All of us experience that a pleasant state of mind comes naturally when things are pleasant. But when challenges arise, when a relationship crumbles, when there is a health issue or when there is an emergency at home, very few people retain their hope and determination to say "I will cross this with stability."
Until a few decades ago life was more or less predictable, so it was fine if we did not pay attention to our state of mind – we were emotionally healthier. Today we are not sure if everyone at home wakes up in the right mood, happy and healthy. We take the car out and don't know how the traffic will be. When we reach office, we cannot guess what challenges come up. When we get back home in the evening, we don't know what news awaits us. These were uncertain earlier too, but extent of uncertainty has increased.
We said – "As is the situation, so will be my state of mind." People around us also used the same vocabulary. It meant if there is chaos outside, there will be chaos inside. Let us ask ourselves - If chaos outside means chaos within, can I ever be happy in these uncertain times?
We choose how situations affect us. Situations are not responsible for how we think, feel and behave. We can choose our response even when everything is chaotic outside, just as we choose them when everything is perfect. We are the creators of every emotion and happiness is a choice to make and experience all the time.
WHAT BLOCKS MY HAPPINESS?
The clarity we have about the source of happiness makes a big difference. We have heard and read that happiness is our choice, our internal creation. At that time, we feel – "Yes, this is right". Within a few minutes of entering another scene we say – "I want this because it makes me happy" or "How can I be happy when she doesn't listen to me?" So, we continue to look for it outside.
On one hand we say happiness is natural and the other we say stress is natural. That is a reason stress and anger are on the rise. It shows many of us have not internalized this knowledge because we are not experimenting with it. There is a huge difference between what we know and what we believe. Knowledge about anything will not help unless it becomes our belief.
What we believe in something, it influences how we think, feel and behave. When we were kids, parents bought us toys and said – "Be happy now." So, we believed material comfort brings happiness. When we were students, parents asked – "Why aren't you worried about your exam tomorrow? How can you be so relaxed?" So, we grew up with a deep belief system that stress, worry, anxiety are obvious when there is pressure.
What we believe is what we become. Our wrong beliefs block peace and happiness. We need to release them from our system for happiness and peace to enter. Spiritual wisdom and meditation help us to internalize, believe, think, feel, experiment and experience happiness as a natural way of being.
INVESTMENT IN HAPPINESS, HEALTH AND HARMONY
Everyone is willing to go any length to experience happiness, maintain health and heal relationships. Increasing soul power is the easiest way to reclaim them. The most important step is to invest 20 minutes in the morning to consume pure and positive emotional diet, and reap rich returns of spiritual, emotional, physical and social health. If we give an excuse, we would only be unfair to ourselves. Preparing the inner self (soul) for success in the outer world is our first responsibility.
When we have pure information in the mind, building on it and multiplying by adding new perspectives, viewpoints and angles to the knowledge makes it easier. This is called churning of knowledge to create the butter of spiritual wisdom. We can experiment this for a day – fill the mind with positive messages in the morning and create positive thoughts thereafter. The next day skip this positive emotional diet and try to create positive thoughts. In the latter case, thinking and creating positive thoughts seems tiring and stressful.
On the other hand, if we start the day with watching or reading about violence, crime, accidents, disasters or death, the mind absorbs this information and stores it the sub-conscious layer. Seeds of negativity are sown. So, the slightest unpleasant stimulus anytime in the day will trigger the mind to create low-frequency thoughts and feelings like fear, anger, hatred or pain. The quality-frequency information consumed in the morning had laid a weak emotional foundation for the day.
SECRET TO SUCCESS:
It is important to understand the essence of happiness and success. Happiness is a feeling which needs only a good thought. It doesn't need achievements or possessions. What happens is that we create nice thoughts whenever we buy or achieve anything, and those thoughts create happiness. Many of us mistake achievements to be sources of happiness and success.
OUR PARTNER IN SUCCESS - Reaching important milestones makes our efforts worthwhile and our life seems beautiful. But often, success and praise can mean the beginning of pride. Since this sense of pride is based on body consciousness or external achievements, it translates to Ego. We come across people becoming either humbled or arrogant after success.
When in ego, we forget that our qualities and talents responsible for success are 'not exactly ours'. They are our gifts based on the merits of our past actions. We might argue that our skills are ours indeed, that they are the only reason for our success. Let us be aware that our good actions accumulated over many previous births are responsible for our today's gifts of talents and skills. They are only consequences of good past karma. This also means that to retain our qualities, talents and thereby success, we need to sustain our goodness. Sustaining goodness becomes easy when we receive it from God himself.
It would be right to say that most of our noble karmas were directly or indirectly done in remembrance of God. Rejoicing in God's memory while performing karmas came to us naturally, until about 100-150 years ago. Significant time was routinely spent in spiritual pursuits like meditation, chanting, prayers, discourses and rituals. We offered prayers or gratitude several times a day. Being detached from the fruits of our karma, we offered success (even failure) to Him and accepted it as His blessings.
As the pace and demands of life increased, we did not always take the time to introspect and acknowledge our spiritual gifts. Instead of receiving success with humility, many of us considered it to be an accomplishment earned all on our own. This strengthened our Ego. Truth is that our success is driven by the spirit – The 'Spiritual' Energy fueled by God's power and wisdom.
TAKING SUCCESS IN YOUR STRIDE - Universally, accomplishments are remembered not just for the feat, but for the way success is accepted. We find it beautiful when legends dedicate a victory to their nation, to family, to a teacher or to anyone else whom they look up to. Such heart-warming gestures deepen our own sense of humility. But a more holistic offering comes through when achievements are surrendered to God, the Highest Power.
We might feel it is natural to develop ego when people connect with us based on our hard-earned success. But if we get carried away by the wave of success, ego urges us to dominate or control people in subtle ways. That is when our positive influence ceases. We can no longer steer people in the desired direction as per our roles and responsibilities. This means success in one aspect can lead to failures in others, if we cross the line of humility.
Ego is often equated wrongly with Self-esteem. Self-esteem is healthy, giving us an awareness of the worth of the Self or the Soul. It reinforces soul qualities and reminds us of our true potential in terms of talents, virtues and nature. When we have a high self-esteem, we will be in soul-consciousness and view everyone else also as equals.
Success should not take us away from people. It should be looked upon as an opportunity to serve people – to inspire, guide and uplift them. More importantly, it should not take us away from the Supreme Soul. When our love for God is the deepest and purest through regular connection through meditation or spiritual studies, surrendering ego becomes easy. This makes us soul-conscious. That is when we drop ego and increase self-esteem.
"I am a caring soul...... Each of us is getting as per our past and present karmas...... No one is getting less or more than they deserved........ Co-operation and not competition is my way of living..... Sharing, caring and co-operation is natural for me, I share everything I know...... I am happy when others achieve....... My focus is on success not only on achievement....... Success is happiness, health, beautiful relationships and achievements....... To be successful we need to earn blessings more than money and fame....... Competition creates stress, fear, jealousy and moves us away from happiness..... Co-operation earns blessings and makes us successful..... "
Posted by: Satya <worldprince1@yahoo.com>
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