Turning over a new leaf

I'm sure you've heard this phrase before. What does it mean to you exactly? Turning over a new leaf means living life in a different way, changing your attitude - for the better. Many times in life we seem set in our ways and we know that there exists a better way of doing things, a better way of living and a better way of interacting with others. However, we think to ourselves that we don't always have to do good and be good because others are not doing it. We do not always have to do what others want us to because we are independent, we are our own people and we will do as we please. But that is not entirely true. We have to remember that whatever we do in life, good and bad, Kanha is ALWAYS seeing us and ALWAYS watching us. He knows if we do something wrong and no one else sees it. He knows if we do something good and no one else sees it. He knows our thoughts, our innermost fears and secrets. And He loves us because of it all. He will always love us and we have to remember that and trust in Him always. Let us all try to change our attitudes for the better in the future. Let us make Him proud and be closer to the good people He wants us to be. Jai Shri Krishna!

Trying again

Someone once told me that there are two kinds of people in life - those who keep trying and those who fail. Sometimes bad things happen to us, we fail at things we really wanted to achieve. We find ourselves feeling hurt and sad and upset about things that we should have been happy about. Sometimes we try and reach out to people and over and over again we find ourselves getting hurt and feeling upset. At certain times people decide to throw in the towel and stop doing good, stop trying, stop being good. They may turn to negative and bad influences. They may do things that they never thought they would have and they may hurt others in an attempt to make themselves feel better. However, religious scriptures emphasise that even if we do not feel that our good work is having rewards now and we keep getting hurt or abused or upset, we should continue to do good. Because, in the end it is not only what happens in the present life that matters but our good deeds add up over all of our lifetimes and bad things happening to us now may be the result of us doing something wrong in the past. Kanha knows it all and He records everything that we do. He insists on us being held accountable for all our deeds - good and bad and so if we persevere and continue to do good, He will bless us. Let us continue to do good even if we feel that our labours are not being rewarded immediately. Jai Shri Krishna!

Self-soothing

I first heard the term self-soothing on a tv show talking about mothers training their babies to self-soothe. I was horrified by the idea of leaving an infant to cry himself/herself out without any intervention on the part of the parents or an adult or anyone to soothe the crying child. How could someone be so horrible to leave a baby crying and not feel like rushing to go pick him/her up? As I got older I realised that the technique, though not necessarily kind to babies, would do well for us adults. We should learn to self-soothe. But in our case we do not really self-soothe. Instead we can talk to Kanha when we are upset. Many times we get the habit of calling a person to help us feel better - a relative, friend, significant other. However, I have found that becoming too dependent on other persons is not really the best course of action. Instead, we should learn to talk to Kanha and ask Him to help us to feel better. Singing prayers and bhajans also help. The important thing is to look deep inside and find peace with yourself. Kanha will show us the way to feel better. We just have to trust in Him. Jai Shri Krishna!

We can depend on Kanha

Kanha is the one we can depend on no matter what. He always takes care of us and keeps us safe. He helps us to do what is right and He shows us the right path. However, we may sometimes be led astray if we do not take the time to listen to Him. We should remember that going with our inner instincts is the best course of action on things. This is how He talks to us - by using those instincts. He wants us to know what is right and what is wrong. But He also gives us room to make the decisions for ourselves. We have to learn to discern what we should do and what we shouldn't. But sometimes it is a harder task than it seems. Finding out what is right takes some time and we have to learn to truly pray about things and open our hearts to His answers. Jai Shri Krishna!

How do you talk to Kanha?

As a young child growing up we are all taught manners and the proper way to speak to people in our lives. There is a different tone that should be used with those in authority and we can be more relaxed with peers or siblings. In a work setting when we speak to superiors we do so in a different manner than we would speak to our colleagues. And even so, when we speak to our colleagues in a meeting, it is different than when we speak to them in the lunchroom. There is a proper way to speak in general and we learn that also. Kanha is different. He is God. He is in our lives all the time and He sees how we relate to everyone else in our lives. He sees the good and the bad and He also notes how we talk to Him during the day. We may say things to Him in passing but we should remember to always treat Him with respect and of course, everyone else in our lives also. Respect is a major thing that people sometimes do not understand the value of until they are themselves disrespected and then they feel hurt and upset and wish to know what went wrong and why. Kanha is God. He is the number one person in our lives and He should always be our priority. He takes care of us no matter what happens in life and He always keeps us safe. We should make an effort to speak to Him in a nice and respectful manner at all times. Even though I keep saying that He is our friend, the truth is that we should also make an attempt to be respectful to every single person in our lives all the time. Jai Shri Krishna!

Kanha helps us to deal with bad as well as good

Kanha is with us at all times. We have to remember that. When we begin to forget it, then we also start to make mistakes in our lives and we begin to feel alone. Kanha never leaves us to be lonely or alone. He always is with us. He knows what is best for us and He sends us those things. He sends us trials and hiccups in our lives also. But, He does it to make us stronger. He knows exactly what we can bear and what we cannot and He will only send us as much as we can bear. And we should not think of this in a negative way - He knows how much happiness we can take and how much sorrow we can take also. He loves us and He will always love us, no matter what happens. He always takes us into His arms and comforts us. How about we try to remember Him when we are happy and thank Him and when we are sad, we can ask for His comfort instead of saying negative things to Him. Jai Shri Krishna!

Living our lives without regrets

It seems like a difficult thing to do - we can all think of any number of things that happened to us in our lives that we regret. However, the truth is that every single occurrence and experience that Kanha sent to us was planned by Him to make us who we are and who we will be in the future. He wants us to look at every thing that happened in our past with discerning eyes and see where we went wrong and where we did the right thing. Kanha loves us unconditionally and as our devotion becomes stronger we will learn to trust Him in all things and even when bad things happen, it is because He wanted us to learn from them to forestall some even worse thing from happening to us. Kanha's goal is to keep us safe and to help us to become better people than we already are. He sends persons into our lives for reasons, seasons or lifetimes. He sends situations for us to deal with to bring us out of our comfort zones and to help us to become stronger and more aware of the world around us. He shelters us from bigger pains with smaller ones because sometimes some pain is necessary to learn a lesson. Kanha knows what is in store for us in the future and He knows how to take care of us. We have to learn to trust Him though. Let us all make an effort to try to live the rest of our lives without regrets and to learn the lessons Kanha wanted us to learn from the things that happen to us. Do you see the way that Kanha is looking at us in the picture I chose today? He is trying to say to us many different things - among them, that He loves us, that everything will be alright in the end and that we should trust in Him. Jai Shri Krishna!