While at work today, I had a profound sense of energy that allowed me to serve customers free of obstruction from negative thoughts. It was a nonstop 9 hour shift on my feet and I did not get to eat lunch until a few hours past my normal time.
At one point the business of the day was so entirely overwhelming that my nervous system was on fire, I remember telling my friend jokingly that I think my brain was bleeding. I told him, I don't think a normal person can handle this level of activity. And I wasn't saying that to gloat because I was suffering from the physical and mental overload of being engaged in multiple business operations at once. But to save face I stopped talking about it, I didn't want to get caught in the trap of complaining.
Instead, I remembered a chapter from AoY (Autobiography of a Yogi). I barley remember it, but the way my memory recalls... There was some grand event where Yogananda was forced to serve others and was made extremely exhausted. Somehow the idea that, God is in control- give everything to God crossed my mind during this interesting moment of recollection. I remember Yogananda surrendering his exhaustion to God and continuing in his endeavors. Next thing I know, I am rocking and rolling with nonstop productivity. I probably reached my capacity but I realized as well I was giving it my best. Mistakes might happen, but give it your best anyway. Let the rest sort itself out.
By the end of my shift, 30 minutes past, finally things were coming to a calm. I looked in the now empty store and said, "thank you God." I felt and understood everything that happened today was made possibly by God. This feeling alone, praising the Lord as the provider, it was transcendental.
Anyways... Here's todays message:
When one praises the beauty of God, one's soul is filled with bliss.
Bowl of Saki, April 1, by Hazrat Inayat Khan
Commentary by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan:
"Why does God need praise from me? Who am I that I should offer Him praise?" True, we can never praise Him enough; never can our praise be sufficient, but our souls are blessed with the impression of the Glory of God whenever we praise Him. The soul could praise God every moment and yet wanting to praise Him yet more, it is constantly hungering and thirsting to find the Beauty and Perfection of God. By the praise of God the soul is filled with bliss; even to utter the name of God is a blessing that can fill the soul with light, joy and happiness as nothing else can do.
from
https://wahiduddin.net/mv2/archives/prayer.htm
The only secret of attaining happiness is to learn how to appreciate our privileges in life. If we cultivate that sense of appreciation we shall be thankful, we shall be contented and every moment we shall offer our thanks to God, for His gifts are many and enormous. When we do not see them it is because our wants cover our eyes from seeing all with which we are blessed by Providence. No meditation, no study, nothing can help in that direction, except one thing, and that is to keep our eyes open to appreciate every little privilege in life, to admire every glimpse of beauty that comes before us, being thankful for every little love, kindness or affection shown to us by young or old, rich or poor, wise or foolish. In this way, continually developing the faculty of appreciating life and devoting it to thanksgiving, we arrive at a bliss which no words can explain, a bliss which is beyond imagination: the bliss that we find ourselves having already entered the kingdom of God.
from
https://wahiduddin.net/mv2/VIII/VIII_2_39.htm
