Sundays With Buddha

 

Week 25


The mind is everything. What you think you become.

                                                                                        --Buddha


I think most of us have heard this notion "what you think, you become", especially after the wave of popularity of the book The Secret. While I don't necessarily take stock in everything that this book had to offer, ie: all of the focus on money and the material, I do seriously take stock in the belief that our thoughts are things,  and we have the power to create greatness or failure with our thoughts.

I know you've heard instances where a parent has driven it into a child that they would never amount to anything,  or husbands with wives, boyfriends with girlfriends or vice versa, even in platonic relationships. And, while not all cases result in those individuals not becoming successful at their endeavors, a great many of them very likely did not, all based on the fact that they believed what they were told...by someone else. If they heard it every day, they thought about it every day and they became what they believed.

Now, think about any story you might have heard about the opposite occurring; something possibly bordering on the impossible--the miraculous. Someone believing in themselves so faithfully that they overcame all odds and truly became what they believed they could. A girl gets attacked by a shark, but becomes a surfing champion. Or even the super rich and famous like Oprah or Jim Carrey, who both grew up impoverished but believed in themselves even though others may not have. They continued to work hard to strive to be what they believed they could be.

I'm not suggesting you have to be rich to be happy, but your hopes and dreams are no less important than theirs. This is just an extraordinary example of what can be accomplished with faith and perseverance.  No, you don't merely have to strive for riches to accomplish happiness. I say 'merely' because there is so much more to existence than that. Wealth is not the ultimate prize. Knowing yourself and finding your truth is the prize. Get that in order, and all the other riches will fall into place, whatever those might be for you.

Believe in yourself. Believe in what you want. See it in that miracle of an imagination of yours. Know that you deserve it. Know that you can accomplish it. Know that whatever you want to be, you can become.

I wish you good luck in all of your endeavors.

Namaste

Nanette