Time To Reboot, But First Get Recharged
Nayaswami Devarshi
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Nearly everyone has discovered the need to reboot their computer to get rid of problems that are causing the operating system to malfunction. Similarly , it can be very helpful to do the same with our spiritual, mental and physical operating system. A spiritual reboot especially can help us to restart our lives in the most positive way .What are the main problems we are trying to remove, and how do we remove them? The most persistent are bad habits that have crept into our lives.The beginning of the New Year is a significant transition point and an opportunity to install new good habits and qualities into life.
The power of habit can be people's worst enemy or their best friend. Bad habits tend to creep up on people, taking advantage of their busyness, and lack of conscious awareness, and life focus.
Swami Kriyananda wrote as follows: “Psychologically , what happens in any struggle between high aspirations in oneself and one's worldly tendencies is that habit sides with worldliness. Our need is to replace our bad habits with good ones. Good habits, however, yield to a higher power, which is what gives us our true strength. Good habits, to become strongly established, require the use of awareness, energy , and will power. The lack of dedication and focus is the reason that many people make well-meaning New Year's resolutions that often last only one or two days!“ He added that once they become strong, however, these good habits become as easy and natural as brushing one's teeth every day. This is where resolutions, done with focus and attention, can help us. Here are a few suggestions to help New Year's resolutions become wellestablished friends that can help us for the rest of our lives: Keep them simple and focus on positive habits, rather than “I won't do this, I won't do that ...“
Instead of trying to eliminate the habit of eating too much sugar, for example, replace it with the habit of eating healthier foods.
Choose just a few important habits to focus on, rather than a long list.
Focus on at least one spiri tual good habit. I've found that the daily habit of meditation and prayer is the most helpful of all, because it really does reboot the operating system of our brain. Scientific studies of the effect of meditation on the brain show that just 12 minutes of meditation every day , for eight weeks, makes measurable physical changes in the brain that affect one's overall feeling of well-being and happiness.
When the inevitable stumble comes, don't admit failure. Instead, simply tell yourself, “I haven't yet succeeded,“ pick yourself up, and go forward again with your resolution.
Paramhansa Yogananda would ask us to remember that no matter what our trials have been, or how discouraged we are, if we make a continued effort to be better and to succeed, we will find that, being made in the image of God, we are endowed with unlimited power, much stronger than our worst trials, no matter what they may be. So let us make up our minds that we will win, focussing all our concentration on the ceaseless efforts to succeed in the New Year, and we will surely be victorious.
Remember that our past difficulties did not come to crush us but to strengthen our determination to use our limitless divine powers to succeed. God wants us to overcome the difficult tests of life and come back to His home of wisdom.
The power of habit can be people's worst enemy or their best friend. Bad habits tend to creep up on people, taking advantage of their busyness, and lack of conscious awareness, and life focus.
Swami Kriyananda wrote as follows: “Psychologically , what happens in any struggle between high aspirations in oneself and one's worldly tendencies is that habit sides with worldliness. Our need is to replace our bad habits with good ones. Good habits, however, yield to a higher power, which is what gives us our true strength. Good habits, to become strongly established, require the use of awareness, energy , and will power. The lack of dedication and focus is the reason that many people make well-meaning New Year's resolutions that often last only one or two days!“ He added that once they become strong, however, these good habits become as easy and natural as brushing one's teeth every day. This is where resolutions, done with focus and attention, can help us. Here are a few suggestions to help New Year's resolutions become wellestablished friends that can help us for the rest of our lives: Keep them simple and focus on positive habits, rather than “I won't do this, I won't do that ...“
Instead of trying to eliminate the habit of eating too much sugar, for example, replace it with the habit of eating healthier foods.
Choose just a few important habits to focus on, rather than a long list.
Focus on at least one spiri tual good habit. I've found that the daily habit of meditation and prayer is the most helpful of all, because it really does reboot the operating system of our brain. Scientific studies of the effect of meditation on the brain show that just 12 minutes of meditation every day , for eight weeks, makes measurable physical changes in the brain that affect one's overall feeling of well-being and happiness.
When the inevitable stumble comes, don't admit failure. Instead, simply tell yourself, “I haven't yet succeeded,“ pick yourself up, and go forward again with your resolution.
Paramhansa Yogananda would ask us to remember that no matter what our trials have been, or how discouraged we are, if we make a continued effort to be better and to succeed, we will find that, being made in the image of God, we are endowed with unlimited power, much stronger than our worst trials, no matter what they may be. So let us make up our minds that we will win, focussing all our concentration on the ceaseless efforts to succeed in the New Year, and we will surely be victorious.
Remember that our past difficulties did not come to crush us but to strengthen our determination to use our limitless divine powers to succeed. God wants us to overcome the difficult tests of life and come back to His home of wisdom.
