more from parmahansa yogananda

Here are a few more things that inspire me from his book, "Where there is light".

• Try to do little things in an extraordinary way
• Life has a bright side and a dark side, the world of relativity is composed of light and shadows. If you permit your thoughts to dwell on evil, you yourself will become ugly. Look only for the good in everything so that you absorb the quality of beauty.
• Persons of strong character are usually the happiest. They do not blame others for their troubles. They know that no-one has any power to add to their happiness, or detract from it, unless they themselves are so weak that they allow the adverse thoughts and wicked actions of others to upset them.

This last one is very powerful. If you can learn to take responsibility for your own reactions to what others do or say then you can reduce your stress and unhappiness at a stroke ... just by choosing to ignore the "other" and refusing to give them room in your head or to let then "upset" you. I can't say I've perfected this technique yet, but it is one I have found very helpful.