Saturday, May 23, 2009

Thought For Days

Power To Tolerate
You have the power to tolerate anyone and any situation. But tolerance is not just suffering in silence. It means going beyond any personal discomfort you may feel, and giving a gift to whom ever you would tolerate. Give your time, attention, understanding, compassion, care - all are gifts, which paradoxically, you also receive in the process of giving. And, as you do, you will experience your own self esteem and inner strength grow. In this way you can turn tolerance into strength.

Introversion
Instead of speaking too much and wasting your energy, become experienced in the sweetness of introversion.

Patience
It takes time to change and transform those old patterns of thinking - be patient with yourself.

Transform Negativity
The energies of life come to meet us at every moment. Most come from other people who either in the same room or on the flickering, technicolour screens with which we now share most of our homes. The vast majority of these energies are not positive. So how do we handle the 'the negatives', whether it's someone's attitude, their hurtful gestures or our daily dose of world violence and mayhem. There are three cardinal rules. First, do not absorb it - don't be an emotional sponge. Second do not reflect it back. Otherwise you begin a cycle of emotional exchanges which may last a long time. And third, do the one thing which marks us as intelligent human beings - transform it. Even if the scene is a disaster there is some benefit somewhere in it. Even if you are watching two peoples beliefs or opinions slug it out to the edge of violence don't take sides. Instead offer a solution then stand well back. Even if the person hates you, accept their state of being and return the light of love. In time, with patience, it will illuminate their darkness, and return to you by the bucketful! Just wait.

Peace
Do not look for peace outside, for it lies within the soul.

Respect
The respect you earn is no lesser or greater than the respect than your own self-respect. Therefore, respect yourself and God and the world will respect you.

Treasures
Make good thoughts the treasures of your life and you will become prosperous.

Trustee Consciousness
We all have a relationship with everything. Obviously the relationship we have with the people and objects in our immediate vicinity is more intimate than the rest of the world. For most of us the most common relationship is possession. In our minds we think we own and possess things like cars and houses and carpets and golf clubs etc. This thinking easily spreads into jobs and tasks and positions and perhaps even other people. "I want you", and "You are mine alone", is the essence of many romantic film scripts and song lyrics. What we forget is that this relationship is wrong. It is not possible to possess anything. Care for..yes. Use...yes. But possess...no. You can't take it with you when you go, so we say! And yet it's the idea of possession which lies at the heart of all fear, war and conflict. Can you see it? Fear of loss, fear of not acquiring what we have already decided is ours in our minds. So what is a better relationship we can choose which takes all the fear away. Be a trustee. Everything comes to us in trust, for us to use and then to set it free. The consciousness of trustee sets us free of the tension of grasping and guarding. To see ourselves as trustees of everything that we receive, including our bodies, encourages our innate capacity to 'care for with dignity'. It is a much more relaxing way of relating to the things which we are privileged to receive in life.

Thinking too much
The biggest disease of the mind is over-thinking, especially too much thinking about others. Thinking too much is like eating too much. The heaviness makes it impossible to remain light and flexible.

Introversion
The ability to enjoy one's own company is one of the greatest gifts life has to offer. Learning to turn my thoughts away from all my responsibilities at the day's end and take my mind into a state of peace and benevolence enables me to carry greater and greater loads without feeling the burden. When my inner landscape is full of beautiful thoughts, everything I do is a pleasure. Gently, I calm down chaotic situations and offer solace to troubled minds.

Treasures
All human beings have a place inside which is filled with treasures; be still and you will find it.

A Moment Of Solitude
When I start the day with a moment of solitude and contemplation, even the most crowded schedule runs more smoothly.

True Peace
True peace can be experienced only when we stop giving and taking sorrow. In order not to give sorrow we need a clear heart that has no ill feelings and for not taking sorrow we need a big heart that can tolerate and help other souls to get over their weaknesses.

Higher Than the Sky
Keep wearing virtues as your ornaments. Keep loving others. Keep giving regard. You have to go beyond the stars. Keep thoughts higher than the sky, and abundance of patience like the earth. Keep spiritual love in your eyes.

Clearly Visible
Be so contented that the happiness of your mind is clearly visible on your face.

Let Go
Just as the bird has to find the courage to let go of the branch in order to fly, so we also must let go of our branches if we are to know the exhilaration of soaring to the highest potential of our life. The branches we hold to are our inner attachments - our beliefs, ideas and memories. And then there are the outer attachments - people, possessions, positions and privileges are a few. But as long as we hold on to them we will live in fear (of letting go and loss) and we will never be free. And just watch those birds, by letting go of one branch they are able to spend the rest of their life alighting on a million other branches, and they enjoy the view from each. Are you flying and soaring in your life, or are you stuck on one branch, cursing others as they fly past. Go on, try it ...let go!

The Wealthiest
The wealthiest of all are those who are pure hearted.


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