Mastering fortune through thoughts and actions

We all have good days and bad days. What amounts to a good day for one person may equate to someone else’s bad day. When a person says that he is having bad days, what he generally means is either that some people are criticising him bitterly without fault on his part and are accusing him without any basis, or that whatever role he plays and whatever job he does turns into a complete failure and he flops. He does his best and yet success eludes or evades him. He loves some people and has good wishes for them, yet these people get estranged from him or turn into his enemies or rivals. He has not done any bad act and yet his mind is empty of peace and he feels that happiness is totally missing from his heart.

Those very people whom he had helped in their dire need have now turned their backs on him and show not even a little concern for his well-being. There is no one even to encourage him or at least to utter a word of sympathy. On the other hand, they unashamedly point to his shortcomings, hit hard at his weaknesses and try to open or scratch his wounds. A person who is having good days, when people easily help him, appreciate his work and qualities and like or love him, feels that there is happiness in relationships. He has stamina and good health and does not have to beg money from anyone but is fairly comfortable. He feels that people do not misbehave with him and that he generally meets success whatever the venture he embarks upon.

History is full of examples of kings becoming beggars or of ordinary men ascending to thrones. But what we need to remember is that the shift in our fortunes or the change in our days is brought about by the change that took place in the past in the quality of our own actions.

The change in days, some say, is due to a change in our stars, but even stars in the sky change due to the actions of souls which are also the stars now on earth. Remember, the whole of nature is influenced by our own actions and, therefore, we are the makers of our own fortune. We determine our own destiny.

So, basically, bad days are those days when a person has bad thoughts or does bad actions, and good days are those when a person thinks good and does good.

We should also keep in mind, during days of stress and strain or tests and tribulations, that these difficult days will also change because nothing in this world stays forever.

Since our bad days are a consequence of our actions, we cannot run away from them but must bear with them, whether happily or with a heavy heart. We have to adopt a posture, a strategy, a line of action or a plan to remain as unaffected as we possibly can.

There is no use cursing our stars or accusing people of having left us or caused misery to us. On the other hand, we should take lessons from these hard tests and consider them as exercises in self-development or opportunities for crisis management. Also, when anyone is having good days, he should not boast of his wisdom, achievements, knowledge or circle of friends, because one never knows when one will be hauled up on live coals.

So, let us not be proud to the point of boasting, bragging or praising ourselves. Instead, we must always keep in mind that whether our days are good or bad, we should always be good in our actions, our state of mind, our dealings and relations with others, our attitudes and our response to various situations. If we follow this process, we can turn even bad days into good ones. So, let us stop thinking about good or bad days and become masters of our own fortune.

The writer is a spiritual teacher and popular columnist; views are personal