Heaven or Hell?

By: Shazia Yousuf

"You, and you alone, get to determine whether you are going to react positively about something or negatively about something - or, interestingly, have no reaction at all. Your emotions are entirely under your control. Your feelings are what you want them to be." (Neale Donald Walsch)

Creating heaven for yourself or creating hell, is totally in your hands. In a tough situation, it is up to you to decide whether you wish to fret about it, or you would stay calm and handle things patiently. Have you ever noticed, when you are angry, or sad or feeling low about something, it is you who is suffering the most! No one around you can feel what is inside you, even if you let the storm inside to seep through you. How you respond to a situation is how the situation will appear to you.

I have often taught my ten year old daughter, to not react when someone teases her in school. Her reaction to their act is what would add to their fun, and not reacting would actually be a total spoiler for them!

During power outages, when we would fret and grumble, my father would tell us to imagine that we were on a snow covered mountain, and would make us to try to feel the cold. It was fun and a good past time!

Even God tells us to “…exhort one another to truth, and exhort one another to endurance.” Now the choice is in our hands.