DHARMIC LIVING

Dharma is the law of right living. Unless you live by your own internal standards you can never be happy. When you bend the rules you reduce your chances for true, pure happiness. 'Flexibility is bending rules without breaking them’, proclaims a smart hoarding, showing a gymnast’s impossible stretch. It all depends on what your internal monitor will allow.

LEAVING A LEGACY

We all fear extinction. So we seek to leave a legacy that will endure, a footprint, which will leave the world a better, happier, place. To be born a man/woman, is a privilege, let us thank God for this gift of life.

Affirmations for Social Bonding

I have a harmonious relationship with most of the people I meet. I am lovable and love others.

 I enjoy the pleasure and happiness of others. I am conscious of the metta bhavana (joy in the happiness of others) and consciously cultivate it.

 I look for what is positive in others.

 I consider most situations to be learning experiences.

 I make others feel comfortable.

 I am aware of the needs of others to be appreciated and I make it the basis of my relationships.

 I am sincere.

 I express negative emotions in as non-destructive a way as possible.

 I draw a magic circle around those who interact with me, to include in safety and affection all those who touch my life.

Life Enhancing Experiences

· Receiving affirmations from significant others.

· Going on a holiday with loved ones.

· Enjoying nature.

· Completing a task to your satisfaction.

· Overcoming obstacles.

· Being loved.

· Doing something anonymously for others.

· Acting courageously.

• Sitting enveloped in silence.

Life Destroying Experiences

· Fear of losing your job.

• Anxiety about not being able to keep up with your peers.

• Working every day so long and so hard that you are barely able to think.

• Working in a hostile atmosphere where there is competition.

• Receiving discounts from those you love.

• Betrayal.

• Feeling trapped.

• Feeling abandoned.

Raudra (Hostility) Rasa

People with hostile personalities have five times the death rate before the age of fifty than people who are less prone to these negative emotions. Cardiologist Cleyer Freidman suggests that time-pressure is at the core of the hostility, as is a sense of insecurity. Both fuel this feeling.

Bheebatsa (Abhorrence) Rasa

Repugnance, disgust and hatred of anything characterise this emotion. This fills you with negativity and an obsession with the object or person. If such a feeling attacks you, like jealousy, acknowledge it and retreat from it as rapidly as possible. To cultivate dispassion towards the event or person requires practice. For the time being avoid such toxic people or situations.

Bhayanaka (Fear) Rasa

Fear is a negative energy. It saps your ability to act. Unless you confront it, it follows you like a shadow. Fear and the consequent anxiety cause your courage to leak out of the system like a leaking gas pipeline. It is characterised by the inability to act. The body is full of stress chemicals and time is wasted on depressed and negative self-talk. It pollutes the most powerful mind field.