My Daily Prayer...

My Daily Prayer, from my book, "A Journey of Self Revelation," under my pen name "Joy". 

A gratitude prayer throughout the day proves to be one of the best things one can do to enrich ones Soul.

My Daily Prayer

"Thank You GOD”
"Love"

“Smile”
“Let go”
“Allow”
“Forgive”
“Practice silence”
“This too shall pass”
“Live in the present moment”
“Time heals ALL wounds”
“Drop expectations”
“Drop control”
“Drop judgment”
“Think positive”
“Be humble”
“Be strong”
“Be committed”
“Be compassionate”
“Be respectful”
“Eat healthy”
“Exercise”
“Reward yourself”
“Help others help themselves”
“Accept people for who they are”
“Read words of wisdom everyday”
“Allow your children to be who they are meant to be”
“Open arms to change, but don’t let go of values”
“Indulge in a little self introspection everyday”
“Possibilities are endless”
“Allow yourself to say ‘No’ ”
“Be with like minded people”
“Allow yourself to say, ‘It’s OK’ ” 

"Express gratitude"

"What is the difference between taking care of yourself first and being selfish?"

"What is the difference between taking care of yourself first and being selfish?"

Let us first separate the 2 subjects.

Taking care of the Self means to take care of your inner and outer being selflessly, that is with whole heart, without reservations, without any confusions or doubts, and most of all without any guilt. When you take care of the Self, the result is a whole person, not a needy person, a confident person, and not one with doubts, a loving and caring person and not one with greed. When you are whole, there is no selfishness in you.

Now let's look at the subject of being selfish. 

When you live only for yourself without consideration for others, no matter who it is, is considered being selfish.

Now let's combine these two subjects together.

A person who takes care of the Self, the inner and the outer being, is a whole person and not needy. A needy person cannot do justice when taking care of another. So when a person takes care of the Self first, becomes a whole person first, and then takes care of the other, there is only love and care flowing out of that person, which is the opposite of being selfish. A needy person taking care of another will be considered selfish, since he cannot be of service 100%!! A whole person is without expectations of a return, a whole person is not judgmental, a whole person is not selfish at all. :)

When you change your perspective, everything changes...

When you change your perspective, everything changes...

Get out of the mindset, “why me?” “I am so unlucky!” “Bad things find me.” Instead practice “abundance” for a change in everything that you do, every thought that you have, and continue with all your efforts. Tell yourself, “I am grateful for everything. I have all that I need. I am completely fine. I have His blessed hands on me.” Practice this day in and day out…When you change your perspective, everything changes. :)

Just survive or LIVE?

Just survive or LIVE?

Each and every one of us, every being is surviving if we are here on our mother Earth - humans, animals and plants included.

Humans, animals and plants wake, eat, fight for survival and sleep.

Humans are the most evolved, so how are we different from the less evolved? We will be different only if we do more than the less evolved do.

The big question for humans is: who is just surviving from moment to moment, from day to day, from month to month, and from year to year and who is living as we were intended to live; who is really alive?

It is not enough to just wake up in the morning, take care of our responsibilities, earn money to survive, eat, waste time with mundane activities and sleep… and repeat the process again…I call that dying while living!

If we just took a little time beyond our day to day activities necessary for our survival, so that we could devote some time to our inner beings, follow what our Soul desires, provide service to our community in whatever way is possible for us (rest assured that there are innumerable ways and not every way involves money and neither does your way have to be guided by others!) and continue to spread joy, spirit and cheer all around us, with gratitude in our hearts, we would be actually living the life we were meant to live.

When I discovered my passions, I discovered I had created more time to devote to my passions beyond I had ever imagined! Yes this magical concept is amazing.

Find your passion. Allow yourself to do something creative and constructive each day that YOU want to do. Try it! :)

It is always your choice!

Do not empower anyone to hurt you - the choice is yours and yours only :)

Come closer to the real YOU!

Close the gap between the facade you present to the world and the real you - a big step towards freeing yourself and a de-stresser. Only that and those stay in your life that need to stay :)

On addiction...

On addiction...

Someone requested me to write on alcoholism. I have maintained that I will write only on those subjects I have myself experienced, and have come out as a winner; and so I am unable to write on alcoholism. What I can say with conviction is that any form of addiction can be won through intention, determination, continuous effort, action and faith until all mental barriers are broken down.

Yes anything is possible if the desire is absolute.

I also believe that addiction and fear are very closely related. There is always another factor behind the addiction. Once we have delved deeper within ourselves, overcome the fear, resolved the deeper issue, addiction becomes easier to break down.

I have overcome fear, the kind that felt like it was a lifelong thing that would never leave me. I have overcome addiction to things like tea, sweets. Immense mental strength is needed, but it is doable. :)

Each and everyone of us has the inherent wisdom...

Each and everyone of us has all the knowledge we ever need; what has happened though is during the process of growing up people, events, circumstances put layer after layer of what we did not need and this was successful in creating a thick sheath all around us seperating us from the inherent inner wisdom where all was always well. The noise and the clutter took us away from ourselves. With effort the sheath can be penetrated, torn and thrown away for the inner Self to shine through once again. All we need is intention, action and the ever powerful faith that we can do it :)

Free yourself from fear and know what it means to live…

Free yourself from fear and know what it means to live…

When we think and act from a state of fear, our lives are narrowed and constricted; we are our own prisoners. Going to the root of the fear, analyzing it and acting on it to free the barriers of our mind makes us eternally free. That is when we begin to live.

I have had many fears that were just there. I used to do my best, in fact put a lot of time and effort to stay away from dealing with them. My life was not just static, it had deteriorated. It took me years to understand how simple life becomes by one moment of understanding, by one moment of a conscious decision, by one moment of truly loving myself. But when I did, my mind and heart became free. Confidence grew by leaps and bounds. Life opened up like I had never imagined.

All as a result of just one momentous decision.

You can do it to.

Be free right here, right now.

Love,

Umang

A Journey of Self Discovery…Are you ready?

A Journey of Self Discovery… Are you ready?

To find out if you are ready or not, ask yourself these questions, and reach for your answers within:

What stops you?

- From something as simple as picking up a book to read?
- From reaching out to a friend?
- From spending money on something you know you should spend?
- From joining a learning, educational class – be it academic, or health related?
- From saying “yes” when your gut is screaming for you to say it?
- From investing your time into something that even you know is critical to your spiritual, mental, physical, and/or financial well being?
- From living a life of joy and meaning, of truth and peace?

Why is it so easy to waste time and money?

- With mundane activities and things that have no other value that a quick, instantaneous pleasure, and loses its charm very quickly leaving you hunting for more quick fixes?

In my own experience, we do not know what we really want, since we are reluctant to “meet ourselves.” I absolutely believe that each one of us needs to put some effort in fixing up a date with our own Self. Yes, plan a date with you! Like any other appointment, it needs to be planned:

- Are you ready to become your own beloved? – that has to be the first and most critical question you should ask yourself, for this journey of self-discovery cannot continue otherwise. You have to want to love you, for only then love for everyone and everything else drenches your Soul in the most meaningful way.

- When should you meet you?
-How much time you would like to spend with you on this first date?
- How often would you like to meet you as the relationship progresses?

Here is an exception to the general dating rule: Even if you end up not liking the various facets of you, you continue with this date!

The actual meeting:

- Pick up a time: that suits you, when you know you are not being pulled in so many directions.

- Pick up a place: of solitude, where you can be comfortable and at peace with yourself, without interruptions of any kind – the setting like in anything else has to be right!

- Have a paper and pencil with you - At the right time and right place, you can start to be yourself, since there is no outside pressure. The writing tools will help you document whatever comes to you, so that you can progress in your journey to you in a very constructive and progressive manner. This enables you to get back to a thought at a later date, “massage” it further and progress.

- Make sure you are clean, dressed comfortably and ready to meet your date, you. Look at yourself in the mirror and acknowledge that you are ready to meet you.

- Sitting comfortably, closing your eyes, start acknowledging your thoughts. Imagine that you have a remote control that can pause your thoughts, but that has no fast forward button. Observe your thoughts, and see where they take you in your journey to you. You tell yourself repeatedly that this time is for thoughts about you and your relationship with you, so that you can acknowledge the thoughts about everything else if they come and let it go. Quickly jot down all that you need to.

- The meeting may not be to your already formed expectations. Tell yourself, “it is ok.” You are here to learn and progress towards loving yourself more and more each day.

- Continue with this journey on a regular basis – how frequent will depend on you and your schedule, and how important you are to you! Meeting yourself everyday even for a few minutes is absolutely wonderful. Some days you may have less time and others a lot – use your time wisely.

- Give this most important date of your life the time it deserves; then there will be no limit to what you can achieve with yourself. Your potentials are limitless.

Remember not to take advice from those who have not had the experience, for
“Wisdom-Experience = Theory”
With lots of love to all,

Umang