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June 21 - October 2, 2020
mindsets are mental habits we establish internally, by practising particular attitudes repeatedly, until they come naturally to us.
‘Men are not prisoners of fate, but only prisoners of their own minds.’
The secret, then, is not to try harder but smarter, by disengaging the emotional brakes of harmful attitudes that reside within.
The principle is simple—we learn to become better persons by learning to harbour better thoughts.
when people harbour negativity in any situation, they forget that it is just their subjective perspective.
feelings to our mind, they develop into an attitude. And that attitude, when it hardens and becomes natural to our personality, develops into a mindset.
It is said that life is 10 per cent what happens to us and 90 per cent how we react to it.
‘Pain is inevitable; misery is an option.’ Nobody can force us to be miserable if we choose to be happy.
One of the functions of the mind is to generate thoughts. These thoughts have the power to raise our blood pressure or lower it, to increase our heartbeat or drop it, to make us happy or sad, and to change the chemical composition of our blood. Thus, we can become healthy or unwell by the thoughts we harbour.
He realised that a person who has nothing left in the world can still experience bliss by harbouring the right thoughts.
‘The biggest affliction in the human body is the disease of laziness.’
The conclusion is that, to become inspired, we must do two things: 1) convince our intellect about the importance of something, and 2) keep the knowledge active by revising and revisiting it repeatedly (chintan).
if you wish to make your life a success, then do not forget two things. What should we not forget, God? No, first of all, do not forget your death. And next, remember God. Or else you will keep deferring what needs to be done.
Success in life means to be good, to do good and to feel good.
Stress develops when we are attached to a particular outcome and are worried that things may not turn out as we desire.
Well, the reason is, that while working hard and trying my best, I leave the results in the hands of God. Since I am not attached to outcomes, it enables me to stay stress-free.
what stresses us is not hard work but attachment to the results.
Once we understand the cause of stress, the remedy is simple—give up attachment to the outcome. Simply focus on your efforts, not on the results.
‘You have a right to perform your work, but you are not entitled to the fruits.’ Relish your work and offer its fruits to God.
‘My family members are all children of God, and He has entrusted them to my care. Let me earn well so that I can take care of them, and whatever I can save, I will serve God and guru with it.’
‘This body is the vehicle with which I serve God. It must remain strong, so that I can engage in bhakti with it. As a result, let me eat healthy food to take good care of my body.’
‘My body is exhausted. I will sleep so that it gets refreshed, and then, tomorrow again I can engage in bhakti.’
‘I need to fulfil the physical requirement of the body to sleep. Oh Lord, please come in my dream, and enhance my devotion by giving me Your remembrance even in my sleep.’
‘My soul-beloved Lord Krishna will be coming to my home. Let me clean it well to make this abode fit for His dwelling.’
The practice of karm yog requires the fulfilment of one important condition, which is the constant remembrance of God. This is the one instruction that has been repeated and emphasised above all else in the Bhagavad Gita. Arjun’s
attachment to outcomes is the primary reason for stress.
The practice of karm yog naturally eliminates stress by destroying its root cause. In it, we do everything for God’s pleasure. After our best efforts, if we do not get the results we desire, we think, ‘It was probably not the will of God. Let me submit to His wish and be happy.’ This detachment from outcomes frees us from stress, anxiety, tension and fear.
‘The cause of suffering in all human beings is their lack of knowledge.’ Thus, the journey of life is a movement from the darkness of ignorance to the light of wisdom.
research has shown that the two qualities having the biggest correlation to accomplishment are ‘intelligence’ and ‘self-control’. Those who rank higher on both intelligence and self-control have a greater chance of succeeding in any field of human endeavour.
Willingness to tolerate discomfort is thus the universal prerequisite for success.
‘The moment humans forget wisdom, they descend to the level of animals.’
The solution is to invest our willpower in creating beneficial habits.
Bad attitudes too are created by the repetition of individual thoughts. Once they become hardened into habits, the mind generates feelings of worry, anxiety and fear, even when there is no reason to do so.
The best way to avoid bad habits is to never begin them. If you do not take that first drink, if you avoid the first cigarette, if you do not see that first pornographic movie, there is no way you can get trapped in the mesh of bad habits.
One of the biggest favours we can do to ourselves is to establish good habits of thinking and behaving.
‘Gold, virtuous people and the saints are resilient; you may break them a hundred times and yet they will rejoin. In contrast, evil people and clay pots are fragile; once shattered, they are broken forever.’
success is sometimes defined as ‘the ability to solve problems’. Those who are good at problem-solving are the most valued in every area of life.
inner strength is the biggest asset we have in the face of challenges, and a proper mindset wins half the battle.
either play now and pay later, or pay now and play later. But pay we will have to, and the longer we wait, the more we will have to pay.
These statistics should free us from the anxiety of acceptance. Simply come to terms with the fact that no matter what you do, some people will not like you. Then, why waste energy trying to win them over? You can do all possible placatory antics—praise them, sympathise with them, offer them gifts—but they will still never like you.
Everyone has the right to say what they want, as long as it does not break the rules. We also have the right not to feel bad about it. They have the right to their opinion, and we have the right to disregard it. What people say and think about us does not define who we are. Their views are not what decides our self-worth. It is best to let them deflect off us like water rolls off a lotus leaf.
We have to come to terms with the fact that some people will spill garbage upon us. That is because they are themselves full of anger, frustration, anxiety and disappointment. When that garbage heaps up within them, they look for some place to dump it. So, if they happen to dump it on you, do not take it as a ...
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if we desire spiritual progress, we learn to see adversity as an opportunity for growth. Bear in mind that the pain from the hardship is temporary, while the growth that comes with facing and solving it is permanent.
