How to Guarantee Consistent Success with Peace & joy
A Self-development Initiative
Sunil Kumar, Value Education Programmer, Ramakrishna Mission, New Delhi
To successfully and happily manage our life in the desired direction and to manifest our full potential we have to become aware that we really want not just success, but success with peace and happiness. To guarantee it we have to learn and practice the art of Thought Management so that we can harmonize our choices, thoughts, desires, goals on the critical path to fulfillment.
Desired Direction: When we leave our house we know where we want to go. Do I know where I want to go? I must first decide where I want to go and then how to get there. Then I must know what I must do so that I can reach my destination.
I am living in this house, which is my body! My ‘Mind’ is only my instrument, which should be directed by ‘me’ but I have neglected its education, training and development and so I allow the ‘Mind’ to take all decisions and actions for ‘me’! I must know that I want peace, happiness, fulfillment and ananda because this is my ‘Swabhava’, my ‘Swaroopa’! The problem is that the ‘Swabhava’, and ‘Swaroopa’ of my ‘Mind’ is totally different from me. The ‘Mind’ has been designed to always question, doubt, and take me outside of myself. It is always restless like the waves in the sea, and can never be peaceful. So it needs education and training to be happy! I have to train the mind! The mind can give me success but when I want consistent success with peace and joy then I must train my mind.
What do I want? I want many things. I want to fulfill my desires and acquire resources for it and I want to do it by the ‘right’ means. However, my ‘Mind’ sometimes makes me do wrong things. Many times I am in doubt and cannot decide what is right. How do I know what is ‘right’ and how do I develop self-control to do ‘right’. How do I get conviction in the power of goodness? How do I get strength and fearlessness to know and do ‘right’?
· I want ‘Roti, Kapada, Makan’, comforts, luxuries, etc. These are needs of ‘my’ body
· I want to be powerful, I want to be energetic, I want to live, I want safety, security. These are the needs to keep ‘my’ body working.
· I want to know things, I want fun, I want to enjoy. These are the needs of ‘my’ mind.
· I want to make right choices, I want to do right things, I want to know what is right and wrong so that I can make right choices. I want to know how I can achieve success, consistently and with peace and joy.
Let us therefore try and understand how the mind functions and what is its ‘Swabhava’.
· Doing what ‘I’ want to do implies doing what ‘my’ mind wants to do!
· I am a slave of the impressions that I am acquiring every moment by my ‘Motives, Choices, Thoughts, Words and, Actions’, which are permanently stored in my mind as I acquire them.
· We are all different because of these impressions continuously acquired by us and stored in our mind.
· My desires, goals, feelings, arise out of these impressions
· Freedom is in NOT having to do what the MIND wants to do.
· The motive power for all actions is our desires; as an educated, I must learn to check the desires to do wrong actions: As Mother, Teacher, Father, Police, Unwanted Guest.
• Mind is a continuous Flow of thoughts – wanted / unwanted
• The mind is built to look outside through the five sense organs.
• By its very nature mind has a tendency to ‘flow down’ - be tempted, enjoying the experience of the senses, weak people don’t have self-control and do wrong
• Mind is difficult to lift up and control – like reversing the flow of river
• The more self-control we have, the greater as a person we become
• Mind is One-track in nature; Gets attached easily, but detaches with difficulty
• 4-Functions of the Mind: Inputting & Doubting; Storehouse of all impressions; Determining/deciding/choosing; and ‘I-sense’
• Those actions, which take us towards peace, happiness, ‘Sukha, Shanti, and Ananda’ and manifesting our potential perfection, our swaroopa, are good or right actions and those that take us away and give us ‘Dukha’, stress, worries, miseries, are wrong actions.
• Self-development: Through daily self-development processes we can awaken our Viveka and develop powers of Will to walk the critical path.
• Not allowing the Mind to take us towards lower desires is to be constantly practiced.
• Good value-based actions, virtues, calm the mind and only a calm mind can really be effective and peaceful and allow us to experience our full potential perfection and bliss.
STRATEGIES TO MANAGE OUR MIND – Flow of Thoughts:
There are only two fundamental methods for management of thoughts:
1. Each time the mind goes away from the task, I must become aware of it and I must bring it back (Practice watching the flow of Thoughts in the mind at every opportunity, also for 5-10 minutes morning/evening).
2. If I can develop an interest in the task, then it becomes easier to keep the mind on the task.
3. Commitment to fulfill our duties, Desire to become better and best, Resolution to practice, etc. help.
4. Reading inspiring lives and teachings of great men and saints and being in the company of the good helps. (Continuously practice praying: May all beings be happy, peaceful, blissful. NB: The more you think of good of others the faster you progress)
· Focus on the ‘Essentials’:
1. For every goal and for every task or duty there are Important things to know and do.
2. There are milestones for each goal. Similarly to guarantee success with peace there are certain human values (Love, truth. Right conduct, non-violence, peace) to be practiced and it includes quality and excellence in whatever we do, fulfillment of our duties to mother, father, teacher, guests, organization, society, and all beings and nature, working not just for self, but for good of others, etc.
3. Learn to maintain a Daily Time Table.
4. Support it by Weekly Plans where you provide time for all the roles you play (Student, Child, Mentor/Helper, Sports, Entertainment, Exercise, etc)
5. Gradually start thinking of your Goals: Next 3-months, 1 year, 3 year, 5-10-50-100 years. NB: Ability to think, plan and act on the basis of long-term good has to be developed. Viveka is ability to think that everything is changing so let me choose the highest i.e that which is changeless, that is my swaroopa, full of peace and bliss, which I experience every day in deep sleep! If I fulfill my duties and practice good values and conduct I can remain blissful even while awake!
6. Daily Self-introspection to determine if I am on the right path and to review our choices, goals, thoughts, actions are of great help in remaining on the right path
7. Goals: SMART: Specific, Measurable, Action oriented, Realistic, Time-bound
8. Daily routine of Prayers, meditation, repetition of brief prayer/holy name, study of Inspiring lives and teachings of the saints and sages is a must
Thought Management implies:
There are three fundamental processes to impress new thoughts:
There are only 4 broad time-tested Strategies to be adopted:
“Sow a thought, reap an action
Sow an action reap a habit
Sow a habit reap a character
“On the quality of our aim & thoughts, depends the quality of our life”
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