Brahma Kumaris

Friday, August 25, 2017

Soul Sustenance & Message for the day 25-08-2017

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Soul Sustenance 25-08-2017
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Being Emotional – Right Or Not (Part 2)?

Continuing from yesterday’s message, emotional power comes from giving and emotional weakness, comes when our primary purpose is to take. When we absorb a lot from life’s scenes, circumstances and also from people’s minds, words and their actions, sometimes we feel it is an empowering experience. But remember, if you absorb the good, you will also absorb the bad because that is what your mindset is. It is like the vacuum cleaner. You clean your carpet with it. It absorbs the dust and if your ring was lying on the carpet, it would suck in that too. Also, giving is receiving. Every positive emotion we give, it is increasing inside us at the same time, as it flows from within us to everyone and everything around us.

Based on this principle, when we look to take from a positive scene, we will feel emotionally joyful and when we are taking from a negative scene, we feel emotionally sorrowful. The more we look to make our emotional world dependent on the external situations or stimulus, the more our responses are under their influence. Being over emotional, whether in joy or in sorrow, is a sign of dependency. That does not mean we become cold and boring and do not enjoy life’s beautiful moments, which it has to offer. Also, we love everyone and are full of sympathy where required. But we are a little detached while viewing life. A spectator in a sports event sits on an emotional roller coaster watching his favourite team or player perform, sometimes over happy and sometimes unhappy. A spectator with a spiritual consciousness does not get overawed by his team’s or player’s performance. He enjoys the victorious moments and views the moments of failure, both without getting moved emotionally. This is not boring, but more empowering.

(To be continued tomorrow …)

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Message for the day 25-08-2017
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Bringing newness in dealing with life's situations brings happiness.

Expression:When there is the desire to find new ways of responding to life's challenges, unhappiness ends which in turn helps to fulfill one's highest potential. All it needs is the determination to adopt a fresh awareness. Thus burdensome thoughts that drain out positive energy are set aside. The quality of life itself becomes better.

Experience: I experience a lot of happiness when there is newness brought in responding to situations. The potential and the energy of the mind is channelised in a positive way so there is an experience of fulfillment and satisfaction. The mind is not caught up with negative or waste but is busy trying for the best solutions in all situations.

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Thursday, August 24, 2017

Soul Sustenance & Message for the day 24-08-2017

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Soul Sustenance 24-08-2017
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Being Emotional – Right Or Not (Part 1)?

Living a life full of twists and turns and different scenes, it is very easy to become emotionally attached to scenes happening around you and sometimes become disheartened or sorrowful and sometimes even emotionally joyful. Both are normal emotions. Yes we thought so! What is wrong with experiencing pain when I watch an accident on the road and what is wrong with becoming emotional and crying, when I watch a moving emotion filled movie. How can you take away these two experiences from life? The world told us they are correct. When we grew up, we often cried, sometimes in sorrow and many a times in joy. Did you go to your best friend’s birthday and become excessively emotional and when your younger brother or sister went down with fever, you sometimes cried seeing his or her pain. Our parents taught us this is what life is all about – mixed shades of emotional joy and emotional sorrow make up the painting of life. In fact, we grew up seeing them doing that in their worldly duties and we thought it was correct. Now! Wait a moment! Do I like sitting on this emotional roller-coaster so regularly and so much? How can I free myself?

We all look at life’s scenes with an attitude of receiving or taking something from life. We rarely think of giving to life’s scenes. Take the example of the sun in nature. The quality of the sun is giving, it never seeks to receive or take. And it is a powerful force of nature. Let’s emerge this virtue in ourselves. That will make me emotionally powerful inside and I will be lighter, happier and more contented in life’s different situations. So from today look to give to life’s different scenes and filling them with the primary qualities of life – peace, love and joy. On the other hand, if we are trying to fill ourselves with these qualities by taking them from people and situations, we will become emotionally weak.

(To be continued tomorrow …)

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Message for the day 24-08-2017
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To be healthy internally is to make the best use of all treasures.

Expression:A healthy intellect acts like a mother, always showing the right path. When internally one is strong, there is the natural ability to treat the mind with love and guide it towards the right direction. Such a healthy state of mind naturally enables the recognition and the proper utilisation of everything available.

Experience: Once I have learnt the art of guiding my mind in the right direction with love, I then never experience the difficulty of having to bring back the mind to the right thinking. Because the mind is totally under control in a very easy and natural way and I don't have to control it or force it to think or not to think in a particular way.

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Wednesday, August 23, 2017

Soul Sustenance & Message for the day 23-08-2017

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Soul Sustenance 23-08-2017
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A Gauge To Check How Spiritually Powerful Am I

The territory of spiritual understanding is both infinite and unlimited. Simply put, spirituality can be defined as the rediscovery of the deepest values, virtues, positive sanskars or characteristics of the human soul. The innate attributes or characteristics of the soul (peace, love, truth, purity and happiness) give the soul its power. The power of the soul cannot be quantified either on a physical or a non-physical level. The power can only be experienced and revealed to the self and others through the quality of the above characteristics and the different forms they are given by the soul itself.

For a practitioner of meditation, whether a beginner or an experienced once, patience and a gentle persistence guarantee two aspects of self-progress (in varying degrees in different souls):
1. rediscovery and revelation or expression of one's spiritual attributes and secondly, but very importantly
2. the ability to give them an appropriate form internally or externally, depending on the requirement of the situation.

A particular soul might be good at both aspects, another one very good at the first aspect and not so good at the second one. When we choose to be peaceful, we reconnect with our inner peace and create the spiritual form of peace within our self. This form created is different for different souls, depending on how powerful the soul is. So what is the quality of that form, what is the quality of our peace? Is it a superficial quality that is easily disturbed with unexpected changes in our external circumstances, or is it a deep peace which is stable even in the face of fierce criticism from others? Only we know the quality of our spiritual forms.

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Message for the day 23-08-2017
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To remain happy is to truly live life.

Expression:Life has meaning when there is the happiness of living. Everything that happens brings something new. The more the mind is tuned to see and appreciate this truth, there is the happiness that lasts - whatever the situations may be. The one who is constantly happy is able to creatively use all the resources in the right way and also makes others happy.

Experience: When I am able to maintain my internal state of happiness under all circumstances, I am able to enjoy the beauty of life. I am only able to see the positive in each and everything and also only the specialities and goodness in everyone. I am never let down by situations, people or their reactions, but enjoy everything.

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Tuesday, August 22, 2017

Soul Sustenance & Message for the day 22-08-2017

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Soul Sustenance 22-08-2017
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Motivation – The Life Driving Force (Part 4)

When surrounded by challenges, sometimes we all need a little extra nurturing, and that gentleness can come from loved ones, or just from ourselves. Also, enjoying watching television, enjoying the hot chocolate and the coffee, enjoying the cold drink and the ice cream, enjoying the brisk walk and the gym, enjoying the picnic and the party, enjoying the holiday - these are all things that help us replenish our energy and remain motivated to some extent when we've had a rough day. But remember that to remain constantly motivated you need to also take a look at the non-physical dimension of thoughts and feelings. Physical treatments, therapies and relaxation strategies will help you but they cannot change the way you think. Your thinking is the cause. And behind your thoughts, your beliefs are a deeper cause. We need to pay much more attention to our thoughts and feelings, learn to manage them, learn to fill them with peace and calm, and then our personality will change for the better, as we restore our mental and then physical well-being and learn to remain motivated and fearless amidst challenges. Remember no one else creates our thoughts and feelings, and they don't just happen, though it feels that way sometimes. When you learn to identify and assess the quality of your thoughts and feelings, you can begin to choose the ones you know are positive and that in turn keeps you motivated.

Also, remember there's virtually always something positive that can be found in the challenges we face. Bear in mind that the period of challenge is short and you will soon overcome the challenge. On a lighter note, spend a little time each day thinking of all the things you are looking forward to doing once you are free from these exams that life has to offer - though don’t daydream for hours about this! Also, when you long for life without difficulties and challenges and you want to keep yourself motivated when faced with them, remind yourself that oaks grow strong in contrary winds and diamonds are made under pressure. Challenges are not here to stay and while they are there, they bring about self empowerment.

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Message for the day 22-08-2017
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To forgive is to give correction.

Expression:When there is forgiveness, the harm of the mistake is forgotten. The mistake itself is remembered only to the extent that the correction is to be given. So there are no negative feelings expressed even while giving correction. And the words that are used are few but prove to be very effective.

Experience: When I learn the art of forgiving I am able to be free from the burden of negative and waste thinking. So there is never any difficulty in giving correction when necessary. The mind is free from the attitudes of the past and it creates harmony in relationships even if the opinions or personalities don't match.

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Monday, August 21, 2017

Soul Sustenance & Message for the day 21-08-2017

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Soul Sustenance 21-08-2017
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Motivation – The Life Driving Force (Part 3)

Have you ever noticed some people only work a few hours a day and are hardly ever confronted by deadlines or other pressures, but they are more stressed and less motivated than those working long hours to tight deadlines. Have you ever watched two people doing the same or similar work, to the same deadlines? One tears their hair out with a lot of anxiety. The other is completely relaxed while doing it. Some people love challenges. They love it when they are occupied and bottled up with challenges at hand and passionate about overcoming them. They work hard on themselves to overcome challenges and are not overwhelmed by them. What really reinforces them to do that is the motivation that they have to overcome the challenge and become successful. Challenges motivate them. At the same time, there are times when there are too many challenges to overcome and deadlines to meet and the same people who have overcome challenges earlier are not able to cope up with them and keep themselves motivated. That is the time when they realize that what they are going through is stress and challenges have affected their motivation levels adversely.

Why the difference between two people, why the difference from challenge to challenge or situation to situation? Perception. So it's not what you do, or when you have to do it by, that causes your stress and brings down your motivation; it's how you perceive the whats and whens of daily life that generates your stress and affects your motivation levels. It's how each one perceives what they do and the possible outcome. And your perception is based on your beliefs and beliefs don't come built into your genes. All beliefs are learned. We learn them, send them into our subconscious and they then pop up and out through our thoughts, emotions and words. The problem is we not only hold beliefs, we identify with them. But beliefs are not the truth.

(To be continued tomorrow ….)

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Message for the day 21-08-2017
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Sample Good wishes and pure feelings bring easy success while working at a task.

Expression:If there are good feelings for both the task and the one who is carrying out the task, then the result attained by those feelings is automatically special. The feeling of giving love and cooperation, no matter what anyone is like gives good wishes and pure feelings. There is a deep impact of such good feelings which transforms others too.

Experience: When I am able to maintain my own good feelings for others, I am able to enjoy the fruit of my own pure thoughts. I am not disturbed by temporary clashes that I have because of the different nature of the person I am working with, but enjoy working together. So there is also good feelings from the other person too and so there is easy success experienced.

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Sunday, August 20, 2017

Soul Sustenance & Message for the day 20-08-2017

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Soul Sustenance 20-08-2017
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Motivation – The Life Driving Force (Part 2)

Life throws different types of challenges at us. A difficult relationship with one particular person, we have all experienced, can at times have the potential to completely overpower our thoughts for days and even for years. Most of us will have endured the trauma of exams at some stage in our lives, usually at school, college or university. The looming prospect of having to answer questions on your most hated subjects often meant that even the most laid-back of personalities will have experienced feelings of anxiety, worry and exam stress. A sudden physical illness can at times have the destructive ability to not only bring about physical discomfort but make us dejected, discouraged and sorrowful for days until it subsides. A deadline at work or a sudden crash of the business market are types of challenging situations on the professional front. A difficult personality trait which constantly hinders our progress and harms our relationships is an example of a challenge on the personal front.

So challenges can be unpleasant, even scary, but they are important as in the process of overcoming the challenge, you work harder on yourself and they make you more determined and powerful. If you are not spiritually equipped to rise to these challenges, these tests of your internal strength, when they come about, it is unlikely you will be motivated enough to cross them. When faced with challenges, people can find that they are able to go the extra mile and pull from the backs of their minds answers to questions they did not realize they had ever learnt or ever knew. So, challenges can be helpful – but only if you turn the challenges into internal positive energy, you remain motivated while crossing them and by doing that you transform the challenges into blessings or gifts in disguise which will help you advance ahead and become more experienced and wise.

(To be continued tomorrow ….)

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Message for the day 20-08-2017
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Mercy means to give support to the ones who are helpless.

Expression:A negative situation or a person who is in need and is helpless usually stimulates feelings of unhappiness or sorrow. At such a time it becomes very difficult to maintain a positive state of mind. But real mercy is that which gives support through the positive state of one's mind. The more there is the feeling of happiness, others too can be brought to that state of happiness and joy.

Experience: When I am able to remain happy even in negative situations, I am able to maintain my internal state of calm. And this is the best frame of mind where I am able to see things objectively and in a detached way and I am able to make the right decisions. So I find myself becoming a source of support.

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Saturday, August 19, 2017

Soul Sustenance & Message for the day 19-08-2017

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Soul Sustenance 19-08-2017
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Motivation – The Life Driving Force (Part 1)

Motivation is the driving force behind our thoughts, feelings, words and actions which transfers us from one reality to another, from where I am to where I wish to be. It is an inner positive energy, a combination of enthusiasm and clear perception that enables us to accomplish a task or overcome a challenge. It is the desire to be continually interested and committed to a task or to attain a goal or cross a difficult situation.

Our thoughts really do color our perceptions, and affect our motivation levels in many ways. What thoughts are in your mind today? Which thoughts are weighing you down? Have you ever turned over the exam papers of life - challenging situations, overpowering situations, disturbing situations, de-motivating situations; looked at the questions that life throws at you and wondered if you are sitting the right test? Or glanced through these papers of life and only see questions or aspects you aren’t equipped at handling? Or worse still, know that you once knew the answers to these questions but frustratingly, those nuggets of spiritual wisdom, required to overcome these situations are now out of reach no matter how far into the back of your mind you grope, causing emotions of worry, frustration, fear, anger, discouragement, depression, panic and hopelessness to erupt inside you?

(To be continued tomorrow ….)

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Message for the day 19-08-2017
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To end waste means to be free from defeat.

Expression:The one with faith in the intellect always remains at a distance from waste, whether it is waste thoughts, wste words or waste actions. To move away from waste means to be victorious. The one who is free from waste is busy with the positive and useful. Such a person is constantly searching for solutions and trying to make the best out of the situation.

Experience: It is because of waste that I sometimes experience defeat and sometimes victory. If I am able to finish waste, I am able to finish defeat. Because whatever the situation may be, however challenging it may be, if I am able to finish waste I am able to recognise the benefit that is merged within it and so I am able to experience being constantly victorious.

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris