Positive thinking is a much abused term. Thanks to the plethora of books and movies on the subject, it has been an oft-discussed subject in the last few years. Indeed, a lot of us have used it to better our lives. However, the concept remains under-used given our conditioned thought process which brings in barriers of what we call practicality.

When was the last time you rushed for that meeting, praying hard that traffic would be low so that you reach the meeting on time? And yet, despite your fervent prayers, you were right there in the middle of the road surrounded by the fumes and cacophony we release in the name of comfortable transportation. In spite of all the positive thinking mantras you wake up with, you mutter “as always!!!”

Wait a minute – as always? Did you expect it? Yes. If you are a staunch positive thinking believer you would yell at me now and say “No!! Of course not!!” And I’d continue to be rather in your face when I maintain: Yes, you did expect it.

That is where the term is abused. Positive thinking is not merely about hoping for the best and preparing for the worst. It is about distinguishing between our aspirations and expectations. You may have aspired to reach the meeting on time, but you expected to be caught in traffic. Simple enough, but what did you lend your thought energy to? Chances are high that you focused on preparing the alibi for being late, just in case. Naturally, the universe being the genie that it is, conspired to give you that event that you prepared so much for.

No wonder then that most spiritual practices talk of not having expectations. Does that mean we renounce worldly desires? Not at all. For even spiritual masters desire that the world move ahead with them. However, they do not get caught in the expectation. They simple lend energy to their desire.

An aspiration is a desire to experience a certain state of being, be it tasting an ice cream or heading an organization. It is great to have aspirations for they shape our lives and lend us purpose. They connect us to ourselves and in that, enhance spiritual growth even through the most material of desires. What stultify this growth are our expectations.

Expectations are our desire to control the modus operandi of the universe. While aspirations are about the end goals, the expectations are about the path leading to them. You may aspire “to reach the meeting on time”. But you may expect “traffic on the way to delay you”. On a practical level, one may argue that it is sensible to consider the traffic factor. But given the workings of our universe, the more energy we lend to a particular thought, the more easily it materializes. Therefore, traffic is more easily manifested than your aspiration. So how does one deal with this?

Eliminate the expectation. Focus on the end. If you do wish to focus on the path to it, do so in awareness. Start early so that you reach the meeting place early and get time to freshen up and be comfortable. Do not start early so that you provide time for getting stuck on the road.

If you aspire for a life of abundant wealth, save so that you can buy that dream home and enjoy marvelous vacations – do not save for the rainy day. If you aspire for that plum position, work to be all set for it when it comes along – do not work so that you have a shield for your performance appraisal.

Positive thinking has been abused because most of us think positively about the aspirations and yet are negative about the expectations. And because we put in so much of thought into the expectations, they manifest faster than the aspirations. Sit back and analyse what you think, and how. Do you aspire now to unleash the power of positive thinking and manifest miracles? Great, but beware: Do not expect to be satisfied with anything less than that, just because you are taking baby steps.

The universe is impartial. Input: Thought; Output: Reality. Period. Whether you think more about your expectations or aspirations is your choice. Therein lies freewill; that is where we create destiny.

“Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die.”

Our soldiers have long lived this state of forced passivity that Alfred Lord Tennyson so aptly described in 'The Charge Of The Light Brigade' years ago. It is one thing to assume that they resign to fate and submission to authority when they willingly join the forces. But as a collective, it is essential to understand why this has been happening through centuries and yet continues despite reflecting a clear lack of respect towards life.

I find the concept of war an intellectual warp. The ones among us that are deemed politicians and administrators decide that two groups of humanity have differences that cannot be resolved by reason. Force is judged to be an only alternative and hence applied. A war is declared and soldiers are thrust on the line of fire. Would it be possible to take this decision if the politicians and administrators were the soldiers themselves? Would lives then be deemed more precious than now, when it is considered a matter of 'defence strategy' to export humans to kill or to be killed in a place that they have nothing to do with?

An acute sense of separation from one another helps us be indifferent to the decision of imposing a life-long death sentence on our forces. Even if one were to not acknowledge the unitary spiritual source that we originate from, it is not too difficult to tap on the common thread of simply being human, and therefore connected. Why then, do we choose to not acknowledge this commonality? Perhaps, we have chosen to ignore it by way of a defence mechanism against emotional pain.

Nevertheless, our attitude towards terrorists, soldiers or for that matter any aspect of life, can only reflect what we think about those aspects within ourselves. Our attitude towards the external can only mirror our feelings towards the internal. When we try to personally progress by overcoming our fears and anxieties, the terrorist within holds us back by telling us about the possibility of failure. We hate this about ourselves, this facet of our persona that holds us back with negative thinking. The external terrorist performs a similar function, eliciting a similar reaction – that of hate and condemnation.

When we are under a moral attack or have to defend ourselves against those that bar our progress, the internal soldier bravely surges ahead to protect. But when the attack gets difficult to resist and the internal soldier wishes to give up, we lay our arms and cocoon ourselves against the emotional setback of the defeat through indifference (usually expressed as the spiritual alibi of 'how does it matter in the long run?' or 'may be it was destined…'). We react with the same indifference when we send the external soldier onto the battlefield.

It is high time we understood the workings of the world by understanding ourselves. For long, we have not embraced a lot of aspects of our own selves simply to facilitate our social image management. We'd rather be labelled with all the positive adjectives. But burying our head in the sand cannot banish the terrorist or the bully or the passive aggressor within us. For the world to change, we need to begin by acknowledging us in our entirety. Being judgmental does not help, for it only leads us to fear and neglect aspects of ourselves. Instead, it is important to recognize that each of us is a collective that encompasses all - the positives, the negatives, the neutrals. Polarities are essential for existence, for they lend balance. Duality is at the core of our being and is the only route to unity. For unless we comprehend duality, how will we conceive unity?

Centuries of external action have resulted in the same answer: that the problem lies within. It is time for us to look into the mirror and see ourselves in our perfectly flawed glory, and then proceed to know what it means to be flawless. The eyes have long provided us sight, now the heart ought to generate vision. Antoine de Saint-Exupéry hit the nail on the head when he wrote in 'The Little Prince': "It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."