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Harmony of Life - Vol. 1, June 1999

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"When you think everything is hopeless,

A little ray of light comes from somewhere!"

- Inscription in an Old Inn, St. Moritz, Switzerland

CONTENTS:

1. Welcome Note

2. Positive Approach to Life

3. Benefits of maintaining a Personal Journal

4. Guest Column

5. On Hope

6. Subscription Details

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1. Welcome Note

2. Positive Approach to Life

Happiness and sorrow are part of every human life but the effect of both these are different and they occur in various dimensions. Some of us may have the strength to withstand it but most of us get so entangled and involved deeply that we find it very difficult to overcome our depression.

Be it Hope, Courage, Fear or any mental attitude, all these results from the kind of thoughts we think. It is a mental climate a person creates that determines whether he shall have hope even when things seem hopeless, have courage even when apprehensive factors appear, or live in fear because of hopelessness and apprehension. We can think our way to hope and courage through practice. We should deliberately start thinking hopeful and courageous thoughts. Although in the beginning it may appear futile, it will start a healthy process going since we are making an effort to change ourselves for the better.

3. Benefits of maintaining a Personal Journal

There is great value and power in maintaining a journal. Writing is expressing our thoughts and activities and this becomes an amazing source of personal power and magic, which will help in transforming our lives!

a) Clarity: A journal helps in clarifying our goals. As we jot down the few thoughts that crosses our minds daily, the little activities we performed during the day, we are able to visualize clearly the important ideas that are worthy of our lives and our time. We are able to discover what we hope to achieve or want to become.

b) Strengthening Relationships: Relationships are most vital and important to us. There are various feelings and emotions that affect us in relation to the various people we interact daily. We are able to analyze our behavior or actions to particular situations better. We learn to be more patient with our loved ones. We learn to understand our weak points and how to get rid of them. We understand our inner strength and learn to enhance it. Writing helps us to develop our inner self and become matured and dignified.

c) Simple Life: Everything appears simpler when we are able to express ourselves. Writing down our achievements, even if it is learning something new, and appreciating the little joys of life makes us tolerant of life's distractions.

d) Empowerment: We learn to communicate better when we try to write about ourselves. We are empowered with words and expressions that exactly mean what we want to express. It also makes us feel very strong when we look back and see how we were able to overcome all obstacles and what we have achieved today.

e) Makes us attractive: Expressing ourselves is nothing but understanding ourselves better. Understanding our own inner self, inner strength, our love and feeling towards others, our sincerity and helpful nature, learning more about our weakness and faults helps us in developing ourselves into a warm, loving and attractive person. When we are happy we are also able to spread that happiness to others.

f) Meditation: It is not always possible for us to control the various thoughts that cross our minds and concentrate on something. Writing is one form of meditation since we tend to generate power to quieten the mind and focus on our thoughts. It helps in healing anxiety, change breathing and making us smile.

g) Eliminate Temptation: Our imaginations of certain things become different when we express the same on paper. Expression gives clarity to thoughts and we tend to generate actual plans to make our life better.

h) Affirmation of reality: Writing about our lives adds meaning and power to our lives. It helps us understand our past actions and reactions better and we learn from our rich experiences. We imbibe an extraordinary energy and self-confidence within ourselves when we look back at all those obstacles we have crossed in life

i) Speak out: Notes of the journal are ideas that are transformed into words and it helps us to express ourselves and communicate better. These notes could later form into messages for a friend or a letter to a dear one.

j) A Delightful Experience: Writing, when made into a practice is a delightful experience, which cheers us, reduces our stress and makes us smile and adds happiness, value and meaning to our lives. Even if we were to write down a sad anecdote or an angry incident, we feel better after expressing it.

Maintaining a journal is in a way talking to oneself. We become our best friend and gain more self-confidence, ability to analyze things better, take decisions carefully and develop us into powerful personality.

4. Guest Column

I am happy to introduce Mr. G. N. Mathur, who has been a Mentor to me. He has been kind enough to write some of his thoughts to share with all of you. Thank you very much sir.

Do you have days when everything and everyone seems to be a part of a gigantic conspiracy to trouble you? Life appears to be one big black dragging you into its abyss. You feel dispirited, disgruntled and overwhelmed with all the problems stacked up against you. It may surprise you to know that you are not alone and that most people have such days and that some have more than their normal quota.

Generally there are four ways in which we handle these problems. The easiest way is to cruise along with the stream, hoping that problems will sort themselves out in due course. There are many who believe that keeping things on the backburner and keeping them there long enough is the best solution. The erstwhile Indian prime minister, P.V. Narsimha Rao, was an apt example of this mindset. However, there is just one catch - the backburner might have too little space.

Then there are some who take the bull by the horns, batter themselves bloody over all the issues, get a reputation for being hot headed but fancy themselves as crusaders. The problems keep mounting, the battles get gorier, sapping precious energy and initiative.

A few subside under the weight of these problems. They run away leaving others holding the baby. Some may feel overburdened that they start contemplating suicide. Fortunately, their numbers are limited.

The best way to tackle this problem is to have a positive mindset. Problems were created, in all their complexities, by the fertile human brain. Their resolution will also spring from the same fountainhead, only if we allow it to.

1) Optimistic

2) Assertive

3) Self Motivated

4) Facilitator

5) Leadership orientation

6) Innovation and open mindedness

1) The positive person knows no limitations

2) He sees opportunities in problems

3) He has self-esteem

4) He does not hesitate to give people the credit that is due to them

5) He is not defensive when he fails

6) He can disagree without being disagreeable

7) He can laugh on himself

8) He treats every opportunity as a learning opportunity

9) He looks for strengths in others

1) Enhance your self esteem

2) Enhance your self confidence

3) Learn to rein in anger

4) Learn to take criticism in your stride and even try to benefit from constructive criticism

5) Learn to grab the initiative and lead from the front

6) Learn to self analyze.

The principal belief of the Science of Mind can be summed up in the teaching of Jesus, "Go thy way; and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee." Matt 8:13 KJV (or, as the New Revised Standard Version translates, "Go; let it be done for you according to your faith."). Science of Mind believes that if you expect to find joy, peace, love, and abundance in your life, that is what you will experience. If you turn away from fear, doubt, and negativity, and look for the good in every situation, even those more difficult experiences in life can be handled more easily; or can be treated as an opportunity for growth, and will be a stepping stone to a more wonderful and fulfilling experience. Ernest Holmes, the founder of the Science of Mind, said "...it must be remembered that we are dealing with a power that is like the soil of the ground, which will produce the plant when we plant seed. It does not matter if we have never before seen a plant like the one that is to be made for us. Our thought is the seed and mind is the soil. We are always planting and harvesting. All that we need to do is to plant only that which we want to harvest." (Creative Mind and Success, page 61) All Holmes is saying is that if we want to experience success, happiness, and prosperity in our lives, we should plant the seed by thinking of ourselves as successful, happy, and prosperous. If we think of ourselves in this light, it will become our experience.

Some people may consider this unrealistic or Pollyana-ish. But the principles of the Science of Mind are proven every day. Consider the sales manager who has a sales person in that $500,000 territory. The sales person claims that a half million dollars is all that can be gotten out of the territory. But when that sales person leaves and the sales manager fills the position with a sales person who's used to producing a million and a half dollars a year, what happens? Suddenly that territory has sales of $1,500,000.

Likewise, how often has a doctor seen all symptoms of a disease in a patient disappear without explanation? Many people who refuse to let the diagnosis of disease be the reality of their situation, but who rather choose to see the truth of their lives as health, wholeness, and perfection, have experienced such healings. The primary tool used in Science of Mind is Spiritual Mind Treatment, which is the Science of Mind term for prayer. It is also called affirmative prayer, because in it we recognize our oneness with God, and affirm the Truth of love, wholeness, harmony, and perfection that exists behind or beyond any seeming appearance to the contrary.

- GNM

(Thank you once again for sparing your time and sharing your thoughts with us.)

I take pleasure in introducing Poonam Sinha, a friend of mine. Poonam had kindly written to me: "Its heartening to note that you are trying to instill the power of Positive thinking, faith in Almighty and courage in people who think their problems are the biggest." Thank you Poonam!

Here are some of her thoughts:

"In fact if we look at those people who do not enjoy the same good health, who do not have enough to even manage two square meals a day and those who do not have a roof over their head, children who are orphaned, families who were forced to leave their homes and dear ones because of war or those who fell prey to terrorists bullets, not sure if they will ever be able to return home or meet their dear ones, may be we will realize that we are better than millions of those all over the world.

If we try to help someone in distress, care for somebody ill, bring smile to those who do not have enough to meet to their daily requirements, we will find ourselves to be more happy and our Society will be a better place to live.

I believe in few proverbs of Hindi and am giving the translations of the same below:

1. What ever happens is always for the best (though we may feel disturbed over the way some events do not turn the way we wanted them to be, but always have faith in the Almighty that whatever will happen will always be for the best.

2. We do not get anything before the destined time and more than what is in our destiny."

- Poonam Sinha

(Thanks again Poonam, for sending your thoughts to me to be written here!)

5. On Hope

Learn patience and endurance from the trees;

The oak, the birch. The world is locked in frost,

It is futile to weep, the teardrops freeze,

The bark shrinks from the cold, it cracks and bursts.

With every minute mounts the blizzard's fury,

Irately it tears off what leaves remain,

The cold grips at the heart, but they stand mutely,

Like they, in silence, you must bear your pain.

But trust in spring! Its genius will spell

New warmth, new life, new joy, new inspiration.

In spring your aching soul will be made well

For glorious days, for wondrous revelations!

[Translated from a Russian poem by Afanasy Fet. Translated by Olga Shartse]

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Wishing you all a Very Great Day!

Smile and Be Happy Always,

Sujatha Das

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Copyright (C)1999 by Sujatha Das. All rights reserved. Feel free to forward this newsletter to anyone so long as the copyright notice and full information contacting the list owner is attached.