OPPORTUNITIES ARE LIKE A TOUCHSTONE

When the great library of Alexandria was burnt, as the story goes, one book was saved. But it was not a valuable book; and so a poor man, who could read a little, bought it for a few coppers.

The book wasn’t very interesting, but between its pages there was something very interesting indeed. It was a thin strip of vellum on which was written the secret of the “Touchstone”!

The touchstone was a small pebble that could turn any common metal into pure gold. The writing explained that it was lying among thousands and thousands of other pebbles that looked exactly like it. But the secret was this: The real stone would feel warm, while ordinary pebbles are cold.

So the man sold his few belongings, bought some simple supplies, camped on the seashore, and began testing pebbles. He knew that if he picked up ordinary pebbles and threw them down again because they were cold, he might pick up the same pebble hundreds of times. So, when he felt one that was cold, he threw it into the sea. He spent a whole day doing this but none of them was the touchstone. Yet he went on and on this way.

The days stretched into weeks and the weeks into months. One day, however, about mid afternoon, he picked up a pebble and it was warm. He threw it into the sea before he realised what he had done. He had formed such a strong habit of throwing each pebble into the sea that when the one he wanted came along, he still threw it away.

So it is with opportunity. Unless we are vigilant, it’s easy to fail to recognise an opportunity when it is in hand and it’s just as easy to throw it away.

SELF-EMPOWERMENT

To fill yourself with a quality or power, which you feel you do not have or one, which is lacking inside you, try the following exercise. Suppose you feel that you lack contentment (satisfaction). To increase this quality inside you, sit comfortably in a pleasant room with your eyes open.

Withdraw (remove) energy mentally from everything around you – turn your attention inward. You might think of how a tortoise withdraws into its shell to detach itself from the outside world, but, carrying the experience of the world with it inside its shelter.

Create a point of consciousness. Focus on the centre of your forehead. Think of this point as a bright star, a sparkling jewel, a flame or a being of light. This will radiate positive energy, making you feel good about yourself.

Affirm (strengthen) this positive energy through positive thoughts and images about yourself such as “I am a contented soul; I shower everyone whom I meet with the quality of contentment”, “I am a jewel of contentment”, or “I am the child of the Supreme Soul, the Ocean of Contentment”.

Focus your energy on contentment, and let this become the object of your meditation. As you focus, you will give experience contentment, turning the thought into a feeling.

Experience this feeling by giving your conscious attention to it.

During the entire day, you could visualise yourself performing each action under the canopy (shelter) of the Ocean of Contentment. Now perform this exercise for different virtues like cheerfulness, courage, humility (egolessness), tolerance, forgiveness, determination, etc., especially for the ones you think are lacking inside you. For the qualities already existing inside you, you could use this exercise to strengthen those features of your personality and bring them more into your actions and interactions.

TURNING QUALITIES INTO POWERS

An important aspect of God, remembered throughout history in all cultures and traditions, has been the concept of an Almighty Authority. The interpretation of this concept has been varied, however.
Some have conceived a God who is fearsome, who punishes, who extracts a tooth for a tooth. That is very different from the experiences of God, in meditation, as a benign, benevolent, merciful parent; as a teacher of absolute wisdom, but a wisdom that includes gentleness and compassion; and as one who has total humility, who is free of the demands of ego. Yet, it is also the experience of the soul that God is the Almighty Authority, the source of all power and strength. When I meditate and connect with the Supreme, I come to a state of truth in which the combination of all the qualities of the soul - peace, love, purity, wisdom and happiness fills me with power.
When I first communicate with the Supreme, and God's qualities begin to influence me, I feel replenished by the experience. But beyond that, as I fill deeper, the energy of truth that enters me becomes a positive power that overcomes negativity in myself and others, so that those I am connected with become better able to experience their own truth. This power also extends to my physical surroundings, transforming the atmosphere around me. There are interesting spiritual parallels to the way the physical sciences distinguish energy and power. In physical terms, energy is defined as the capacity for doing work, where work means making things move. Power is defined as the rate of doing work. Similarly, we can look upon spiritual energy as our cap-acity for experiencing the original qualities of the soul. We all have this capacity, but to different degrees. Spiritual power is then seen as the extent to which we put these qualities to work in our relationships. We bring about change through our power to remain in a state of truth, in the face of the various tests that come. Our actions and relationships give us an opportunity to utilize the power we have accumulated.
The qualities of God experienced in meditation are also the original qualities of the soul, but the link with God is essential for their full power to be expressed. In fact God, too, needs the connection with us, despite having these qualities to the highest degree, in order to exercise His power to restore truth to the world.

50 WAYS TO COPE WITH STRESS

Get up 15 minutes earlier. Prepare for the morning the night before. Don't rely on your memory....write things down. Repair things that don't work properly. MAKE DUPLICATE KEYS. SAY "NO" MORE OFTEN. Set priorities in your life. Avoid negative people. Always make copies of important papers. ASK FOR HELP WITH JOBS YOU DISLIKE. Break large tasks into bite sized portions. Look at problems as challenges. Smile more. Be prepared for rain. SCHEDULE A PLAY TIME INTO EVERY DAY. Avoid tight fitting clothes. Take a bubble bath. BELIEVE IN YOU. Visualize yourself winning. Develop a sense of humour. Stop thinking tomorrow will be a better today. Have goals for yourself. SAY HELLO TO A STRANGER. Look up at the stars. PRACTISE BREATHING SLOWLY. DO BRAND NEW THINGS. Stop a bad habit. TAKE STOCK OF YOUR ACHIEVEMENTS. Do it today. Strive for excellence, NOT perfection. LOOK AT A WORK OF ART. Maintain your weight. Plant a tree. Stand up and stretch. Always have a plan B. Learn a new doodle. Learn to meet your own needs. BECOME A BETTER LISTENER. Know your limitations and let others know them too. THROW A PAPER AIRPLANE. Exercise every day. Get to work early. CLEAN OUT ONE CLOSET. Take a different route to work. LEAVE WORK EARLY(WITH PERMISSION). Remember you always have options. Quit trying to "fix" other people. GET ENOUGH SLEEP. Praise other people. RELAX, TAKE EACH DAY AT A TIME.....YOU HAVE THE REST OF YOUR LIFE TO LIVE.

(Special Thanks to Julie Kim Cormier,Canada)

*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 cannot 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 bad things. This also makes room available for storing good things.

MY WORDS ARE IN MY CONTROL

Meditation offers me powerful tools through which I can improve my character. This is because in meditation, I am no longer just reacting to external stimuli, but I am looking at what is going on in the mind, and consciously creating the type of thoughts that I would like to have habitually.

I do this through the intellect. The intellect takes hold of the reins of the mind and chooses the direction in which to travel. When it does this repeatedly, my sanskaras - the imprints or tendencies within my character - start to change.

Soul-consciousness is the key to taking charge of what is going on in my mind. If I believe that my thoughts and feelings, including my sense of self, are simply consequences of brain processes, it means I've let go of the key. The more my consciousness is trapped in my physical identity, the more difficult it will be for me to discipline my mind.

In meditation, when I bring myself back to the knowledge that I am a soul, and my intellect accepts and absorbs this awareness, I recognize that my thoughts are my own creation, and that I can make choices about them. I realize that my natural state is to be the master of my mind, and I start taking charge of what is going on inside.

CONCENTRATION

As my mind contemplates aspects of God's truth, it may reach a next stage in the process, that of concentration. Here, there is a taste of real stillness and silence, as other thoughts subside. The mind is slowing down, and working in one direction, towards the being of truth whom we call God; and I am beginning to savour the experience of connecting with God.

Sometimes, I'll sit in meditation and instantly fly into the happiness of this experience, without intervening steps. At other times, it won't be so easy, but that is when an under-standing of the process becomes particularly valuable.

I may find that during the first two stages, meditation and contemplation, many stray thoughts are coming to distract me. That is not surprising, as the mind has been busy with many other concerns. Recognizing this, all I have to do in that moment is to tell the mind it can deal with those issues later, but right now I want it to take me to God, the being of light who has so much to offer me.

If I find that although my mind is moving in the right direction, my experience is still only at the level of thinking rather than feeling that is also OK. It's better to keep the mind occupied in thinking about the soul and the Supreme than in straying uselessly into other areas. In fact, to have come this far is a breakthrough, because relatively few people these days create space for thoughts of the divine.

LIFE AND ACHIEVEMENT

The world is a beautiful place to live in. With all the oddities of human beings and all the eccentricity of pain, there are too many things to live for. Life isn’t all about ‘the bigger, the better’. As Johnson says, in small proportions, we just see beauties; and in short measures, life may be perfect. One doesn’t need to be overly intelligent, or rich, or handsome to lead a perfect life. It lies, as it were, in a sense of achievement that you derive from your life.

Now, then, an achievement may mean different things to different people depending on their frame of reference. Some seek it in fame, some in wealth and others in peace perhaps. Everyday millions are born and millions die. But who weeps for those who die? Hardly a few friends and family members. It indicates very clearly how much worthy our life is. Being a part of the crowd is the easiest thing to achieve, but then its satisfaction value is zero. And the sense of achievement is as unlikely as horns on a donkey’s head. You should lead the crowd instead of following it. You should try to be a man with a difference, a man less ordinary.

Everyone lives for himself, even the animals. But we are ways ahead of them on moral and intellectual grounds. We ought to live for others. The achievement is in giving, not in taking. If you can wipe someone’s tears, or can restore the smile of somebody, do it and never count the cost. And as the saying goes, do it in such a way that even your left hand shouldn’t know that your right hand is doing an act of charity. Moreover, maintain humility all the while, for humility is not a wasteful luxury, but a sound investment. Mark my words! This is sure, if not the shortest path towards a perfect life. And the sense of achievement will be of colossal proportions.

Now, a few words for the sceptics (it’s a shame that anyone should be sceptic on so profound a matter). Life doesn’t always look like a blessing. When the grief and melancholy take possession of you, then the moonlit summer sky looks like the murky sky of August. You may well argue that darkness is ever so horrible, but I will always disagree. There is no bliss in perfection. It leaves you to a standstill well and truly. Without the scope for betterment, there is no fun in the game. Life is a game, isn’t it? And the difference lies in the fact that how keenly, how whole-heartedly you play it. After all, the genuine players can always derive a sense of achievement out of it.

SCATTERED PAPERS

Once upon a time an old man spread rumors that his neighbour was a thief. As a result, the young man was arrested. Days later, the young man was proven innocent. After having been released, he sued the old man for wrongly accusing him.

In court the old man told the Judge: ‘They were just comments; they didn’t harm anyone.’

The judge, before passing sentence on the case, told the old man: “Write all the things you said about him on a piece of paper. Cut them up and on the way home throw the pieces of paper out. Tomorrow, come back to hear the sentence.”

The next day, the judge told the old man: ‘Before receiving the sentence, you will have to go out and gather all the pieces of paper that you threw out yesterday.’

The old man said: “I can’t do that! The wind spread them and I won’t know where to find them.”

The judge then replied: “The same way, simple comments may destroy the honour of a man to such an extent that one is not able to fix it. If you can’t speak well of someone, rather don’t say anything.”

Let’s all be masters of our mouths, so that we won’t be slaves of our words.

ANGER MANAGEMENT

For some time, therapists have believed that anger is OK. In fact, many therapists still believe that it’s good to get angry once in a while. Around fifteen years ago in Japan it was discovered that around 10,000 executives were dying every year from overwork and they found the cause to be excessive, but suppressed anger. So they created ‘anger rooms’ in the basements of their offices, padded the walls and put a baseball bat in the room. They told executives that if they felt anger developing inside them, they should go to the room and just hit the walls with the bat as hard, and as much as they wanted in order to get the anger out of their system. Two years later, they measured the results. The amount of anger had increased. Why? After much thinking, they finally realised that people who were going to the rooms regularly were practising getting angry and simply repeating the habit.

Anger is a condition in which the tongue works faster than the mind.

You can’t change the past, but you can ruin the present by worrying over the future.

Don’t suppress and don’t express your ANGER - but transform it by practising Meditation. Peace is my original nature but not anger. I AM A PEACEFUL SOUL.

Love...and you shall be loved.