Work is worship-no matter what kind of work we do. There are many faces of work. No one face is better than the other face. The face that looks down on other faces is not a service face. Humility is an integral part of service. Service done from the heart induces inner joy, inner reward and a deep sense of fulfillment. Recognition or admiration for the service we do is like frosting on the cake. We cook the food for serving with no expectation in return.
We are a part of the system-social, financial and political. When a system serves the need of a privileged group of people by excluding others, it needs to be changed. Such self-serving systems need radical change to survive and flourish. I have witnessed the great service work done by Mahatma Gandhi for untouchables in India. He blazed a new trial which slowly became a high way. Work does not have to be against service. This is my personal experience. I have been working as a teacher and counselor all my life. It has been my inward call. It has brought great joy, happiness and fulfillment in my life. Many lives have been gracefully touched by the work I l love do and my life has also been graciously been touched by many hands. It is the spirit of the work that makes it service. Work and service join hands making living blissful. May we make our work worship by doing greater good!
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Love gives birth to life, nourishes life and connects us with life in all forms. Such love is expressed in compassion for others, in kind and generous acts, wiping the tears of others, feeding the hungry and providing shelter. Sadly, the world created by the Divine hands has been converted into fighting zones, us against you, exploitation and destruction. We have been polluting air, water, food and sky-the sources of life- for our self-serving, profit making ends. These are signs and symptoms of the misuse of intelligence , energy and knowledge.
Total love is needed to bring total revolution. We need to awaken ourselves and others as a humanity from this misery creating slumber. We need to have a balance between being and doing. If our doing is without the being consciousness -compassion, consideration and concerns for the life of others, our actions are going to be destructive, hurting us and others. Tooth for tooth, eye for eye or fire for fire is the mindset of destruction. We need to learn to relate to others not as objects to meet our self-centered needs but as an extension of our selves- from me to we. We have been blessed to to have people in our lives as models who have reached out and have lovingly touched the lives of others to lift them up. The world is still surviving because of their selfless love and service. In order to create, sustain and flourish such love revolutions, we all have to be a part of it. As the saying goes, charity begins at home but does not end it there. What can we do as parents, neighbors, teachers, students, politicians, social workers, corporate leaders, workers and religious leaders to create an inner environment that is rooted in unconditional love and compassion. This is real spiritual work I have learned how to create an inner environment for planting and nurturing the seeds of love, peace and service. This is my everyday spiritual practice which brings joy and fulfillment in my life. I share my awakening with school children at my daughter's Montessori school by teaching Mindfulness and Peace Education and Mindfulness Parenting. Work is my service and it brings great joy and happiness to me. I am sure there are many such awakened people who are doing such badly needed work. Our community religious centers and educational institutions need to face and embrace this great universal challenge. May we wake up, see the light and play our vital role in creating and participating the Total Revolution of Love. We as human beings have physical, mental and spiritual needs and desires. Most of our needs and desires are met in relationship contexts. How our needs and desires are fulfilled makes a significant difference in our healthy growth and development. We need to cultivate wisdom to fulfill each other's needs and desires.
As human beings we all experience suffering in varying degrees. One of the main reasons for our suffering is our craving and intense neediness. Such a state of mind leads to not enough set of mind. When the mind is set on or fixated on that set point, there is always going to be more craving and more grabbing and more suffering.We get heavily and chronically attached or addicted to our craving resulting in ongoing suffering. People who are connected with us also suffer by our wanting more and more from other persons. They feel trapped by our neediness and unreasonable expectations. Both get caught up in this energy draining vicious cycle. Suffering is an opportunity for growth if we keep our mind and heart awakened and open. Our suffering can be a gateway to awakening. First we need to recognize and accept that we are unhappy. We need to have a clear intention of working on our suffering.With confidence we do the inner mindfulness work starting with breath mindfulness by letting the waves of hurtful thoughts, feelings and emotions come and go. Such introspective mindfulness work requires consistency, resolution and dedication. It is not how much time but how we use our time that heals us. I have been practicing mindfulness and teaching mindfulness for quite some time. Such practice turns thorns of suffering into flowers of fulfillment and happiness. May we remain aware of self-created suffering and gain wisdom for making right choices! Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our own response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.- Viktor F. Frankl, author of Man’s Search for Himself
This idea we can learn underneath our emotions, if we feel a sense of guilt, if we feel a sense of anger, there’s often something that is instructive to us. Now, the very clear distinction here is that our emotions are data, not direction. We can always learn from them or dominated bythem.- Susan David, author of Emotional Agility Exercise: Take your time to settle down and get centered. Let the strong emotion or feeling you have recently experienced or you’re experiencing now visit you. Be centered and relate to the emotions to be data rather than direction. Listen to your emotions and hear what they are telling you about yourself. You’re learning the art of responding to your emotional experience rather than reacting to your experience. You’re learning how to work through your emotional experience and grow from it. What is the impact of someone’s unwelcoming or disturbing behavior on you? How do you choose to respond and not react? How can you be the change you want to see in the other person? |
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