Universal Mind by Dr. P.C. Simon (extracted from his book, The Missing Piece to Paradise) "There is an infinitely worthier subject for philosophers (to study) than all these trees and stones, and even all those stars; there is mind of man." Socrates

"Mind is expression of soul, which belongs to God." Adlai Stevenson

Our minds have great power and untapped potential. This is well illustrated by a story told by Rudyard Kipling, Indian-born English poet, novelist and Nobel Prize winner.

"When gods and earth were new and man had just risen out of slime, he lifted his eyes to heaven and saw gods upon their golden thrones. There was born in him desire to reach that distant state of bliss and joy.

He cried, "O gods in heaven, let me share your divinity."

The gods, when they heard man's cry, went to great God Brahma and said to him, "There is a creature who demands a share in our divinity. He is an enquiring and seeking creature who will not rest until he has climbed into this heaven of ours. What shall we do?"

"I will speak to him," said Brahma.

"When gods met again in council they asked Brahma what he had done about man's request.

Said Brahma, "I considered wisely and found that man's desire to share in our divinity was just. So I said to him, "Man, I have heard your prayer. The divinity for which you ask shall be yours but you must find it for yourself, for lo, I have hidden it."

When gods heard this, they were frightened, but Brahma only smiled and said,

"It will be a long time before man finds his divinity, for I have hidden it where he will not think of looking for it."

"Where have you hidden it?" asked gods in chorus,

"Within man himself," said Brahma softly.

And there it is to be found by all who seek, even to this day."

This hidden divinity is our minds.

Mind is an infinitesimal part of God in man. Just as a drop of water from ocean has all ingredients in ocean, mind has all powers of God. However, just as a drop of water from ocean does not make up ocean, mind of one person does not make up Universal Mind. All drops joined together become ocean, all minds in universe together make up God's mind.

You wanted job and you didn’t get it, so you were disappointed. If you hadn’t wanted job, you would’ve been overjoyed not to get it!

Also if you think back on disappointments in your life, I’m sure you’ll find that in at least some instances, things turned out for best. You didn’t get job you were aspiring for, but you got a better one in end. Or man you were dating broke up with you and you were sad, but then your found a better partner. Or you really didn’t want to leave Amherst, Massachusetts and move to Lillian, Alabama, but once you got there you found it was its own version of paradise.

All of this is saying that we can’t always be sure at time whether things are for best or not, and its our expectation that we must have it this way or we’ll be devastated is what’s making us miserable.

When you do this, you are setting up and either/or situation. You have arranged your expectations, and future of your happiness on a proposition such as this: If I get this, I’ll be happy. If I don’t, I’ll be devastated.

As great poet John Milton wrote, “The mind is its own place, and in itself, Can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven.”

Now a more emotionally intelligent way to handle these things is not to lower your expectations, but to broaden them. By using emotional intelligence competencies such as resilience, creativity and flexibility, you can manage your emotions more effectively.

A simple example of this would be planning a vacation. Most of us put effort, time and money into planning our vacations, all of which are precious to us, and so we may find ourselves expecting it to be perfect. If you do this, you are automatically setting yourself up for disappointment.

However, if you keep your expectations realistic and in line, you cushion yourself against extremes. It’s quite possible to have an enjoyable vacation that meets your needs (rest, rejuvenation, fun, adventure or whatever you’re after) and not have every detail fall exactly into place.

One of most important things to do is to remain positive. Expect best, and avoid going into a downward spiral, or taking it out on yourself, if it isn’t.

If, on this vacation, you aren’t able to take excursion you wanted to, you will feel better if