Living Wisely Living Well | With Asha Nayaswami

Face every trial cheerfully. Don’t shrink from it, but thrust your chest out and accept the test bravely. Remember, you cannot avoid trouble anyway. Trials are like dogs: If they threaten you, confront them with courage and they’ll run away! But if you yourself run away, they’ll give eager chase.

Seek approval only from people whose opinions you respect. The applause of multitudes is like bubbles in a champagne glass, rising, then bursting at the surface. Better the scolding of the wise than the adulation of fools. Popularity is the surest sign of individual inadequacy.

Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/ashanayaswami)

Offer up all suffering to God. People speak of Christ’s suffering on the cross. They don’t realize that, in his absolute conquest over ego, he was happy to offer his life as a sacrifice for others. He thereby took onto himself their karma. He himself, however, was immune to pain of all kinds. The suffering he felt was for man’s indifference to God.

Live as much as possible at the midpoint between all opposites: That is where the Infinite Spirit dwells. Everything in Creation is dual. Thus did the One become many. Every “up” is canceled by a “down”; light is balanced by darkness; pleasure, by pain; emotional love, by hatred (I say “emotional love,” because there is no opposite to divine love, and no balancing opposite to divine joy). Eternal truths lie at the point midway between all opposites. Therefore I say, live more at your center, in the heart.

Another way to handle pain and sorrow is to tell yourself, “What is happening now is only flotsam on the river of time.” What you feel now won’t last. Dwell on the thought of eternal bliss, which will be yours once you attain inner freedom.

One way to handle pain and sorrow is to visualize your consciousness expanding in all directions. If, for instance, you are in a dentist’s chair, say to yourself, “What happens to this body can touch only a tiny point in the vast reality of my true Self.”

Today, tell yourself, “I’m going to see life in a new way! When I look at a tree, I will ask myself, ‘What message has it for me, from God?’ If the trunk is straight, I’ll think, ‘That is how I shall keep my spine: firmly upright.’ If the tree is many-branched, I’ll ask myself, ‘In what new directions of thought and action can I branch out today?’ If the leaves are luxurious, I’ll think, ‘Let my own life flourish similarly!’ And if the tree is bare, let me think (negatively perhaps, at first) ‘I don’t want my life to be barren!’ but then positively: ‘I, too, must withdraw sometimes from outer involvement, to return with renewed vigor in confronting life’s challenges.’” Everything around you can teach and inspire you, if you animate your gaze with a questing mind.

Pretend to yourself that this day is the beginning of a new incarnation. Obviously you aren’t a newborn babe, but try to wipe out any power the past has to keep you always doing the same things, making the same mistakes, and performing in the same old ways. Look for new things to accomplish, new worlds to conquer, new ideas to express. Don’t be the kind of person who declares pompously, “Well, as I always say . . .”: don’t be a “psychological antique.” Try to be ever-new in yourself and in your relations with friends, loved ones, and even complete strangers.

Whenever you feel pain or sorrow, withdraw from that feeling to your center in the spine. From there, watch those emotions dispassionately. Tell yourself, “Whatever affects my body and ego can never affect me, in my Self. Pain and sorrow—both—are nothing but dreams.”

If ever it becomes your duty in life to form a committee, see to it that each member has his own area of responsibility. Much time will be saved if those persons are excluded who, with nothing specific to do, would otherwise talk endlessly to little purpose just to show their involvement in what is going on. Chat sessions are of course different, but when there is work to be done, each committee member should have an area for which he is personally responsible. Thus, when a decision is reached, it can be given to him to implement directly.

Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/ashanayaswami)