• by Valerie Joy King • It’s vital to remember how powerful our thoughts are and how much we influence others just by the way we think about them. If we’re having difficulty with another person, it’s an incredibly powerful thing to visualize their positive attributes and see them in all the light they can potentially manifest.
In reality, whatever we think about another person can cause that person to reflect those thoughts back to us. If we’re holding negative thoughts of another, we’re going to strengthen those images. Yet, the beauty of it is that if we see them in a positive light, we help that light expand and grow in them. This is the gift of silent compassionate communication we can offer all the time.
There are many tools to aid your practice of compassionate communication. Some of these work from the outside in, and others work from the inside out. This is what Yogananda called the inner and outer path of Self-realization.
A good technique of meditation such as Kriya Yoga works from the inside, clearing out our personal karmic seeds and subconscious energies. As we practice, we lift these energies up into the light of consciousness, exchanging them with the pure life force of Spirit.
The other way of practicing is from the outside in, finding tools to use during everyday life. For example, before the thought of worry or frustration turns into something big, try to catch it. If you can be aware of it, sit with it and offer it up to Spirit. It’s like catching the mosquito before it bites, or a weed before it becomes bigger and stronger. You can nip it in the bud.
The ancient yogis state that if you make a habit of always speaking truthfully, your words become imbued with spiritual power. What is truth? Paramahansa Yogananda said, “Don’t speak unpleasant words even if true,” so there is a difference between the truth and the facts.
The truth is: You are an immortal soul. You are not this body; you are not this mind. Speaking truth means communicating in ways that strengthen those truths, those realizations, in yourself and others. That is the ultimate Truth.
