To reach our goals, we need a clear objective, the zeal and tenacity to pursue it, a well-thought-out plan to do so, as well as disciplined and persistent efforts. Self-help books provide a variety of tactics and procedures for accomplishing our goals.
When we make goals for ourselves, we are acknowledging that there is a gap between where we are now and where we would like to be in the future. Our subsequent planning and work are intended to close the gap between where we are now and where we want to be.
We need knowledge, training, and the other resources required to accomplish our goal when it comes to career or material goals, such learning a new skill or purchasing a home.Most of the time, we can plainly see where we fall short and how close we are to achieving our goal.
Yet the method of obtaining our goal is a little different when it comes to spiritual self-improvement. This is so because when we strive to improve ourselves, we don’t truly want to change who we are. Just going back to our original greatness.
First, acknowledging and accepting the notion that we are souls rather than bodies is helpful. The sentient energy that breathes life into the body is known as the soul. The soul, which thinks, perceives, hears, and expresses itself through the physical medium of the body, is the source of consciousness. The soul is inherently unadulterated, tranquil, and loving. Our flaws are acquired characteristics that do not define who we are or belong to us.
Hence, striving to improve oneself is really an effort to return to one’s original self. Our defects are first extremely obvious to us and to others, but we must recognize them for what they are: I’m not who I am like this. I was created perfect.
Let’s say I wanted to be free from anger, which I know has given me and others great pain, damaged my relationships, and robbed me of peace of mind, then I need to remind myself that I am originally a soul and peace is my innate quality.
Any goal which involves purification of the soul is about moving to a higher level of consciousness, whereby we see ourselves and others in a new, better way. The easy method to bring about this shift is to focus on our original goodness.
I do not have to “become” peaceful; I am peaceful, as that is my natural state of being. When I regularly remember this, with conviction, I begin to experience my truth – that I really am peaceful – and anger feels like an unnatural and uncomfortable state of being. I detach myself from the anger, which now feels alien to me. The longer and deeper I think of and meditate on my innate peace, the more I experience it. My consciousness is coloured by this experience, and that is then reflected in my speech and behaviour, which become peaceful. Anger gradually fades away and vanishes eventually.
If I tell myself that ‘I want to be peaceful’, or ‘I will try to be peaceful’, I am essentially reinforcing the belief that I am not peaceful at present. That may appear to be the case superficially, if I look only at my behaviour. But the deeper reality is that the behaviour is an aberration, based on wrong ideas I have created or picked up from others. Peace is my intrinsic quality. Accepting this creates a foundation for a new – and true – belief about the self, which in turn influences my thoughts and behaviour.
The key is to ‘be’ what we aim to become, rather than just wanting or trying to be that. By this method we easily regain access to the purity, courage, compassion, and other treasures that lie within us.
B.K. Asha is Director of the Brahma Kumaris’ Om Shanti Retreat Centre, Distt. Gurugram, Haryana.
