Self-Realization Fellowship Blog

Paramahansa Yogananda on Fulfilling Your Aspirations in the New Year

January 04, 2022

Paramahansa Yogananda on Finding Direction in Life 1924 3104 PY 5x7

Picture the New Year as a garden you are responsible for planting. Sow the seeds of good habits in this soil and weed out worries and wrong actions of the past.

“Heavenly Father, make us strong in this new year, ever guided by Thy constant presence, that in body, mind, and soul we may reflect Thy life, health, prosperity, and happiness.”

If you pray, and believe what you pray, you shall receive God's blessings and help. If you have a bad habit, create a mental antidote and continuously apply it until the poisonous habit is neutralized. Tell yourself resolutely that you are going to be different, that you may be weak now, but you are going to be strong. The minute you make up your mind to correct yourself, you will change, you will be different.

There is no limit to the power of your mind. Concentrate on that thought. Fill your mind with the resolution to accomplish, and work toward your goals with positive actions. Keep driving the mind toward higher attainments.

Whenever you are sitting still, without any demands on your attention, be away in your mind, using it constructively every moment. Great things are produced first in the mind. I keep mine at work all the time, and put its creative thoughts into action the moment I see an opportunity. Then the results come. Every day you should try to do something creative. Improve your destiny. Take your health, or your moral life, or spiritual life — one thing at a time — and change it as you desire.

Every time you meditate deeply on God, beneficial changes take place in the patterns of your brain.

For more of Paramahansa Yogananda’s inspiration and guidance on self-improvement in the new year, we invite you to visit our Seasonal Inspiration page.

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