Over these past couple of years, I have learnt, experienced and witnessed the power of good vibes and how it creates an aura of your personality. It is also said that your surrounding is a reflection of your own self and there is no lie about it. “It is 100 percent true that your environment vibes with you. The Universe is like an echo chamber. It plays out the song we are singing in the depths of our lives. We may consciously not be aware that we are playing that song and may wonder why we keep hearing the same song when we don’t even like it but we should be assured that song is exactly the song my life is singing,” explains Anita Bathija, an interior designer and an active leader of the BSG (Bharat Soka Gakkai) practising Nicherin Daishonin’s Buddhism.
What does surrounding mean
When we see that the surroundings are a reflection of our own selves, a lot of this is not the actual reality we are talking about. We are talking about the perception. And this comes from an advanced degree of mindfulness. “For an instance, when we think that everything and everybody around us is rude, mean, unjust, and paranoid; the truth is we are likely feeling all of this inside of our own mind. This is actually known as the power of projection,” points out psychiatrist Dr Shefali Batra.
This means that whatever we feel gets projected onto the world around us. This may sound far-fetched, but the truth is to a large extent, our view of the world is shaped by how we feel and think about the world at that given moment. “When we are happy and calm on the inside, we tend to see happiness and serenity even in the din on the outside. It means we are just more tolerant to the negative, when we are feeling positive on the inside,” Dr Shefali further adds.
So, when we say that the surrounding is a reflection of ourselves, we really mean that the surrounding is a reflection of our minds and how we perceive the world. According to psychologist Purvi Shah, “When we talk about surroundings here, we are talking about the people we are with, the things we choose to call mine – My home, car, room, clothes, shoes, etc. which of course are our choices.” And our choices are based on our beliefs, values that are responsible for creating our likes and dislikes, wants and needs and luxuries.
“There are many people who we absolutely don’t connect with while those people connect very well with others. That does not mean that they changed. It just means that our subconscious made attempts to choose to not like the person based on the values it has been holding,” Purvi further adds.
First impression
It’s all about positive vibes and good vibrations that you first create when you meet someone. It really means that we have the power not just over ourselves, but also over people. “Aura is an energy field that surrounds our body. This energy field pulls people, things and situations into our lives. This energy comes from our thoughts. Thoughts are generated by our minds,” clears Dominic CostaBir, director of Hospitality Training Institute.
There is no mysticism or magic here to ‘believe’ in as much as there is to ‘create’. Our belief system creates our reality; part of the sub conscious mind’s programming. “Logically speaking if before I’m to meet a person I have been warned that he is sneaky and distrustful. I automatically look out for deceit and my body language adjusts accordingly,” CostaBir further adds.
Now, this body language is the exactly same when I’m out to deceive the person. The person (who I believed was going to cheat me) may have entered the conversation with an open mind. But he too, sub-consciously, reads my body language and thinks I’m probably planning to cheat him. This ends up creating a distrustful environment that breeds cheating. A self-fulfilling prophesy.
“All of us are connected like one big sheet of cloth, woven together with layers and layers of warp and weft. Hence, every emotion we feel towards another person will definitely resonate with that person. So, when we decide to be positive about someone that person will eventually (even if they have negativity in their heart towards you) come around to respond to your positivity,” claims Anita. Researches show that first impression imprints on us whatever we feel or judge about that person and lasts.
The benefits
One can reap a lot of benefits just by sending out positive vibes to people. Positive vibes are nothing but just positive thoughts. “As said earlier all our lives are connected. Everyone wants the same thing – Peace, harmony and happiness. So then naturally one person’s positivity can lighten many lives and it can spread,” states Anita. Positive vibes are a series of positive thoughts, emotions, and behaviours that we express towards people around us.
Dr Shefali says, “I don’t look at vibes as intangible vibrations, which are fantasy or mystical. According to me, vibes are very real. They are full of planned and well-deliberated methods of being nice to people.” So, sending positive vibes means thinking nice things about people, feeling optimal and helpful emotions, and performing actions that show that we care. These vibes and vibrations benefit both the giver and the receiver. “It improves relationships, enhances friendships, and allows these two individuals to be nicer to other people besides being nice to themselves,” Dr Shefali further adds. It’s almost contagious. It could mean anything from a caring hello, a gentle pat on the back to forgiving people; all these are vibrations that generate ripples in the ocean of life.
The purity of the mind
When we say the mind is pure we really mean that there are no negative thoughts, that’s correct. “Now when our mind harbors negative thoughts, the emotional hormone axis also known as HPA axis, gets activated. When that happens, the stress hormone or cortisol is released,” tells Dr Shefali. So, if the mind is harbouring negative thoughts for a long time, the constant activation of the HPA axis enables the stress hormone to be raging in the body at all times.
“This results in a lot of negative effects like acidity, indigestion, muscle pain and cramps, neck and backache, low sex drive, lessened sexual performance, breathing difficulty, short rapid uncomfortable breathing, sleep disturbances and lowered immunity too,” specifies Dr Shefali.
Therefore, it becomes very clear that harbouring negative thoughts has very deep-seated impacts on the body in a very scientific way. “The mind may never get completely pure, as negativity is a very real part of everyone’s life. Nevertheless mind and body are closely connected. Every human entity is comprised of the body and mind. One cannot exist without the other. Hence, when the mind creates negativity it will permeate through every cell of the physical body. Medical science also believes that most diseases are psychosomatic. Once we purify our thoughts the cells of the body will also become healthy,” explains Anita.
Time to clean our minds
“It was generally understood that spirituality is meant for older people to find some comfort and peace in old age when they don’t have much other activity. This is a completely distorted view of spirituality,” states Anita. The human body has a very strong spirit and this needs to be nurtured and protected in our youth. In fact, starting from infants.
“If we don’t clean our body for a day it might not accumulate as much dirt but the mind because we have trillions of thoughts every second can get polluted every moment, Anita further adds. Hence it’s extremely crucial to clean our minds and thoughts on a daily basis. Dr Shefali says, “I cannot begin to tell you the importance of keeping the mind ‘clean’.” And this really means keeping our mind free of negative thoughts, negative emotions.
“When we think positive, and feel happy, and find meaning in our lives, we are more likely to be kind, polite, focused, committed, dedicated, and hard working. All of this would not be possible if we harboured negative thoughts and emotions,” Dr Shefali further adds.
A healthy mind nourishes a healthy body. A positive mindset makes a lot more meaningful difference in our lives than healthier food and vitamin supplements. Cells in our body die (naturally or from damage) and are replaced every 150 to 500 days. “Now if I believe, for whatever reason, that I have a weak kidney or heart. The cells that are born there believe they are weak. The same thinking – good or bad affects all aspects of our lives,” concludes CostaBir.
