Attitude Vs Appearance (1 of 2)

Good morning friends.  If you were to be asked, which one you give weight to the Attitude or Appearance.  With the article I read it explains it well.  Let me share it with you.

The attitude behind an action holds good than the appearance projected by it.

Once the diwans and the ministers informed Raja Singh Bahadhur of Bihar, that the Sannyasins (renunciates) of the Anandapuri ashram indulged in comforts like savouring on sweet meats and Kheer and spent their time sleeping without engaging any form of spiritual practices. The king summoned the Mahant of the ashram, Swami Niralambananda and demanded an explanation regarding the allegement against the sannyasins. Swami Nirambalanda invited the king to the ashram the next day and determine for himself. He further told the king that he would wake him up at three o’clock the next day to set out on the mission.

The Swami awakened the king at three o’clock the next morning and asked the king’s attendant to follow them with a pot of water. He first led the king to the homes of the diwans and the ministers. As instructed by him, the attendant sprinkled a little water from the pot on the ministers’ and the diwans’ face. Startled at being woken up suddenly from their sound sleep, they unconsciously uttered a stream of foul words. Next the Swami led the king to the stable and the water was sprinkled on the grooms, they woke up uttering, ‘Sala’, ‘Badmash’ etc. The Swami then took the king to the ashram and the water was sprinkled on the sleeping sannyasins. The sannyasins woke up uttering the names of God.

Don’t look too far for solutions (2 of 2)

The process of strategizing while solving a problem throws up many facets of ourselves that we never knew existed. Adversity has been a blessing often enough and ought to be respected rather than feared. Complications arise most often because we take things personally and too seriously. Surrender only destroys self-esteem. Fighting enhances it. The difference between the two is just a matter of attitude.

Helplessness is a state of the mind. Most successful businessmen and corporate executives are paid for their ability to keep cool in the most trying of circumstances. They probably begin where others stop trying. Fixing the blame is not what absolves one of failure. Fixing the problem is the only redemption.

Anger, fear, resentment and frustration only muddle neural networks. They are mere manifestations of the fight, flight or fright response. What is actually needed is a right, bright, and trite response. This response can only be attained with a calm and controlled thought process. Knee-jerk responses are just reflexes without any form of cerebration. They are most often fruitless. A deliberate, conscious effort needs to be inculcated to programme a conditioned response.

A positive approach is a big help, as it tends to activate the right brain, the one that has great intuitive abilities. The most appropriate response to any problem would be whole-brained. That is with both the right and left hemispheres giving their inputs. The dominant half — the left-brain in right-handed persons and right brain in left-handed persons – enables analysis, logic and assessment. It tends to be a fragmentary approach.

The right has a more intuitive, subtle and holistic approach. A combined two-pronged approach is much more likely to bring out the best in adversity — and make it easier for the butterfly in you to take wing. – The times of Indian

Don’t look too far for solutions (1 of 2)

Good day to all my friends.  In our life there will always be a problem that we will encounter.  Sometimes it’s a very serious problem and we thought to end everything in an evil way.  That is not right.  God gave us a problem and He knows that we can solve whatever problem there is.  We  just need to accept what will come to us.  Don’t look too far for solutions.  Solution will always be there the least we expected.

Change is the inevitability of life. Our interpretation of change determines our attitude and approach to life.

What is apparently beneficial is accepted without any fuss. When it comes to accepting the inconvenient and the unpleasant, there begins conflict and resentment. However the seemingly hopeless situations that are very painful to deal with are also instruments of change. ‘What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the master calls a butterfly,’ wrote Richard Bach.

Every seemingly hopeless situation is pregnant with the potential to effect improvement. It’s just that one usually looks at the problem in a way that’s too upfront. That creates a myopic perspective in dealing with the problem.

Like Godels theorem, which states that no part of a system can comprehend the system as long as it is an integral part of the system. As we distance ourselves from the problem, and have a bird’s-eye perspective, we can begin to see the issue in another light. Anticipation of the problem always tends to magnify the event and imagine it to be much more frightful. Anticipation should prepare, not scare.

A rigid approach that expects things to happen in a specific way only makes matters worse. The ability to adapt is what can make things better. Rigidity limits available options. It severely handicaps creativity, which is considered the mother of solutions. Serendipity happens only because the mind is open and willing to look at the same thing differently.

An alternative viewpoint is critical to make the most of any given situation. The severest of problems have more often than not brought out the best from many individuals. Isn’t it also said: “Necessity is the mother of invention”?

Caring without clinging -1

As we consciously cultivate equanimity in our yoga practice, we may start to refine our ability to do so in the rest of our life as well.  We may learn to keep fighting for blue whales or clear air without collapsing in despair when our efforts seem futile.  We may learn to  get up every morning and work on the screen-play we’ve always dreamed of writing, not driven by fantasies of our appearance on Oprah when the film is a blockbuster or crippled by the scathing reviews blaring in our own heads.

The world is full of losses we can’t stop and joys we can’t keep.  We may pour our whole heart into helping our teenager get off drugs, then watch him spiral back into addiction.  We may spend 10 years fighting to save a coastal wetland, then watch it get signed over to developers.  At its highest  level, upekkha can help us  stay centered in the midst of all of these experiences—to savor life’s joys without clinging to them and to open to life’s sorrows without pushing them away.

In Buddhist Literature, upekkha is often compared with the attitude of a mother who lets go of controlling her children as they grow up—continuing to support them and wish them well but recognizing that their choices are theirs to make,  good or bad.  This image particularly spoke to me that first week of preschool, when o got a tiny taste of how hard such a task could be.