Change Your Life
June 2009
By Dilpreet Singh
From the start of this century, there have been two topics that have attracted attention in the media as well as in books. They are terrorism, and positive thinking and living.
The Write Work
The book and movie, The Secret, sparked off my journey into positive thinking. On reading how peoples’ lives had changed by changing their thought patterns, I too was inspired to try it out. It worked! I will be taking up the job of my dreams in a month’s time. I had a very strong desire to do something spiritual, and I discovered that I was good at writing. During the last two months I kept visualising myself doing spiritual writing. I even wrote a resignation letter to my boss and colleagues in my present job as engineer (although I didn’t send it to them!). I went for all the workshops I could get my hands on, energy workshops, meditations, even Vipassana. Then I started writing short articles, so that I could get a job if someone liked them. The path unfolded itself slowly. One thing led to another, and just yesterday I got a confirmation, and will be joining Life Positive as a journalist.Two very important requirements are intensity of desire and trust in the Divine. Don’t expect things to happen on their own. Opportunities will come up but you will need to catch and then pursue them.-Sharukh VazifdarDreaming Up A JobI got married a year ago and shifted into an area where I knew no one. Always interested in working with children, I gave my resume to several neighbouring schools and nurseries. However, nothing worked out. Yet, I kept the faith. I even set a target that in one year’s time I would reach out to hundred children, directly or indirectly. I didn’t ‘hope’ for it to happen, I ‘knew’ it would happen. I had stopped over at a workshop in Lonavla for a couple of hours. While walking in the rain with other participants towards lunch, a woman holding an umbrella in her hands, urged me to share it with her. The walk to the dining room was just two minutes but the right conversation unfolded. I asked her what she did. She replied, “I am the principal of a school.” Enthused, I told her I loved working with children. She asked where I stayed. She looked surprised, her school was in the same area – in fact, it was the only international school in the area and just 10 minutes away from my house. I asked her if there was an opening. She too seemed surprised at the coincidence of it all and responded, “As a matter of fact there is. One of my teachers handed in her resignation only last week.” The rest, as always, is history. I went in for my interview and conducted a demonstration class and I got chosen. The biggest surprise came to me when I found out that the number of children in the school was about hundred!- Megha BajajBeen There In Mind, And Hence, In LifeIt all started in July 2008, when I had this epiphany on how rotten my life really was. I was broke, in debt, trapped in a hellish job that made me feel like a worker and not a human being; my partner and I were at each other’s throat all the time… in short, it was where I never wanted to be. Just then, like a prayer answered, a friend introduced me to audio books. I begged, borrowed and stole and got my hands on The Secret and Anthony Robbins’ Awaken the Giant Within. It was like being woken up by a bucket of ice-cold water! For two whole days I devoured The Secret. I listened to it over and over and over, and I just knew I’d struck gold! I decided I was going to go on a challenge of the mind – two weeks of manifesting a big, fat juicy order for my partner, one that was going to make us enough money to cover our debts, and then some. I daydreamed all the time. Sure, it didn’t take two weeks, it took a month… but not only did we get that order, we also received a payment of Rs. 30,000 that we’d painfully written off as bad debt!! For the first time in two years, we were debt-free… and, we could afford a weekend out of town. -Shriyansi JainBeyond The Half Full GlassSo you are manifesting objects of desire to the right of you and to the left of you. Magic seems to be spraying from your mind wherever you turn. Your life is finally coming under your control and you are racing along the fast lane of success and happiness. That’s wonderful, but look out for these speed breakers.It’s not that the Law of Attraction does not work. Of course it does. But the fact is that positive thinking can sometimes be a trap. None of us (save the sages) are going to think positive all the time. There will be times when despair takes over. Or anger, pain, sadness and fear. If we have bought too deeply into the positive thinking mindset, we will actively resist these feelings. The more we resist them the greater their power, and very soon our positivity will be in shambles. In one of his books, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar narrated the case of a woman whose son had just died, and yet she kept repeating how positive she felt. Her need to be upbeat prevented her from getting in touch with her pain. What is the way out? Nothing except solid hard inner work. Positive thinking needs to be made a state of mind – a natural extension of ourselves and not something we think ourselves into. For this we need to go deep into our mindstuff – thoughts, feelings, belief systems, fantasies, fears and so on – become aware of them and accept them. Not only will we then know ourselves intimately, but we will have come to terms with who we are. We will befriend our shadow side, embrace our pain. Thus the dichotomy within us will heal and our positivity will be solid, unshakeable.Secondly, not all dreams manifest. There is such a thing as karmic entitlement. Only that which is meant to come our way will; what is not meant to will not. So if despite your best efforts something does not manifest, console yourself with the thought that it was never meant to be. And who knows, perhaps it is in your best interests that you didn’t get your way.Which brings us to the zone beyond manifesting your desires. There comes a time on the path when you no longer want your ego to drive you. You recognise more and more clearly that the Supreme Power has your interests at heart much more than you ever could and you actively start to prefer what He has in mind for you rather than what you want. “Thy will be done” becomes your mantra. You joyously receive all that comes your way, using it as an instrument of your growth. Instead of attracting things to you, you simply surrender and allow life to bring you what you are meant to receive. The paradox is that with all resistance gone, your path will be strewn even thicker with magic but none of it is of your making. You are simply one with the Universe.-Suma VarugheseManifesting NegativityOur house construction had started. Based on some early experiences with the builder, I came to believe that he was not to be trusted to deliver a good product and it was upto me to supervise and crosscheck. I was constantly looking out for errors, and as one can imagine, there were plenty. It even extended to the other vendors I interacted with for the house construction. For example, while the marble slabs were being delivered to our house, two slabs got broken! After the staircase steps were laid the third time, (for some reason, the experienced workers could not get it right in my house alone…), there was a mishap and two steps were broken by the workers! I seemed to be exuding an aura of negative energy.I had a veritable war of words with everyone I dealt with for two years. Finally, I had to go abroad on a business visit for five months. And during my absence, things went smoothly! Everyone seemed to be doing their part very well, without any supervision. The house was ready for me!I realised that what I had constantly thought about was what happened in reality for me. Now I know better. Murphy’s Law manifests now and then, but so what? I look for the silver lining in the cloud. Believe it or not, the builder and I are good friends today. And I have not replaced the broken steps since they symbolise a great learning for me. -Akila JaikumarA Streetcar Named DesireAfter I learnt driving and was confident on the roads, I developed a fancy for a Honda City. And when one of my friends said that ladies could not drive the Honda, I was sure I wanted to have it, but we could not afford it. Just then my husband Santosh joined an MNC and the package included a car. But when the actual package was worked out the allotment towards the car fell short of a Honda City. If we still wanted it, we would have to shell out Rs 4,000 from our pockets every month. I could not get over it. I wanted a Honda City and that was that. My resolve became even stronger. To my immense surprise the very next day there was an email from his office saying the car allowance has been increased as the taxes are higher in Mumbai. And there came our Honda City without anything extra from our pocket.-Aruna Joshi Although both are 180 degrees from each other, there is an inherent correlation between both, which I will point out later.
Presently my focus is on positive thinking, which leads to positive living. Positive thinking entered the mainstream in India from 2003 onwards on account of one book, which has gained massive popularity and created a shift in anyone who has had the opportunity to read it. The book is The Secret, written by Rhonda Byrne. A phenomenal best-seller everywhere in the world, it brought even those not acquainted with spiritual truth to the notice of the fundamental laws that govern the universe, and that determine our health, happiness and success. Indeed, even before the book was made, came the video, a powerful and effective piece of communication that made its message accessible.