How many times have you been disappointed about things or with somebody today?
Unfortunately, I have been depressed from disappointments many times.
“Why should I experience hardships?”
“I want to be recognized for my efforts and skills.”
“I am talented, but my inferior work colleagues make it impossible to finish this project!”
There are many people who always have to be right and put the blame on someone else.
The dictionary defines ‘disappointed’ as: “depressed or discouraged by the failure of one’s hopes or expectations”’.
Here is another question.
Is it someone else’s total responsibility to accomplish your hopes and expectations even if you explain about it in advance?
It is your own responsibility to realize your hopes and expectations.
Of course, we sometimes need help and supports from others.
If you complain and show your dissatisfaction to others frequently, and make them unhappy, will they support you in an emergency?
I guess you can get attention from others through grumbling about other’s faults; however, it happened in an instant. In the worst case, they will push back against you.
First of all, we need to look back on what we have said and done before.
Since a person who cannot feel happy for others focuses on themselves without knowing other’s efforts and considerations, they may feel envy or regretful to others.
When you think everything based on self-centered love, you might evaluate and distinguish positive or negative without thoughts for others through your prejudicial glasses.
No one can always judge or decide rightly.
“Take off your prejudicial glasses and look over widely.”
You will be able to see it more positively when you change your perspective. Moreover, the aggressive thoughts will gradually fade away.
Most people get trapped in the situation and believe they are victims of unfortunate circumstances; however, the place was also prepared by God in order to develop your own abilities and potentials.
When you realize it, you will be able to shift mind to appreciation and gratitude.
Depending on your thoughts, you can step forward to realize your own hopes and expectations or your deeds will hinder you from realizing your hopes and expectations.
When setting your mental attitude following “Look over without a Biased Viewpoint”, you will be able to grasp the successes higher than your hopes and expectations, and become the one who will be a LIGHT in the world.
There is nothing in the world that should be taken for granted.
How much have you been conscious of it and thankful?
When everything goes well, many people are full of complaints and dissatisfaction.
“Hey, I don’t want to eat this! Give me the more delicious one!”
“My paycheck is too little for my labor. I really want a company to raise my wage more.”
“My clothes don’t suit me. I want to have stylish outfits!”
“I want extra paid vacation!”
“I want to live in a wealthy neighborhood!”
“It’s so bored. I’m getting exhausted. Someone, talk with me!”
In those cases, what do you get greedy for?
Nowadays, the world is overflowing with various things; nevertheless, most people can’t control their insatiability, and their gratitude and appreciation gradually fade away.
What if a sudden unexpected accident or disaster befalls you and you lose everything?
Many people realize that they took convenience for granted when things didn’t work out.
Moreover, they now feel happiness from even the simplest things.
“A contented mind is a perpetual feast.”
The more one has, the more one wants; however, the person who satisfies every circumstances and state within their means is abundant and ample in their mind.
It is significant to think God always prepares the best place for you and everything around you.
It does not mean that you need to endure the current situation which you may feel uncomfortable. When you are thankful for everything around you including your presence in this world, your heart will become enriched and overflowing with gratitude.
Today, it seeks the immediate interests, so most people focus on obtaining many things.
Depending on how you look at it, it will enrich your heart, or it will make your heart poor.
The key to become satisfied in your heart is to accept the present state of affairs and to thank every aspect and circumstance that we feel natural to get it.
Things can be viewed in different ways from different perspectives.
If you grasp the way of life following “A contented mind is a perpetual feast”, you will become the LIGHT and a person who is better able to handle adversity.
Last week I wrote about the duality of human desire, and said,
‘There are two types of desire: healthy desire and evil desire’.
‘We all have these two desires, and they are impossible to extinguish.’
There are two sides to everything, and desires have these two different aspects as well.
We can never erase our desires, but we do have to control them.
God has given these desires for the sake of human progress, so humankind is encouraged to demonstrate healthy desire more and more.
When you look at the world, however, you can find either:
‘People who continue to demonstrate healthy desire.’
‘People who continue to demonstrate the evil desire.’
Or,
‘People who have demonstrated healthy desire, but start falling into the temptation of evil desire from some point.
No one on the planet is perfect, and
‘I thought that person was a wonderful man, but then all of a sudden, his attitude changed to negative.’
There is no shortage of such cases, and anyone can be sincere or dishonest in human nature.
So, how can we be faithful at all times?
How can you become a person who is always faithful and devoted to others?
Now suppose you are alone in a room.
You are looking at a table that has a pile of $100 bills, totaling a million, on it.
How many of us would not take a few bills and put in our pocket?
I assume there would be four categories of people in the situation.
– People who don’t touch any of the bills and call the police immediately to let them know.
– People who take a few bills, and call the police.
– People who take only a few bills, put in the pocket, and leave the room quietly.
– People who take all the bills in a bag and leave the room.
We all fall into one of the above patterns.
Hopefully, we are the ones who call the police and let them know right away without having to do anything about the money on the table.
And all the Divine Light Practitioners I know are the obvious ones. These are the people who call the police immediately without taking any single bill.
Where does their sincere attitude come from?
Is it from faith in God?
Of course, sincere prayer and communication with God can lead you to be a righteous person.
However, the reality is that people can do unrighteous things even if they attend church regularly.
We even know some missionary can misbehave. This means that praying to God alone will not make you a righteous person.
As mentioned at the beginning of this article, the only thing people can do is to control their evil desire.
In other words, people who fall in evil are not in proper control of their evil desires.
Then, how can we better control our evil desires?
After all, it’s not enough to control your evil desire by praying to God alone.
But in fact, there is a way to become perfect in control of your evil desire within.
That is Divine Light practice, and the secret lies in your divine nature within.
Be careful of your thoughts, for your thoughts become your words.
Be careful of your words, for your words become your actions.
Be careful of your actions, for your actions become your habits.
Be careful of your habits, for your habits become your character.
Be careful of your character, for your character becomes your destiny.
(Mother Teresa)
This is a very simple saying but this tells us how our thoughts shape our destiny.
I came across this saying a few years ago. Since then, this quote remains in a special place in my mind as the reminder to have better thoughts.
Happy thoughts create a happy destiny. Unhappy thoughts create an unhappy destiny.
Thoughts are the fundamental aspect of our destiny.
However, in my opinion, it is impossible for us to keep positive thoughts all the time. As humans, we face obstacles from time to time. During adversity, it is normal to experience emotional ups-and-downs, which influence our thoughts.
The other day, something put me down. This made me upset and emotional. People around me gave kind words of encouragements, but this did not reach my heart. They were kindly trying to pull me up but I shut them out and built a wall around my heart. I thought I was alone in the situation that no one could understand my struggles. I knew my thoughts were making me feel worse; however, nothing calmed down my temper.
While having this negative temperament, I made unusual mistakes. I stubbed my toe and dropped a treasured piece of dishware, which shattered all over the floor.
These events happened to me just within a few hours while I was upset.
These consequences were obvious signs that my mood was attracting these unhappy situations; however, I allowed myself to be depressed for a moment. During that time, I confirmed that negative thought is a magnet of the negative consequences.
Then, what can you do when you are in these situations?
What kind of mindset should we have when facing obstacles?
Our Prayer Book says, “Most conditions that are judged as bad through human knowledge are the source of good in the spiritual realm,” and “Most phenomena that are judged as bad by human thought will turn out to be the beginning of good.”
We are taught that God knows the capability of individual souls and He gives us the suitable challenging in order to nurture us.
God only gives us the challenges which we can surely overcome. In other words, everything is God’s arrangement. In the eyes of God, challenging situations will become heavenly gifts to improve our soul.
This is what I try to think about whenever I’m feeling down or facing difficulties. And leave everything to the universe with my fingers crossed. This is the small step which I can at least make in order to move out of the bottom of the waves.
Five years ago, a sharp pain suddenly occurred in my lower back. I had never suffered from such a heavy backache. Unfortunately, the pain intensified day by day. It eventually got so bad that adjusting my posture was ineffective. I felt hopeless and scared that I would be stuck with this pain permanently.
At the peak pain, my friends gave me an intensive Divine Light session to my back. After the session, I felt much better as if I was a different person. The core pain was still there, but it was such a huge improvement compared to what it was before the Light session started.
Just after this Divine Light session, a lady came to visit the center. She was a single mother of five children and she was suffering from chronic back pain for decades. Due to the heavy pain, she was even limping. She had tried everything to heal her pain, but nothing worked. She was desperate to relieve her back pain. After hearing her story, I volunteered to give her Divine Light session. Because I know the pain, I thought I could at least help her. Her pain spot was located in same place as mine. I performed Divine Light with my whole heart. During the session, I was so focused and I even forgot about my own pain. I had a sensation that something was leaving from her back. After the session, she said that her pain was nearly vanished. The change was very obvious to anyone as she was not limping at all. Her refreshed and relieved face with the hope that Divine Light would help her gave me such a joy. My back pain was worth experiencing in respect of assisting her. At the moment, I was so flattered that my pain became my advantage as a Divine Light performer.
After seeing her off, to my surprise, my backache which I suffered for nearly two months was completely gone. Since then, I no longer suffer with back pain.
As I experienced, our pain could be the advantage and benefit in helping people. The pain and struggles will surely be transformed into assets later in the future.
In this universe, Heavenly Will overflows everywhere. Believe that all the phenomena are the nutrients for the development of the souls. Having this idea and thought, and being grateful for everything, we can arrive in a good destination.
If each one’s thought is in the good place, the destiny of humanity shall be brighter. Our thoughts change our future. Sharing good thoughts with people around us will bring a better future, as Mother Teresa says.
