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Today's
Quotation:
When you are offended or annoyed by
others, do not allow your thoughts
to dwell on them or on
anything relating to them.
For example, don't think
that they ought not to have
treated you so, being who they are, or whom
they think
themselves to be, or the like.
All this is fuel and kindling of
wrath, anger, and
hatred.
Lorenzo Scupoli
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Today's
Meditation:
In
so many ways, our thoughts determine who we are and how we
feel. If I pay attention, I can usually pick out the
people who are thinking positive thoughts and the people who
are thinking negative ones-- their body language tells me how
they're feeling, which is a result of their thoughts.
(Of course, many people are regularly thinking somewhat
neutral thoughts, like what they have to get at the store or
how their team's going to do in tomorrow's game).
When
we think negative or angry thoughts, that's our
choice. We'd like to think that our thoughts are the
result of some action or occurrence, but our reaction to it
is our decision. The more negative our thoughts, the
more negative our moods and our feelings. Do you want
to be walking around feeling anger? Does it do
anything good for our bodies or our minds?
It
can help us to adopt a positive anchor, so to speak.
When the negative thoughts start to overwhelm us-- or even
when they just start-- we can use this anchor to bring us
back to a state of equilibrium. Is there a wonderful
movie or book you can turn your thoughts to? How about
a beautiful place that you've visited, or a favorite spot to
take walks? Perhaps there's a person who always makes
you smile. If you can get in the habit of changing
your thoughts to positive ones, you'll benefit now in ways
that you can't even imagine, and the people around you will
benefit, also.
It's
definitely not helpful for us to fill our minds with
negative, stressful thoughts, and the sooner we get rid of
them, the sooner we'll feel much better all the way around.
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