Do not allow disturbing thoughts to control you ByS wami Sukhabodhananda - HYDERABAD
26th April 2013 09:49 AM What impacts the quality of our life is the movement of thoughts and feelings. More than negative experiences it is the negative interpretations of the negative experiences that affect our life to a greater degree. I told one lady that more than any situation it is the interpretation of the situation that would affect our life. One should be sensitive to this movement of thought. Recently when I was conducting a 'LIFE Programme' workshop for a group of executives I found a lady seated in the last row sleeping. Very gently I called her from the back to come to the front and sit down. I did not tell her that she should not sleep during the session. Neither was I loud or harsh in my voice. I then continued my lecture. She was steaming innately like a pressure cooker. Gently looking at her I asked, 'It appears that you are upset by something.' She replied in the affirmative. I asked her, 'What is it that upsets you?' She said, 'You insulted me.' I told her 'I have merely summoned you from the back row to the front. Therefore where is the insult?' Calling her from the back row to the front was a fact. What hurt her was not the fact but the interpretation of the fact that it was an insult. In the same workshop another lady got up and told me, 'Had you called me over from the back row to the front, I would have felt honoured.' The same situation viewed by two different people are two different experiences. In another workshop an executive got up and asked me, 'My boss has called me an idiot. This word definitely hurts me.' I asked him, 'Are you an idiot?' He answered, 'I have done my Ph.D.' So I told him, 'So you are not an idiot and hence there is nothing to be hurt. Even if you are an idiot there would still be nothing to be hurt as it would be a statement of a fact.' More than facts what hurt us most is the way we look at facts. If somebody looks at you wrongly it is the other person's problem and not yours. And hence you have to be compassionate to his wrong perceptions. Finally I told this lady a hurt or upset mind, whether justified or not justified, is self damaging. So do not allow disturbing thoughts to control and ruin your life. Swami Sukhabodhananda is the founder and chairman of Prasanna Trust. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "BETTER PERSONALITY GROUP" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to better_personality+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to better_personality@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/better_personality?hl=en. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
