Day 151 – Taking steps when we can
We are in Slovenia at the moment, taking steps to complete activities on the land we have here, which will be one of the spaces for the Center of Benevolence. Whilst here, we’re doing all we can despite the changing and unpredictable situation with COVID, lockdown restrictions and things changing daily.
Since arriving, I’ve been getting more involved in helping where I can with the activities here. Yesterday, I met a person who had come to help us during the fruit tree plantation drive. He brought the tools and some of the materials and showed us how to plant the trees – a nice bloke. He has his own land here and his center. We talked as he showed me around, and later, we had tea. Our talk was generally about what we’re doing here, our idea for the space, and the center we will be building.
He asked, “How are you managing to do things? What would be your approach?” He had ideas and plans, but COVID had halted them. He said, “How are you doing this when everything is uncertain?” This is where I was able to share one of the lessons I’ve learned from Mohanji and how Mohanji is practically moving all of the activities forward across all platforms.
It’s very practical; simply doing what we can today. Whatever possible we can do, we do without delay. COVID has created a level of uncertainty such that we don’t know what’s coming tomorrow. I shared that we are now not looking at months or years to come; as situations are changing quickly, one is looking at days. What can we do in the coming days – with the resources that we’ve got, with the time that we’ve got, so that at least we’re taking steps forward, even if they’re very, very small steps, something’s happening. It’s progress, and over time it amounts to something much bigger. Plus, it gives us momentum, focus and inspiration, as we can see things are progressing.
As I spoke and shared this, it clicked for him; he lit up and said, “Of course, so simple.” This inspired him. He said many people were simply waiting to see what would happen with the situation and waiting. But, doing what you can today was an excellent way to build momentum. The best step is to do something today. As I mentioned, this itself brings inspiration. Whilst there are many major activities here to progress, for example, the planning for the major constructions, there are some things which we can do on the ground, which we’re planning and we will be doing.
What I shared was an inspiring message for him – to recognize that there’s always something we can do each day within our capacity. Pre-planning, checking everything that needs to be done the day before, even if that includes spending time with family and friends or sleeping – accounting for all so that when the day comes, we’re doing everything we can.
Have a good day!
Day 152 – The tough situations – ‘Knots of life.’
Mohanji records a morning message each day for the 4 am Club, which goes to hundreds of thousands of people across the world. It’s in Malayalam, so sometimes it’s not the easiest to follow, although you can often catch the gist because many English words are placed in sentences, so you can get a rough feel of the subject.
Each day, the topic changes; the topic is given in the morning, and then Mohanji speaks on that topic. The other day, he gave some practical advice, which sounded really good. We asked him what the topic was, and it was on the knots of life. These are the situations which aren’t simple to overcome. They’re persistent, long-lasting, or simply challenging to work with. These situations may be complex in their makeup; maybe there are some relationships or it’s tough, requires some time to handle, or people don’t have the skills or experience to handle them.
As always, I found Mohanji’s approach very practical, and they are as follows:
1) Meet every situation afresh – Every situation is new; there’s a new time, new space, a new configuration of all the events which have come together. That means that what may have worked for us in the past may not work now. It needs a new recipe.
2) Acceptance – acceptance of the situation as it is without distortion, fully accepting it.
3) Consideration – Give proper consideration to all the eventualities, all the possibilities, all the permutations so that we fully understand what we’re handling.
4) Flexibility – Both external and internal flexibility. This aligns well with the message I shared previously from Mohanji’s teachings: “Don’t try to tackle situations but rather tackle yourself.” I recorded this a few days back about responding to situations and the flexibility of our external options.
5) Think fresh – This can also mean consulting with people who know more about the subject than we do, making use of contacts, seeking experts in their field and sometimes putting aside our pride or ego to handle the situation ourselves and look for others who can really help give guidance because the aim is to get things moving forward.
6) Patience – This is the interesting one for me to add to the mix – sometimes you simply have to wait. We may have only been able to do what we can at the time, but we still have to wait patiently because something can’t move or simply because of the nature of the situation. There’s nothing more to be done at that time.
Mohanji said that when there’s very cold weather, there are many things that we can’t do. So it’s best to wait for the time when there’s something better, then we can approach it again.
Today was on handling the knots of life: meeting every situation fresh, accepting situations as they are, giving proper consideration for all eventualities, flexibility for both our external and internal states and the options, thinking fresh, consulting with others and then sometimes simply having patience.
Have a great day ahead!
|| JAI BRAHMARISHI MOHANJI ||
Edited & Published by – Testimonials Team, 14th August 2022
Disclaimer:
The views, opinions, and positions expressed by the authors and those providing comments on these blogs are theirs alone and do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions or positions of Mohanji, Mohanji Foundation, it’s members, employees or any other individual or entity associated with Mohanji or Mohanji Foundation. We make no representations as to accuracy, completeness, timeliness, suitability or validity of any information presented by individual authors and/or commenters on our blogs and will not be liable for any errors, omissions, or delays in this information or any losses, injuries or damages arising from its display or use.
We reserve the right to delete, edit, or alter in any manner we see fit blog entries or comments that we, in our sole discretion, deem to be obscene, offensive, defamatory, threatening, in violation of trademark, copyright or other laws, of an express commercial nature, or otherwise unacceptable.
Mohanji Testimonials team