The Meaning to Life Page 12
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- Endurance is the key to ultimate success -

* The joy of finding God is greater than the entire world of material enjoyment put together.  So don't waste time seeking pleasure outside yourself.
* God, the Universal Mind, is always listening.  Talking to God can help you.  Don't worry about formal prayers, just speak to God in your own words.  By regularly speaking to the Universal Mind and

trusting that it is listening, you will develop a personal relationship that can help you immeasurably.

* Always try to act in the best interests of others.  Be generous in giving your time and energy.  Never take advantage of anyone.  Try to always speak and deal with others honestly.  Always respect everyone equally, and recognize that really they are all God in disguise.
* Consider this - You can only be insulted, humiliated, or upset by someone if you choose to let it happen.  Other people can't upset you, only you can upset yourself by letting your mind be disturbed.  It's always your choice.

* Release resentment.  Resentment leads to deeply ingrained negativity.  Release long-held bitterness.  Release grudges.  Forgiving others, no matter what they've done, allows you to move on and live life freely.  You'll feel so much better for it.
* Try to replace excess pride and over-inflated ego with humility and selflessness.  Avoid activities that lead to ego-inflation, for example being overly serious about competitive sport or workplace competition.  But you should have plenty of self-confidence, because by making an effort to live in Right Thinking & Right Action, the Universal Mind is surely on your side and can provide all the strength and ability you need to progress successfully.

* Remember that daily life is not a chore but an important part of your individual spiritual journey.

*  Try to appreciate nature's beauty and God's gifts.

* Very important - recognize that everything you think and do will come back to you.  So start doing good now.

* Expect success in Right Thinking & Right Action.  If the opposite seems to be occurring, trust that it is just part of the purification process devised by God.

* Don't sabotage your Right Thinking & Right Action with doubt and other disharmonious thoughts.

*  Don't underestimate the harmful power of negative thoughts.

*  Don't underestimate the healing power of positive thoughts.
* Don't waste time in the company of disharmonious people - their qualities will inevitably rub off.  Consider breaking off relationships that continually bring you disharmony.  Don't sacrifice your long-term happiness for the security and sentimentality of relationships.  And consider changing employment, if it is interfering with your harmony.

* Choose friends and relationships that naturally help you develop harmony in positive surroundings.

* Indulge in luxuries more sparingly, so as to avoid attachment and anxiety.

* Adopt Right Thinking & Right Action by truly changing from your current perspective, completely influenced by society's negative preprogrammed beliefs, to a new perspective based on an unbiased and honest viewpoint.  Be aware of the way your surroundings influence you into negative thought, and take steps to change it.

* Reincarnation has been debated by society throughout the ages.  Many people consider that it is only a story-tale for weak people who aren't willing to face the reality of Death.  Yet if we look closer, the concept itself implies strength, not weakness, since the individual must actually start accepting responsibility for their own future and so act accordingly.  In any case, it is interesting that most of our greatest intellectuals and philosophers throughout history have accepted reincarnation as a fact, including Carl Jung, the most highly respected psycho-analyst, who became a believer after years of research and exploration.  In fact research has indicated that even 25% or more of all Christians believe reincarnation to be true.

* Almost every religion and spiritual tradition throughout history has taught reincarnation, and even the Christian Bible does in fact teach the idea of rebirth in many veiled statements.  Research has shown that originally there were many direct references in the Bible, but they were removed by church officials in the 6th century.  This was because most people were complacent in their attempts at Right Thinking & Right Action because they figured it would be easier to wait for another lifetime with more opportune circumstances.  This was when the concept of hell was created to scare people into being good.  In reality, God has Supreme Forgiveness, Mercy, Compassion, Understanding, and Love - eternal damnation doesn't quite fit in!

*  But your disharmonious thoughts and actions will most definitely have to be released sometime, either in this lifetime or another.  Karma is not punishment as many people think.  It is the healing hand of God. It maintains equilibrium, constant balance in yourself and the Universe.  All disharmony that you create and thereby attach to yourself always returns in order for you to release and uncreate it.  This is necessary before you can rediscover the harmony of your soul and merge back into the Source.

* You can compare your current lifetime to be like a single chapter in a giant book.  When we are reborn, we start a new chapter, forgetting all the memories of the last chapter, our previous life.  This is to protect us from dwelling on past pain and suffering, as well as multitudes of irrelevant memories.  But we do carry with us the qualities and lessons we have learnt.

*  Don't fear death - it is inevitable, unavoidable, every moment takes you one step closer.  Trust in the life of your eternal soul.  The body may die, but the occupier of the body will move on.  The soul changes it's physical body just as a person changes clothes when they become worn out.  There is no need to concern yourself with past and future lives, just be concerned with living your best in the time you have in this lifetime.

* Success and failure are both experienced continually in every aspect of our lives.  If you could try to accept both success and failure as they arise, without attachment to either, life would become much simpler.  Your contentment can remain uninterrupted if you choose.

* Trust that God makes sure that people only receive what is necessary for their progress, and never dishes out lessons that are unnecessary or too difficult.

* It is not always easy to perceive signs of spiritual progress - have patience and faith, and your clarity will come.

* The longer you persist in succumbing to materialistic desires, the more knots you place between yourself and your natural harmony that will eventually have to be untied.

* Starve negativity by not dwelling on any thoughts that support it - desires, anger, resentment, etc.

* Don't be attached to your current status, family, friends, achievements, possessions you have/want, feelings of accomplishment.  This doesn't mean you should give them up, just recognize that they are all temporary and without them you would still be complete.  Depend only on yourself for happiness.

* Give up feelings of superiority, inferiority, or of being a victim of your circumstances.

* Just as a fish living in the sea will never be able to understand the vastness of the sky, so too while you are living in a physical body, you will not be able to comprehend the Infinite Perfect nature of God.  This is why the greatest philosophers and intellectuals never reach any definite conclusions - God can never be found through rational thought.  Only by living in Right Thinking & Right Action can we come into alignment with the Universal Mind and personally experience it in our lives.  It is only through Right Thinking & Right Action that the enlightenment found by all the saints and mystics of every age can descend upon you.  It is guaranteed that as you increase your dedication to putting the ideals into practise, enlightenment becomes available to you in increasing levels.  It is just around the corner, and requires only your continuing effort, willpower, and dedication.

* Self-observation and self-analysis are your greatest tools on the Path to Truth.  Self-transformation must be your most vital aim.

* Give up your need for appreciation and the approval of others.  Give appreciation and approval generously to others instead.

*  God doesn't want us to be perfect, God just wants us to try - it is better to work at self-transformation imperfectly than self-degradement perfectly.  Give up your fears of inadequacy, failure, rejection, being judged.

* Acceptance of others includes giving them the right to choose disharmony and ignorance without criticism and judgement.

*  Add up your joys, never your sorrows.

* Be grateful for your enemies and opponents, realising that they are your best teachers, for they always show you where you are still vulnerable to negativity.

* Roam in the world as a lion of self-control, don't let sense-desires kick you around.

* Everyone has problems.  You undoubtedly will be faced with many more problems.  But there is no need to turn these problems into a source of unhappiness and discontent.

* Be humble enough to ask the Universal Mind for help.  God is more interested in forgiving us than hearing our excuses.  You don't need a scapegoat, just be honest with God and yourself.

* Some people give up their efforts at Right Thinking & Right Action, because they decide it's too hard to keep it up for prolonged periods.  But you have to accept the fact that you will need to start sometime, and if you give up now, you'll most probably have a harder job in the future.  So START NOW.  And don't give up, no matter how many hurdles you have to leap.

* You must try to overcome all selfishness.  Selfishness is a giant setback in the progress to Unity.

* It is our God-given privilege of Free-Will through which we become bound in limitations by continually choosing disharmony.  And it is your Free-Will to continually choose harmony that can and will lead you to Ultimate Liberation.

*  Don't let yourself be disturbed and irritated by mere inconveniences.

* Suffering is an unavoidable part of conventional life.  Right Thinking & Right Action act like a spiritual aspirin - problems may still arise, but the pain is absent, there is no confusion, no frustration, no anger, etc.

* Don't think that Right Thinking & Right Action will result in displeasure and hardship through having to give up all your luxuries and physical pleasures.  Once you get used to it, releasing your materialistic desires is in fact the best thing you will ever feel - complete freedom.

* Always choose harmony, but at the same time be prepared to withstand disharmony if it occurs.

* Important - try to stop your mind from constantly dwelling on the past and planning for the future.  Then you can appreciate the present.  Be Here Now.


* Remember that whilst it is your desires that have always brought you happiness in the past, this pleasure only existed in the few short moments in between the much longer periods of anxiety, frustration & suffering.  You can't choose to preserve all your materialistic desires and drop your suffering - that is asking the impossible - it is not going to happen.

* Let the joy in your life arise from simple living and simple pleasures, not from the continual seeking of fleeting experiences.

* All your attachments, all your worries, all your desires only relate to the temporary body you are inhabiting - the deeper you realize this, the sooner you will be free.

* When faced with a challenge, there is no need to act like a victim - there is never an appropriate time to choose weakness.

* Try not to be attached to life's circumstances, let the Universal Mind unroll the experiences of life as it always knows what is best.  Remember that all is perfect.

* You are not a human trying to attain spirituality.  You are a soul residing in the temporary tool of a human body, in the process of returning to your natural state of eternal peace and harmony.

* Realize that you are not really your body, you are not really your thoughts, you are not really your feelings - these are all temporary.  Try to recognize that in essence you are a beautiful Divine Soul.

* You can overcome any difficulty - let nothing stand in your way.

* Patience is your greatest strength.  Patience and endurance will overcome any obstacle

* Forget yesterday's problems.  Forget tomorrow's dreams.  Appreciate your life today.

*  Avoid triviality in daily life.

* In order to release your inner fears, doubts, and other negative qualities, you must turn and face them head on.  If you try to hide from them, they will never go away.  It is only by recognizing and accepting them that they can be released.  You can try writing a list of your fears, as well as the things about yourself that you criticize and are unhappy about.  Then work to change these disharmonious attitudes.

* The only true obstacle to your progress is your stubborn attitude to change.

* There is nothing, absolutely nothing, more attractive than the joy of truly living with God.  Physical wealth and pleasure are mere tinsel compared with the inner treasure of Peace & Freedom.  There is no adventure as great, no experience as wonderful, as  your spiritual path & journey to Truth & God.

* Don't feel overwhelmed if self-analysis reveals a host of negative habits - just start releasing them now before they get any worse.

* Try to stop the endless internal worrying in your mind caused by anxiety and confusion.  Especially become aware when your mind is working too hard - slow down your thinking.  Ask less irrelevant questions, release your worry, doubt, frustration. And when the mind becomes still you will find the solution to all your problems.  Ultimately you can become aware of the stillness between thoughts - in this silence you will feel inner peace.



* There is no situation in which the harmony of Right Thinking & Right Action does not fully apply.


* Living in Right Thinking & Right Action implies that you will consider right use of your money and right use of your time.  The way you put this into practise is up to you, just keep it in mind.


* Accept responsibility for all your actions. But don't condemn yourself.  Live your best.  If you think or act negatively at all, know that it is your choice and you have the freedom to choose positivity if you wish.


* Once you have started putting Right Thinking & Right Action into practise fully, and are making solid progress, even more difficulties than usual may arise.  These are God's way of testing your stability and dedication.  When faced with the hardest tests, you must endure, endure, endure, if you wish to pass successfully.  Don't worry, you will be ultimately rewarded.  It is always worth it.  So keep going.


*  Be on the lookout for self-deception - be aware of the source and motive of your thoughts and actions.


*  Don't be afraid of change - it is inevitable.


* Don't be a victim of your circumstances - take action to change anything that stands in the way of your happiness.  Do it NOW.


Above all, give up Negativity & Disharmony.

Develop Positivity & Harmony.
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