… continued from Ahimsa: Living Nonviolent Lives

Violence in Thoughts & Words

Thoughts do have power. No matter how much you ignore it, YOUR thoughts DO have power! And everytime you wish bad for someone, you are adding violence to the world – becoming a contributor. And since what goes around comes around, you will eventually become a victim of the circumstances your own thoughts created, but that is another matter altogether. My point is, WHY ADD?

Lets take a very simple example. Assume you are standing in a crowded bus, and a fat lady steps on your foot and walk away. ‘Damn her, I hope someone fatter than her steps on her foot today!’ Is this going to be your first thought too? It does feel very comforting for us to wish that way, and in those instances I’m sure a lot of us hope that all our thoughts came true instantly. Be glad it doesn’t. Let us stop and think of the consequences of that thought.

The lady stepped on your foot and walked away, and you wished that someone step on hers. A few days later, someone steps on her foot, and she wishes that that person’s foot gets stamped by someone else. And then, that person wishes the same thing when it happens to him, and so on. Eventually, you’ll stamp someone’s foot and the same thing will be wished for you, starting yet another chain reaction. How has your thought helped? As if there wasn’t enough already, you created an entire chain of foot-stamping incidents. And this is only one, simple example. How many chains have you started already?

Wish for their good
So if we shouldn’t wish for their misery, what must we think? Simple, wish for their good. No, I don’t mean that you wish that that person becomes rich and successful and famous. Wish for them to develop a quality that would prevent such incidents from repeating. For the fat lady above, we would wish that she became sensitive to other people’s pain. How wonderful. Can you imagine her treading carefully and apologizing in the event of stepping on a foot? That is what we need to wish for, and contribute to the love on earth. If someone cuts across you on the road or breaks a signal in front of you, wish for them to be better drivers. If you get cheated, wish for them to be more honest. When someone is happy, they like to see the world happy. When you wish for others’ happiness, you wish that that person stop making others miserable. When you wish for others’ misery, you add to the misery of the world.

I think we all agree that there is enough violence in the world. And violence begets violence. One person who gets slapped goes and slaps someone else, maybe two people. They carry it forward in their own way, adding their own share of violence in the process. And that is why we see the world spiraling in a violent loop – increasing crimes everywhere, inside homes and outside. Please choose to be different. Please stop the chains at yourself.

Your thoughts do have power. And positive thoughts are more powerful than negative thoughts. We just never realise it, because positive thoughts probably form less than 10% of our thinking. Replace every negative thought with two positive ones. Choose your reactions and your thoughts, and replace the ones you can’t. Spread love in others’ lives, spread happiness and smiles. And remember, what goes around, comes around. It can be a better, brighter, lovelier world. If only we pitch in our shares too.