What is the simplest action one can do daily to grow spiritually? Part 2

‘Kindness is the gift of loaning someone your strength instead of reminding them of their weakness’. We at a lot of times in our lives end up manipulating others in to what we think is the best or what we want. Unknowingly we may land up doing more harm than good to self, the person as well as the situation. Purity of intent cognises the gift of the other too and hence is a good starting point for any kind of action. The one simplest action that can be a game turner in our daily life is the ‘Awareness of the purity of our Intent’ in each situation. It’s a two-step process • First step -Are we really aware of our intent in each situation? Is that intent free of the HAH and also resolves the situation? • Second step -Do we know how to follow that intent into our thoughts, words and actions? What is intent and how it operates in basic structure of our respond/ react existence? We act through the three steps of • Intent – what I feel about the situation • Thoughts-what I am planning to do in the situation as per what I feel • Words and Actions- what I am going to say and do about the situation as per my thoughts about the situation in each and every act of our day-to-day life. The starting point of our actions, i.e. our Intent is actually the bulls’ eye to a win-win scene. The intent is our inherent nature; it arises from the kind of emotions we hold in ourselves. Do we hold an intent to respond to situations or are we reaction happy ones? If we choose response as an intent then the ‘HAH’ become very relevant. Purity of the intent is a powerful practice that one can build easily into the day-to-day life. The rewards are fast and abundant. It’s a journey not a destination. I was amazed to find at one point in my life, since I take myself to be very intelligent, I always had this subtle intent of superiority whenever I was talking to others. I was listening to reply than to understand. Once I became aware of this intent, I started choosing my words and actions carefully so as not to convey superiority of any kind. I sure, am at much more peace inside myself now, than I was ever before when in a conversation. The whole balancing point of my interaction with others has changed. From being very argumentative, I have turned to being more available to the person and the moment now. As a practice, I generally sit at the end of the day and revisit all the scenarios which made me feel at a loss of peace or happiness during the day. I closely look at my intent in the situation. Did I follow my intent of resolving the situation in such a way that it was free of the ‘HAH’ for me as well as the other? Did I follow my intent with matching thoughts, words and actions? Or did I just somewhere loose myself to the toxicity of hurt, abuse and humiliation for either self or the other in the situation? I evaluate my purity of intent and then only roll it in my immediate environment next time. When our intent stems from ‘HAH’ we lose half our power to these emotions. The monkey King Vali in Ramayana could suck half the power of his opponent, thus making it very easy for the opponent to be defeated. When we lose power to these emotions as our intent in the situation- we naturally face difficulty (defeat) than resolution. A pure intent free of the ‘HAH’ mostly empowers the self as well as the other as a responsible human. If we want to use the ‘HAH’ use them consciously not from a space of reaction but from a space of response. Once the intent is pure, the thoughts, words and actions will possibly yield the desired result with us as well as with others. I had read a book on Shiv Sutras and one of the pointers explained was ‘Visham Thyajet’. The ‘Vish’ can be translated as the toxicity of the emotions and thoughts in me. The ‘HAH’ very nicely summarises the ‘Vish’ which we are constantly drinking and expecting the other to cure from it. Try this practically and you will find yourself much more effective in communication and achieving the aim of the communication with self as well as others. Humour, compassion and lightness of the inside are just the side effects of a pure intent keeping things light in us and around us. Purity of intent is the non-judgemental space we can offer to self as well as others.