Things To Consider Today

Controlling Your Thoughts And Spirituality

Many people today are seeking more spirituality in their lives. They’re looking in various places for clues and information that will help them in satisfying their spiritual needs. Although there is not a general agreement on what spirituality is and how you can measure the amount that you have, these individuals are still interested in spirituality and how it can enrich their lives.

Let me give a simple description of spirituality in order to communicate effectively through this article. When you do things that are proper, correct, good or positive, spirituality will increase. When you seek self-improvement and develop useful skills, spirituality increases. When you think of others as well as yourself and help them or serve them in some way, you raise your spirituality. When you allow God to have a place in your life and seek to develop character similar to His, then you’re becoming a more spiritual being. All of these things can be summed up in this way. There is more good in your life and less bad. You become a better individual. You are more useful to yourself and others. You set a better example for others to follow.

Now I would like to cover one way to increase spirituality in your life. It is a very important way and perhaps the best way for you personally to control your spirituality. In simple terms it can be expressed in this way. If you can develop the mental discipline to control your thoughts, you will also learn to control your speech and behavior. In essence you will gain more control over more aspects of your life and put a spiritual tone into everything you do. Your spirituality will go up and become more of an influence in your activities, endeavors, and relationships. You will feel better and be happier. Your load in life will seem lighter and easier.

How can you tell if you have good mind control? It’s simple. During the typical day, your mood is steady. You are not easily upset over little things. You are as calm as a still lake despite the fact that you’re experiencing problems, disappointments and frustrations. Others can do things wrong or things you don’t like, yet you don’t generate negative feelings towards them. You do not allow yourself to become overly pessimistic when life goes against you. Instead you maintain a positive optimism that things will get better with time. In essence, you learn to be in charge of your thoughts and feelings at all times and under all circumstances.

Now let’s relate mind control to your performance in various areas. This is illustrated in the examples below. In each case, thoughts are directly involved in what you do.

Someone says something negative about you or spreads rumors about you. Do you get upset, mad, or retaliate? If so, the other person is winning and you’re losing. You lack mind control. You must learn to forgive and move on in most situations. Sometimes you can talk to the other person and resolve differences. Even in the case of a lawsuit, you do not have to have negative feelings or attitudes personally. These are not going to help you win your case in court.

Another critical area of mind control is sex. A good example is pornography. When it is viewed on a regular basis, the person involved generates immoral thoughts in his mind and his spirituality is lowered. Another example is when a husband and wife participate in sex. If this is done in a respectful and appropriate manner, it becomes a way to fulfill a need, express love, and produce children. All of these are positive and thus contribute to spirituality.

Working for what you get contributes to spirituality. Give an honest day’s work for a day’s pay. Do not steal from employers or sell their trade secrets to others. Do not undermine their efforts by lowering the morale of fellow employees with your comments at work. This reveals a negative attitude that is affecting both you and others.

Do not expect others to solve your problems. They can give advice if you seek it and help you get started towards a solution. But ultimately it is you who must do the work to accomplish the goal. As you do this, you’ll learn and grow and become a more productive and confident individual.

Do not seek something for nothing. Do not covet what others have and you don’t have. Do not vote for politicians who promise to take from people with more money than you and give you more government benefits. These things do not help you to grow, and they do not contribute to spirituality.

Each of us have responsibilities, and how we handle those responsibilities reveals a great deal about us. Accepting responsibilities willingly and fulfilling them with a good attitude contributes to spirituality. If you try to dump your responsibilities on others or fulfill them in a slothful way, your spirituality is lowered. The difference here is the thinking involved. In the first case you recognize responsibilities as a basic aspect of life and do your to fulfill them. In the second case your thoughts are different. You want to get out of doing what you should.

Do not be idle, slothful, or lazy. An idle mind is more likely to have negative thought patterns. Do not waste time, talent, energy, and money. No one feels good when these things occur. Instead, be actively engaged in good causes. Help yourself and serve others. Make a contribution. Put yourself into life and you’ll get more out of it. This leads to positive thinking, optimism and success.

Respect others and their rights. Respect their customs, traditions, and religion. Do not have prejudices towards any group. With respect, you’ll treat others as you want them to treat you. This builds good feelings between both of you, and thus contributes towards spirituality. With respect for others, you’ll respect their property. You will repay what you owe them, and return items you borrow from them.

Give others a chance to explain what they do and why. This requires patience to listen. Do not judge hastily. Learn the facts first. Often this will resolve misunderstandings and friendship can continue. Relationships can be maintained and actually strengthened thereafter. This adds to spirituality.

Smile a lot. Be kind to others. Have concern for them. Be empathetic. Help others when they could use some assistance. As you do these things, others will generally respond in like manner. There will be more warm feelings between you. You and them will draw closer together. More spirituality is felt by everyone.

As you interact with various individuals, in your mind separate the person and his actions. You can disagree with something he says or does, but this doesn’t justify disliking him as a person. This makes it much easier to get along with people different than yourself. For example, Republicans and Democrats can disagree on political issues, but not dislike each other. Sometimes they will act together and other times vote differently on legislation. Husband and wife can disagree on something, but this should not lead to serious arguments with negative comments. Instead there is mutual respect and a way is sought to work out a compromise or solution. The same general principle applies to companies and unions. Both gain with communication and cooperation. Both lose with negative campaigns against each other.

As the above examples illustrate, the way you think enters into all aspects of your life. Thoughts and feelings affect everything. Mind control or controlling your thoughts is not as easy. There is a great deal of work and self-discipline involved. You have some mind control now. I challenge you to look for areas in your life where you need more of it. Then work to improve in these areas. As you gain more mind control in more areas, your overall ability to control thoughts will increase. With more thought control comes more control of speech and behavior. Over time you become a more spiritual person and a happier one too.

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Copyright 2009 Leland Pulleyy