Monday: The more we pursue happiness, the more elusive it becomes. Like trying to nail Jello to a tree, pursuing happiness does not ultimately work. Yes, we can buy pleasure, but pleasure is always short-lived and not the same phenomenon as true happiness.
Tuesday: It is not uncommon for unconscious thoughts, memories, and fears to bubble up into our awareness during meditation. Our instinctive response to such unwanted interruptions is to fight them or indulge them. We should avoid either of these responses.
Wednesday: Many people misunderstand karma, seeing it as a form of divine retribution. Karma is a tendency to experience life according to a definite trajectory. We reinforce this trajectory over lifetimes. Every thought we think, every desire we feel, and every choice we make reinforces our trajectories and adds to our karmic tendencies.
Thursday: The Bhagavad Gita teaches us to do everything for the love of God, bringing all of our attention to the task at hand without being attached to the outcome. Living in this way implies that we must keep a kind of vigilance, continually making the conscious choice to bring our best selves into all circumstances.
Friday: Yogananda tells us, “You don’t know how powerfully your thoughts work in the ether.” Each thought we think is an energetic thread. What this means is that the thoughts we consistently think become the very fabric of our consciousness, that is, our consistent thoughts determine the quality of our lives.
To see the complete passages from this week, click here.
