By: Ash Patel
Source: The Daily Guardian https://epaper.thedailyguardian.com/2025/11/07/delhi-08-november-2025/
Dated: November 8th, 2025
“As I began to love myself, I understood that anguish and emotional suffering are only warning signs that I was living against my own truth.” - From a poem by Charlie Chaplin
From time to time, those on a spiritual journey reach complex points of negotiation with a combination of old habit patterns, and thought patterns, that can obstruct their way forward. They are not always easy to recognise, but a sign which indicates that something needs to change is when we have emotional suffering and pain.
Alongside the absolutely essential practice of meditation, the act of writing is one of the most powerful ways to become free from the accumulated grime of the pain in the heart. There are two habits that we have that keep the sorrow deep in the heart. One of them is the habit of taking sorrow. We are conscious and careful about not causing sorrow and hurt for others, but we often do not realise that we are taking sorrow. When we are faced with challenging situations, relationships, or problems and the subsequent mental and emotional upheaval, we need to understand what is going on inside, and stop taking sorrow.
The second habit is of projecting blame. When we absorb pain, the ego is hardwired to project onto the trigger situation or person, and begin the blame game. Our energy and focus are directed at blaming, telling everyone about the culprit, trapped as a victim. The more we do this, the more and longer we suffer. Spiritually we need to avoid doing this. We must take on the responsibility to not share the negativity, because it leaves the listener with heaviness and increases the heaviness in our own hearts. We have to learn to reconcile and understand what is happening and accept it in the relationship with the self and with God, the Divine. Then I can own it and look at everything without blame or rejection. Until we can do that, we are not ready to commit it all to paper.
I must look inside and ask myself, am I ready to look that deeply within? If the answer is ‘no’ then it is a sign that I need more help, more power, and that comes through meditation and absorbing more power from the Divine. We need to do that with consistency. I have to understand who I am and what I possess. I am a being of light and when I connect with that light within, the true self, then everything becomes peaceful. Stepping beyond the body finds us in peace. This is an act of compassion, responding to my suffering with care. Secondly, I need to know how much goodness there is in myself and all the value I can add to whatever is causing me pain.
When I have the awareness, my attitude is formed and the vision I hold follows, resulting in the actions I take. The root cause of all suffering is always attachment; attachment to ego, to be always right, to be in control and so on. We have to reflect on what the attachment is, what is the root of the issue, which usually comes from some belief I have about myself.
This is where the relationship with God comes in. Sitting with the Divine with the intention of discovering what is really in the heart. God is very pleased with the smallest amount of spiritual effort on the self. God’s help comes when we are ready to face ourselves with honesty. Only when we are able to sit and be at peace and open our heart to God, can we then express it all on paper, writing from a deeper place, letting it flow and cleansing the heart. This is the moment of deep peace and freedom. The situation remains the same, the relationship is the same, nothing has changed but we are finding a place of peace within it all. The benevolence of life responds to truth.
Aashish Patel works in IT and coordinates
Brahma Kumaris activities at the Lighthouse Retreat Centre, Worthing, UK.
