Here are 4 levels we eat at. It isn’t eating only, but also the way we consume and react/respond to energy outside of us. Energy = people, places, situations,etc. Food is just an indicator of our own selves. If we want to be calm or are generally calm, we’d automatically choose that kind of energy or strive to maintain that kind of energy (calmness). So goes for those who are aggressive, angry, depressed, etc. “Like attracts Like”.
This wonderful 4 levels of eating awareness are by Dr. Ed Bauman. Do check out his website for more details. Also, The Health Awareness Centre (Mumbai, India) does the same and much more. Check THAC out for holistic awareness from a food, personal, emotional, mental and ecological stand point.
Life doesn’t always introduce you to the people you WANT to meet Sometimes, Life puts you in touch with the people you NEED to meet to Help You, to Hurt You, to Guide You, to Leave You, to Love You and to gradually Strengthen You into the Person You Were Meant to Become.
1. A Happy Soul stops trying to change others, but instead focus on changing self.
2. A Happy Soul is one who accepts people for who they are.
3. A Happy Soul is one who understands that everyone is right in one’s own perspective.
4. A Happy Soul is one who learns to “let go”.
5. A “Happy Soul is one who is able to drop expectations from every relationship and gives for the sake of giving.
6. A Happy Soul is one who understands that whatever we do, we do it for our own peace.
7. A Happy Soul is one who stops proving to the world, how intelligent one is.
8. A Happy Soul is one who does not seek approval from others.
9. A Happy Soul is one who stops comparing with others.
10. A Happy Soul is one who is at peace with oneself.
11. A Happy Soul is one who is able to differentiate between “need” and “want” and is able to let go of one’s wants.
12. A Happy Soul is one who stops attaching “happiness” to material things.
The other night I saw the movie “The East” (2013), it stars the handsome Brit Marling, the cutey Ellen Page and Alexander Skarsgård of the new Legend of Tarzan fame (he reminded me a lot of younger Bill Pullman). It’s a movie about an operative in a private intelligence firm who infiltrates an anarchist group that believes in covert attacks “green terrorism” upon major corporations. This is not a movie review, this does not contain any spoilers.
So this group is basically formed to counter-attack (literally) the evils of big corporations that don’t care about the environment, the effects on the people, the animals etc. A typical scenario in today’s world and you’d find a lot of documentaries, news media, books, lectures dealing with this. We aren’t here to debate that at all. We are here for Inner Clarity.
It Starts with Pain
Here, the aware people start to see that big corporations are hiding, denying and outright lying about their products, after effects etc. It is fantastic to be aware and one must be, but it is another to get angry, frustrated, etc. and yet another to hit back in some way. The movie’s tagline says “Spy on us, we’ll spy on you” and so are the characters heard saying similar things about hurting, destroying.
Here’s the progression of pain perceived by an individual:
– Use the product, behaviour, emotion which isn’t healthy but one isn’t aware
– Identify that something as dark, evil, causing harm outside
– Reject, deny it, lot of troubling mental upheavals here
– Stop engaging in those activities, products, behaviour
– Make other people aware
– Try to figure out how to make a change
– Positive change or Negative change (depends totally on how one sees and approaches it as per one’s mind/state of consciousness)
Inside Out
Positive change or Negative change, this is the important “personal part” of oneself. Forget about the outside world, look at the inside world first and foremost.
We always focus on the outside and try the “Outside-In” approach, and yet that NEVER really works. Because whatever happens to us in real life isn’t about the outside, but the inside of us. If our life choices are about hate, creating fear, all out of anger, all the while thinking “this is for the greater good”. You are looking at it the wrong way.
Image source – Raluca’s blog (link below)
The outside is only a stimulant, everything else is inside, it rises from the inside. How? Simple. The outside stimulus caused something, at that time what did the inside of you do? A popular story here would demonstrate a lot better.
“It is said that one day the Buddha was walking through a village. A very angry and rude young man came up and began insulting him, saying all kind of rude words.
The Buddha was not upset by these insults. Instead, he asked the young man, “Tell me, if you buy a gift for someone, and that person does not take it, to whom does the gift belong?”
The young man was surprised to be asked such a strange question and answered, “It would belong to me because I bought the gift.”
The Buddha smiled and said, “That is correct. And it is exactly the same with your anger. If you become angry with me and I do not get insulted, then the anger falls back on you. You are then the only one who becomes unhappy, not me. All you have done is hurt yourself.”
A lovely old story and a wonderful reflection by fellow aware blogger Raluca.
Only with Inner Awareness
Ever asked yourself, what does Love bring that anger can’t? Can the same anarchist movement be done with inner awareness and stillness rather than anger and hate? Which is contrary to their belief would bring about only more anger and hate. What’s the point? You are dealing with it on the same scale of hate consciousness rather than rising above it.
Image source – Whatsapp
Rise Above Pain
So the next time you are really angry with something, somebody, hate something really a lot, just cool off first. Breathe deep. And really connect with oneself, talk to oneself, surround oneself with people that think higher, better, give different viewpoints. Embarking on a journey without researching more on inner yourself, feeling, thoughts etc. will only limit you incredibly.
Here’s a wonderful article in Times of India about Commodore Medioma Bhada (Retd) who made a HUGE mistake when carrying out his critical mission. (Full story here)
On December 4, 1971, four Seahawk fighter jets of the Indian Navy took off from aircraft carrier INS Vikrant, waiting somewhere in the Bay of Bengal.
Among the four pilots was 31-yearold Medioma ‘Mike’ Bhada. Their mission: To obliterate the strategic Cox’s Bazaar airfield in East Pakistan.
“I was full of adrenaline. We were to maintain complete radio silence and flying in those days was visual. Our mission was to fly low up to the target, to avoid enemy radar, thereafter to pull up and carry out a rocket attack and immediately leave the scene of action. As a ruse, we were instructed to fly in a different direction before heading back for the carrier. We had to maintain strict radio silence throughout the sortie,” said he.
“I made a cardinal mistake. I used my fore-finger instead of my thumb. As a result, I fired the 20 mm guns instead of the rockets. An unforgiveable error. By the time I realised it I had already crossed the minimum height for pull out from the dive. I had no choice but to abandon the attack with all my rockets still slung under my wings. In the meanwhile, the other three aircraft had left the scene of action and were well on their way back. I could not break radio silence to inform the leader. I also realised that landing back on the aircraft carrier with live rockets could be extremely dangerous for the ship.”
In that split second, Bhada added, he took a decision to turn back and complete the mission by carrying out a second attack on the target. “I accomplished this successfully , in the face of anti-aircraft fire.”
And you think your mistake’s in life are fatal? Think again. Look again. Try again. There’s always hope, as long as you own up to your mistake, accept it and try again.
In the light of this, I don’t think any of mistakes I’ve made in my work/life as been as critical as this. Thank you, Commodore Medioma Bhada for being an inspiration.
