SCRATCH IT OUT

Article by

KAYSOON KHOO


Are there any against whom you bear a grudge or positively hate? There are? Then you need to do this exercise for your own health. The sooner you find time to do it, the happier you will be.

Draw out your hate list in decreasing order so that the one you detest most tops the list, while the one against whom you are least peeved is named last.

Begin with the LAST name on your list and work your way up as you perform this exercise. This will help you gain momentum as your work upon the eradication of your negative feelings.

Look at each name, close your eyes and visualise that person's features. Then recite out loud, slowly: "I forgive you. I absolve you from all obligations to me. I free you. And I free myself."

Memorise those few lines so that you are able to recite them like a nursery rhyme you know by heart. When you've uttered those lines, take a pencil and scratch out that name. Scratch it out so thoroughly the pencil marks obliterate every single letter of the name.

Go to the name above that one and repeat the procedure. Work your way up until you reach the one topping the list, your arch enemy. The higher up the list you go, the harder you should concentrate on what you are reciting.

Don't heed the instinctive reactions you may have at the notion of what you are doing. Ignore the sneers, jeers and objections your inner voice may make. You have probably convinced yourself the hatred and resentment you feel are justified.

Take time to consider this little home-truth. You don't justify the existence of a malignant growth that eats away at you and gives you misery. You remove it.

Dwell on the last three words of the recitation -- "I free myself." That is precisely what you are doing, breaking free of your prison of hate and resentment.

Repeat the exercise for twelve nights in a row before you go to sleep, making sure those names always appear in the same order. At the end of that period, examine your own feelings with regard to each and every person on your hate list. You'll find it's no longer a hate list. You've freed them and you've freed yourself.

NO APPLAUSE, NO JEERS

Article by

KAYSOON KHOO

The next time you wish to pass the hat round for a deserving cause, try this method. It makes everyone feel good about giving. It also ensures that no donor will suffer any embarrassment, however small the amount he can afford, or is willing, to give. And if any decide not to give at all, no one will be the wiser for it.

This is how it's done. Have a sealed donation box placed in an adjoining room. Let all who are requested to donate step inside that room, one at a time. Each person who goes into the room may drop any amount she likes, or can afford, into the box with the certain knowledge that no one will be aware of how much she is giving. If she opts to put in nothing, that too is her personal choice.

This is a most effective way of putting into practice what that great teacher once taught us about not letting the left hand know what the right hand does.

The large donor will receive no recognition and will have no cause for pride. When the donation box is opened, there'll be no way to ascertain the size of any single donation. The only reward that awaits the generous giver is the experience of the joy of giving.

At this juncture we should also remind ourselves that it is not the amount of a donation that counts. It is the percentage of the donor's resources that he gives away which marks his generosity.

There are some who are capable of "giving until it hurts", to coin a popular phrase. If you are one of those who possess such bigness of heart, then you truly understand the spirit of giving.