Tagged: health
Emotions and our health
Nowadays, bacterias and viruses aren’t the only providers of disease. The quality of our emotions will greatly influence our health.
Different emotions will trigger different chemicals in our body. When we are young, our bodies have the ability to hold on certain emotions, even though detrimental to our health. As we age; the importance of recognizing the flow of emotions in our selves becomes extremely important.
Anxiety, anger, worries, uncertainty, over thinking… all of those “modern diseases” will affect the quality of our health.
Every one of us may have felt these. These emotions are not “bad.” Those emotions need to be allowed to be felt but at the same time, they should be allowed to leave.
This is the key . We are not sponges. We are mirrors and as we self-realize, we become doors and windows.
We have been taught through many years of repressive “spirituality,” that we should not feel certain emotions. That practice will hurt us.
Observe Nature. A duck will fight with another duck. After that event, the duck will flap its wings. Then things will continue as “normal.”
It is true that in our society there are consequences for expressing our anger. There are “acceptable levels,” however; for a seeker it becomes important to OBSERVE the emotional energy going through us and create a “space” and effectively, disassociate from that energy.
For instance, in dealing with certain personalities, it may be important to show our anger. Nevertheless, our “liver” should not pay the consequences and our mind should not take that episode for the next day or week or month or year, unable to let go.
Things happen. It is a “now” thing. Afterwards, it is a different reality altogether.
When we are not OBSERVANT of the build up of emotions, we will identify with them, we will believe that “I AM ANGER,” “I was angry,” “You made me angry” we say rather than, “I FELT ANGER.” As it is felt, it goes away.
Flap your wings and let it go.
For many individuals, it is hard to eat after an episode of anger. If they eat, their stomach will feel upset. Others, are capable of enjoying their meals right after an episode of anger.
What is the difference?
The level of IDENTIFICATION. How much our mind recites the incidents? For how long? That is what we may need to be AWARE of, to OBSERVE in ourselves.
As we master this “skill,” there will be a level of energy “regulation” built in. This will arrive as we OBSERVE every episode in our lives rather than repress or label that as “this is good or this is bad.”
It is of paramount importance to learn to OBSERVE ourselves as if we were following someone else: We will notice movements, emotions, triggers, ego and we can contrast that with the certainty that Life is a game, for sooner or later; Life only reflects back our beliefs. Would you rather play or worry?
In Life, nothing lasts forever. That is a “good” thing.
Healthy Spirituality
The word AWARENESS is not understood. It just becomes another theory to “practice” once in a while. Something like becoming your own police at particular times until this “practice” gets tiresome and our “normal” self takes over.
Perhaps a better way to convey the meaning of awareness is when we feel in balance. Health is part of that. Health is ONE but we divide it in 3 general aspects; physical, mental and emotional.
The physical aspect is the most noticeable. That is what we recognize as being “healthy.”
My friend and chiropractor Mike, discovered how detrimental a diet based on simple sugars could be. Sugar could ruin our health. He wrote a comment in the blog, the other day:
“As an observer you can help others examine how sugar is evil and the start of disease so you stay hooked sick and have to take medicines for life to support the corporate sugar and pharmacy industry.”
Today, I will take up the subject of health which is very “Spiritual.” In fact, wholesome health is the purpose of any worthwhile spirituality.
Ahnanda has discovered that in Life, rejection of something will bring consequences. We cannot understand something if we have previously rejected it.
I wouldn’t label sugar as “evil.” Sugar is sugar. It is said that Life is sweet as sugar…
When we are out of balance, we will try to compensate what we lack by overdoing something else, thus; unwillingly hurting ourselves, creating disease. We are not aware of that. Let us say that I experience anxiety or that I experience sleepless nights. Compensation could be emotionally achieved by overeating or taking higher amounts of sugar. Over time, this translates into a disease.
Eating is one of the few Life pleasures which hasn’t been condemned by our society. It is a good outlet for many. Emotionally, that is a safe way to enjoy Life, thus any restrictions to food will definitely have a bitter consequence.
“No more sugar from now on” will be a miserable experience for many. The answer is not in that extreme. However, there are exceptions: There may be many individuals who are killing themselves by the ingestion of too much sugar. For them, “no more sugar from now on” could be a Life saver. Observe how the closer we are to one extreme, we will need another extreme solution in the opposite direction to regain balance.
To enjoy Life, is a matter of living in Balance. In harmonious relationship “within” and “without.”
Health (mind, body, emotions) is definitely observable in this balance.
Our minds are usually extremist. As we become acquainted with our “gut feeling” to move in Life (rather than making “thoughtful” decisions) there will be less mind, meaning a greater “sense” of balance.
A glass of Coke may be full of sugar, but if that drink was used as a “reward” when you were a kid, that Coke acquires the importance of “emotional food” when adult; which will be helpful in some low moments in our lives. That is an example of balance.
Emotional needs are as important as physical ones. Priorities will continually change in a healthy balance. That is why they cannot be pinned as: “This is the way,” or “This is evil.”
Our minds are so used to labeling something as “good” and other things as “evil.” That extremist labeling will only reduce our ability to observe.
It is in true observation, where taking sides do not exist. We may be in one side to go to the other side.
You are informed about Sugar. Now experience it, then you will know. No need to proselytize. 🙂
“Spiritual” cogitations
In the “Office world” we learn to pursue, to achieve, to DO what is conditioned to be “better” for us. In Life, none of that is important.
What is the difference between the “office world” and Life?
The “office world” is part of Life, however; it is man-made, artificial like a computer or a car, not “bad” but artificial. For our minds, that artificial Life is the most important aspect of living.
The “office world” values wealth, power, and information (called sometimes knowledge) above anything else. Those are mental conditionings. Someone could live their Life miserably by DOING something they do not like, for the sake of obtaining wealth, power or information.
Someone may DO something to achieve wealth, power or information although it will be detrimental to his health, relaxation and appreciation of Life. Why do they DO it? Because they have been conditioned in that way. They cannot see anything else.
Observe where “Human progress” has taken us. Every time further away from Nature. Every step into an artificial Life.
Observe how every “problem” that exists in the world (office world) today has the root on our ever-increasing human population. As a consequence, fierce competition to secure scarce resources, will change our perception of the world.
Nature is no longer “our Mother,” but another economic resource to exploit and to gain profits from.
The environment could be polluted for no one “owns it.”
It is comical to believe that poverty could be eradicated through money, when money only represents the power of human division between the “haves and the have-nots.” Lack of money is not the cause of poverty, but human greed is. Funny, no book on Macro Economics will ever talk about it.
When you look at Life from a different consciousness, everything that used to be “important,” no longer will be.
Many individuals in the “Spiritual achievement club” want to be “enlightened” but they better be careful what they wish for. This is not another degree to obtain or another title to achieve. In fact, you will lose everything you used to know and trust.
Everything will be gone. Are you ready for that? Even “you” will be gone.
Some “spiritual books” mention that the reason why spiritual people are away from other people is to better practice “spirituality.” That is not true, but only for the followers. The only reason why any enlightened person who has ever lived went into solitude while walking the path of self-realization, was to decondition themselves. That is not something that they carefully “planned” or organized to “achieve their goal,” like in the “office world,” but it happened to them.
That space away from the conditioning of society is what is needed. There is no “spirituality” to practice here, other than being able to live with yourself.
That is a hard thing to DO when we live a Life of distraction from ourselves.
Society wants answers to every question, as long as those answers are “eco-friendly, organic and animal free tested.” Those are the keywords to sound caring, loving and correct. Yes, society is about “looks.” That is the seal of artificiality.
Life is away from what society has given us. Empty handed, you may be able to experience Life… but this is not for everyone, thus; it is not a “best seller” material. 🙂
Question: Will awareness free us from adapting to unnatural structures?
[….]And the human brain was, ultimately, what made the species survive by doing the most unnatural things, like creating societies revolving about agriculture, territory claiming, wars, patriotism, family, father-mother + children, monogamy, and all the things that required the structures that the ego must free itself from in order to feel existence as an awareness experience. So, the question is, how can humans be aware if being aware is precisely what frees them from adapting to the unnatural structures designed to survive when the habitat is not the original one? Please, the issue at hand is not a light one, but it is certainly, I believe, central to the whole matter at hand.
Thank you for your question.
Your question is: How can humans be aware, if being aware is what frees them from adapting to an unnatural structure which is designed for humans to survive, when they are not living in their original habitat?
Short answer: This is not about “humans.” This is about “you”, a human being. You will fully know the experiential answer when AWARENESS happens to you, otherwise; we could indulge in intellectual answers. I give you an answer, you make up another question, and the game goes on. You could accept the answer by believing in me, which is worthless; or you can reject my answer by adding more intellectual premises, which is worthless as well. Worthless for what? For inner change, which is the central matter to the whole blog.
Ahnanda is in the process of awareness and he has a “life” in the “office world” as well. What is the issue? None.
Being aware does not mean to reject an “unnatural structure.”
When we are not aware, we believe that the “unnatural structure” is Life itself, or we believe that an “unnatural structure” is “bad” and we must fight against it by promoting the opposite.
Being aware does not mean to be “for something or against it.” When we are not aware, we make judgments, choices based on our own conditioning, believing that our conditioning is the “right” thing.
For instance, I mentioned that Buddha wasn’t vegetarian. Some will believe that Ahnanda said that Buddha ate meat. That is not what it was said. Buddha ate what he ate, but he did not define who he was by giving himself a label (vegetarian.) That is awareness. When we lack awareness we believe that by eating what Buddha ate, we will be the same as him.
Awareness is not a choice. It is not a decision, thus; to say “how can humans be aware,” is not congruent with the nature of awareness. Awareness happens and when it happens, we may choose to ignore it and play the “pretending game.”
They key is to observe if there is rejection in what we used to perceive or on what others perceive, for we may believe that we now “have the truth.”
In the last article Ahnanda suggested to be more in tune with Nature. “Humanity” may not be interested in this, but few humans will, if that is their calling. In that contrast of living in Nature and society new awareness may emerge. We grow through Life experiences, not by just reading or listening to words of wisdom. That is why in some spiritual systems a disciple will live with his master/ guru to assimilate teachings through the disciples’ own experience. Nature is such a master.
If you are used to eating heavy amounts of sugar through different food items and a doctor tells you that “sugar is bad for you, don’t eat it” you may stop adding sugar in your tea, milk and lemonade out of fear or respect for the authority. If you are removed from that environment and only eat fruits and vegetables, and only drink natural spring water, there will be a process of adaptation; but through that, awareness about your previous diet will be obvious. If you are “naturally” used to the new diet perhaps you are aware of a change in your health, then you cannot go back to the former diet unless, you are only forcing yourself to eat “healthy food” (label), then your own repression towards “non-healthy” will take you back there. Most will feel “bad” about it; but they are not aware of the process. To eat healthy is an inner calling due to some personal experience. It is not something to be imposed from the outside. We discover what is healthy for us. That is genuine learning.
If you feel like drinking a soda you may; although if the change in you is real, you may not be able to finish drinking the soda bottle… too much sugar! You are AWARE by experience. This is no longer theory, intellectual knowledge.
For most individuals, awareness is about going to extremes. For instance, someone may feel upset because he feels that the environment and people are not allowing him to fully express who “he is,” he feels that he is living with a “filter.” Therefore, that awareness will take that person to the extreme. This person will act as being completely “unfiltered.” That person is not aware of a process, hasn’t experienced what is in between the extremes. However, going through both extremes will help him discover a balancing act. This cannot be taught by another. It is personal. It needs to be experienced while aware of the process, then we know. 🙂
Do you know if you are aware?
Many times we could read or hear that “spirituality” is about awakening.
That is not just “spirituality.” That is conscious living. To live Life in consciousness.
Life is far greater than just “spirituality.”
Have you noticed when your consciousness changed from being a toddler into a teenager?
No?
That is because there is no division between toddler and teenager. It is a continuous.
The words “toddler” and “teenager” could be used to explain things intellectually, but observe that by taking those concepts to be literal, we are creating a separation which does not exist.
Let me use the word “karma” now, to explain a belief.
If you are suffering from a disease now, that is the consequence of your past karma. Correct?
Disease = “bad;” therefore, that disease is “punishment,” “settling karma.”
Actually the “big picture,” the “unlimited vision” is not related with seeing Life as a fearful trip where “righteousness” is all what matters. That is just a religious perspective, which is different from what Life shows.
“Karma” is actually continuity. Our perception of “good, bad” is the opportunity for change. Life changes.
A disease now is the opportunity to appreciate health, to be able to be in tune with it.
When we appreciate the disease for giving us the chance to be in tune with health; then we are ready for change. When we reject the disease, we will suffer our experience.
“Why is that necessary?”
Because we weren’t conscious of being healthy.
“Is that bad?”
No. Lack of consciousness will take us into being conscious again. That is the trip, the journey.
We go from one extreme to another. It is in that awareness how appreciation arises.
How could we appreciate day, if we don’t know night?
If we learn to appreciate both; then we understand the continuity, change that will happen. Life is not a traumatic experience anymore (as the ego will see it) but just an experience to be enjoyed, appreciated, play with and let go. That is to be in the “now.”
However, that experience could be surrounded by “man made,” “artificial stuff,” such as beliefs, dogmas, moral standards, traditions… Please remember this: Nature… Life is not bound by Human laws, beliefs or traditions. It is not bound by your belief of a rightful God, for Nature, Life, the Universe, “His” creation… is not bound by those “rightful” laws.
When we are appreciation, then there will not be the experience of duality, choosing or having a preference; for we will know that everything changes at its own time.
What is to be awake then?
To be conscious of the process, the change. We are Life itself, not something separate.
To be conscious that this change will happen whether the “I” want it to happen or not.
When we are change itself, what could the “I” hang onto?
Nothing. Except a belief… and that is why, as we become more awake, deep beliefs will go “naturally” away… That is the change.
Processing Life
Every change has a process in Life.
We live in constant “processes.”
Are you ill? Want to be healthy?
There is a process that needs to be respected, care for.
It is like training. When we train our bodies to perform, it is not a linear process of “improvement,” but it is a process of assimilation.
As the body assimilates the stresses put into it, then the body can adapt and overcome.
What is illness?
When we fail to adapt to changes.
What changes?
A new situation, a new circumstance or a recurrent issue, which we are unable to process.
A change of consciousness happens in the same way, it is imperceptible to the senses, every day there is a small change until we realize that something is different in us, at that point we may label that as “something is wrong.”
Observe how the label interferes with the process itself. In our mind, we have a little picture of what we wish to obtain.
That little picture is not reality but merely our own perception of what it “should be.”
Hunger will drive us to possess the picture of a “carrot.” We want a carrot not a picture, but until we find the one looking exactly as the picture, we will be disappointed. That picture has the power to propel the donkey “forward.”
To reach that carrot is simply impossible, for our ideals will not match what is. The picture is not the thing.
Moreover, if we think that we have already reached that carrot, we will be sorely disappointed to taste its emptiness. That is the significance of Dis-illusion.
It wasn’t what we thought it was. We lost the enjoyment of the “reality” of the process, for the idealistic objective.
Some say the “problem” is to have desires and wants. That is not it.
The issue is to have a mental picture of something, a definition, a concept to strive to.
Want success? Define it. Did you get it?
What is next?
Disappointed?
You got the picture.
A ripe fruit is ready to be eaten. It has timing. That timing needs to be respected.
Many times, we may want for things to change immediately, right away as if we were entitled to control Life to fit our wishes.
Observe that change is a process in itself without a particular destination to fit someone’s wishes. It is that range of experiences, which are necessary and able to give us the insight to flow in Life, be Life itself.
There are neither books nor rules. There is no method. No need to follow anyone.
The Universe is like the still waters of a lake on a sunny afternoon.
What you perceive in it, is always a reflection of you.
The danger of beliefs
When there is a belief about something; that same belief will take us away from the fact of our own existence.
The above may not be important for most, for beliefs are needed in a society to keep the “ways” of living, but to understand the extent of a belief is of utmost importance to awaken by realizing the “self.”
In a few words, to look inwards is not possible when our being is occupied on outwardly things.
Let me be more precise.
The belief on reincarnation, the afterlife, destruction of the planet, the Golden age and even God, even though all of that may be “true,” all of that will be a handicap later on.
Why?
Because we will forget about “us” right now. “Our” consciousness.
Many have had experiences with God in one way or another. That was part of their lot of life experiences; to have known something “unusual,” however, that is not something which will help us understand the self as it is right now.
With our own pre-conditioning, fears, anguish, worries, loneliness, sorrow, etc. The belief that “someone will magically take all of that away from you,” well… is a belief.
Are those beliefs wrong then? NO at all. They have a function; their function is to move people into certain direction. To bring awareness up to a point. For example, if someone is used to smoking as a part of being “normal” in this society; a surgeon’s general advice such as “Smoking may be dangerous for your health” is not enough to deter that individual from smoking. In a “normal” society with conflicting values, money talks…you know.
On the other hand, if God has said that you must stop smoking or you will not reach Paradise; then that has a greater impact to change, especially if someone has had “divine” experiences. Obviously for others who do not have experiences, the fact that “God has said so,” will not mean a thing.
Please see the following logic: “Because God has said that I shouldn’t smoke, then smoking is bad.” Moreover, “You must not hang out with people who smoke because their influence will change you.”
The above is called a belief. We may not realize that the phrase “God has said this” is meant to keep us out of trouble BUT, keeping us out of trouble does not mean that there was a change to realize the self, our own eternity.
This is very important. We could live a life when we don’t smoke, drink, have sex, mingle with others who are “non-spiritual,” don’t argue with anyone, etc. We may have good health, we may have greater time for ourselves; but just to keep the above “don’ts” will not make that change of consciousness towards greater awareness.
Please do not misunderstand me. Avyakt7 is not saying that “we shouldn’t do what we believe in.” Avyakt7 is merely stating that change of consciousness will not happen by just following certain behavior patterns. There will be greater health, time and energy by following certain things; but that is the groundwork, the foundation to build the house of self realization. For someone who wants to self realize, the foundation is just the beginning.
That health, time and energy must be used to understand and realize our own self.
How is that change of consciousness possible?
There are many “good people” in the world, but there are very few who are not self-centered.
A belief will strengthen our own self-centerness.
The “I” syndrome. “I” want to be this or that in the “future.” If “I believe this, then God is with me and He will help me.”
Out of my own experience: Life, God, Divinity, etc. may provide the environment to “study” ourselves; but there is no God who will help only “you” and not “another” person to the next step. That is something that we have to “do” ourselves. We have to walk the path with our own two feet. 🙂 and then… paradoxically, help will come. 🙂
In my experience, acceptance of everything as it is; is the first and fundamental cornerstone for a change of consciousness.
That “acceptance” is not something like: “I need to accept everything from now on, because God has said so or some Guru, priest, etc. I must follow.”
That is a belief.
The acceptance that Avyakt7 is talking about comes from your core as the understanding that “I” is the greatest illusion, thus we become like an open door when there is no further judgment or noise in our minds about something that is happening. That acceptance of what is, comes when we are in that state of gratefulness and amazement of life itself; when we can perceive that there is no distinction for all beings are inter-related.
We cannot reject our own arms. We can realize that, but similarly is with anything/anyone in life.
That acceptance has different degrees, it is not the same for all. Variety.
When we are experiencing that acceptance, we don’t need the belief that: “I must not be close to Dan, for he is a smoker. God has said not to.”
In the consciousness of acceptance there is no rejection of Dan but at the same time, there is no rejection of our health, for “our” health means health for all.
Dan is not the same as “smoking.” There is something in Dan which is like “me” that is what we call humanity.
The movement of consciousness could go from “I” to humanity.
Exploring the Depth of Living 