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Mansukh Patel’s book “SOS: Caring for Your Soul” describes the the 7 key qualities for successful living: Silence, Sincerity, Service, Serendipity, Simplicity, Singing, and Solitude.
How do we develop these qualities in our life?
Silence: Mansukh Patel states that making time for silence everyday is the most precious gift that we can give ourselves. Why? Mansukh explains that silence brings us into a state of balance that creates positive changes within us. The more silent your mind and body, the more you are able to appreciate everything around you. If you can cultivate a state of silence, the most challenging problems in your life will suddenly become manageable.
Mahatma Gandhi observed a day of silence every Monday. He later wrote, “I started my weekly observance of a silence day as a means of gaining time to look after my correspondence, but now those 24 hours have become a vital need.”
Sincerity: Mansukh Patel suggests that being sincere means being totally available to the person in front of you, so that you allow nothing to distract you. How to cultivate this sincerity? Mansukh advises listening to each other without interrupting, and taking a real interest in the lives of those around you. If you can bring this sincere listening into your life, you will find that your personal relationships will be filled with peacefulness and harmony.
Service: “Learn to give, give all…And learn to expect nothing. This is true service, which will bring peace, real peace.” Mansukh Patel
Mansukh Patel writes that if everyone could embrace the essence of service, then the whole of humanity would flourish as a result. It is the deepest desire of the soul to serve!
And the first principle of service is very simple….just go ahead and do it! Start being of service to someone! It really doesn’t matter what you do. The only important rule to remember is that your service must arise from the depth of your soul.
To develop service in your life, Mansukh Patel suggests that when you wake up in the morning, look at yourself in the mirror, and say, “May I be of service today.”
Serendipity: What is serendipity? Mansukh Patel states that it awakening to the promptings of your heart. Do you experience life with the wide-eyed wonderment you once had as a child, always fresh, new and exciting? Each moment seems to last forever because you live in that place where there is no past or no tomorrow, just the present moment.
How to keep serendipity alive in our life? Mansukh Patel offers that our “to-do lists” often rob us of our being present in the moment, as we are burdened down with what we think we need to do. The way to serendipity is to involve as many people as possible in your activities. Fill your life with interactive love, with your family and friends, as you finish doing the things on your to-do list!
Simplicity: Mansukh Patel observes that the most successful people in relationships, sport, health, education and other areas have very uncluttered lifestyles. Adopt the lifestyle of “Simple living, high thinking.” Decide to adopt conscious simplicity, and you will find that you’ll stop burning out or becoming tired and ill.
Mansukh suggests that one key to simplicity is to remove the need to prove yourself or compete with others. This will leave you with fewer struggles in life, which will give you the energy to fulfill your dreams and ambitions.
Singing: Singing is the most powerful language in the world. Mansukh Patel quotes Rumi, who wrote that “when someone sings, it is said that they pray twice.”
Singing together dissolves the barriers between people, nations, and creeds. Mansukh tells of being in Auschwitz for the 50th anniversary of the holocaust. At first, there was a tense atmosphere as Jewish and German people came together in a series of workshops. The whole event was transformed, however, when hundreds of people gathered at the gates of Auschwitz in for an evening candle-lit prayer service. Jews and Germans began to sing together and to share the songs of their people. An extraordinary healing took place as the groups began to merge and sing in unison.
Solitude: Mansukh Patel embraces the natural world. He writes, “I have always found that the natural world contains a special energy and a unique gift as we seek to befriend it.”
Mansukh explains that many of our problems in life arise because we don’t embrace solitude. Solitude strengthens, awakens, nurtures, and fulfills all your most important wishes. The difference between loneliness and solitude is whether or not you are in the present.
Conclusion: By developing a life filled with silence, sincerity, service, serendipity, simplicity, singing, and solitude…you will find that your life becomes enriched with greater empowerment, happiness and joy.
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