29 February – 6 March 2016

Purity – Characteristic / Virtue of the Week

Be the change you wish to see in the world.

Purity – What does this card say to you today?

Living simply is the basis for purity – this is what purity means to me. It’s living with the simple basics of clean, simple food, surroundings and principles – such as the virtues of kindness, caring, compassion for ourselves and everyone else.

Living with pure, kind thoughts towards yourself and others – are there times you judge others by being critical of them or having unkind thoughts? For what purpose does this achieve?

When living simply rather than judging other people we need to look at ourselves first and foremost – once we do that we soon learn that it’s hard to criticise or blame others as we learn that the most difficult person to change is ourselves.

By focussing on our own behaviour we start to become who we want to be and live how we want to live – simply & happily. We live according to our own pure potential and become authentic person that we truly were born to be.

How to practice Purity:

For young adults & adults:

• Pull yourself up when you criticise or blame someone, including yourself.
• Learn new ways of how to communicate with honesty and tact.
• Be the shining example you want to be to your loved ones and others.

For child care centres & schools:

• Discuss the importance of having ‘pure’ thoughts about people in general
• Ask children to list, or discuss, 3 examples of good thoughts, good words & good deeds
• Brainstorm on unwanted influences & addictive desires and their consequences

For families:

• Work together, with everyone’s agreement, on a particular space & create order
• Discuss what no longer fits in with the family life that used to, replace it
• Select one habit to remove each, and one habit to add, support each other

For businesses & organisations:

• Are there any areas in the company that responsibility is not being taken?
• Do all company employees feel that they are being blamed?
• Consider bringing in the policy of ‘no backbiting’