The art of wise living involves four steps: Plan purposefully, prepare prayerfully, proceed positively and pursue persistently.

The joy of wise living involves the art of joyous looking. There are two types of looking. You can look at the world with thoughts; you can also look at the world without thoughts, from a pure Being.

When you look at the world with thoughts, then you should be aware of the subtle pollution that exists. Thoughts come from memory, memory is the representation of an experience of the past, and so from the past you see the present. Hence, pollution happens.

(See also: Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)

Read more here: » Love and Happiness: Art of Wise Living Brings Great Joy

It is now fashionable to ask: Why do we say "falling" in love and not "rising" in love? We "fall" in love because to love implies total surrender. Unless we surrender our ego to the object of our love, we cannot realise the power and expanse of love.

There are two basic emotions which drive this world: love and hate. All relationships are affected in some way or other by these, and so they can either help sustain or destroy the universe in which we interact with one another and the environment.

(See also: Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)

Read more here: » Love and Happiness: True Love Uplifts The Human Spirit

Consciousness is beauty and Creation is an expression of consciousness. Beauty is present in all creation. Eastern philosophy believes beauty is the nature of things, while western thought sees it as perception. Perhaps beauty is both subjective and objective.

The East emphasises subjectivity; it sees beauty as the nature of existence - as Satyam, Shivam, Sundaram, an objective phenomenon.

In the West, where objectivity is emphasised, beauty is seen as a subjective phenomenon. But as the old proverb goes, beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder. Beauty bridges the subject-object divide.

(See also: Peace on Earth, Peace of Mind, Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)

Read more here: » Soundarya Lahiri: Soundarya Lahiri And Inner Beauty

Kiara Windrider is a therapist, poet, astrologer, healer, explorer of mystic and shamanic paths and the author of the award-winning book Doorway to Eternity: A Guide to Planetary Ascension. A primary focus for Kiara Windrider has currently been to work with inner technologies for planetary healing, and joining with others in a Chrysalis Network to seed new possibilities for an awakening planet.

Read more here: » Spiritual Awakening: Two Streams of Future Probability

Why does the mind always go towards negative thoughts and negative things?
How to come out of negative thoughts and how to come out of the sensual pleasures seeking of the mind and how to focus the mind?

Kalki, or Sri Kalki Bhagavan, the founder of Golden Age Foundation, is considered to be the Kalki Avatar capable of bringing enlightenment and to introduce the Golden Age. Here he is commenting on The Nature of Mind Part II

Read more here: » Kalki on The Nature of Mind - II

Spiritual Growth: Return to Godhead

Spiritual development is a systematic, methodic process that needs to be learnt and practised like any other skill. But very few understand spiritual growth as being systematic or methodic.

Most people randomly pick up books and practices without understanding their significance and place in the overall process. Consequently they remain where they are - or they could end up harming themselves.

Read more here: » Spiritual Growth: Return to Godhead

Sukha or happiness means different things to different people. This is especially so in the context of varying lifestyles prevalent today and the issues that a lot of us are living with and identifying ourselves with.

Sukha in Indian philosophical systems is a heavily loaded term. To understand the quality of true sukha or happiness also means that we need to define dukha or suffering.

(See also: Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)

Read more here: » Love and Happiness: Sukha And Dukha - Rise Above Them

A personal reflection on God by Aftab Shivdasani. ”God occupies a very important place in my life. He is my friend because I don't pray to Him. I talk to Him everyday. I just ask God to give me the strength and the courage to go on with my life, to overcome all the hurdles, to achieve my goals, to keep my near and dear ones happy and most of all, I ask Him to make me a good human being.”

Read more here: » Spiritual Inspiration: God and I by Aftab Shivdasani

Since the time when man experienced the first flicker of self-awakening, his attention has remained focused on problems of worldly existence. No sooner is one problem solved, a new one springs up, thereby creating stress and tension in the mind.

In the last few years, people have turned to meditation as a way to overcome emotional and mental strain. Meditation helps us withdraw our attention from the outer world and focus it at a point between and behind our eyebrows, thereby stimulating what is called the 'third eye'. By focusing our attention on it, we can reach higher levels of consciousness.

(See also: Peace on Earth, Peace of Mind, Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)

Read more here: » Peace of Mind: Ways To Overcome Stress - Meditation

Most of us experience anger in some form or other almost every day. Anger is a negative emotion; it can cause violence, it can ruin relationships, it can lead to serious illnesses and it is known to kill. Yet, few make the effort to try and overcome this emotion. So anger continues to affect millions worldwide.

As children, we are taught to contain anger. An angry child is asked to be quiet. This is the conventional approach. As a result, the anger is suppressed.

(See also: Peace on Earth, Peace of Mind, Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)

Read more here: » Peace of Mind: How To Oust Anger From Our Lives

Love is the essence of religion too, for it is religion (not organised religion) that teaches ethics and compassion.

The story goes that once the Devil and his close friend went for a walk. The devil picked up something from the ground and put it in his pocket. When he was asked by his friend what he had picked up, he said: "I have picked up the Truth".

The friend said: "If you picked up the Truth, then your time is up because Truth is the opposite of what you symbolise". The devil smiled and said, "Don't worry my friend, I will organise it".

You know what I mean?

(See also: Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)

Read more here: » Love and Happiness: Love is the Essence of Evolution

The gory massacre at Godhra and the subsequent retaliatory slaughter throughout Gujarat underlines how easily communal passions can be aroused among otherwise normal people.

A major cause for such behaviour is a mindset, found both among Muslims and Hindus, that believes that tolerance is a sign of weakness. Convinced about the infallibility of their own faith, they are totally intolerant to the views of others. Bolstered by the exhortations of their religious and political leaders, they feel no compunctions in smashing all that stands in their way including the laws of the land.

(See also: Peace on Earth, Peace of Mind, Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)

Read more here: » Peace on Earth: Tolerance the Key To Lasting Peace

It came a mail from Carol who did the enlightenment process in Golden City just recently. Her mail is not only inspiring but it will also give you an in-depth understanding of how the process it self, and, the state of enlightenment can be perceived.

Read more here: » Personal experience of enlightenment: A letter from Carol

The Way of Pain

The Sanskrit word saha means "to endure, to go patiently through hardships without rebelling."1 The process of disillusionment is an unquestionably painful process at times. Genuine spiritual life has never been popular, and never will be, because most people are unwilling to open to and accept pain.

Read more here: » Pain: The Way of Pain

On this day in 1893, Swami Vivekananda addressed the Parliament of World Religions in Chicago. At the opening address, Charles Bonney, the Chicago lawyer who organised the congress, said: "The very basis of our convocation is the idea that the representatives of each religion sincerely believe it is the truest and best of all." In this context, Vivekananda 's "talisman of tolerance" was a vibrant civilisational message to the world from the soul of India.

Vivekananda's words gave the World Parliament a defining focus. He began by saying he was "proud to belong to a religion which had taught the world tolerance and universal acceptance". He explained that "we believe not only in universal toleration, but we accept all religions as true". He said he was proud that his nation had always sheltered the persecuted - like it had, for instance, fleeing Israelites and Zoroastrians.

(See also: Peace on Earth, Peace of Mind, Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)

Read more here: » Peace on Earth: Universal Acceptance For Lasting Peace

The danger of getting drawn into competition is that one will stoop low somewhere along the line to get the better of a rival, be it in business or when seeking a promotion.

When pitted against petty people , you begin to think that you have to act at their level. You eventually adopt the world's ways and get cast in its mould. Your determination to live up to your principles does not ensure that you will do so. People take to shortcuts believing that the path of goodness is strewn with pitfalls.

(See also: Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)

Read more here: » Love and Happiness: Time To Rebuild Trust And Faith

Our lives are a series of experiences. Although these experiences appear to be linear, actually, they are not so. We discover this when we pause to carefully reflect on them. Life is a form of language with its own punctuation marks, much like the written language, where each punctuation mark has an unspoken meaning.

I experienced the visible language of life recently when I was down with a viral fever with a severe chest congestion. I was completely dependent upon others to even get up on my feet. Without the care and support of my family, I would have had to be hospitalised. Because of the intensive care I received at home, I bounced back to good health within a reasonable period of time.

(See also: Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)

Read more here: » Love and Happiness: Your Good Health Can Spread Cheer

To forgive is not to forget. Forgetting is not hard. All you need is a bad memory or to treat the incident as insignificant.

But to forgive is to make a new beginning, to start all over again with the person who caused you pain. It does not take away the hurt nor does it erase the past injury. It merely ceases to obstruct the path of a new beginning. To forgive you don't have to aggravate the guilt and squeeze the soul of the person. By forgiving you can walk together into the future.

(See also: Peace on Earth, Peace of Mind, Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)

Read more here: » Peace of Mind: Forgive And Inhale the Fragrance of Flowers

Prayer is common to all religions. Love for God is universal, the mode or method of prayer could be different since everyone is free to pray to the divine power in their own way. Prayer should be acceptable to all, simple and easy to adopt in daily life. Generally, people follow the path of prayer practised in the family. The Gayatri Mantra and any other prayer should be recited with sincerity and for the love of God. Only then its true benefit can be derived.

(See also: Peace on Earth, Peace of Mind, Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)

Read more here: » Gayatri Mantra: Gayatri - Mother Of All Mantras

Where does the average seeker find stability in spiritual growth? Is there a 'how to' manual of integration into daily life? Many a spiritual seeker is becoming aware that he is more than his physical body.

There is a deep craving to understand what is their calling. The revival of ancient wisdom is growing and that growth is having an effect on the way we perceive spirituality.

(See also: Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)

Read more here: » Love and Happiness: Love Unconditionally For We are Family

A regular at religious discourses, I've often found followers of one guru or faith criticising other gurus, teachers and devotees, because they think that their own philosophy is far superior. They tend to assess the learnedness or otherwise of a teacher according to the number of disciples and ashrams.

If those who profess to be spiritual seekers behave in this manner, what can we expect from lesser mortals? Why is it so difficult for us to respect the right of others to follow any teaching or teacher of their choice? No one who claims loyalty to any faith that advocates compassion, tolerance and understanding can afford to ignore these tenets.

(See also: Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)

Read more here: » Love and Happiness: The Path Of True Love Is Never Smooth

Emotional Sensitivity

Empathic people do have observable traits that are easily identified. Interestingly, the traits are a set of characteristics that have always had their own air of mystery. I'm referring to a set of psychological traits that has never been adequately explained before. These characteristics are commonly referred to as emotional sensitivity.

Read more here: » Highly Sensitive People: Emotional Sensitivity