Positive Thinking

We are advised to be always  positive in our thinking and our attitude. We should look at every situation and everything from positive angle and adopt positive attitude

At practical level, in our day today life how can we adopt this positive attitude?

Which factors prevent us from adopting it?

Here are some suggestions;

Accept the present situation, present moment as it is.This is the most important step to understand.      We do not accept situation, happenings and people as they are.We put up stiff resistence. Many times we blame others, our luck, God etc.

By acceptance we mean taking it as it is, as if it is meant for us.We should accept it without blaming any body, without fuming and fretting. In doing so we are respecting the law of nature, law of karma.

There are hundreds of things to go wrong. How can we presume that every thing should turn out to our satisfaction?It is impractical.

If a thing has gone wrong and may be very severe., even then we can not go back into the time span and correct it. First we have to accept it and then think of taking proper steps in the present moment.We should not waste our time and energy in blaming, fuming and fretting.

Let us take an example. A person has lost good amount of money due to some wrong judgement or even due to cheating by his partner or employee.

He will become very sad and angry. He will blame his luck. He may even curse his partner/ employee. He loses peace of mind He remains angry and in agitated state of mind.In this frame of mind, he may take wrong decisions and it may compound his troubles.He may even create some health problems.

A man with positive thinking will accept the loss. He may attribute it to his past karmas. He analyses reasons for loss and learns due lessons.He refrains from blame game.He takes necessary actions including legal actions where it is due.

We need to understand and accept laws of Karmas. These are invisible and beyond our understanding, but true.To some extent, a persons horoscope indicates effects of past karmas he has to experience in present life.Highly evolved Yogis and saints can read these karmas from Akashic records.

Once we accept laws of karmas we learn to accept all situations in life.

This does not mean that we should accept every thing and keep quiet.

We can and must take appropriate actions.After all past karmas were created by us only. It has become our destiny. We are free to act and create good appropriate karmas to our benefit.Prarabdh is not in our hands, Purusharth is. 

In fact many bad situations,bad conditions throw a challenge to us to rise and come up.If we take it up as challenge, we develop many virtues like courage, tenacity, ability to do hard work etc.There are many cases where people facing adverse situations have come up in life.Their secret is positive thinking

Maharshi Mahesh Yogi has given four very good principles. Here are  four basic principles of Yoga that can help us tremendously. . These are-Maitri, Mudita ,Karuna and upeksha.

The first principle is Maitri. We should develop friendly relationship with every body we come in contact with. This should be done despite their weaknesses and shortcomings.We should not sit on judgement every time. People are different and we accept them as they are. Let us become Jagat mitra.

Mudita; We should  feel happy when some one close to us excels in some activity.

We should express happiness at his gain. This eliminates sense of jealousy and undue comparison. It helps us to further develop bond of friends

Karuna; We should feel pity and compassion for people suffering from pain, loss etc.In fact this is the virtue highly emphasized in all spiritual teachings.We should not neglect them or avoid them. We should try to help them as much as possible.

Upeksha; There will be people who criticize you often.They always find faults of others and criticize. Just ignore them.Do not argue with them. Talk only that which is absolutely necessary.Tell yourself, they have no right to disturb your peace of mind.

Practice of these principles will enhance our ability to be always positive in our thinking and action. Rewards of positive thinking are enormous. 

A positive mind always finds the best ways to handle all situations. Calm quiet positive mind attracts good desirable things in our life. It saves us from becoming victims of psychosomatic deceases. Some people who are bothering us realize their mistake and slowly turn towards us.

It not only helps in mundane world. It helps us in spiritual progress. Our prayers are answered.  

We can think of our life as a journey in a boat. Some times sailing is smooth. Some times we face storms, whirling waters that rock our boat. A positive state of mind helps to stabilise our boat of life and carry it safely across the river and complete the journey.