swami vivekananda-13: To My Brave Boys(letter)

(Written to Alasinga Perumal from New York on 19th November, 1894.)

Push on with the organization. Nothing else is necessary but these — love, sincerity, and patience. What is life but growth, i.e. expansion, i.e. love? Therefore all love is life, it is the only law of life; all selfishness is death, and this is true here or hereafter. It is life to do good, it is death not to do good to others. Ninety per cent of human brutes you see are dead, are ghosts — for none lives, my boys, but he who loves. Feel, my children, feel; feel for the poor, the ignorant, the downtrodden; feel till the heart stops and the brain reels and you think you will go mad — then pour the soul out at the feet of the Lord, and then will come power, help, and indomitable energy. Struggle, struggle, was my motto for the last ten years. Struggle, still say I. When it was all dark, I used to say, struggle; when light is breaking in, I still say, struggle. Be not afraid, my children. Look not up in that attitude of fear towards that infinite starry vault as if it would crush you. Wait! In a few hours more, the whole of it will be under your feet. Wait, money does not pay, nor name; fame does not pay, nor learning. It is love that pays; it is character that cleaves its way through adamantine walls of difficulties.

Now the question before us is this. There cannot be any growth without liberty. Our ancestors freed religious thought, and we have a wonderful religion. But they put a heavy chain on the feet of society, and our society is, in a word, horrid, diabolical. In the West, society always had freedom, and look at them. On the other hand, look at their religion.

Liberty is the first condition of growth. Just as man must have liberty to think and speak, so he must have liberty in food, dress, and marriage, and in every other thing, so long as he does not injure others.

We talk foolishly against material civilisation. The grapes are sour. Even taking all that foolishness for granted, in all India there are, say, a hundred thousand really spiritual men and women. Now, for the spiritualisation of these, must three hundred millions be sunk in savagery and starvation? Why should any starve? How was it possible for the Hindus to have been conquered by the Mohammedans? It was due to the Hindus' ignorance of material civilization. Even the Mohammedans taught them to wear tailor-made clothes. Would the Hindus had learnt from the Mohammedans how to eat in a cleanly way without mixing their food with the dust of the streets! Material civilization, nay, even luxury, is necessary to create work for the poor. Bread! Bread! I do not believe in a God, who cannot give me bread here, giving me eternal bliss in heaven! Pooh! India is to be raised, the poor are to be fed, education is to be spread, and the evil of priestcraft is to be removed. No priestcraft, no social tyranny! More bread, more opportunity for everybody! Our young fools organise meetings to get more power from the English. They only laugh. None deserves liberty who is not ready to give liberty. Suppose the English give over to you all the power. Why, the powers that be then, will hold the people down, and let them not have it. Slaves want power to make slaves.

Now, this is to be brought about slowly, and by only insisting on our religion and giving liberty to society. Root up priestcraft from the old religion, and you get the best religion in the world. Do you understand me? Can you make a European society with India's religion? I believe it is possible, and must be.

The grand plan is to start a colony in Central India, where you can follow your own ideas independently, and then a little leaven will leaven all. In the meanwhile form a Central Association and go on branching off all over India. Start only on religious grounds now, and do not preach any violent social reform at present; only do not countenance foolish superstitions. Try to revive society on the old grounds of universal salvation and equality as laid down by the old Masters, such as Shankarâchârya, Râmânuja, and Chaitanya.

Have fire and spread all over. Work, work. Be the servant while leading. Be unselfish, and never listen to one friend in private accusing another. Have infinite patience, and success is yours.

Now take care of this: Do not try to "boss" others, as the Yankees say. Because I always direct my letters to you, you need not try to show your consequence over my other friends. I know you never can be such a fool, but still I think it my duty to warn you. This is what kills all organizations. Work, work, for, to work only for the good of others is life.

I want that there should be no hypocrisy, no Jesuitism, no roguery. I have depended always on the Lord, always on Truth broad as the light of day. Let me not die with stains on my conscience for having played Jesuitism to get up name or fame, or even to do good. There should not be a breath of immorality, nor a stain of policy which is bad.

No shilly-shally, no esoteric blackguardism, no secret humbug, nothing should be done in a corner. No special favouritism of the Master, no Master at that, even. Onward, my brave boys — money or no money — men or no men! Have you love? Have you God? Onward and forward to the breach, you are irresistible.

How absurd! The Theosophical magazines saying that they, the Theosophists, prepared the way to my success! Indeed! Pure nonsense! Theosophists prepared the way!

Take care! Beware of everything that is untrue; stick to truth and we shall succeed, maybe slowly, but surely. Work on as if I never existed. Work as if on each of you depended the whole work. Fifty centuries are looking on you, the future of India depends on you. Work on. I do not know when I shall be able to come. This is a great field for work. They can at best praise in India, but they will not give a cent for anything; and where shall they get it, beggars themselves? Then, they have lost the faculty of doing public good for the last two thousand years or more. They are just learning the ideas of nation, public, etc. So I need not blame them.

Blessings to you all!

12 Tips for Overcoming Anger and Gaining Peace

Anger appears when one is confronted with frustration, unhappiness or hurt feelings, or when plans don't turn out as desired. It also shows up when coming against opposition or criticism.

Anger never helps anyone. It wastes your energy, and can hurt your health, spoil your relationships, and cause you to miss opportunities. Getting angry is acting against your best interests.

Things don't always proceed according to plans and expectations. People not always act the way you wish them to act. You may not be always able to be in control of external influences and conditions, but you can certainly learn to control your attitude and reactions. There is no sense of allowing circumstances and people to pull your strings and affect your mind and feelings. You can choose not to let what people say and do affect your moods. You can maintain an inner attitude of emotional and mental detachment, and refuse to allow every minor event play with your feelings and evoke anger.

I often see people getting angry over unimportant and insignificant matters. Some insignificant remark or action, not getting a satisfactory reply to a question or just moodiness are enough to set fire and cause anger, snappy remarks, arguments and even physical fights. This is absolutely unnecessary. Life can be happier without this behavior.

Anger is a negative reaction, and if you wish to progress on the path of self-improvement or spiritual growth you should avoid it as much as possible.

Learning to calm down the restlessness of the mind and gaining peace of mind, is one of the best and most effective methods to overcome anger, and in fact, all negative emotions.

If you are willing to invest the time and energy, you will reap great rewards. Peace of mind will not only help you overcome anger, but also help you overcome anxiety and negative thinking, and enable you to stay calm, tranquil and self possessed in difficult and trying situations.

Peace of mind requires the development of an attitude of emotional and mental detachment, which is of vital importance for overcoming and avoiding anger. It protects you against being too affected by what people think, say or do, and is therefore highly recommended. Detachment is not an attitude of indifference and lack of sensitivity. It is an attitude of common sense and inner strength and leads to peace of mind.

I would like to suggest a few simple tips for inner detachment and peace of mind, which will help you overcome anger:

1. Devote a few minutes, at least once a day, to thinking on how much your life would be better without anger.

2. When you feel anger arising in you, start breathing deeply and slowly several times.

3. You may, instead of breathing deeply, or better still, in addition to it, count slowly from one to ten. This will delay your angry reaction and weaken it.

4. Drinking some water has a calming effect on the body.

5. Try to be more patient, no matter how difficult it might be.

6. Be more tolerant toward people, even toward people you don't like.

7. Everyone is entitled to his/her opinion. You can disagree with people, but still maintain tact and diplomacy.

8. Choose to react calmly and peacefully in every situation. Try again and again, regardless of how many times you lose control and get angry.

9. Positive thinking makes it easier to disregard remarks and behavior that otherwise could cause anger.

10. Try to manifest at least some self-control, self-discipline and more common sense.

11. Don't take everything too seriously. It is not worth it.

12. Find reasons to laugh more often.

 

Psychic Powers

Every person displays or experiences some psychic power every now and then, though most often these experiences are dismissed as pure coincidence. You certainly have had some premonitions about something that was going to happen, dreams that came true, or you felt and knew what someone was thinking of you. These experiences often came spontaneously, suddenly, and without any prior preparations.

Some people are more naturally psychic from others, and psychic experiences are a more common occurrence with them. Sometimes they just accept the fact that they are a bit different from others in their perceptions, having as if a sixth sense, while others pursue the subject more deeply, reading, learning and searching for guidance. They try to develop these powers and bring them under their control.

Psychic powers can be developed through special training, even by people who are not naturally psychic. These are fascinating powers, which allow a trained person to peek beyond the material plane, and know things that remain hidden to other people.

There are several risks in using and developing psychic powers, which one has to take into account when developing them:

1. The knowledge gained can be used for selfish purposes.

2. The psychic could be wrong in interpretation of the experience, and might unintentionally mislead, misguide or cause harm to other people.

3. Some of the psychic powers requires one to be mentally passive, so as to be able to tune in to other minds, thus letting in some external powers, which might have a negative influence.

4. One who is not well-balanced and lacks self control and discipline, might find it difficult to stop the psychic impressions and lead a practical normal life.

5. Pursuing psychic training might deter one from the path of self improvement and spiritual growth, leading him or her to constant seeking of these perceptions and leading away from inner calmness and peace of mind.

If one desires to develop psychic powers, it would be wiser first to develop some concentration ability, control over the mind, willpower, self discipline and mental and emotional detachment. This would ensure that one be able to open and close at will the mental doors, and so avoid being influenced by what he/she perceives. This will also reduce the danger that one might misuse the powers or get his/her ego inflated by them.

 

The Psychic Powers

There are different kinds of psychic powers or gifts, as they are often called. Another term used is ESP - extra-sensory perception.

Here is a list of some of the psychic powers:

Clairvoyance (clear vision) - Seeing far away scenes and places or hidden things, without using the physical eyes. Clairvoyance enables one to perceive scenes and mental images with the mind's eye.

Clairaudience (clear hearing) - Perceiving sounds or words from a distant or from other realms. Clairaudience enables one to hear words and sounds not perceived by the physical ears.

Clairempathy (clear emotion) - Sensing the attitude or emotions of another person.

Psychometry - Perceiving information about a person, place or an object, by holding in one's hands an object belonging to the person or place. In Psychometry one usually holds some small personal object such as a watch, ring, key or other personal object.

Psychokinesis - The ability to move objects through the powers of the mind.

Intuition - Perceiving an idea, knowledge or information directly. This is what is commonly called "a gut feeling". Intuition is some kind of inner knowledge and certainty about something.

Telepathy - Reading other people thoughts and sending them your thoughts.

Mental influence - An advanced kind of telepathy that allows one to influence the minds of other people.

Psychic healing - The ability to cure pains or illnesses by transferring some kind of healing energy.

Auric sight - The ability to see or sense the colors of the aura, and thereby understand certain things about the moods, emotions, thoughts or health of other people.

source:www.successconsciousness.com 

Sound Sleep - Do U

Do you fall asleep immediately after entering bed, or do thoughts and worries flow into your mind, keeping your sleep away? Do you find it hard to ignore them?

While lying in bed at night, it is quiet and dark, there are fewer outside distractions, and therefore you are more aware of the movements of your mind. You feel that thoughts are attacking you, not giving you a moment's rest, especially if you are experiencing some problems in your life.

If you are not healthy you will probably think about your health. If you have problems at work, then thoughts about these problems will probably flood your mind. A child will have thoughts about his parents, teachers or examinations, and a businessman about his work. Thoughts, worries and fears that are usually repressed during the day surface up and swarm the mind.

What would be willing to do to free yourself from these nibbling, restless thoughts that prevent you from falling asleep? Won't you be happy to be able to silence all the thoughts that pop up when you are in bed?

If you fight these thoughts and try to stop them forcefully, they will grow stronger, because you will be giving them more attention. If you want to get rid of a tree growing in your garden and cut it down, it will grow again quite fast, but if you stop irrigating the tree, it will gradually wither. You need to treat your thoughts in the same manner. In order to reduce their quantity and strength, you have to ignore them, which is equivalent to not watering the tree.

How can you ignore these nagging thoughts that go with you to bed? Here are a few tips to help you:

1. Go to bed at a reasonable hour, not too early and not too late.

2. Lie down on your bed and relax your body.

3. For 2-3 minutes pay attention to every muscle in your body from head to toe. If you find any tense muscle, relax it.

4. For about one minute, let thoughts come freely into your mind.

5. Watch these thoughts as they come and go.

6. Tell your mind that if it has any important thoughts that require attention, you are willing to discuss them tomorrow.

7. If one of the thoughts is too persistent, write it down so that you can remember to think about it the next day.

8. Now try to look at the thoughts with lack of interest. Lack of interest is the magic word when it comes to controlling and silencing thoughts. Do not let your feelings to be aroused and manipulated by your thoughts.

If thoughts still come, and they probably will, it is all right. Don't fight them, but just try to ignore them by losing any interest in them. An ignored thought ultimately goes away. Don't worry if you fail at first. Keep on trying and the situation will improve.

9. Watch the thoughts that enter your mind, as if watching a boring movie and they will lose their power.

10. There is another thing that can be done, and that is to practice meditation every day.

After practicing meditation for some time it will affect your sleep. As a by-product of meditation your mind will get accustomed to being relaxed and at peace, and when you go to sleep it will be much easier to ignore persistent and disturbing thoughts. In fact, you might fall asleep immediately upon switching off the light.

 

The Power of Negative Thinking

You might have heard about the power of positive thinking which makes our life better but here through this post you will know it is greater in importance to know about the power of thinking in a negative way because it is important to know about the bad around us in order to get rid of it than knowing about good. 

Negative thinking appears to be more prevalent than positive thinking. It seems that with most people positive thinking requires some effort, whereas negative thinking comes easily and uninvited. This has much to do with education and the environment one has been living in.

If you have been brought up in a happy and positive atmosphere, where people value success and self-improvement, then it will be easier for you to think positively and expect success. If you have been brought up under poor or difficult situations, you will probably go on expecting difficulties and failure.

We all view everything through our predominant mental attitude. If our thoughts are positive, that is fine, but if they are negative, our lives and circumstances will probably mirror these thoughts.

If you believe that you are going to fail, you will unconsciously sabotage every opportunity to succeed. If you are afraid of meeting new people or having close relationships, you will do everything to avoid people and relationships, and then complain that you are lonely and nobody loves you.

Do you often think about difficulties, failure and disasters? Do you keep thinking about the negative news you have seen on the TV or read in the newspapers?

Do you see yourself stuck and unable to improve your life or your health? Do you frequently think that you do not deserve happiness or money, or that it is too difficult to get them? If you do, then you will close your mind, see no opportunities, and behave and react in such ways, as to repel people and opportunities.

The mind does not usually judge or examine thoughts and opinions before accepting them. If what it hears, sees and reads is always negative, it accepts this as the standard way of thinking and behavior.

The media constantly bombards the mind with a lot of information about disasters, catastrophes, wars and other unhappy events. This information sinks into the subconscious mind, and then manifests as your habitual manner of thinking. By occupying the mind with depressing and pessimistic thoughts you radiate negative energy into the surrounding world, thus creating and recreating more negativity, failures and disasters.

The mind is neutral energy. The way you think determines whether the results are positive and beneficial or negative and harmful. It is the same of energy acting in different ways.

The good news are that persistent inner work can change habits of thinking. You must be willing to put energy and time to pursue positive thinking, in order to change your mental attitude.

A few Tips:

- Each time you catch yourself thinking a negative thought, reject the thought, and think a positive one instead.

- If you catch yourself visualizing failure, visualize success instead.

- If you hear yourself uttering negative words, change to positive words instead.

- When you say, "I cannot", say, "I can".

- Do you repeat negative words and phrases in your mind? Change them to positive ones.

- Open your mind to positive attitude and expect positive results.

- Decide that from today, from this very moment, you are leaving negative thinking behind, and starting on the way toward positive thinking and behavior.

It is never too late to change your attitude and your life.

 

12 Tips for Overcoming Anger and Gaining Peace

Anger appears when one is confronted with frustration, unhappiness or hurt feelings, or when plans don't turn out as desired. It also shows up when coming against opposition or criticism.

Anger never helps anyone. It wastes your energy, and can hurt your health, spoil your relationships, and cause you to miss opportunities. Getting angry is acting against your best interests.

Things don't always proceed according to plans and expectations. People not always act the way you wish them to act. You may not be always able to be in control of external influences and conditions, but you can certainly learn to control your attitude and reactions. There is no sense of allowing circumstances and people to pull your strings and affect your mind and feelings. You can choose not to let what people say and do affect your moods. You can maintain an inner attitude of emotional and mental detachment, and refuse to allow every minor event play with your feelings and evoke anger.

I often see people getting angry over unimportant and insignificant matters. Some insignificant remark or action, not getting a satisfactory reply to a question or just moodiness are enough to set fire and cause anger, snappy remarks, arguments and even physical fights. This is absolutely unnecessary. Life can be happier without this behavior.

Anger is a negative reaction, and if you wish to progress on the path of self-improvement or spiritual growth you should avoid it as much as possible.

Learning to calm down the restlessness of the mind and gaining peace of mind, is one of the best and most effective methods to overcome anger, and in fact, all negative emotions.

If you are willing to invest the time and energy, you will reap great rewards. Peace of mind will not only help you overcome anger, but also help you overcome anxiety and negative thinking, and enable you to stay calm, tranquil and self possessed in difficult and trying situations.

Peace of mind requires the development of an attitude of emotional and mental detachment, which is of vital importance for overcoming and avoiding anger. It protects you against being too affected by what people think, say or do, and is therefore highly recommended. Detachment is not an attitude of indifference and lack of sensitivity. It is an attitude of common sense and inner strength and leads to peace of mind.

I would like to suggest a few simple tips for inner detachment and peace of mind, which will help you overcome anger:

1. Devote a few minutes, at least once a day, to thinking on how much your life would be better without anger.

2. When you feel anger arising in you, start breathing deeply and slowly several times.

3. You may, instead of breathing deeply, or better still, in addition to it, count slowly from one to ten. This will delay your angry reaction and weaken it.

4. Drinking some water has a calming effect on the body.

5. Try to be more patient, no matter how difficult it might be.

6. Be more tolerant toward people, even toward people you don't like.

7. Everyone is entitled to his/her opinion. You can disagree with people, but still maintain tact and diplomacy.

8. Choose to react calmly and peacefully in every situation. Try again and again, regardless of how many times you lose control and get angry.

9. Positive thinking makes it easier to disregard remarks and behavior that otherwise could cause anger.

10. Try to manifest at least some self-control, self-discipline and more common sense.

11. Don't take everything too seriously. It is not worth it.

12. Find reasons to laugh more often.

 source:www.successconsciousness.com

Becoming the Boss of the Mind

Most people keep thinking the same kind of thoughts, and visualize the same mental images in an unconscious automatic manner. This means they keep viewing the same movie in their minds, and consequently go on creating and living the same kind of life.

You can change the thoughts and images in your mind, which is equivalent to inserting a new cassette into the VCR of the mind. As thoughts create events and circumstances, by changing the habitual thoughts, life's events and circumstances change too.

Most people don't know or don't believe that it is possible to change their way of thinking. The reality of this possibility has never occurred to them.

There are people who have the knowledge and make the effort. If they persist in their efforts to become more conscious of their thinking process, and attempt to control and filter the contents of their minds, they realize in a practical and direct way that their thoughts are creative and possess power.

Silencing the mind is a higher stage that very few know about, and fewer take practical steps to achieve. If and when one reaches this goal he realizes that he is not his mind or his thoughts, but something beyond. He realizes and experiences in a very clear and direct manner the reality of his True Essence, and the illusion of what is called "reality".

The ability of silencing the mind is the key to the switch of the mind, enabling us to turn it on and off as we wish. When we are able to switch it off at will, we experience serenity of mind, strength, confidence and happiness. When the mind and its thoughts are quiet, we are able to use the mind in a most effective way.

Silencing the thoughts and the incessant, tiring, consuming chatter of the mind makes us enjoy a peaceful and joyous consciousness. At this stage we become the boss of the mind.

 

Conquering the mind

A strong power of concentration makes it easier to free the mind from thoughts. When there are no thoughts to distract, one becomes fully aware and conscious of the true eternal inner being. This is the goal of spiritual seekers, yogis and saints. This is the secret goal beyond every tradition and religion. This secret is yours to live and enjoy, if you strive towards it.

The mind is responsible for everything that happens. It is the creator of everything in the world. The world is dependent on the mind for its existence. When in deep sleep with no dreams, are you conscious of the world? Is someone in a swoon, conscious of the world? No, consciousness of the world happens only when the mind is active. In deep meditation, when the mind is quiet the world seems to disappear.

When you master your mind, you master your world.When you are able to silence the mind, you free yourself of negative habits and attitudes. Then the mind cannot influence the way you feel, your moods, and your behavior.

When you can silence the mind, at least for a while, you realize that you are not the mind. It is a sort of energy that occupies your attention incessantly. For someone who encounters this approach for the first time, it may sound weird and silly. Someone who has practiced meditation for some time, or is conversant with the Eastern philosophies will understand and accept these words. From this inner silence you can look at the mind, understand what it is and come to know its nature and how and why it works.

While working towards this inner state, the mind usually suggests all kinds of reasons and excuses why it is better not to bring it under control. It wants to be free and roam wherever it likes. It believes that if it is silenced, life will cease to be. It cannot accept that life can go on without its incessant chatter and inner dialogues. It is false logic, as the mind cannot know what is beyond it. The moment it is silenced it does not participate in what happens after this silence. Then how can it experience a state in which it is absent? It cannot think about a state it has never experienced.

There is no vacuum in nature. When the mind is made quiet, something "new" steps in. It is the Universal Consciousness, Spirit, the creative power, your "inner I", you can call it whatever you want. It is a power that has always existed, it is in us, it is us. It is our true Consciousness, which we have forgotten.

 

The Power of Thoughts

If you keep thinking about difficulties, fears and failure your life will mirror these thoughts. If you keep thinking about your current circumstances you will keep recreating them. Most people get caught in this way of thinking, and consequently attract into their lives the same kind of events and circumstances over and over again.

You can change your thoughts and choose the thoughts you want. This will change your life. You can right now start to think in a different way and paint new, beautiful, and positive images in your mind. You can refuse to look at the old pictures and scenes that fill your mind. You can look at the mental pictures of your choice, even if your actual circumstances are very different from these mental images.

You have a projection room in your mind, and you can choose which film to play. In the inner room of your mind you can hang the pictures and paintings of your own choice. Does a feeling of power surge through you now, as you read these lines.? You can master your life!

Thoughts are the inner strings that pull circumstances and situations. You can be the one pulling theses strings and make your life happier and more satisfying. When you are the boss of your mind you have the power to improve your inner and emotional life, relationships and your material and financial status.

Some make a mediocre change; some go the extreme and become leaders in politics, education, finance or any other field. Your ability, and how far you go is dependent on how free you are from being the slave of the mind and subject to its tyranny, and the extent of your ability to choose your thoughts and change the contents of your mind.

As mentioned earlier, it is possible to go even further then this, though few do. There are some who aspire to reach the source of the mind and find the switch that turns it on and off. This is the switch of true inner freedom. When they succeed, they realize the secret that many have sought down the ages. They find the silence beyond thoughts, the real freedom.

Becoming the boss of your mind enables you to think about what you want, when you want to. You stop being influenced by outside forces, and become a partner in the creation of your life.

When you rise above your mind, you will be able to recognize it as it is, a tool for your use. You will arrive to a point, where you will be able to free yourself from its dictates. This may ultimately lead you to experience a higher state of consciousness, about which all the spiritual traditions of the world have always taught about, and towards which they pointed.

 

Which Way You Do?

Here comes a post that discusses the way you select and the way you go when encountered with problems. I hope you will enjoy this post which was given with a happened example that explains even ideas of most intelligent people goes wrong only because of the way they think.

You're more important than any of your problems., What you have outside you counts less than what you have inside you., Courage gives you the power to face your difficulties., It comes from the reserves of your mind, that are more powerful than your outside circumstances., Your obstacles will look large or small to you, according to whether you are large or small., Courage gives you the capacity to confront what can be imagined., It gives you the ability to rise above your present reality., Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear., When you recognize that you're bigger than your problems, you'll gain the courage necessary to overcome anything.
     
 
Difference between Focusing on Problems and Focusing on Solutions,
    
    Case 1.
     
When NASA began the launch of astronauts into space, they found out that the pens wouldn't work at zero gravity (ink won't flow down to the writing surface). To solve this problem, it took them one decade and $12 million. They developed a pen that worked at zero gravity, upside down, underwater, in practically any surface including crystal and in a temperature range from below freezing to over 300 degrees C.,
    
    And what did the Russians do?
    
    They used a pencil.
    
    Case 2.
     
One of the most memorable case studies on Japanese management was the case of the empty soapbox, which happened in one of Japan 's biggest cosmetics companies. The company received a complaint that a consumer had bought a soapbox that was empty. Immediately the authorities isolated the problem to the assembly line, which transported all the packaged boxes of soap to the delivery department. For some reason, one soapbox went through the assembly line empty. Management asked its engineers to solve the problem. Post-haste, the engineers worked hard to devise an X-ray machine with high-resolution monitors manned by two people to watch all the soapboxes that passed through the line to make sure they were not empty. No doubt, they worked hard and they worked fast but they spent whoopee amount to do so.
     
But when a rank-and-file employee in a small company was posed with the same problem, he did not get into complications of X-rays, etc., but instead came out with another solution. He bought a strong industrial electric fan and pointed it at the assembly line.. He switched the fan on, and as each soapbox passed the fan, it simply blew the empty boxes out of the line.,
    
    Moral:
    
    1. Always look for simple solutions.
    2. Devise the simplest possible solution that solves the problems.
    3. Always focus on solutions & not on Problems.

Having an Attitude of Gratitude

Ever wondered what it means to “Keep up with the Jones’”? Many times we sit and watch as our neighbors bring home new boats and new cars. We are so quick to say ‘if only” to ourselves. As we watch our neighbor pull into his driveway with his brand new luxury automobile, jealously rears its ugly head deep within our spirit. “What makes him think he is better than me?” “If he can have a car like that, I can too.” The next thing you know you are off to the nearest car dealership and spend entirely too much money on an item that depreciates the instant it leaves the lot.

Society teaches us through the multitude of advertisements what it thinks we should wear, drive, eat and drink. The average person is bombarded with literally thousands of commercials each week. Roadside billboards, placards on the side of city buses, radio, television, internet and many other avenues are used to guide our subconscious mind toward a particular brand of product. We as a society are being “branded” to think and act a certain way.

Now that I’ve told you everything you already know, take a journey with me. If you will utilize the tools provided in this chapter, I guarantee it will forever change your life. Utilizing these simple techniques you will change the way you look at ALL situations. You will become thankful for what you have instead of focusing on what you DON’T have.

Technique 1: Compared To Whom?

Instead of comparing yourself to the rich families, look at the families who are living in the poverty stricken area of your city. I’m not implying that we are to look down our noses at them, not at all. What I am implying is compared to their situations, I’m sure your situation is looking pretty darn good. It allows you to see the extreme other end of the spectrum. I often see families that are poverty stricken and my heart goes out to them. I never let an opportunity to share my blessings with them pass by. I’m not ashamed to give my last dollar to that homeless man standing on the corner holding a cardboard sign. I distinctively remember a time when my wife and I were coming back from the grocery store. We were almost home and we were the third car in line at the stoplight. I noticed what appeared to be an elderly man holding a sign that read “homeless and hungry”. I watched as the first car (Mercedes) and the second car (Lexus) passed the man and never looked over. I do not drive an expensive automobile and I don’t have an excessive amount of money, but deep within my spirit I felt the need to give. I had $6.00 in my pocket and I was honored to give it to that man. I often hear people say that all I’m doing is giving that man money to buy more alcohol. That may be absolutely true; however, after I give him the money, it is his money to do what he wished with it. If we all thought that way, we would never help others in need. I give because I would want someone to do the same for me if I were in that situation. My blessing from God is still the same no matter what that man does with the money. Do not worry so much about what others think of you. You are in control of your life and what you manifest into your life by the blessings you bestow upon others. Let other people maintain a negative attitude and outlook on life and they will get their just reward in the end. Follow your heart and your spirit and you can’t go wrong.

Technique 2: Thankfulness and Positive Thinking

Stop reading for a moment and take a look at your surroundings. Maybe there is a television or radio playing in the back ground. Maybe the scent of dinner is drifting throughout the house. You can hear your children laughing and playing just outside your window. You have many things to be thankful for. If your eyes open in the morning and you inhale your first breath for the day, be thankful! If you have a roof over your head, food in your stomach, clothes on your back, a car parked in your garage, a loving wife/husband and children, be thankful! So what you don’t like your job! Be thankful you have a job. A well known speaker told a story of a lady who was expressing her dissatisfaction with her job, he told her to stop for one minute and think of one positive thing about her job. She could not think of one thing positive. If was only after some coaching that she was able to think of positive thoughts about her job. Every work place has difficult people. Are you going to let the attitude and personality of one person dictate how your day is going to turn out? Understand that by letting the negative actions of another person change your thoughts from positive to negative; you are allowing them to have control of you. They are ruling over you. Take a look at the following situation. You are driving to work one morning, the sun is shining, and it has turned out to be a beautiful day. You are noticing the newly bloomed flowers along the shoulder of the road when suddenly another car comes out of nowhere and cuts you off causing you to slam on your brakes to keep from hitting the car. You offer some choice words to the driver and take great pride in telling them they are number one using a “certain” finger. The further you drive the more upset and angry you become. While you are sitting in your car fuming over the situation, they haven’t given you another thought. Continuing to let anger build will have a negative impact on your entire day. It will determine the way you treat others, the way you perform your daily duties and the way you will treat your family when you get home because of your bad day. You are completely capable of controlling your thoughts. Just as easily as you got upset, you could’ve shoved off the negative feelings. How you wonder? Instead of looking at the stupidity of the other driver, be thankful that you were able to stop thus preventing an accident and possibly injuring you or God forbid ending your time here on Earth. I’m sure you have heard the saying “Every cloud has a silver lining”. That is completely true. Every negative has a positive side. It is up to you to search for that positive side. Unfortunately not many people are willing to take the time to do such, but I promise you, if you take the time to look for that “silver lining” it will greatly improve not only your day, but your life as well. Finding the positive in any negative situation will greatly improve your quality of life as well. It is no secret that stress is the number one cause of cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, and many other medical problems. Finding the positive will instantly decrease the stress level in your body, thus greatly improving your quality of life.

source:www.bobbycary.com