Daily Routine – Diet, Food and Eating

Diet, plays an over powered role in shaping our body and mind. We all know that the body literally sheds its old cells and renews them in 48 days. If we eat clean for 48 days consecutively, we will have a new body at the end of it.

So what is eating clean?

With so much misinformation about diets and eating, it is very easy to get confused. We have a school of thought which says eat every 2 hours and another which says fast for 16 hours. So where do we go and what do we follow?

We are here at this contemplating what and when to eat, purely because we have lost our sensibilities and our inner compass and our connection to our own bodies needs.

So how do we reconnect with our body and develop the ability to listen to it?

The basics for eating has always been the same.

1.) Food is God and food is medicine.

2.) Eating light, makes you feel lighter and eating heavy gives you more energy.

3.) How you eat is as important as what you eat.

Let’s delve into each of these topics.

Food is God / Food is medicine :

For most , food has become an addiction and a compulsion and therefore has lost its reverence. We are consuming and taking energy from living beings in the form of food. Our thankfulness and acceptance of it, will help us assimilate the right nutrients.

We have seen so many people talk about how changing their diet has changed their illness. Just like how food acts as a medicine, it also has the capability to give you a super charge and make you superhuman.

So, every time we eat, eat for the right reasons. Be thankful and revere what is to become part of your body.

Eating light, makes you feel lighter and eating heavy gives you more energy :

Food has the capacity to change your body and thoughts.

If we are on that path of spirituality, eating light – I.e natural foods, vegetarian/ vegan will help us have clarity of thoughts over time. But, if we need a lot of energy for physical work, we will need to eat oily heavy food.

Processed foods, with a lot of sugar and salt, like most things man-made is likely to tend us towards addiction and lethargy.

What we eat should therefore have a direct correlation to what is the weather outside, what is the physical activity that we are currently doing and a lot of other factors. Instead, we seem to be stuck to a clock and eat because “it is time to eat”. This factory worker mindset is not the best for our own growth.

What you need to eat, needs to come from within. So we first need to increase our sensitivity by eating and then observing how we feel. Note how you feel, when you have eaten, a few hours after you have eaten and even a day after you have eaten. When you start to notice this, you will then be able to intuitively expect what each food can do for you.

This skill may seem far fetched, but is a fundamental sense for us and therefore we can brush off the rust fairly quickly.

How you eat is as important as what you eat :

Eating as a process, has its own set of rules which are rarely followed.

The basics have always been the same –

Revere the food. Pray before you eat.

Sit down and eat (no standing, no walking)

Best to sit on the floor with your legs folded.

Only eat while eating (no watching television/phone or be on call etc)

Taste and chew every mouthful before you swallow.

And that’s it. Consistently done, this will also improve our sensitivity to food.

Like everything that is repeated everyday, eating has a huge impact on our mind and body. There are lots of habits that you can develop to come to an understanding of your own relationship with food.

The ideal state, will be able to accurately state when you will need to eat what and to eat it the right way. With consistent practise and will power, we can get there sooner than you think.

Onwards towards eternal peace.

Love,

V

Shame, Guilt and transcending it

For people on the journey of self development, we first start by understanding ourselves. The more we notice ourselves the more we find faults with ourselves. We are our own harshest critic.

Tough love, discipline and will power have been touted as silver bullets for all our issues.

So we get into a cycle – a cycle of finding our faults, setting impossible standards for discipline, failing, shaming ourselves or feeling guilty which in turn makes our own faults worse.

To break this, we need love and acceptance. Accepting that you are not perfect. Accepting yourself as you are, which means accepting your flaws is important.

Acceptance leads to unconditional love. You love yourself without the precondition of changing your flaws. What this allows is a surge of energy focused on your flaws. You can see the flaw as a blockage in you and your love washing it over and removing it. Now let it go. Allow the flaw to dissolve by itself. Let it wash out of your system.

As most thick stain, we may need to wash a few times. Getting this process of acceptance, love and washing and fine tuning it to suit yourself is a learning by itself. It is a powerful tool for change and improving ourselves.

As most tools, there are cautions that we need to adhere to. In this method, being too loose with yourself and accepting yourself with the flaw, on the surface and thereby telling your mind it is ok to keep doing the same mistake over and over is something we need to be wary of. This tool works once, you penetrate the mental level and start your journey on the spiritual level and are able to sense your own energies and blockages (even a tiny bit is enough).

Hope this method is useful for you.

Onwards towards eternal peace,

Love,

V

Break out of Guilt

Financial Freedom

Financial freedom, has become a rage of sorts today. People are enamoured by the word and this seems to be the goal of a good chunk of the population – a goal which is replacing the “Get rich” goal in the 90s.

So, when people want financial freedom what are their true intentions or the causes for yearning for this? As is usually the case, the intentions could be very different for different people, even if their actions on the surface seem similar.

Let’s take a few cases which possibly covers a majority of the people.

Case – 1 – Financial freedom or I don’t have to ever work again. A lot of people think of financial freedom as freedom from work. This comes from an intention of running away from work. What they really care about is not the money, but what they think will be absolute freedom from nagging bosses, or dragging themselves to do something just to earn a living. As we know, everything stems from only fear or love. And this intention clearly stems from fear of having to work. It is not “love for money” but rather an idea that the money will make them not have to work again. Even if these people succeed to be free for a bit of time, this love quickly turns into attachment and fear of losing money, making them live the same mundane lives that they were trying to escape. For example, few people could make money so that they do not need to work for a year or so, so they become obsessed with their spending and start penny pinching. Few others could just blow away all their savings in a few months and are back to looking for a steady income or a supplementary income. Yet others could have created a hustle which needs constant work, work that they do not like (just like their initial job) but are forced to do it now that they have increased their lifestyle and have no other option. All these scenarios play out based on the intensity of the fear – I.e intensity with which you really hate doing what you are doing.

Case 2 – Financial freedom for following their passion. Some people could be really passionate about a particular hobby or art or cause that they would love to pursue. But their current lifestyle and expenses do not allow them to follow this. This could lead to a bitter person who craves for financial freedom to do what they love – but coming from fear. Or it could lead to a joyful person who loves what they can do, which will eventually lead them to the freedom they seek. Same person, same goal, similar intent, but different reactions – could lead to very different life paths.

Case 3 – Financial freedom for “enjoying life”. Quite a few people have the notion that life is short and therefore pleasure seeking is the only activity worth pursuing. They look at money as a tool to buy time and pleasure. Their entire intent and philosophy of life stems from the fear of losing life – fear of missing out – fear of not enjoying it enough etc. It is fear, fear, fear at the core. They idolise people who seem to have it all – Richard Branson, Hugh Hefner people who have money and seem to be having all the pleasure that they can get. What they do not see is that even the ones who they idolised go through the same emotions that they are going through. As your taste in pleasures increases and the more you have, the less the number of things that actually bring you pleasure. So the guys who seem to have it all, on the covers of magazines, may not even feel the same pleasure as you would when you get a new car. For them everything seems bland and it is just another car, just another girl, just another party and so on. If the intent for financial freedom is pleasure seeking, it may make sense to delve deeper to understanding yourself.

Case 4 – Financial freedom or get me out of this mess. There are people who are stuck in a cycle of having to live below their means. Or have tremendous debt on their shoulders. They are looking for financial freedom as a exit ticket from this cycle or mess that they have created. Again the intent here is “I don’t like where I am. I deserve better. I should not be in this situation.” and so on. This stems from rejection of the current state of things. Rejection stems from fear. You could really deeply wish for it to change and will it away, but unless the energy and the intent changes the outside world may not change permanently.

Case 5 – The real financial freedom – Finance and money are a tool. A tool that you are thankful for, grateful for and something that enables you to do something bigger than you. As you start doing something bigger than you, you are working out of love. Love is nothing but the oneness and connectedness of everything in the Universe. So if your intention and energy is to move towards something much larger than you, while you are thankful and grateful for money to help you achieve this, it will lead to real financial freedom. In some cases, this could for following your passion (a segment of Case -2) in others it could be to create a community, a society or an organisation which stands for something much larger than yourself. When you achieve true financial freedom, you actually become much more occupied/busy than you were before. But you are doing something fun/something you love / following your purpose so it doesn’t seem like work. It is just you being you.

A caveat* to this which we should be very aware of is to get attached to the concept/goal of whatever that is larger than you. The motivation for change – however noble it is – could come from sense of injustice and an emotional need to counter injustice. This leads to attachment to the end goal and therefore the ego steps in “to fight”. Now the attachment has moved from “earning money” to “fight for justice”. Being aware of this helps you beat this.

Wishes and energy for everyone here to be able to experience being the state of true financial freedom.

Onwards towards eternal peace.

Love, V

Breaking free – in the true sense

* – This point was astutely pointed out by VK. It was wonderful discussing this with you.

Focusing the mind inwards – First Steps

Need to do this and that, But I should focus on silencing the mind.

Will silencing the mind get my work done? Will it pay the bills and the debtor who comes knocking

Maybe yes and maybe no, but I deeply and strongly believe that silencing your wandering mind will calm the clamour outside as well.

Does it mean I shouldn’t work and sit still and meditate all day?

It means you should work with a silent mind – the mind which allows you to focus on the task at hand, without thinking about a thousand other thoughts that slowly and steadily deplete your vital energy.

It barely stays silent for a second and there’s always some thought which seems important or which allures you into a thought train

Who said it will be easy? Just as you have practiced all your life to let your thoughts wander, and even praised yourself for having so many thoughts and for thinking things through, it will take time to change this conditioning. From one second to ten, from ten seconds to a minute to keep your mind still will take time. It will take months of constant practice – practice with every breath.

But, the results are worth it. On the other side is a new you – A vitalised, focused you who achieves what you need to. And the calm mind will direct you to your purpose. The purpose which you came here for. The purpose which is keeping you breathing.

The rewards are plenty, but the path arduous. It is the first step which is the hardest, so what do we do? Watch your breath and repeat a phrase – your Mantra – any phrase – any Mantra. It gives your wandering mind something to hold onto, just like hugging a deep rooted tree in a storm.

With that start your journey. The journey of turning your mind inwards.

Onwards towards eternal peace,

Love,V

Take the first step