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by Jayaram V
Today's sorrow hides in its bosom the joys of tomorrow. Adversity is the
soil in which you sow the seeds of success. The rains that came today and ruined your paths would soon make the earth green and abundant.
In the womb of loss is the seed of gain. The storms and tempests that devastate life on earth, also enable us to start life afresh. The night that invokes in us fearful thoughts, also reveals to us the beauty and majesty of star filled heavens.
Life is what we make of it.
Life is as we think about it.
Life is what we want it to be.
Life is a mixture of colors that we choose and put on an otherwise empty canvas. We see what we want to see, accept those we believe in and ignore those that do not interest us.
This is the wisdom of the ages, ancient as well as modern.
So think positively. Even amidst difficulties keep courage. With faith in your heart, you can surmount all the problems. Know with certainty that after darkness there can only be light.
Your suffering is but a part of your evolution. If you look at the world with thoughts of love, full of compassion, you have little chance to live in despair. If you look at yourselves with understanding and unconditional love you have no reason to be unhappy.
How often we spend our lives feeling unhappy and inadequate about ourselves! How often we crush ourselves with thoughts of self-criticism! How often we injure others with our vehemence and frustration! How many relations we lose because we are too judgmental and critical about others!
Remember, a positive mind accepts every thing and accommodates every thought, however inimical the thought may be. In the home of a positive mind all are welcome. Every thing lives there with a dignity of its own.
A positive mind is a liberated mind. Liberate yourselves from all forms of pettiness and selfishness, if you want to be a true optimist.
Remember happiness is an invention of the mind. So invent your happiness through positive thinking, with your feet firmly on the ground, without losing yourselves in day dreaming, but ready to do the battles of life.
The Optimist's World View
We can make ourselves happy or unhappy out of the same situation. We have this capacity, to create for ourselves, our events and situations, out of our own thinking.
On earth each is a creator, creating his or her own life, through the medium of thoughts.
Our experiences are but part of the little fiction that we create in our minds about ourselves and about the world around us. Our moods, emotions and feelings do not depend upon what life offers to us, but on how we receive the incoming information and react to it.
Happiness or unhappiness, courage or timidity, love or hatred are but our own illusions and little indulgences in the pursuit of life. It is through thoughts that we shape our lives, implement our decisions, indulge in actions, aim to realize our dreams and seek the joys and pleasures of life.
The positive thinker reacts positively to all the events in his life. He controls his reactions and interpretations and there by his feelings and emotions.
He knows well that he can control himself, but not the external world. He knows well that in order to be happy and contended, he must learn to react positively to every event, however unpleasant it may be to others.
He thereby accepts full responsibility for the choices he makes and the consequences he faces, without blaming any one for his fortunes or misfortunes.
Armed with his positive attitude, he safeguards himself from the negative and the harmful. He wins over his enemies and critics with his positive approach.
When sorrow knocks him down, he lifts himself up, congratulating himself for being spared from the hands of a greater calamity.
He does not go to the end of a tunnel to discover the beauty of light. Amidst the darkness, he looks at the stars and assures himself of the coming dawn.
And if there are no stars he benefits from the healing and relaxing power of the silent night itself.
Positive thinking, however, is not wishful thinking. It is not some kind of self-deception or rationalization. A positive thinker is not an escapist. He does not delude himself with his fantasies.
He knows clearly how to deal with his reality and heal his problems. When things do not happen as expected, he knows clearly where to look and what to correct.
When he is beset by negative circumstances, he knows how to receive and react to them. This is the secret of positive thinking.
Think positively with your feet firmly on the ground. Learn to react positively to every event and situation in your life to achieve peace and stability in your life. Whether it is rain or shine, always look at the brighter side of life.
Whatever be the circumstances, difficulties and problems and whatever be the nature of people you deal with, appreciate the positive that is hidden in every situation.
Balance your negative thoughts, your doubts, anxieties and fears with positive thoughts like hope, courage, confidence and cheerfulness.
In the beginning do it consciously and deliberately, so as to make it a regular habit in the course of time. As you think positively you realize that the world you live in is increasingly becoming more cheerful, colorful, and friendly.
Beyond All Conditioning
You cannot become a positive thinker, unless you have abundant love in your heart. You cannot be positive towards people and events, unless love flows from you unconditionally and engulfs everything that comes in your way.
You cannot love others unconditionally, unless you are free and detached and ready to forego your own interests for the sake of others. Love is a permanent guest of the heart that does not suffer from the urge to hurt, retaliate and seek revenge.
A selfish mind can only be a negative mind. It may pretend to be virtuous, but it cannot hide the hideousness of its vanity and the vulgarity of its hypocrisy.
To be positive to others you have to learn to be positive towards yourself first. You must be ready and wiling to forgive yourself, heal your past and accept yourself unconditionally without a negative thought.
Only he who loves himself unconditionally can love others unconditionally and show positive attitude towards himself and towards others.
Positive thoughts thrive in a mind that is free from all petty prejudices and preferences in life. A prejudiced mind can only be positive towards its own prejudices and venomous towards the rest.
A mind that is beset with doubts and confusion cannot be positive. A mind that is driven by fear and uncertainty cannot appreciate the sweetness of a positive thought.
To be mentally positive one must have abundant faith in oneself and in the Supreme Self. One must pour the light of faith into the darkness of ones fears and melt them away.
In truth only he who is free from fear, from want and from attachment, with a mind that is full of faith and conviction and full of unconditional love and compassion can have a positive attitude towards himself, towards life and towards others.
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