Surface of Lake Natron, Tanzania
Determination and Patience
Determination is the strength that will enable you to pass the barrier of useless thoughts in order to create positive thoughts and to be successful in whatever you wish. It comes from within and its partner is patience. Patience teaches you not to push but rather to wait and appreciate the game of life instead, knowing that nothing remains the same, and everything will change at some point.
We pay a lot of attention to maintain the physical health.
We give it
food everyday, nourishment that keeps us healthy. This helps in
replenishing the physical energy, but we don't pay that much attention
to nourish the mind. The real nourishment is to keep giving happiness
to the self. When the mind is happy, then automatically I find myself
being energetic constantly. For this I need to make sure I give myself
something that I am happy about everyday.
Emerging Positive Thoughts From My Values
Positive thoughts emerge from your values and may be experienced as:
Confidence
Contentment
Cooperation
Enthusiasm
Generosity
Happiness
Harmony
Honesty
Hope
Love
Mercy
Peace
Respect
Solidarity
Tolerance
Trust
Let's look at some examples of positive thoughts (with respect to the above values):
Happiness: "Happiness raises the spirit of whoever possesses it, and brings out a smile in others."
Love: "Be as enthusiastic with the success of others as you are with your own."
Honesty: "If I am honest in all my actions, I will never be afraid."
Respect: "The only way of receiving respect is to give it first."
Mercy: "Do not lose hope in those that have lost hope."
Soul Sustenance
Understanding The Birth-Life-Death-Rebirth Cycle (cont.)
We subconsciously know that we are souls. Birth, life and death are just stages in existence. In fact all natural processes can be found to have a beginning, a middle, an end and a new beginning to continue the cycle. The soul takes a bodily form, gives life to it and after a period of time, long or short, leaves it and takes another suited to the continuation of its role. As long as the soul is in the body, the body grows like a plant from baby to child, youth to maturity. It then begins to decay and finally becomes unusable. The moment the soul leaves the body, the body becomes like a dead log of a tree. It immediately starts to decompose and eventually goes back "to dust".
Again the soul moves into a foetus inside the womb of a mother. After time it emerges as a newborn baby and immediately begins to show the "sanskars" it had developed in its previous life. It is the same soul but in a new physical situation. Thus death is merely the means by which a complete change of circumstances and environment for the soul takes place. Time never kills the soul, but the body, being a part of nature or matter, obeys the law of decay that everything new becomes old and eventually finishes. The molecular components of this body disintegrate only to re-integrate as another form (body) some time later.
The process of birth-life-death-rebirth is also eternal (without a beginning or an end). It has always been going on and will continue. The soul comes into the body, expresses a role and experiences the results of that for a certain time, then leaves it, and the process starts again. Similarly, souls come into this world, remain here as actors for a number of births and then return to the region from which they come, for rest. This process also starts again. The pattern is a cyclic one. This is called the eternal world cycle.
Message for the day
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.
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