Universal Spiritual Principles for Success: Purity

Image credit: Darlene Kwiatkowski

Today is Sunday, October 6, 2013. 

This is the second in a series of articles about eight universal spiritual principles for success in any occupation of life.  Yesterday I wrote about humility.  

Physically, purity means being free from contamination or harmful substances.  In other words, it means being healthy.  Purity also means freedom from negative thoughts or from evil. (For the moment, let's simply define evil as doing harm to ourselves or others.) How can this quality in all of its connotations help us in our daily occupations?

When we focus on maintaining our physical and emotional health, we know that we will be able to do our best in our jobs.  How can we serve our clients when we are tired or in pain?  How can we do our best when we are wracked with guilt feelings, angry with someone, or worried about something?   When our bodies are healthy and our emotions in balance, we are capable of putting out higher vibrations, and we find that people are more comfortable around us, and interactions with others proceed more smoothly.

Another way of maintaining our purity is to walk our talk, or practice what we preach.  When we do this, we don't have to backtrack on something we have said to our students, our clients, or our patients.  We maintain our integrity by taking our own advice, and leading by example.  

It is well known that those who are "pure in heart" speak the truth.  This is always good business, whatever your occupation, and when you are known for always speaking the truth, people find that they can trust you.  They feel confident about taking your advice, or taking direction from you. 

Another way that you can exercise purity in your daily work life is giving people the purity of your attention.  In other words, give people 100% of your attention while they are talking.  Don't be rehearsing a reply or a comeback.  Just listen to what they have to say.  So many times, we miss what people are really trying to tell us because they don't always say it in words, and we miss their underlying message. 

Still another way we can express the principle of purity in our daily lives is purity of intention.  What are our intentions? Are we working to serve our clients, students, patients? Or ware we simply there to make a buck and then go home and spend it?  Are we selling a product that we can stand behind, or are we selling something that we know is imperfect?  Do we view our clients as suckers or as people that we are here to serve in some way?

When we exercise the principle of purity in our daily lives, we are free to do our best work, and serve others with a clear conscience, knowing that we have been truthful and that we have acted for the highest good in every situation.  

Tomorrow:  compassion.  :-)