not be experiencing a lot but it is busy processing the physical and subtle experiences of the day that has gone by and storing the processed information in the form of impressions. From this, one can get an idea of the magnitude of the database of impressions stored within me, the being. These imprints which are unique to me, make up my sanskaras, and shape up my unique personality in a cyclic process. My personality shapes what type of impressions are created out of my experiences and the impressions in turn shape my personality, my thoughts, words and actions e.g. if I constantly keep the company of people who gossip, a large number of respective impressions based on the experience of gossiping keep getting stored inside me, which in turn influence my personality, the personality characteristic gets stronger and over a period of time I do not find anything wrong with it and indulge in it more and more. As a result more such impressions get stored. Thus it is a cyclic process.

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Message for the day 26-06-2014
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Success comes about only when there is an effort to bring about transformation.

Projection: When I am working towards being successful I usually want to work with just those personality treats that I have always been working with before. But this does not always bring me success. Then the reaction is to blame the people around you or blame the people around you or the situations.

Solution: Learning from each situation and working to bring about steady transformation brings constant success for me whatever the situations I will surely feel successful.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Soul Sustenance & Message for the day 25-06-2014

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Soul Sustenance 25-06-2014
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Spiritual Education

Spiritual education leads us back to the understanding and the experience of our holistic existence as human beings, to the knowledge that we are spiritual, as well as physical, mental and emotional beings.

A true spiritual education could be described as:
• learning from others
• growing through others
• integrating with others
• contributing to others

When we are genuinely learning, only then can we experience spiritual growth. When we grow, we integrate with others and it is in that integration that there is a natural and mutual contribution to nature and other souls. These four processes of education are constantly at work, but only happen in a way that is enjoyable and meaningful when the spiritual resources of the self like peace, joy and love are activated and creatively used.

These resources, along with the mind and intellect, enrich the way we see the world, the way we interact with it and the way we individually create our place in it. These resources are the original qualities of the self, which we have not properly used for a long time. By become spiritually aware, we start to harness and use these positive energies.

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Message for the day 25-06-2014
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A deep understanding and an attitude of pure feelings results in positive thinking.

Projection: When we talk about positive thinking, it is usually just 'think positive' and 'be positive'. But just saying this, either to others or to myself, doesn't help to change my thoughts permanently, in fact usually, not even temporarily.

Solution: Real positive thinking is much deeper than just to think positive. For this I need to understand and see things as they are, without colouring them with my own attitudes. Then I can deal with things in the most appropriate way, having understood everything accurately.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Soul Sustenance & Message for the day 24-06-2014

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Soul Sustenance 24-06-2014
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The Thought-Destiny Cycle

The process by which we create our own destiny is quite easy to see in theory; however it requires some checking to see how it matches the reality of our practical lives. Here is the process in brief:

• As our intentions, so will be our thoughts.
• As our thoughts, so will be our feelings.
• As our feelings, so will be our attitudes.
• As our attitudes, so will be our actions.
• As our actions, so will be our habits.
• As our habits, so will be our personality.

As our personality in all our relationships on our journey through life, so will be our destiny. So watch your thoughts! Be aware of your intentions!

Our intentions are based on our beliefs about who we are, where we are and why we are here. If we believe we are the physical form, our belief will we be that we need to survive as long as possible. This leads to the intention to get what we think we need before others, which leads to competition, which leads to feelings of fear. Our destiny gets shaped accordingly. When you know you are the non-physical and immortal (which is neither created nor can be destroyed) energy, a soul, then survival is no longer an issue and your intention is one to include, connect and co-operate with and enlighten others. The service of others at a spiritual level becomes the highest intention in action. It is fully free from fear and can be seen as an act of love. This is why competition and authentic spirituality can never be found together.

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Message for the day 24-06-2014
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A single positive thought helps in changing the entire situation.

Projection: When I am faced with a negative situation the first thought I usually get is a negative one. The thoughts that I follow are naturally negative too because the mind looks for reasons to sustain that negative frame of mind.

Solution: I need to make the effort of intentionally taking a positive thought, thus I find all other connected positive thoughts coming up naturally this is because the situation doesn't look so difficult or challenging with my positive frame of mind.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris