Showing posts with label stress. Show all posts
Showing posts with label stress. Show all posts

Thursday, June 4, 2015

Elementary Living!


‘Simplicity is no longer a convention, it is an invention’

As soon as I read this, it sat deeply within me. So true I thought. We now live in a world that is getting more and more complicated and in the midst of information overload on how we can make it even more so!

In every dire situation, there is the proverbial silver lining and that became the case with the family and me. We discovered the components of elementary living!

Though the awareness drifted in the fringes of my own consciousness, it never was mainstream. So what’s this elementary living? I call it living in balance with the elements of nature, that is Air, Fire, Water, Earth and Ether or space! Do we have a balance of these in our day-to-day living? Do we use the tremendous healing properties that these elements have to bring a sense of sanity in the mad rush that we are all in?

Do we use the element of air, our very own life force in accordance to the need for ourselves? Remember, life force is the only thing that we carry with ourselves everywhere we go! Are we even aware of our breath or have we taken it for granted? To balance Air, we need to cleanse and energize ourselves. Cleansing can be through the various Pranayama techniques and the Breath Energy Technique to energize.

Fire is that element which defies gravity! Think about it! It is so light! Fire meditation helps burn and lighten burdens of every day life, it has the power to cleanse deep. Just observing this element burn instills warmth and power, so very essential in today’s world!

Water is the universal cleanser! Do we cleanse ourselves with this divine element as a healing component or do we use it automatic, without giving it a deeper thought? Having a bath twice everyday is mandatory in this polluted environment, both emotional pollution as well as the physical pollution. It can wash away the negative energy that we build around and within us during the course of the day!

Mother Earth is the provider of our energy through food, and how we have abused her is beyond imagination! Research now shows that the topsoil in our country is way beyond repair because of the rampant and un-regulated use of pesticides. We are also victims of the junk food, fast food culture that has percolated so deep down that it is no longer occasional food but daily diet! How balanced is our diet? Do we ‘eat to live, or live to eat?’ Are we the victims of the corporations that are making their millions at our cost?  Rampant spread of deadly diseases is proof enough of the poisoning that has happened in our environment by the elites.

Space is that element that is necessary to balance all others! Renewal practices like Yoga, Meditation, and Prayer are necessary to survive in this rat race! We binge renew on weekends, which does more harm than good! What is your daily renewal practice?

Our living being the planet earth or giai is the universal possessor and provider of all five without discrimination! Should we not be grateful?

Think about it! As Sherlock Holmes famously said, ‘elementary my dear Watson’!

Ask yourself, ‘How elementary is my living’?

A friend once asked me, what is the use? Do you want to live longer by doing all this? My internal reply was, ‘Add life to years, not years to life’!





Monday, April 27, 2015

Life and Life-Style!


We are frequently faced with the question “What is this life?” To understand this question we need to first distinguish between Life and ‘Life - style’. There is an distinction that between the two. Most of the time we think that life style and life are one and the same, when they are not! Life-style is associated with the external while Life is associated with the internal, which is within one.

We often are in the quest of looking to make our lives happy, and seek external sources to quench our thirst. In wanting to make life happy we seek from our material surroundings. We think we will be happy when we have a secure job, we will be comfortable when we have a shelter above our head.
When we achieve that, we are not satisfied and we look for enhancing what we have got, thinking “this will make us happy”. We look for promotions within the job, are it in position or monetary increment and we look to renovate our houses thinking the extra room or a better kitchen is what we need.
Thus this spiral of wanting more which we conveniently term need, leads to greed, while all the time we are still in search of that elusive happiness, which is within. Thus we need to understand that what we think will make us happy in life, is actually our ‘Life-style’ which only provides a temporary illusion of happiness till we start wanting more.

Life on the other hand requires one to go within and live in the moment, in complete faith that one will be provided for without wanting or asking, it prompts one to learn that happiness is not a destination that we seek but the stations that you get along the path. Being present in the moment and appreciating the thoughts in the present thereby freeing us from the thoughts of the past or the future.

Life teaches simplicity which no longer is a convention but an invention! ‘Life-style’ is getting caught in the outer noise!, While life is listening to the inner voice. ‘Life-style’ recognizes the one who has the most, while life supports one who needs the least.
Looking outside we dream, looking within we awaken, looking outside we analyze, looking inside we realize. We need to understand that the eyes offer sight while the heart offers insight.

The next time that you are faced with the question “What is this life”? Distinguish between ‘life – style’ and ‘life’ before looking for the answer, and seek answers from within rather than from the outside.