Your mind is a powerful thing. When you filter it with positive thoughts your life will change.

The Buddha, 600BC, Nepal I already looked a little into Buddhism in a previous blog, Each morning we are born again. What we do today is what matters most. I am not a Buddhist myself, I don't agree with all the beliefs, such as that the mind is separate from the body. Science today is proving that the body and mind are one, that they are so connected that what we think and feel directly influences the body, but there is some profound wisdom and truth in many of Buddha's teachings. Anyway I prefer not to ascribe myself to any faith in particular, after having been too narrow-minded in the past, but when I read a statement like this one I know it is a significant teaching and it is also one that I have implemented and found to be highly effective. Sensual Indulgences Born into royalty, Buddha was someone who had experienced riches, denounced that, but to teach denunciation to all people, that we should cast aside wealth and pleasures of the flesh, or to claim that to live is to suffer, I don’t believe that. I believe there is a divine creator, that this beautiful world was made for us to enjoy and cherish. The stunning nature we see and the art that gifted people create to honour that, the delicious food we can make from nature, the natural love we can give and share, not to engage in so called 'sensual indulgences' but neither to cast aside genuine love and partnership, good divine provision and other worthy gifts. Certainly wealth, not just finances but of all kinds, is something that we should share generously when we are gifted with it, not hoard for ourselves and wallow in excess while turning our eyes away from the suffering of others, but not cast aside either in false humility or ingratitude of what the universe/ the divine has provided. Negativity I have been the person who dwells on all the negative, wallows in self-pity, feels hard done by, justified in complaints, but negative thoughts are a downward spiral. The black cloud is a thief. They say, 'gratitude is the source of joy', and what is gratitude but a positive frame of mind. Not simply thankfulness for blessings, although counting your blessings is the very least one should do. I am grateful that I woke up today, that I get to live and breathe, that my lungs function as they do, that all my body functions without my conscious direction, that my legs function as they do, my eyes, my ears, for food and shelter, for friends... We can’t take everything for granted. Sometimes life is hard, really hard, and the last thing people want to hear is do goody twaddle about looking on the bright side or seeing the good in everything, but the truth is, it is taking the easy way out to wallow in your anger or allow yourself to be the victim, giving away your part in a situation, pretending you have no control and are just being blown around in the breeze. You can take control of your life by choosing how you react to situations, what your following steps will be and adopting a better attitude. It might seem a little more like hard work than just allowing every feeling to wash over you and lay claim to you, but it pays truly and the more you look at the good in every thing the more good comes your way, bit by bit, because you see it and you create it. As Buddha said, judge beliefs by trying and testing them for yourself. Buddhists teach that the solutions to our problems are on the inside not on the outside and Buddha himself asked his followers not to just blindly take on his teachings as true without testing them for themselves. Yet there are so many Buddhists today, thousands of years on, that clearly his teachings have stood the test of time, been proven true and effective for many and his name is known globally. Dr. Joe Dispenza is a well-known expert in mind over matter and has done much scientific research into how the brain works, too complex for me to begin to explain, but for those who are interested in delving deeper into the power of 'positivity' I highly recommend the following link: Making Your Mind Matter. According to Dr. Dispenza, how you think and how you feel is your state of being, which we all know to be correct of course, but you have the power to determine your thoughts and feelings. Rather than allowing your subconscious mind, which is 95% of your mind, to drive you every day to places you don't want to go, use your conscious mind to influence your subconsious, feed it consistently with new thoughts and feelings, and with repetition it will take those on. Not only so, the connection between your subconscious and the divine will cause new and better circumstances to be created as a result of what you are telling it! Click here for a free copy of the book Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse, a novel about the journey of self-discovery of a man named Siddhartha during the time of Buddha. For more on Dr. Joe Dispenza click here: https://drjoedispenza.com "He who cherishes a beautiful vision, a lofty ideal in his heart, will one day realize it... Buddha beheld the vision of a spiritual world of stainless beauty and perfect peace, and he entered into it." From As a Man Thinketh by James Allen.