What truth will our life story demonstrate?
We can choose what truth our life story will demonstrate: what is possible with God or what is inevitable without him. Our life is defined [...]
Hold a mirror to ourselves and feel satisfied
If we don't hold a mirror to ourselves, we may end up having no inclination or even an aversion to holding a mirror to ourselves. [...]
Is fear a character defect
Suppose we have a fracture in our hand; we don't consider it a character defect but a functional challenge. We deal with it by first [...]
Change the question we ask ourselves
Whenever we are strongly attached to something and we keep doing that thing, even though we have decided we won't do it, frequently we ask [...]
The mind’s running commentary on our life
Whenever there is a running commentary of an event, say a cricket match, then the event is happening at one place and a live commentary [...]
Are we afraid of looking at ourselves?
Some people who are very bodily conscious and who especially feel that their body is not attractive enough, sometimes are afraid of looking at themselves [...]
Why to identify with villains in scriptures?
Whenever we study scriptures, we tend to identify with the virtuous characters, whether it is Ram or Sita or Hanuman. That's good, but it's also [...]
Jealousy becomes the recipe for unhappiness
The jealous are expert at two things, counting others blessings and discounting their own blessings. Jealousy is such a peculiar vice that when we are [...]
Being aware that we are making assumptions
Making assumptions is not a problem, not being aware that we are making assumptions is a problem. Whenever we make assumptions about people thinking that, [...]
Why we fail in improving ourselves
Why we often fail in our attempts at self-improvement is because we are tricked by our mind into aiming for instant improvement – and then [...]
Might we be narrow-minded?
Narrow-mindedness means to think that what matters to us must matter to everyone else. Most of us, if asked, would not consider ourselves to be [...]
Why we fail in improving ourselves
Why we often fail in our attempts at self-improvement is because we are tricked by our mind into aiming for instant improvement and then we [...]
Might we be fanatics?
We may think of fanatics to be scary-looking monstrous people who self-righteously destroy anyone who opposes them. While that is indeed fanaticism in activity there [...]
Dealing with our inner demons
We are all sometimes urged by impurities, by dark impressions within us. These are colloquially referred to as our 'inner demons.' Sometimes, when trying to [...]
Peace for a bigger war or war for a bigger peace?
Some people think that fighting is bad and seeking peace is good. While that's generally true, why somebody is fighting or seeking peace also matters. [...]
Self-importance or importance of the self?
Self-important people are obsessed with the idea of their own greatness in everything that they do. Their sole concern is that everybody knows and remembers [...]
Two steps to develop inner accountability
When we strive for inner change through purification, it can be a long and laborious journey with many twists, turns, and even u-turns. Sometimes negative [...]
What made us the way we are?
We tend to ascribe to God our life’s starting conditions — our complexion, our birth family and our default disposition. Justifying such an ascription, we [...]
Are we asking God the wrong question?
Suppose we find ourselves impeded, even imprisoned, by some conditioning — say, our mind keeps becoming jealous or angry, despite our best efforts to fight [...]
Can any question be a bad question?
The questioning spirit is good; it shows our eagerness to learn. Still, that doesn’t mean all questions are automatically good. Why not? Some questions are [...]
Who do we seek to be remembered by?
One of our greatest fears is the fear of being forgotten. Why is this such a great fear? Because it plays into another deeper fear: [...]