Think Positive In 2015

It was a very dark night. It was pitch black with no moon or stars in the sky. A young man needed to travel for some urgent work to the next village but was unable to see anything in the dark. Thus, he stood there puzzled on how to get to the next village.

A noble saint passing by saw the puzzled young man and asked,” What’s the problem my dear?”

The young man replied, “I need to go to the next village urgently, but how will I get there? I can’t see anything!”

The saint lit a lamp and gave it to the man saying, “Here, if darkness is the issue then light is the solution. Now start walking.”

The man looked at the lamp, then around him and once again disappointingly said, “Sir, this lamp only spreads light up to ten feet and the darkness continues after that. This lamp will not help."

The saint replied, “You start walking, the brightness will walk with you”.

What does this story teach us?

Firstly, we need to understand the aim of our life from a great person or saint. What do I want to be? Which direction do I need to take? It is necessary to implement great thoughts and teachings in our life. It is important to receive one such inspirational thought from a great person that will spread brightness in our life.

But, the most important point is, do we have that intense desire to progress in our path?

Now that we know the aim and have the desire, we will achieve nothing by merely concentrating on the darkness instead of the lamp. This is where positive thinking and implementation is vital.

During my travels to America, I read this in a book which touched my heart, “Ten minutes of positive thinking has the power to balance out a whole day’s negativity”. This is why our scriptures advise us to pray three times in a day, known as trikāl sandhyā. If one prays early in the morning, remembers God in the afternoon and constantly recollects that God is with me, then one will always live in motivation and hope. Then, the day ends with remembering God; this way ten minutes of positive thinking will remove the whole day’s negativity.

When these ten minutes of positive thinking slowly increase with time, then how positive can one fully become!

This New Year, let us all understand the aim of our life and begin to walk with positivity and motivation.

A Happy 2015 to all of you!

With Love and Blessings,

Wonderful Gifts To Our selves

During the festive Christmas and New Year season, while we devote so much thought and time to thinking of gifts for other people, few of us spend any time thinking about gifts we can give ourselves. Even those who do so, think only in terms of ‘things’ they want to purchase. However, there are so many gifts you can give yourself, which would be more valuable than anything you can purchase.

Would you believe if someone told you that there exist almost magical gifts that can make you live longer, reduce or even eliminate your medical bills, make you peaceful, increase your popularity amongst others, make you personally and professionally more successful and leave a better world for your children? Sounds like a dream? But such gifts do exist and are within your grasp. And they are free. Let me list ten of these.

Ten Special Gifts
1. The first is exercise. If you give yourself the gift of exercise – even 15 minutes a day – you will be healthier, live longer and feel more alert.

2. Yoga also confers similar benefits. It also adds a zing to your step and makes your muscles shed their laziness.

3. Meditation is invaluable. It confers many benefits, including a peaceful mind, calm demeanor and heightened awareness. Silence is a powerful gift. The first time you experience true inner silence, you will want to stay in this state forever.

4. The fourth gift you can give yourself is the gift of learning something new. It keeps you younger and more interested in life, and you become more alert.

5. Related to this is the gift of reading. Give this gift not only to yourself but also to your children.

6. Personal hygiene is a great gift, too. We take this for granted but even small things such as brushing your teeth before sleeping can have a great impact on your well-being. Washing hands, general cleanliness – everything matters.

7. Smiling -- you will be surprised what a great difference it will make to your life if you give yourself this gift.

8. Another such useful gift it the gift of empathy. This amazing gift broadens your world.

9. Tolerance: We are very quick to take offence. We have our prejudices against all kinds of people and things. We divide the world into ‘ours’, who can do no wrong and ‘others’, who can do no right. Tolerance is the bridge between the two.

10. Finally, how about gifting yourself active concern for your environment? This means not only caring for the environment in a theoretical way but also actively promoting good practices such as waste recycling, water conservation, promoting greenery and so on. With this gift, you will not only improve your life but will gift your children a better world.

That’s Not All

There are other gifts, too, which we can give ourselves. These would be unique for each person. I am sure we can all think of some of these.

Would it not be great if all of us can give ourselves at least some of the above gifts during this gift-giving season? Not only will we be the richer for these, they will make our loved ones richer beyond any material gift we can give them. Just select your own gifts, open them with your will-power and revel in them for many happy years to come.

Add to the list of gifts we could give ourselves