Spiritual Laws Of Sucess Essay, Research Paper
Following the Seven Spiritual Laws of Success has made me the person that I am today. The laws that we have followed have been the Law of Pure Potentiality, the Law of Giving, the Law of Karma or Cause and Effect, the Law of Least Effort, the Law of Intention and Desire, the Law of Detachment, and the Law of Dharma or Purpose in Life. These laws have taught me that success is not a destination it is a journey. They have taught me that true success is the unfolding of the divinity within us. And following these steps has helped me to find success with in myself.
Applying the first step in the Law of Pure Potentiality was very difficult for me because I live on campus. It was very difficult for me to meditate once a day, let alone twice a day. The only time I was able to, was in the morning when the rest of my roommates were sleeping. I wake up 15 minutes early, wash my face so that I do not fall back to sleep and then I go back into my room and sit on my bed to try and meditate. This works like 4 times a week because I am usually too tired and fall back to sleep. The days that I can stay awake and meditate I feel much happier with my self. It usually clears my head and makes it seem like I have no worries. Everyday I follow the second step of the Law of Pure Potentiality. I commune with nature. Most days I just sit in the green and watch the leaves blow around, I usually pick out one particular leaf and watch where it goes. I follow the leaf on its journey, it is really amazing. Once a week I try to go to Verona Park and stand on the bridge over the pond and watch the water flow and the geese and ducks swim. My time in the park and in the green really mellows me out because I see how free the animals and the plants and the water live and realize all my worries in the long run are not really important. It makes me see how simple life really is. The third step in the Law of Pure Potentiality was the most difficult to obey, it still is extremely difficult for me. All my life for some reason I have been judgmental, I always made comments on others clothes or their demeanor. Not always in a negative way, usually I am just stating things that I have noticed. It is like second nature to me especially because my family and friends are the same way. After learning about this law and discussing it I noticed how much I actually do it. Everyday I catch myself going to make comments. I usually I stop myself before I speak, I do not always though. It is very difficult for me, it upsets me a lot when I am judgmental. I have gotten much better than I was. I notice how I am not judging where in the past I normally would.
The Law of Giving steps are not as difficult for me to follow as the Law of Pure Potentiality. The first step is the hardest for me. I do not always remember to bring a gift wherever I go, and sometimes I feel like it is inappropriate, that others will think that I am weird. Like when I am going to someone that I do not know that well’s house for a short time, and when I go to my boyfriends’ house because I go there so often I think they would think it was strange that I was always bringing gifts. Although, when I go to friends houses for dinner or for overnight I do bring a gift, like cookies, chips, or soda. Something small that they would appreciate and actually use. I have always done that because that is what my mother taught me to do, out of courtesy. The second step of the Law of Giving is not that difficult because who doesn’t like gifts. Sometimes I get shy and have trouble accepting them but most of the time I do not have a problem. Accepting the gifts of nature is not hard for me to do because I always stop and look and appreciate how lucky I am to be where I am and how lucky I am to know how beautiful that life is. The third step of the Law of Giving I do every night before I go to bed. I do this through my relationship with God. When I pray at night I pray that everyone that I have met and that I know will be happy and healthy. That is how I follow this law, I think that it is a good way, and the best way for me to put this law into action.
The three steps that I must follow when putting the Law of Karma into action I do all in one step. When I make a choice, I stop and ask myself what the consequences of my actions will bring and I ask for guidance to help me come the decision that is right for me and right for all those that will be affected by my choice. For major choices doing all of these steps is not difficult for me. For example, when I had to make the decision of whether or not to quit my job at the beauty salon that worked at because of an argument with my boss. My initial reaction to the argument was to quit on the spot because I had another job that would give me more hours if I needed them and because I did not need the additional stress that it was causing me. Then I stopped and thought about the choice that I would be making. I thought about what would happen to me if I quit and how it would affect the other people that I worked for. I thought about how I genuinely enjoyed the job and the people that I worked with, and how I would miss the experience. Then I thought about how quitting would not only be hurting my boss, who I was angry with, but it would also hurt everyone else that worked there. I realized that this decision, like most decisions, would not only be affecting me. Then I imagined what it would be like not working there any longer and I became upset because I knew deep down that it would not be the right thing for me to do especially if I did it that abruptly. The time I spent thinking about quitting also lessened the severity of the argument and I realized that such a silly disagreement was no reason to quit a job over. The time that I spent looking a the consequences of my actions made me in the end decide that I should not quit, and since that situation I have seen more and more how detrimental it would have been if I had. If I had not followed these steps I would have made a big mistake. These steps are easy to follow on major decisions like me quitting my job, they are very difficult to follow for miniscule decisions like what time I should go to the cafeteria for dinner. It seems like a waste of time for me to sit and think about what might happen if I go at 5:00 as opposed to going at 6:00. It is also difficult for me to make the first step of even realizing that I am making a choice. Such small decisions are so commonplace and happen so often that I do not even notice that they are happening. My lifestyle is so hurried and rushed that it is nearly impossible for me to see them. I am hoping that in the future I will be able to stop and notice these decisions that I make every day and apply this law to these decisions. After learning and acting on this law I have seen that its is really true. One day in class Professor Diab asked us to help her do her mailing lists because she could not do it alone. She told us that it if we helped her that something similar would happen to us because of this law. She also said it would not come to us or we would not be able to see it if we are looking for it, so I completely blocked it out of my mind. Late that night my friends and I went to Dunkin Donuts for a late night snack. We were all very hungry but since we are poor college students we were very limited on what we could get. When we order our food the cashier told us we could get as much as we wanted. She gave us 60 free munchins, 4 free drinks, and 4 free donuts, for no reason. It was the repayment of helping out Professor Diab. Like this law teaches, what you sow is what you reap. What goes around comes around. I helped out my teacher and in turn the woman at Dunkin Donuts helped us out.
Putting the Law of Least Effort into effect has been extremely difficult for me to do. I am a very strong-minded person; it is very hard for me to accept the views of other people. Every person in my family is always right all the time. We all have trouble admitting to being wrong. The first step of practicing acceptance and the last step of practicing defenselessness are the most difficult for me. In many situations in the past I have gotten into heated arguments with people whose view differed from mine, and I also get defensive when people say that I am wrong. I always defend my views because I do not want to seem like I do not know what I am talking about. I have been doing my best to follow these steps. Now when people disagree with me I listen to their views and accept that they feel differently than I do. When people question my views I do not get defensive I just tell them that they have their own views and that I have my own. Through this law I have learned and seen that when I do not accept other people’s views that I am just hurting myself by struggling with them. After I accept situations and things for what they are I accept responsibility for my actions in these situations. I can now see that in what may first appear to be a problem is an opportunity in disguise. For example, me failing the financial accounting course that I am taking at first seems to be a big problem in that it is bringing down my grades and that I had previously thought that I wanted to become an accountant. But after practicing this law I have realized that it is a blessing in disguise because it has enabled me to see that becoming an account is not the best career for me. Failing this course is forcing me look at other possible occupations that I could have and that I will be much happier in. Me practicing defenselessness has changed me a great deal. In remaining open to different points of view and listening to others instead of defending myself I have seen and learned so much. Using this law has taught me how to listen and how not to just hear people when we speak.
I began applying the Law of Intention and Desire in class. I made a list of my desires. I carry it around with me everyday, I keep it in the back pocket of my pants. I look at this sheet of paper when I wake up in the morning and before I go to bed at night. On this list are things like how I want to do well in school and how I want my father to be proud of me, and how when I get older I want to be happily married with a family. I believe in fate and I have accepted the fact that when things do not appear to be going my way that there is a reason for it and that there is a greater picture that I just do not see where things are working out. This law has made me accept things and happenings for what they are and that my future is what hI make of it through my intentions and desires. For example, I know that if my boyfriend I are to break up that there is greater reason for it. That the ending of our relationship will not mean that I am destined to be alone for the rest of my life, it will just mean that I not meant to be with him and that breaking up with him is allowing me to date other people. And in dating other people I will some day find my soul mate. I have surrendered all of my desires to the womb of creation knowing that the cosmic plan has designs for me much grander then even those I have conceived. I now focus on present-moment awareness not allowing my worries of the future consume my life.
The first step in Law of Detachment teaches me to participate in everything with detached involvement. I have had to accept the fact that I do not have the answer to everything, and that in attempting to find the answers creates additional problems. I have brought this step into every aspect of my life. I have used this step to help with my classes. Not following this step is shown when I try to make an answer on my math homework work. When I used to do this, a different problem will be on a test and because I forced the answer to work on the homework I am unable to figure it out the correct answer. By accepting that I do not know the answers every thing the solutions to the problem are able to emerge out of the problem with out me noticing. Bringing me to the second step of the Law of Detachment. The more uncertain that things seem to be the more secure I will feel because I now am comfortable with uncertainty. Getting into this lifestyle has made me able experience all the adventure and mystery in life. I am no longer scared of what is going to happen I accept that I do not know and I go with the flow. By no longer having to worry about having the answer and definitions of life I have found security in the fact that I do not know what is going to happen and that the answers will find me.
The steps needed to be followed to put the Law of Dharma or Purpose in Life into action have taught me many things. By following the first step I have nurtured my soul, and my inner being. Nurturing myself has brought out and made me see all of the beautiful talents that I possess that set me apart from others. This realization has led me to the next step. After I followed the first step and found my talents I wrote them down on a piece of paper. I keep this paper with me at all times because there are times when I will see another talent that I possess that I have not previously seen. For example, when I look into myself I saw that I had the talent of being a nurturing person along with other talents. I did not have on the list that I have the talent of having the ability to stay true to myself and that I do not buckle under peer pressure. I realized this when I was at a party and a group of people wanted me to do shrooms with them. They were very persistent in getting me to do it. They would not leave me alone it got to the point where they were insulting me for not doing it, by saying I was a baby and not a real friend. It was something right out of a TV movie. I never gave in though I repeatedly said no and turned them down and eventually I left the party and said you guys are not worth me knowing because they were so completely not accepting the fact that I did not want to do the drugs. Afterwards I thought about what had happened I realized there are many people that I know that would not have done the same thing in that situation. And I was proud of myself, I realized that this was another talent that I possessed. I took out my paper while no one was looking and added it to my list. I use this list and the acknowledgement of these talents to help others. I know that when others are in a similar situation I will defend them and their views. Doing this, using my talents to help others makes me feel very good about myself. I now have moved on to the third step of the Law of Dharma or Purpose in Life. I ask myself everyday How I can help others. I have realized that the answers to this question will help me to serve my fellow human beings with love. And with helping my fellow human beings with love I am in turn helping myself with love.
These steps have helped me begin to find the divinity with in myself, or find success. I have not fully found myself because I have not been able to use or understand these laws completely. They have been very difficult for me to follow because they are asking me to change my life completely. I have started to slowly implement them and take a good amount of time on each law hoping that putting forth a great deal of effort will make them easier to accomplish. Through practice and meditation I think that I will become more comfortable with these laws to the point where I do not even notice that I am following them. When this class ends I will not stop using these laws, I have realized the error in my ways. I believe that following these laws will bring me to true happiness and success.