Authenticity and skillfulness appear to be contradictory, but in fact they are complementary. Your intentions need to be authentic and your actions need to be skilful. The more authentic the intention, the more skilful the action will be. Authentic intention and skilful action make you unshakeable.
Skill is required only when authenticity cannot have its way. Yet skill without authenticity makes you shallow. You cannot have an authentic action and a skilful intention. If you try to be authentic in your action but manipulative in your mind, that is when mistakes happen.
Is it possible to have a powerful intention, like greed, that is authentic? If your intention is coloured by such feelings as greed or over-ambition, then your intention is not authentic. Whenever your intentions are impure, it pricks your consciousness, so it cannot be authentic. Authentic intentions are free from negative emotions. An action that is not skilful leads to negative emotions and an intention that is not authentic harbors negative emotions.
What happens if your intention is authentic but your actions are not skilful? Carry a handkerchief! What is the best skill to deal with intention? Do not keep any sankalpas, or intentions, to yourself. Offer them to the Higher Self. Actions can never be perfect but our intentions can be perfect. Actions always have room for improvement. Action means growth and movement, and that needs space.
The depth and the freedom in you bring out the skilfulness in you. Krishna was the most skilful, because his silence was so deep.
When you are dealing with obstacles in life, it is important to keep the mind positive. Some ash may accumulate and cover the fire but once that is blown away, the fire rises up and shines brightly. Look at how many problems you have had in the past -- how they have all come and then, gone. There were times when you thought, you will not be able to survive it, but you did! Know that even this will pass, and you have the energy and power within you to overcome it.Suppose you don't have the faith that these problems will get solved with time, then surrender can help. Surrender does not indicate weakness. In fact it is only those who are truly strong, who can surrender.
Suppose you don't even believe in God — "I haven't seen God. How can I trust something I haven't seen?" Then at least find ways to keep your mind cool. One technique is, remember the moon and the way the rays of the moon fall upon you. Look at the moon for a while. A sense of calm takes over the mind. You need to keep the mind pure and expanded, for ideas and solutions to arise.
If you find difficult to keep the mind cool, then another way is, to know that you are very skilful. Remember how you have dealt with so many problems skilfully. When the mind runs on skilfulness then problems don't seem like problems. Observe, how a child so skilfully, gets his father to listen to him and have its way, when the father is not ready to listen.
