Being Impressed By Others – Is It Beneficial?

To keep our self esteem intact, we need to make sure that we do not have an impressionable intellect. Being impressed by people, in itself, is not bad, but we can fall into the tendency of staying trapped in the superfluous (excessive and unnecessary) and in appearances. What impresses us influences us and even moulds our awareness at that moment. We lose the ability to create our thoughts and feelings and these are influenced by the impression that we have allowed the other person to leave on us. Sometimes the impression is such that we completely give ourselves to it. We give up our power to the other, and we allow them to dominate our emotional world. The results of allowing oneself to be impressed are varied and on different levels.

For example, when we are impressed by the other's position; it is fine to respect the authority and the position of the other, but when we allow their position to impress us, our ability to relate to the person in a smooth way is blocked. This can make it difficult for us to be the authority in our own life.

Another example is when we are impressed by the achievements of the other and put them on a pedestal. We compare ourselves with him or her and have weak thoughts of ourselves, such as that we are not as good or effective as them, or we might feel jealousy or guilt. All of this acts as an obstacle on the path towards our own achievement.

It is good to recognise and appreciate the achievements and skills of others, but when we allow them to impress us, in some way, we submit ourselves to their influence and we weaken our self-esteem and our respect towards ourselves. Without realizing, we use the other to fill a gap that we feel in ourselves. This will not always work. It will not strengthen us; rather it will create a dependency and dependencies weaken us.

Self Confidence

Self-confidence is very much linked to the understanding that I definitely have something to contribute to life through my own uniqueness. Each one of us is unique. That goes without saying. Unless a person has a sense of contributing, or offering, something to life, they cannot really be happy. I cannot be happy and confident when I am just taking; it simply doesn't work. I can only be happy when I am sharing and offering the best of myself. In that way, I don't feel depleted. When I offer the best of myself in an unselfish way, my happiness and confidence increases - the more I give, the more I receive. We start to understand that the well-being of individuals begins when they can contribute what they are, and what they have, to others. To be a truly self confident human being means to have true spiritual powers, like love, peace and happiness, which are brought into daily life - not just appearing as words or emotions, but truly displaying themselves in our behavior and bringing benefit to others..!

Our words are effective only when we combine them with pure thoughts and inspirational actions.

Projection: As soon as we find someone's mistake it is natural for us to give correction through our words. We tend to explain to others using a lot of words. Yet we find that inspite of saying the right thing we are not being listened to and our words are just wasted away. We don't understand at such times where the problem lies.

Solution: To enable our corrections to others to be effective, we have to combine our thoughts, words and actions. There need to be good wishes in our thoughts which also brings sweetness in our words. We also need to take care that we are putting into action all that we are talking. When we do this we will find that our words are really effective.

Heart is a Beautiful Garden......!!

Once a Junior School teacher asked her students to bring some potatoes in a plastic bag to school. Each potato will be given a name of the person whom that child hates. Like this, the number of potatoes will be equal to the number of persons they hate. On a decided day the children brought their potatoes well addressed. Some had two, some had three and some had even five potatoes.

The teacher said they have to carry these potatoes with them everywhere they go for a week. As the days passed the children started to complain about the spoiled smell that started coming from these potatoes. Also some students who had many potatoes complained that it was very heavy to carry them all around. The children got rid of this assignment after a week, when it got over.

The teacher asked, "How did you feel in this one week?" The children discussed their problems about the smell and weight. Then the teacher said, "This situation is very similar to what you carry in your heart when you don't like some people. This hatred makes your heart unhealthy and you carry that hatred in your heart everywhere you go. If you can’t bear the smell of spoiled potatoes for a week, imagine the impact of this hatred that you carry throughout your life, on your heart?"

MORALE:

* Our heart is a beautiful garden that needs a regular cleaning of unwanted weeds.

* Forgive those who have not behaved with you as expected and forget the bad things. this also makes room available for storing good things.

Meditation And Health..

Given below is a simple meditation commentary which can be used to heal the physical body. Think slowly and visualize side by side each positive thought given below before moving on:

I sit quietly and turn inwards........
I visualize a pinpoint of light, a sparkling star, the source of pure energy that I am........
located in the center of my forehead........
In this awareness, white rays of the divine light of purity from me extend into my entire physical body in the form of a laser beam........
These vibrations of purity soothe, heal and energize my physical system........
The impurities, toxins and illnesses in the body are being washed away and thrown out from the extremities (corners) of the body........
The body starts experiencing its original inner beauty........
It returns to a state of harmony (peace), to a state of good health......

To use the treasures within is to increase them.

Projection: Whenever there is a difficult situation, we always expect others to listen and understand. And so we feel helpless as the situation seems beyond our control and we don't feel we can do anything to change it. Then we don't make any attempt and the situation remains as it is.

Solution: Instead of looking at others we need to look within and we'll find a lot of treasures that we can use to change the situation. These treasures, our own inner powers and virtues are such that the as we continue to use them in situations, we find them increasing.

Visualization

The most powerful energy in the universe is the energy of the mind. Everything we create, from the simplest of objects, to the most complex philosophies, are formed in the human mind. The images and thoughts, which you create at each moment, directly influence your emotional and physical well-being. Imagine yourself eating a lemon and you will begin to salivate (produce saliva in the mouth), picture yourself fall from a cliff edge and you will generate the feeling of falling along with tremendous anxiety (worry), possibly terror.

The key to relaxation lies in what you do with your mind. Like an inner television screen or an artist's blank canvas, your mind is ready to display any idea or image, which you choose. While meditation tends to have one point of mental focus (an idea, a point of knowledge or mantra), creative visualization is the purposeful use of the mind to create positive images as a result of which we experience relaxation.

Where there is constant checking there is progress.

Projection: Sometimes we find our mood fluctuating seemingly without any reason. At such times we do not understand why it is happening so. We try to change our mood at that time by doing something else. We do find temporary relief but the feeling reemerges after sometime.

Solution: What we need to do is to first check the cause of our fluctuation in mood. Particularly we need to check what weakness is working within us. Once we discover this we would find it easy to change our thoughts and feelings.

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To be free is to be free from the influence of time.

Projection: Usually we allow time to change us. We are time conscious and we normally wait for the time to bring about a change in our situation. Then we say only if a particular thing happens can we do something else that we need to do. To wait in this way for time is to set limits on ourselves.

Solution: We need to free ourselves from the influence of time. When we remind ourselves again and again that we are the creator and time our creation we will be able to change ourselves. This will automatically bring change in the situations too.

Values And Purpose...!

Our actions sometimes are not according to our life’s purpose when we lack the proper connecting value or we are unable to express it correctly. These values help us in bringing our purpose into action. They bring purpose into life. Values are the fuel. In any situation where thesevalues are awakened they will decide my course of action and are the basis of all important choices and decisions.Reinforcement of these values means that you can operate successfully in any situation. If your identified purpose is what you are meant to be doing, then your values are the back-up to do it.

How will we know which values are important to connect to our purpose? We don't need to make an attempt to create our values. They are already there. We just have to detect them by looking inwards and then use them to fulfill our purpose.

*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.