Search Results

Like to listen to what goes on behind the scenes in film making or acting straight from an actor? Click here.

A Reunion Dinner with a secret to hide. Click here.

Have you taken all the modern comforts for granted? Behind every modern device there is the technology and with them comes the management and risks. Interested to find out what goes on below the hood? Click here.

Friday, August 04, 2006

Gratitude

In these days of economic globalisation, many of us spend lots of time away from our loved ones, sometimes in faraway lands, thousands of kilometers across the oceans and across the seas. Prolonged overseas business trips or job postings can be lonely experiences. Being new to the place and culture, we can spend nights on our pillows and our beds, wishing that our loved ones was here. As thoughts are energies, we all wish they will travel and reach the people we want them to. And they do, as we often hear of couples who are geographically apart, but share the same thoughts at the same instance. This is telepathy - communications by thoughts alone.

Thoughts can therefore also influence. A strong minded person can influence a crowd just by his thoughts. It is therefore important to harbour thoughts that are loving or harmless to other people. For instance, the common sinister thoughts of wishing something awful to someone we had a bad day with them, will not augur well, even though we know they were just wishful thinking. :)

Thoughts are the embryos of manisfested physical actions, results and objects. Bad thoughts will yield 'bad' results and good thoughts will yield 'good' results. The same law of cause and effect applies to both good or bad thoughts, as the Universe make no such discrimination.

It will thus be prudent to fill our minds with only healthy loving thoughts for everyone, extending beyond human beings to include even to animals, plants, objects and the whole environment. If your mind is filled with only loving thoughts, then only good things can happen to you. That is to say, don't give your mind a chance to think of anything negative by filling it with only positive thoughts.

If we stop and think now, how many positive thoughts have we generated today since the start of the day? Did we blame anyone for something we should be responsible for ourselves? Did we fail to see the positive side of a problem? Did we forget to thank the chefs in the restaurant after our lunch there? Did we curse the other driver (even silently) when he took the space in front of you unexpectedly? It would be useful to be mindful of the negative or wasteful thoughts we allow our minds to get into. Every bit of it accumulates and they add up fast, since many people indulge in intense thinking.

Given that every physical manifestation starts with a thought, then we merely the sum of our thoughts. It will be an interesting exercise to review some of our thoughts every few hours or at the end of each day and be mindful of what we think. Raja Yoga practitioners call this 'traffic control'.


Showing gratitude is a powerful thought. Again, we can show gratitude not only to people, but to animals, plants and the physical environment. It will also help if we thank our bodies for doing a good job to carry us over to yet another day. Have we forgotten to thank our bodies and yet stressed it all out into the wee-hours of the morning, or even indulged it with smoke and alcohol? If you are one who has treated your body less than well, then it is time to show more gratitude. Bring back your body to you.

Showing gratitude in our daily lives will have positive impacts on what we do. Gratitude shows that we are already so well blessed with abundance and not coming from the thought of 'lack'. By being thankful for what we have, we will have more. On the other hand, by asking for more we focus on the thought of 'lack' and we will continue to live in the world of 'lack'. Again, the universe makes no distinction between a thought of abundance and a thought of 'lack', it just takes the cause and create the effect.

So if you are in prayer or meditation, stay in the thought of gratitude. Don't ask for 'things' and just be thankful. Being thankful is the secret to joyful and peaceful living.

No comments: