Insight > 3 Most Powerful Prayers for Success

At times we end up learning something profound while teaching our kids.

Recently when my 8 year old was preparing to participate in a competition, I shared some tips with him that I practice subconsciously. I realised that if one was to apply these tips to anything that you do, stress free success is almost guaranteed.

I am a strong believer in the power of prayers. Call them prayers, mantras, affirmations, visualisation or simply positive thinking, I feel that they have a profound effect on our psyche. And the right attitude is usually the most powerful way to experience success.

So, while preparing my son for his competition, I told him about the following important prayers to get him started with a productive attitude. Here I'll also explain how they help at various levels.

* Pray to Enjoy Whatever You're Doing
When you enjoy whatever you do, you naturally end up doing your best. The sense of enjoyment lends an inherent sense of confidence. In case you need to enhance your knowledge about it, when you learn about something that you enjoy there is usually no pressure, but a genuine urge to learn. This makes you learn more about the topic of your choice without any pressure to do so.

* Pray to Do Your Best
As I explained to my son, while we needn't pressurise ourselves with competition with others, it is important to feel satisfied with the effort that we've put into something. There shouldn't be a situation where you come back feeling that you could have done better. While I don't believe in pushing myself, or anyone else, into achieving success, it is important to make sure that you don't fall short of doing whatever you're capable of doing.

* Pray to Be Happy with the Result
If you've done the first two things, ideally you can just surrender to whatever the outcome is. But I feel good praying to be happy with the outcome. Then, in case you come out a winner, it's great. But if there's somebody else who is actually more deserving to be a winner, so be it!

As long as you've enjoyed the whole process (of participating in a competition, for instance),  knowing that you've done your best, and are genuinely happy about the outcome, then you're a winner in any case!

Insight > The Freedom of Forgiveness

I am my worst critic.

I have an elephantine memory. There are things that I may have done, unintentionally, in the distant past. Maybe no one else remembers something inconsequential like me refusing to write an article just because the editor of a magazine changed. But I remember. And there are times that I still curse myself for doing that. That refusal cost me the connection with a big media house at that time. While I have written for many other media houses since then, I feel that I lost out on some opportunities just because of that one mistake that I made. The editor has changed since then, but my association with that particular magazine is still affected. 

This is just one example. While at some level, I sincerely believe, that there are no accidents. That everything happens for a reason. Yet, there are so many things from my personal experiences as well that I curse myself for doing. Those incidents are over and done with. Life has moved on, and beautifully. But still these incidents are haunting reminders of the mistakes that I have made in my life.  

When I started practicing forgiveness I realised how very freeing it is. It frees me up from the uncomfortable past. Forgiveness just frees you up from emotions that unnecessarily get clogged somewhere in your body-mind. I say "body-mind" because of all the research that shows that unresolved emotional issues create all sorts of blocks in your physical body, hence leading to disease. 

You may not even go up to someone to tell them that you've forgiven them. Just forgiving someone in your heart is extremely powerful. While I occasionally forgive people who may have harmed me, intentionally or unintentionally, I know that the most important person that I need to forgive is MYSELF. We are often the harshest on ourselves. We need to understand that none of us are perfect. Just an honest and constant effort to be the best that you can be is enough to lead a deeply fulfilling life. 

There is a lovely prayer that encourages you to practice three-fold forgiveness. 

• forgive someone who may have harmed you intentionally or unintentionally
• forgive yourself for harming someone intentionally or unintentionally (this includes forgiving yourself if you may have harmed yourself as well)
• forgive yourself if there's still a situation that you're not ready to forgive

We all have grudges with family or friends, colleagues and at times even strangers. When we harbour these grudges we stay connected to those uncomfortable situations through our mind/emotions. Forgiveness just helps you release all the energy that you end up holding unknowingly. Go ahead and give it a try!