“I am Fine?”
Lo comes this response! That is the natural response we are conditioned to give in spite of being physically sick, mentally tired or emotionally battered.
Man is a multidimensional being.
One the most important things that we overlook is that just feeding the body nutritious food (which too is quite unlikely in this era of fast food) is not going to ensure the well-being of a person. The mental and emotional hygiene is also a must. I hope that by the end of this email you can take away a solid framework for achieving your holistic well-being on all the levels.
The Amarantos Well-Being Quadrant could help you do this.
Quadrant 1 – Reading and Writing
When we sit down to read or write we are actually turning our awareness within, with the help of the conscious mind we grasp the data to be ruminated over by the Subconscious mind.
Like I recommend to my clients, reading good books before falling asleep is one of the ways of Subconscious mind Renovation.
We have also heard that “A dull pencil is better than a sharp mind!”
By Journaling, even if it is just a line per day, enables us to express our emotions. And remember that one of the law’s of emotions is that, “Every emotion needs an expression!” Else it will leak into other aspects of our life, resulting in irrational behavior or could lead to a Psychosomatic illness.
Even a To-Do list relieves us of a heavy mental load from our mind.
Quadrant 2 – Micro-Vacation, Introspection, Mindfulness, Meditation
This is the time when we move from the active to the passive state of existence from the Autonomic system’s Sympathetic to Parasympathetic state. The question that is more of an excuse for people to not meditate is, “I do not know how to meditate.”
But the most amazing things as a great Sage says is that man is meditating all the time, just that its most of the times on the worldly things. If the focus could be turned within, into the real self, on “Who I am” or on a chosen Deity or on a Guru, that is Meditation.
Meditation should be like a vacation, a short vacation and hence we could call it Micro-Vacation. Where you can transport yourself into your real Self. Not having to do anything, just Being the Reality you Really Are.
Quadrant 3 – Physical Fitness
“Mens sana in corpore sano” as is the ancient Latin saying, “A healthy mind can be only in a healthy body”.
It is mandatory if not compulsory, for you to keep your body healthy, as much through exercise as diet. Have a 30mins mindful walk if you cannot do any other physical exercise. You can even go for a walk every evening with your family and friends to get started.
One of the other advantages of this is that people who are physically fit can handle stress better.
Quadrant 4 – Sleep like a baby
Sleeplessness has graduated to be an epidemic as per WHO now. Due to the restless mind, sedentary work life, where the mind is super active and the body is never tired enough to want to sleep, plus the mobile phones and laptops to keep us engaged. But deprivation of sleep eats into us very slowly and the effects of which are almost irreversible.
Hit the gym if you are into a job where you cannot be physically active, let your body exercise so much that your blood is well oxygenated and you enter a deep sleep as soon as your head hits the pillow!
The worries and cares of the world will always be there, but you being sleepless is not going to make them any better, so catch a good sleep always!
I hope taking care of all these 4 things on a daily basis will help you inculcate helpful habits for your overall well-being. Gaining inner strength to sail through the storm of life.