How should one deal with difficulties and contradictions?

Don’t try to break them; mould them with love, kindness and humility. Give them time to heal. In that space a different energy will flow in your life. There are two energies – one, an ordinary energy that supports ego, provides a reason for it to exist and gives deceptive goals; the other, a divine energy that dilutes and destroys the ego. This will make you look at life differently. For that energy to flow in, prepare yourself prayerfully, proceed positively and pursue persistently.

There are three centres: body, emotions and intellect. When all three are aligned in your daily life, divine energy flows and a magical transformation occurs. You will then find trees are greener, the sun is radiant and stars magically shining.

The moving centre is the body; your blood, and your breath, for instance. The body centre has to be relaxed and happy. The important aspect in yoga is to relax the body. Whatever you are doing, learn to do it in a relaxed way -- the way you sit, the way you bathe -- keep it very relaxed. The very intention to relax will make it happen.

When you relax, your body generates healthy chemicals whereas in tension, unhealthy chemicals spread. So learn to relax.

When you tense, there are more reasons for you to be ineffective. Whatever action you perform, relax. Also, let your being be happy by just trying to be happy. Smile more often. Practise laughing meditation; laugh without any reason. The best antidote for anger is laughter. When anger arises, laugh it out and you will find that tension from anger energy will slowly diffuse. One can purify the body centre by being relaxed and happy.

Just watch your negative and positive emotions each moment. Whenever a negative emotion like jealousy arises, just dissociate yourself with it. View it from a distance. Bring forth love and kindness in all your feelings; let the energy flow and embrace it in all your movements.

What is the technique to bring out positive emotions?

As anchor, wear a chain or ring or keep a precious stone. Once in a while, remember to use it as trigger to generate positive emotions. Remember the anchor in order to generate positive emotion. You can even chant God’s name and bring out devotion.By purifying your emotional centre, you will be open to divine vibrations.

Keep the mind open and receptive, as every difficult situation teaches something profound. Be a good finder. If someone creates problems, observe what existence tries to teach you through them.

Once I had to tell one of my students, ‘It is frustrating dealing with you.’ But I said it lovingly. Sometimes I use strong words to wake people up. She was unhappy. I explained that my words were from love, not anger. My counselling lasted nearly three days. I found that I had learnt something profound. A person hears a word and then mentally adds personal ‘overtones’ to it. If a word has five units of tenor, personal ‘overtones’ will add 90 units to it -- thereby she experiences 95 units of sorrow.

All that I told my student was that it was frustrating to deal with her. My tenor in the word ‘frustrating’ was five units, whereas the person added 90 units. Hence the word ‘frustrating’ generated great sorrow! This one incident helped me in purifying my intellect to a great extent.

Swami Sukhabodhananda
Speaking Tree

Fin-telli