Last Saturday was my day 2 of my meditation course at Brahma Kumaris. It was a bright Saturday afternoon. I slept late and about to decide not attending and informed them that I will just move my appointment for the 3pm class on another day but they told me they can still accommodate me until 5pm. So, I immediately dressed up and went there.
I encountered traffic on my way and arrived there past 5 already. We started our class around 6:00pm. I finally met Sister Tims,. She’s a very nice lady and also soft-spoken just like sister Karen. We started our introductions and she discussed something about understanding our thoughts.
Here are the things I’ve learned so far.
Mind-which is the master and driver of our thoughts. The mind dictates everything.
Thoughts-are next to the mind. As the mind is the driver, our thought follows. Thoughts are the one dictating everything. From actions and to our feelings around us.
Actions-are simply the puppet of our thoughts, which actions just usually follows what our thoughts dictates us to do. So let’s say, we used the mind in thinking that we feel angry over someone we saw on the street, we automatically think all negative thoughts toward the person. Then, we react negatively, not realizing that our actions toward the person are pure hate. So we instinctively throw hurtful words, or worse, causing physical harm to the person.
Results-The fruit of what we cultivate in our minds.whether, we thought of positive, or negative.
The 4 Thoughts:
1. Common/ordinary thoughts-Usually thoughts that are basic in our everyday lives. Like drinking, eating, conversing with people. Everyday activities we do and we also observe in our surroundings.
2. Waste thoughts- Thoughts that are unnecessary to think of, like things we cannot change anymore. Example of this is complaining about things we cannot change like work, environment or climate, your past, etc
Example: I’m always complaining about how awful Monday is because I get to work again. And that I will be stressed and see my officemates and deal with my boss yada yada yada.
or
How we usually complain or say”If only, I should have done this or that, I wish I have this or that.We usually apply these thoughts when we are thinking about the things that already happened in our lives. Like how we say” If you just listened to me, these things should not have happened!!
The lesson, try eliminating waste thoughts in our lives. As much as possible never utter these thoughts since waste thoughts can also lead to
3. Negative thoughts-thoughts which usually haunts us. Thoughts that can damage our being.
Examples of negative thoughts:
Jealousy
greed
Anger/hatred
cowardice
laziness
selfishness
examples are:
1. I feel like I’m up against the world
2. I’m no good
3. What can’t I ever succeed?
4. No one understands me.
5. I’ve let people down.
6. I don’t think I can go on.
7. I wish I were a better person
8. I’m so weak
9. My life’s not going the way I want it to
10. I’m so disappointed in myself
11. Nothing feels good anymore
12. I can’t stand this anymore
13. I can’t get started
14. What’s wrong with me?
15. I wish I were somewhere else.
16. I can’t get things together
17. I hate myself.
18. I’m worthless.
19. I wish I could just disappear
20. What’s the matter with me?
21. I’m a loser
22. My life is a mess.
23. I’m a failure
24. I’ll never make it.
25. I feel so helpless.
26. Something has to change.
27. There must be something wrong with me.
28. My future is bleak.
29. It’s just not worth it.
30. I can’t finish anything
If a person always thinks these way, then it will reflect on his/her actions which can lead to self-destruction.
4. Positive thoughts
These thoughts consist of:
Love
happiness
serenity
thoughtfullness
courage
caring
hardworking
loyalty
After the lecture, we went to the meditation room. I felt the silence instantly as I sat in the white chair. I saw some BK members meditating already and at first, I’m really having a hard time to focus as Sister Tims instructed me to look at the middle point of the BK symbol which looks like this.
She then played 2 meditation songs and I automatically focused on the words of the song.
I am at the first level stage of meditation where I still need to have music as background. Sister Tims told me that as soon as I learn the technique, she will remove the music and will meditate in pure silence. The experience is so great that I felt lightheaded after the meditation session. Though I have to admit there are times wherein I lose focus and my thought tends to drift from other things, I am finally getting the hang of it.
Looking forward to my Day 3 class.
