Sunday, December 10, 2023

Inner Heaven by Berjik Kurkjian, (Hasmik) Articles No. 1-10

 



Art by Liam Turner

Articles by Berjik Kurkjian.
She used the pen name Hasmik in memory of her sister.

The original articles were published in Persian at Fogholadeh Magazine

Translation from Farsi into English by Karine Armen



No. 1 Happiness and Sadness

 

“Happiness and kindness make people more human, and sadness and hatred burn the roots of humanity.” I heard these words on the Radio Iran on a Friday. It’s a quotation by Simin Dareshvan. These words remind me of my life, back to the old days when I felt that my whole essence was filled from my head to my toe with sadness, despair, and bad luck. I had no hope to continue my life.

      I asked myself why people love sadness and pain. We are so fascinated by pain that we make a big deal out of all the small stuff. We transfer this terrible habit of negativity to our innocent children, burn the roots of their existence, and create a painful body and a confused and restless soul. With all the learned pain, we still expect them to be successful.  This despair and sadness can trap the body like a spider web and keep them from seeing the blessings that others enjoy. They become negative and dead inside. They move and live but have no life inside. Why? People live like that because they grew up with the habit of loving pain and sadness. Fortunately, with the help of God and my own efforts, I got out of depression. I walked into a beautiful world of light. I have inner peace and a clear mind. I feel fully alive. I don’t deny that sadness exists, but why get so preoccupied with negativity and despair that we can’t see any light and happiness?

      Let us help each other to get rid of negativity and replace it with positive thoughts and kindness. Smiles can be the spice of life. We can see happiness in small events in our lives. We can enjoy life and be alive. Live life fully and show life to our children.

Don’t forget: “It’s not important to be alive; it’s essential to live life.”

 

July 4, 1987


 

No. 2 Happiness and Despair

 

“Kindness makes us more humane, and hatred destroys humanity.” After reading this quotation, we think about becoming kinder to feel happier.

         Happiness and despair are two different emotions that exist as Positive and Negative Channels. They are like lightness and darkness. Recognizing the difference between the two emotions, how to use them, and in what context will help us deal with them appropriately.

Unfortunately, due to a lack of self-awareness and a wrong cultural upbringing, many of us are deprived of happiness. We are used to negative thinking. With today’s knowledge, we can become self-aware and distinguish between positive and negative thoughts and emotions.

     Statistics show that 5% of the world population feels happy, another 5% are emotionally damaged, and 90% need self-awareness and spiritual awakening.

                  July 11, 1987

                     No. 3 Positive and Negative Words

To be healthy, we need to have a peaceful soul. We can have inner peace by self-talk and by listening to our thoughts. Half of one's self is the outside appearance, a frame for the other half of our existence, our soul. When we have a physical injury, it is visible, and we heal it with medication and treatment. However, when we are hurt emotionally, nobody can notice it except ourselves. We feel hurt by listening to hurtful thoughts.

     Usually, we are the creators of the harmful and hurtful words. We express our pessimistic thoughts and create anxiety and restlessness that can cause physical illness. We communicate our pain to others without resolving anything. We just transfer negativity to the people around us. Instead, by using phrases with hopeful messages, we can feel loved. A sense of security is essential for a healthy existence.

     We have two inner emotional channels, one positive and one negative. A sense of fear is a destructive feeling we carry from childhood.

     Unaware actions of parents and adults can cause children to grow up fearful. A sense of fear is good when it is meant to prevent harm, but when it prevents healthy growth and maturity, it can be paralyzing. We need to learn to tell ourselves encouraging words to be aware of our own inner voice.

 

 July 18, 1987

 

No. 4 Positive and Negative Channels

 

As I have mentioned before, we have two emotional channels, positive and negative. Our emotions are the product of our thoughts, which are connected to these two channels.     

We express our thoughts by language. Healthy, positive, and valuable thoughts come from the positive channel. These hopeful thoughts create a positive environment and a healthy society. If everybody uses their positive channels, we will have healthy, happy, and sympathetic people.

     We can use negative channels and allow unhealthy thoughts in our lives. The negative sentences can hurt us and the people around us. This leads to dysfunctional families and societies.

Negative people are victims of their own thought processes. They lack self-awareness and self-control. When one finds out the root of the problem and thoughts that affect our emotions, they can change them. Pride is an important feeling and helps us to stay moral and healthy. Pride and arrogance are different. Nobody likes an arrogant person. Arrogance makes us isolated and depressed. Self-awareness and recognition of our emotions can help us to be healthy and happy.

 

July 25, 1987


No. 5 We Create Our World

 

We can create a happy and fulfilling life by focusing on the positive aspects of our lives.

Even though our lives might have many shortcomings and problems, we can still see a beautiful picture if we get energy from the positive channel of our thoughts. On the other hand, if we let the negative channel give us energy, we would feel drained and sad. Life would be unbearable.

  We need to be aware of these two positive and negative channels. We can let the negative thoughts come forward. Then, by awareness, we can turn that switch off and turn the positive thinking switch on. This is a self-awareness and positive approach. By verbalizing our positive thoughts and happy feelings, we can make others happy, too. Happiness can be contagious.

 

August 1, 1987


No. 6 Worry


If we cannot control our worrisome thoughts, they can destroy our inner peace. Worry can change to anxiety and become self-destructive.

     We have two kinds of worries. The thoughts that come from Positive Channels are there to prevent problems. The worrying thoughts that come from our Negative Channel can be problematic.

     We get energy from food and our thoughts. Half of the energy is physical, and the other half is mental and spiritual. If we let the negative channel in control us, we lose our spiritual energy and feel tired and drained.

   Many people eat healthy food and take their vitamins and minerals, and still feel drained. There can be a false sense of tiredness due to unnecessary worrying, and emotional and mental activity.  Being aware of the negative can help to protect against worrying.

     Some scientists claim life events and problems are contributing factors. We are in control of 60% of our life events, 30% of our lives are affected by others, and 10% by nature. If we believe this, then we can begin to feel a sense of control.

     We can accept the disasters caused by nature, know that we did not cause them, and be at peace with that. Then we can focus on the 60% so the events that we can control.  We have the ability to be grateful for blessings. We are able to learn and strengthen this sense of gratitude. We can minimize our worries and maximize our positive thoughts.

     By using these strategies, we will be able to deal with 30% of social and family pressures. Using positive thinking techniques will give us inner peace and a sense of happiness.

 

August 8, 1987



No. 7 Work and Cooperation

 

Work, physical activity, and cooperation are our health needs. Human beings who subscribe to this sense of helpfulness and teamwork have improved our civilization.

     There is a saying, “Work is the bride of life, and cooperation is the flower of life.”  Life should have a purpose to be sweet and meaningful. Work and cooperation give meaning to life.

Everybody has general talents. These talents are ready to sprout with inner energy. If we don’t use our inner energy with work and productive activities, it will change into negative energy. That can cause inner restlessness. Also, by working, we can take care of our financial needs, and we will use our time productively.

    There are two kinds of work, physical and mental; they are complementary. We use our minds and body in different jobs.

       Our body and good are connected. We need to find work that is enjoyable. If we are forced to get a job that is not what we really like, but we need it for financial reasons, we can still do it with pleasure. Listen to soft music during work. Remind yourself of the benefits of working and change your attitude.

     Cooperation, collaboration, and teamwork give us satisfaction too. We need to change our attitude and focus on the benefits of work. Then, we can enjoy any task we need to complete with pleasure.

 

August 15, 1987

 

No.8 Fatigue

 

Feeling tired can become contagious. In many cultures, people say, “Don’t work so hard, you will get tired,” or, “I am tired,” or “Don’t get too tired.” Many people use “I don’t feel like it.” All of these sentences reflect our attitude towards work, energy, and tiredness.

     Not many people are aware of their patterns of when and why they feel tired. They just complain that they are tired. The negative attitude towards work is contagious. We know that working and being active gives us more energy. Our negative attitude towards work is a learned behavior.

     Feeling tired can be due to a lack of physical energy, which can be regained by sleep and rest. Most of the time, fatigue is due to our negative attitude and lack of knowledge about it. Awareness of our thoughts and attitudes can help us change them and feel more energized.

     The signs of emotional tiredness are restlessness, sleeplessness, and lack of energy (aptitude). With self-help and self-awareness, we can become calmer. We need the support and understanding of our family members. Open discussions about a change of attitudes can be helpful. We can accept the problems and difficulties in our lives and not be angry about them. Using the Positive Channels, we can see the good in every problem.

     Feeling calm and peaceful will give us energy, and we will not feel tired and drained. We need to feel satisfied with our lives to survive and continue life with pleasure.

 

August 22. 1987     

 

No. 9 Inner Peace

 

Human beings have been looking for inner peace for centuries. After the invention of electric power and many electrical appliances, people have more comfort but still feel an inner emptiness.

     People look for inner peace and satisfaction in different places. Some go for higher education, and others pursue physical beauty or sex. Some people set high goals for their financial futures and spend many years making money, yet they don’t feel satisfied.

     Life is like a car with four wheels. We need to take care of all four wheels to function and move forward. The first wheel is the ability to love, self-love, showing love and affection to others, love of life, work, and people. The second wheel of life is the ability to earn a living, knowing how to spend and save money. Earning money is a means of life, not the primary goal. The third wheel is treating us and others with love and respect. How one treats children is very important. Your own or other’s kids are all tomorrow’s adults. Careless treatment of children will affect our lives, their future, and our well-being, too, as individuals and as a society. The fourth wheel of life is work, the completion of our daily tasks and chores. Feeling tired and procrastination causes distress and discontent.

     Many people live with flat tires, meaning dysfunctional and unfulfilled lives. By being aware of these four factors of life, self-awareness, and self-help, we can have fulfilled lives.

                         August 29, 1987

No.10 To Cry    

Crying is a natural phenomenon. From the first moment of birth, babies cry.

     The cause of crying can be sourced to our negative and positive channels. When we feel sad, we cry and let out our pain. However, we also cry out of joy and happiness. This kind of crying is our positive channel.

   Unfortunately, in our culture, we use negativity for manipulation, or we look at it as a form of weakness. Usually, we do not allow people to cry. We need to know the reason for the crying; if it is a good reason, we should let the person cry and let the sad emotions out.

     We need to learn not to be affected by the crying of others and not to let it make us feel distressed. When we accept crying as a natural part of life and let it take place for us and others, then we can feel better. Controlling our natural feelings and not allowing our tears to come out can transform them into anxiety and depression.

     Of course, unnecessary crying is due to depression and may call for professional care, but the release of emotions due to sad events or happy moments is totally acceptable. 

 

September 5, 1987


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