A lone survivor of a shipwreck prayed fervently for help, but none came. Eventually, he built himself a hut from driftwood to protect himself from the elements. A day later, he came home to find his hut on fire. He was stunned with anger. How could God do this to him, he thought. The very next day a ship came to rescue him. "We saw the smoke," said the rescuers. Please try not to lose heart even in the midst of suffering because God is always at work in our lives.

Allow your pain to become your message!

We all have a past and there is nothing you can do about it. You can't turn back the hands of time. What you can do is take the lessons that you've learned and pass them on to someone else. Your past does not dictate your future. Allow what happened to you in the past to make you a better person. Instead of looking back in your past with regrets, think of what you gained and be willing to use them to make your life better.

Remember that you will not receive a testimony without going through a test. In life, there will always be trials and tribulations but it should allow you to reach a higher level in your life. Everybody has a past or something terrible that has happened to them, but in every situation, you can allow it to break you or make you a better person. Sometimes, it may cause you to make a few detours in life, but your destiny is never tied to your past. You have to just go through it. It will not be an easy one, but I promise you, the journey will be well worth it.

I know some of you right now are wanting to start your own business, go back to school, or do something extraordinary with your life, but you don't do it because you fear that people will find out about your past. So, instead of you letting go of your pain or your past, you stay stuck at a dead-end job because you lack the courage to do what's really in your heart.

What you can do is look your pain or past dead in the face and let it know that you are not afraid of it and acknowledge it for what it is. You will allow yourself to be free to move forward. Holding onto the past will only paralyze you and keep you stuck in the past. You will not be able to write a new chapter in your life until you let go of the old one.

What I have learned that doesn't matter is that you can't be consumed with "they" say and worry about how others view you. At the end of the day, you have to be happy with you and the decisions you make, not the next person. So many people get stuck because they put most of their focus, time and energy on what others think about them instead of being true to themselves. 

What many fail to realize is that it is usually not about you, so don't take it personally. Allow your pain to become your message and share it with the world so that others can have hope and know that they too can live beyond their past and step into their greatness. - LaTersa Blakely.

6 principles of Reiki

• Just for today, I live with an attitude of gratitude
• Just for today, I will not worry
• Just for today, I will not get angry
• Just for today, I will do my work honestly
• Just for today, I will show love and respect for every living thing
• Just for today, I choose love.

"How shall I help the world?"

"By understanding it," said the Master.

"And How shall I understand it?"

"By turning away from it."

"How then shall I serve humanity?"

"By understanding yourself"

Always remember that you belong to no one, and no one belongs to you. Reflect that someday you will suddenly have to leave everything in this world - so make the acquaintanceship of God now. Prepare yourself for the astral journey of death by daily riding in the balloon of God-perception. Through delusion, you are perceiving yourself as a bundle of flesh and bones, which at best is a nest of troubles. Meditate unceasingly that you may quickly behold yourself as the Infinite Essence, free from misery. Cease being a prisoner of the body; using the secret key of Kriya, learn to escape into Spirit. - Lahiri Mahasaya.

That which cannot be thought by the mind, but by which, the mind can think. That which is not seen by the eye, but by which the eye can see. That which cannot be heard by the ear, but by which the ear can hear. Know that alone to be Brahmin, not this which people worship here. - Kena Upanishad | 5-7.

Take this jar full of water. Look into it. Water occupies all the space within the jar, therefore the space in the jar is contained in the water. Now, look at the surface of the water, the reflection of the moon and the stars. That outer space is also contained in the water. The water in the jar and space in the sky are both contained in the space limited by the jar. It is only a play of illusion. In the same way, oneself is in the body and in everything. This is a darshan, direct knowledge as oneself (atman). The space delimited by the jar is hidden by the water which it contains and by the sky which it reflects, in just the same way as the unchanging reality is hidden by vitality. Brahman alone is pure consciousness. In truth, there is no jar, and no jar-space, no embodied soul, nor nature.

The Great Invocation.

From the point of light within the mind of God, let light stream forth into the minds of men. Let light descend on earth.

From the point of love within the heart of God, let love stream forth into the hearts of men. May (God) consciousness return to earth.

From the centre where the will of God is known, let the purpose guide the little wills of men - The purpose which the Masters know and serve.

From the centre which we call the race of men, let the plan of love and light work out and may it seal the door where evil dwells.

Let light, love and peace restore the plan on earth.

A great King summoned his wise men. He ordered them, "Create for me a saying that will stabilise my inner state. When I am unhappy it will bring me joy, and when I am happy it will remind me of sadness. It cannot be too long, as I want to keep it with me always." The wise men consulted and contemplated deeply the King's command. Finally, they returned to the King bearing a small box. In it was a ring, and inside the ring was inscribed the following words: "this too shall pass" - Attar.

Soon after the passing away of Rabbi Mokshe, Rabbi Mendel of Kotyk asked one of his disciples, "What did your Master give the greatest importance to?" The disciple gave it a moment's reflection, then said, "To whatever he happened to be doing at the moment."

It intrigued the congregation to see their Rabbi disappear each week on the eve of the Sabbath. They suspected he was secretly meeting the almighty, so they deputed one of their number to follow him. This is what the man saw: the Rabbi disguised himself in peasant clothes and served a paralyzed gentile woman in her cottage, cleaning out the room and preparing a Sabbath meal for her. When the spy got back, the congregation asked, "Where did the Rabbi go? Did he ascend to heaven?" "No" the man replied, "He went even higher."

An efficiency expert was making his report to Henry Ford. "As you will see, Sir, the report is highly favourable, except for that man down the hall. Every time I pass by he's sitting with his feet on his desk. He's wasting your money." Said Ford, "That man once had an idea that earned us a fortune. At that time I believe his feet were exactly where they are now".

A Sufi saint set out on a pilgrimage to Mecca. On the outskirts of the city, he lay down by the road, exhausted from his journey. He had barely fallen asleep when he was brusquely awakened by an irate pilgrim. "This is the time when all believers bow their heads towards Mecca and you have your feet pointing towards the holy shrine. What sort of Muslim are you?" The Sufi did not move, he merely opened his eyes and said, "Brother, would you please do me the favor of placing my feet where they won't be pointing to the Lord?"

An old pilgrim was making his way to the Himalayan mountains in the bitter cold of winter when it began to rain. An innkeeper said to him, "How will you ever get there in this kind of weather, my good man?" The old man answered cheerfully, "My heart got there first, so it's easy for the rest of me to follow."

Disciple: "What's the difference between knowledge and enlightenment?"

Master: "When you have knowledge, you use a torch to show the way. When enlightened, you become a torch."

A very rich industrialist was horrified one day to find a fisherman lying lazily beside his boat, smoking a pipe. 'Why aren't you out fishing?' asked the industrialist. 'because I have caught enough fish for the day', said the fisherman. 'Why don't you catch some more?' ' What would I do with them?' 'You could earn more money', said the businessman. 'With that, you could have a motor attached to your boat and then go into deeper waters and catch more fish. Then you would make enough money to buy bigger and better nets. These would bring you more fish and more money. Soon you would be able to buy 1 or 2 more boats, even a fleet of them. Then you would be a rich man like me!' 'What would I do then?' 'Why then you could really enjoy life.' 'What do you think I am doing right now?'

A Sufi master was sitting quietly when a group of men came to punish him for wrongs he was accused of committing. The men rained blows on the Sufi master, hitting him a 1,000 times. Yet the Sufi master remained silent, and no sign of pain appeared on his face. After they had finished beating him, the men took the Sufi master to the court. The judge asked: "How did you suffer no pain when you were beaten?" The Sufi master replied: "When the men were raining blows on me, my beloved wife was looking on. Her love made the pain seem easier. Then I thought that, if the loving gaze of a human being can ease pain, the loving gaze of God can eliminate pain altogether." - Nasir al-din (1201-'74), Persia.

A Zen story tells of two monks, who were watching a flag blow in the wind. One monk said, "The flag is moving." The other monk said, "No, the wind is moving." A Zen master happened to be passing by and he told them, "Not the wind, nor the flag, the mind is moving".

At night, when you retire to sleep, feel that you are entering the green-room after the scene, but with the dress of your role on. For perhaps the role is not yet over and you have not yet been permitted to take the dress off. Perhaps, you have to make another entrance the next morning. Do not worry about that. Place yourself fully at His Disposal. He knows. He has written the play and He knows how it will end and how it will go on. Yours is but to act and retire."- Atharva Veda.

This being human is a guest house. Every morning is a new arrival. A joy, a depression, a meanness, some momentary awareness comes as an unexpected visitor. Welcome and entertain them all. Treat each guest honorably. The dark thought, the shame, the malice, meet them at the door laughing and invite them in. Be grateful for whoever comes, because each has been sent as a guide from beyond. - Rumi.

He, the infinite and the absolute, incarnates himself and descends to earth from time to time to vanquish evil (imbalance/ignorance), re-establish the divinity and uphold the cosmic principles. He has made himself perceptible as lord Krishna, Gautam Buddha, Jesus Christ, Hazrat Mohammad, Guru Nanak, and many more divine masters and eventually, various religions have also come into being. To merge all these religions into one, he has then manifested himself as sai and evinced the ultimate truth. We are one, God is one. - Lord Shirdi Sai Baba.