*Everything Is Beneficial 2 Us*

The ' L I T T L E ' Things~

As you might remember, the head of a company survived
9/11 because he took his son to kindergarten.

Another fellow was alive because it was
His turn to bring donuts.

One woman was late because her
Alarm clock didn't go off in time.

One was late because of being stuck on the NJ Turnpike
Because of an auto accident.

One of them
Missed his bus.

One spilled food on her clothes and had to take
Time to change.

One's
Car wouldn't start.


One couldn't
Get a taxi.

The one that struck me was the man
Who put on a new pair of shoes that morning,
Took the various means to get to work
But before he got there, he developed
a blister on his foot.

He stopped at a drugstore to buy a Band-Aid.
That is why he is alive today..


Now when I am
Stuck in traffic ,
Miss an elevator,
Turn back to answer a ringing telephone ...
All the little things that annoy me.
I think to myself,
This is exactly where
God wants me to be
At this very moment..

Next time your morning seems to be
Going wrong ,

The children are slow getting dressed,
You can't seem to find the car keys,
You hit every traffic light,
Don't get mad or frustrated;

It May be just that

God is at work watching over you.

May God continue to bless you
With all those annoying little things
And may you remember their possible purpose.

Every scene in this World Drama (every moment,incident,situations) is beneficial to us … Said by God Almighty

Heart of Gratitude !!!

A blind boy sat on the steps of a building with a hat by his feet. He held up a sign which said: "I am blind, please help." There were only a few coins in the hat.

A man was walking by. He took a few coins from his pocket and dropped them into the hat. He then took the sign, turned it around, and wrote some words. He put the sign back so that everyone who walked by would see the new words.

Soon the hat began to fill up. A lot more people were giving money to the blind boy. That afternoon the man who had changed the sign came to see how things were. The boy recognized his footsteps and asked, "Were you the one who changed my sign this morning? What did you write?"

The man said, "I only wrote the truth. I said what you said but in a different way."

I wrote: "Today is a beautiful day but I cannot see it."

Both signs told people that the boy was blind. But the first sign simply said the boy was blind. The second sign told people that they were so lucky that they were not blind. Should we be surprised that the second sign was more effective?

Moral of the Story: Be thankful for what you have.. Be creative. Be innovative. Think differently and positively.

When life gives you a 100 reasons to cry, show life that you have 1000 reasons to smile Face your past without regret. Handle your present with confidence. Prepare for the future without fear. Keep the faith and drop the fear.

The most beautiful thing is to see a person smiling…

And even more beautiful is, knowing that you are the reason behind it!!!

Enjoy your day with a heart of gratitude .

Vision, Goals, Strategies And Action Plans

A vision is what you can see but not yet reach. The most powerful dimension of vision is not the long term dimension but actually the way you choose to see yourself in your work, circumstances, relationships, etc. Important changes start occurring by simply choosing to see things and people differently. That will have a huge influence on the decisions you make and the results. This is the power of vision.

Goals are aimed at achieving the vision. They should be achievable in a short span of time and represent what you can see and reach. Goals should be specific, measurable, actionable, relevant and time bound (SMART).

Clarification of goals then sets the agenda for the strategies (how) that are necessary to achieve those goals, to drive those goals forward. The strategies then need to be broken down into very specific action plans.

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Rajyoga Meditation For Beginners

Let us practise the steps of Rajyoga meditation:

1. I hold in my mind the words Om Shanti, ‘I am a peaceful soul’: Let us reflect on this statement, or mantra. A mantra is something that frees the mind from wasteful and negative thoughts, stress and worry. A mantra is usually repeated over and over again in order to get the desired results. However, in meditation it is not a matter of repeating words over and over again without truly understanding them. Otherwise it becomes forced concentration. Concentration of the mind should be natural because, when it is so, the mind can remain in a state of peace and relaxation for a very long time. The result of this is a recharging of the battery of the self, a renewal of energy from inside.

How do we achieve this state of natural concentration on the thought, 'I am a spiritual being', 'I am a peaceful being'?

2. I reflect on 'OM’; the consciousness of ‘l am’.

What does 'I am' mean? In this thought, the attention is drawn only to the present moment. I have no need to go into ‘I was', 'I will be', 'I hope to be' or 'I should be'. To go deep into the self, I need to be completely in the present. This thought of 'I am' takes me into the consciousness of self-realisation.

3. I focus and concentrate on the thought until I stop thinking about it and experience it.

These are the primary steps of silence and must be mastered correctly.

10 reasons why you should become more positive

1. You will create a better world around you as your surroundings will become affected and change due to your positive thoughts and actions.

2. You will make better first impressions. Everyone stereotypes, whether they want or not. A positive first impression can mean a lot in many situations and have a lasting effect throughout your relationship with that person.

3. You will focus on the good things in people. Not their faults. This will make things much better overall and improve all kinds of relationships.

4. It´s easier to become more productive when you stop laying obstacles in the middle of the road in the form of negative thoughts.

5. Work becomes more fun. Everything becomes more fun.

6. You become more attractive. People like positive people. Positive people make other people feel good about themselves and they don´t drag the mood down. Also, a positive attitude is an indicator – and source – of high self-confidence, a quality that just about everyone is attracted to.

7. Being negative has very little concrete advantages and is not a very empowering way to look at life.

8. It opens up your mind to focus on other ways of looking at things. Sometimes wonderful new ways you might not ever have thought about or experienced before.

9. It puts the Law of Attraction to better use. The Law of Attraction basically says: whatever you think about you attract into your life. As you replace the negative thoughts with positive thoughts you will start to attract more positive opportunities and people into your life.

10. You´ll waste less time. Negativity can be like a self-feeding loop. First you think one negative thought. It leads you to three more. And then you start examining your life in deeper detail through a depressing lens. When you get into a vicious cycles like this it can eat up hours, weeks and years of your life. It can drain a lot of your energy whilst trapping you in paralysis by analysis. And you probably won´t become that much wiser in the process.

Self Management - 2

It is only in our relationships that we can truly know ourselves. We are a mirror for each other. What we give to others at the level of our thoughts, feelings and attitudes is what we give to ourselves, and will finally come back from others. Our relationships are the real workshop, classroom, learning laboratory of our life. Relationship is not simply getting along with others, it is about understanding, building, nourishing and caring. Every interaction carries a lesson. Take one relationship, look at it, explore it and ask yourself what does it tell you about yourself and your life so far. Let your relationships reveal you to yourself. As you do you will naturally learn what makes relationships work, or not work, as the case may be! And the more you get to know yourself in the mirror of your relationships the more easily you will be able to understand others.

Exercise: Who is one person who is close to you and one person who is not so close? Now reflect (think) on each relationship and write down what each of these people seems to bring out in you when you are with them. What part of your self would you want to see more developed in each of these relationships e.g. humour, patience, humility (egolessness) etc.? What will you do today to develop these aspects of your personality?

Self Management - 1

Not only do we have expectations of others we also have great expectations of ourselves. And when we don’t live up to those expectations we can easily be upset with ourselves. We all know that being angry towards ourselves solves nothing and has no benefit. It simply deepens the habit and puts more emotional poison into our system. We only need to be gentle with ourselves, and accept ourselves as we are. There is no such thing as failure, only learning from situations – this is the kind of knowledge we need to have to heal the habit of remaining upset with ourselves.

When we get angry with others, we need to realize what we give to others is what we get back – this is the kind of knowledge we need in order to understand the story of our life, so we do not look back on life in anger as one filled with injustice. And yet, even with all the knowledge in the world, the habit of becoming angry will likely remain, even in subtle (fine) forms. So it helps the healing process to keep forgiving, keep forgetting, keep understanding and moving on. But most off all keep visualizing. We need to keep visualizing ourselves being free of anger in situations and relationships where before anger was common.

**Communication**

A great deal of our communication is non-verbal and we rarely realize the effect that it has on others. Our tone of voice, our body language (particularly our eyes and face), our attitudes and our feelings, are constantly in communication with others, expressing anger, fear, love, trust, rejection - in fact, all our feelings and emotions. We cannot hide what we mean; we may do so for a while, but finally the truth emerges.

Communication is not just with others, but also with the self, with the Supreme Being and even nature. Being still, focused and open enables us to tune in to others so that we can respond in an appropriate and meaningful way, not simply in a mechanical way.

Here are some common reasons for blocks to communication:

* Too many thoughts, and an overload of words and actions, results in us being unable to think clearly. We lose the essence of what is trying to be conveyed (transmitted) by the other.

* Being lost in our own feelings or ideas. In such a state we do not listen attentively to others.

* Remembering the past in a negative way. This does not allow us to tune in properly to our present and future. When we do not communicate properly with the needs of the present time, we loose opportunities.

Here are some more common reasons for blocks to communication:

* Lack of sincerity. When our thoughts and feelings are honest and respectful, then the hearts of others will open to us. A positive highway of trust is built and communication flows positively.

* Creating negative perceptions (understandings) and emotions about others i.e. how we visualize or label them. Such emotions, no matter how well hidden, are finally always communicated to others on a subtle (non-physical), non-verbal level, and create an atmosphere of tension and unease.

* Not letting go of negative perceptions (understandings) and emotions. The only method to revive our relationship with others is to let go of negativity on a daily basis, to prevent it from building up. Far too often, the build-up happens without us even noticing it and, we wonder why positive feedback is not coming from the other side.

* Lack of silence. To go deep into the self and put our thoughts and feelings into silence enables them to become positive. The silent relaxation defuses (reduces) anger and the blame and complaints that often go with it.

What are the ways to improve communication?

* Listen with both ears. I should be an active listener by tuning in fully and being present fully with the person and with the moment. If I am not, I listen through one ear and let it out of the other, or I only half listen, which finally creates misunderstandings.

* Understand where the other person is coming from. Do not just assume, imagine or judge; when we do this, our critical vision prevents others from expressing what they wish to say. Then, because of wrong or half-right assumptions, others are not given the possibility to improve, or express, outside the boundaries of what we think of them. To give others a true chance to express themselves, we must not place our own boundaries around them.

* Think before speaking. This is not something new, but however often we hear it, we forget to apply it. To think before speaking means to show consideration to the other and then we say the right thing, at the right time, in the right way.

What are the ways to improve communication?

* Say what we mean, always. When we speak with courage and a calm self-confidence without force, then communication is honest, open, clear and trusted. Courage doesn't mean to say what we think others want to hear. If we lack courage because of the need for approval and acceptance, or because of a lack of confidence, then communication and the consequent relationship remains superficial and artificial. No one feels satisfied with this situation.

* Learn the language of silence. It is the basis of right intentions, positive feelings and clear attitudes. In this language, there is only one grammar: honesty and kindness. Honesty creates clarity and kindness creates respectfulness.

When we take time to reflect on our level of communication with everyone we meet, the realizations we have in silence will be manifested (displayed) in the higher quality and ease of interaction that we will find in all relations: be it with the self, with others or with the Supreme Source of Light.

""Summer heat""

Here are a variety of home remedies to stay cool when the summer sun is blazing

It is well known how drinking and splashing water as a shield against temperature changes and many opt to stay cool with frequent showers and drinking plenty of water. There are other simple remedies that can help you stay cool when the weather gets sizzling hot.

Medicinal mint

Guess what the Romans did to protect themselves from the harmful effect of heat? They tucked a spray of mint behind each ear!

Mint is a cooling and soothing remedy for indigestion, biliousness, flatulent colic and diarrhoea caused due to the soaring summer temperatures. Fresh leaf juice of mint mixed with a teaspoonful of limejuice and honey is recommended thrice a day by naturopaths for the aforesaid ailments.

Mint tea is a cool and comforting summer drink. To prepare mint tea:

· Add 10 – 12 mint leaves to a cup of water and let it come to a boil.

· Leave it covered for a couple of minutes.

· Add powdered jaggery as per your requirement.

Mango medicine

Excessive loss of sodium chloride and iron during summer due to excessive sweating can be easily prevented by consuming raw mango with a dash of salt. Eating a couple of unripe mangoes with salt and honey cures summer diarrhoea, dysentery, piles, chronic dyspepsia, indigestion and constipation.

Pineapple power

The most valuable healing factor in pineapple is its similarity to human gastric juices, which makes it an effective remedy for digestive problems, especially in the summer months as it also helps relieve body heat. Drink plenty of pineapple juice throughout the hot weather or freeze undiluted juice in ice cube trays and add to other beverages and juices.

Rice remedy

Thick gruel of rice mixed with a glassful of buttermilk not only makes a nutritious and easy to digest summer food but curative too in cases digestion-related disorders. Rice powder makes an excellent prickly heat powder and helps heal other inflammatory affection of the skin including burns and scalds.

Healing henna

Mehndi or henna flowers are an age-old antidote for headaches caused by the heat of the sun. Headaches are said to be relieved if a plaster made of mehndi flowers and vinegar is applied over the forehead.

The Arabs use henna on hands and feet not just to ornament these parts of the body but also to keep themselves cool and protected from the scorching desert heat. Mehndi soothes and comforts heat-related swollen ankles and scorched feet as well as burns and blisters.

Tamrind tea treatment

Tamrind pulp is cooling and antiseptic. Tamrind tea is considered to be very healing for summer colds and sore throat. To prepare the tea:

· Take a cup of tamrind pulp to one litre of boiling water.

· Cover and leave to infuse for two hours.

· Strain and drink, half a cup at a time, sweetened with a little honey, every four hours.

Simple sun-tan solutions

To remove a sun tan, try applying some lime juice mixed with rose water on the face before going to bed at night. Wash off with cool tap water in the morning. Another traditional solution to counteract sun tan involves mixing olive oil with equal quantity of vinegar and applying the mixture on the affected body parts an hour before bath.

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Margosa Magic

Summer boils, itching and prickly heat heal rapidly when neem leaves are used in the bathwater. Simply boil a handful of neem leaves in a container and add it to your bathwater. Use this as a last rinse.

Here are a variety of home remedies to stay cool when the summer sun is blazing

It is well known how drinking and splashing water as a shield against temperature changes and many opt to stay cool with frequent showers and drinking plenty of water. There are other simple remedies that can help you stay cool when the weather gets sizzling hot.

Medicinal mint

Guess what the Romans did to protect themselves from the harmful effect of heat? They tucked a spray of mint behind each ear!

Mint is a cooling and soothing remedy for indigestion, biliousness, flatulent colic and diarrhoea caused due to the soaring summer temperatures. Fresh leaf juice of mint mixed with a teaspoonful of limejuice and honey is recommended thrice a day by naturopaths for the aforesaid ailments.

Mint tea is a cool and comforting summer drink. To prepare mint tea:

· Add 10 – 12 mint leaves to a cup of water and let it come to a boil.

· Leave it covered for a couple of minutes.

· Add powdered jaggery as per your requirement.

Mango medicine

Excessive loss of sodium chloride and iron during summer due to excessive sweating can be easily prevented by consuming raw mango with a dash of salt. Eating a couple of unripe mangoes with salt and honey cures summer diarrhoea, dysentery, piles, chronic dyspepsia, indigestion and constipation.

Pineapple power

The most valuable healing factor in pineapple is its similarity to human gastric juices, which makes it an effective remedy for digestive problems, especially in the summer months as it also helps relieve body heat. Drink plenty of pineapple juice throughout the hot weather or freeze undiluted juice in ice cube trays and add to other beverages and juices.

Rice remedy

Thick gruel of rice mixed with a glassful of buttermilk not only makes a nutritious and easy to digest summer food but curative too in cases digestion-related disorders. Rice powder makes an excellent prickly heat powder and helps heal other inflammatory affection of the skin including burns and scalds.

Healing henna

Mehndi or henna flowers are an age-old antidote for headaches caused by the heat of the sun. Headaches are said to be relieved if a plaster made ofmehndi flowers and vinegar is applied over the forehead.

The Arabs use henna on hands and feet not just to ornament these parts of the body but also to keep themselves cool and protected from the scorching desert heat. Mehndi soothes and comforts heat-related swollen ankles and scorched feet as well as burns and blisters.

Tamrind tea treatment

Tamrind pulp is cooling and antiseptic. Tamrind tea is considered to be very healing for summer colds and sore throat. To prepare the tea:

· Take a cup of tamrind pulp to one litre of boiling water.

· Cover and leave to infuse for two hours.

· Strain and drink, half a cup at a time, sweetened with a little honey, every four hours.

Simple sun-tan solutions

To remove a sun tan, try applying some lime juice mixed with rose water on the face before going to bed at night. Wash off with cool tap water in the morning. Another traditional solution to counteract sun tan involves mixing olive oil with equal quantity of vinegar and applying the mixture on the affected body parts an hour before bath.

Rose remedy

Rose petals are used to make an excellent cooling summer tonic popularly known asGulkand. To prepareGulkand, fresh petals of roses are cleaned and kept in a clean glass jar in layers. In between the layers of the rose petals, a type of sugar called khadishakar, is spread. (sugar quantity being twice the amount of petals). Alternate layers are thus prepared in the jar and left in the sun for fifteen days.

Rose water too can be prepared at home by using fresh rose petals or shade dried and powdered rose petals and some boiling water. Washing the face with rose water particularly after coming from the hot sun is very soothing and refreshing.

Margosa Magic

Summer boils, itching and prickly heat heal rapidly when neem leaves are used in the bathwater. Simply boil a handful of neem leaves in a container and add it to your bathwater. Use this as a last rinse.