About a month back, I came across an interview with Sister Shivani on Ankur Warikoo's youtube channel. I hadn't known about her until then.
I was awestruck by her insights shared in such a crystal clear manner in that interview.
Youtube then recommended me her podcast from The Ranveer show and more of her videos from her channel. Her calming voice, her analytical approach, and the right examples inspired me to listen to her videos whenever I opened Youtube. As I started to read more about her works, I stumbled upon this book "Happiness Unlimited" which is based on the conversations she had with Suresh Oberoi as part of a TV series.
I picked it up from Blossoms last Sun and I was glued to it in the past week. If you have started exploring about mind, thoughts, the role of spirituality, and our responses to situations, then look no further and pick up this ONE book. I'm sure it will answer a lot of your questions. It is a short and easy read (around 170 pages) but filled with valuable nuggets of insights. I plan to revisit this book every few months as it opened up my eyes to multiple aspects.
Sister Shivani says that happiness is a choice, a decision, and an internal creation. When we tie it to external events, situations, or people, it is out of our control and isn't permanent. External objects can provide physical comfort but we misinterpret it as happiness.
The hard-hitting concept she reiterates is the fact that we are the creator of our thoughts. External factors can influence the creation of thoughts, but it is our choice to become aware of every thought and change it to align with our true nature. She explains about three factors - past experiences, the information we feed through our senses, and our belief system - that influence our thoughts.
When we say that certain situations are repeating in life, it is not the situation that repeats but our responses to them. So so true!
She also gives a beautiful perspective on how things like anger and stress are labeled "natural" these days. These aren't our true nature. We can change our feelings once we change our thoughts. When we express anger to someone, it is first created in our mind and the energy affects us more than the person it was intended for.
We always end up attributing our feelings to something external, but it is our very own thoughts that created a certain feeling.
There were so many aha moments while reading the book, that I just can't type all of them in a review.
Few of my favorite quotes:
"It's not only reaching the destination that matters, it's the quality of the journey that counts"
"Relationships are not actions; relationships are the energies we exchange while doing those actions"
"Heal the mind, the body will follow"
"The health of our body reflects the quality of our thoughts"
"The energy that I send out is my karma and the same energy when it comes back in the form of situations or people is destiny"
Also, I'd highly recommend watching a few of her videos and registering her voice in your head before you read this book. While reading, I imagined her voice in my head, which made the whole experience even more impactful.
I'm so grateful that the Universe gave me this book at the right time! Highly recommend this book to everyone!
Posts
