What Is Your Attitude?

Kashish Kalwani

It happened a few days ago. Despite a regular meditation practice, there are days when I struggle to feel grateful. I feel frustrated, disappointed, jealous, insecure, and just muddled. As humans, we can feel complex emotions.

My mind was done with being all calm, happy, and peace loving. It took control.
It decided to inject thoughts of everything that is going wrong, even if nothing was ‘wrong’. My thoughts decided to look for the negative in everything and my condition seemed all messed up and sticky with complexities and unnecessary fear.

What do I do then?
To find some clarity, I picked a random book from my bookshelf, and opened a random page. The book turned out to be the ‘Heartfulness Way’ and I came across a section on ‘Attitude’. It was a conversation between Daaji, the Global Guide of Heartfulness and Joshua Pollock,

“Meditation isn’t everything.”

“What do you mean?”

“…even the most effective meditation method can only take us about 5 percent of the way.”

“And the other 95 percent?”

“Attitude,” said Daaji. “what we do is important, but it’s not as important as the attitude with which we do it.”

After reading this, I was inspired to bring a shift to my attitude. I walked around my house, taking a pause, looking around to search for what can I do to change my attitude, my perspective to the things happening around me?

I saw some utensils. Utensils piled up on a corner of the kitchen which had been set to dry.

I picked a cup and put it in the drawer.

I picked up a plate and put it with its set.

I picked up a spoon and added it to the spoon stand.

Slowly and steadily, the utensils had all been put to order, and so had my thoughts.

I was a clean slate again. I felt my smile returning to my face. With the action of doing something as simple as this task, I allowed myself to be in the present. To be here.

Attitude matters, in every task you do. You can find joy in places you never knew could be possible, like putting away the utensils. I was grateful for this simple lesson on attitude and how it determines our success on maintaining anything – habits, condition, and even happiness.