Thought 195: The holistic approach to life

Part 3 – psychological needs

- Fear and suspicion are the major causes of conflict. Have no fear (but be cautious). Try and dispel suspicion in others

- You are talking to yourself constantly. If this self-talk is negative, a poor self-image results and you build up a resentment towards others

- Make the self-talk positive and develop a high self esteem

- No one can harm you. By negative self-talk, you harm yourself. Since no one other than yourself can harm you, why have animosity towards others?

- Self-confidence and self-esteem make you look attractive. If you lack them, you look unattractive, even if you are handsome

- Learn to listen when others speak. Do not prejudge and stop listening. Similarly, learn to see and observe

- Often, what you see and hear may give you only misleading information. Try to find the real truth before you come to any firm conclusions

- Do not be guided solely by what others say. Frequently, people say things based on their prejudices or based on their own interests. Develop your own judgement and evaluate their statements objectively before you come to any firm conclusions

- If you try to conform to the expectations of others, you are always allowing them to modify your behavior to suit their interests. This does not allow self-confidence to build within you. Do what you think is in your interest and do not bother about what others think of you

- What people say to you is not so important as what motivated them to say that

- People take psychological positions, generally based on prejudices. Ignoring the position cancels its power.

- We may not be able to control events, but we should certainly be able to control our reactions to them. Do not be too sensitive to your own feelings. Learn to case harden yourself.

- Keep your ego under control. Remember, others too have ego and feelings. Be slow to react but be quick to respond

- Feel no anger but feign anger when necessary

The holistic approach to life (Continued)

Thought 195: The holistic approach to life

Part1 - The balanced approach

A balanced, harmonious and holistic approach to life is the only way to improve the quality of life. We must attend to all our needs - not just one or two of them - to get anywhere near the synergism that we are aiming at.

A human being lives on several planes - physical, intellectual, psychological or emotional, social, spiritual - and has needs in all these planes. Additionally, he or she has to deal with varied people, circumstances, problems and stresses. Each of them set up different priorities for different persons and every person needs equipment to cope with the demands of these needs and their priorities.

An attempt has been made here to identify some important needs and recommend some useful measures, which, if properly or devotedly applied, can lead to the harmony and balance, needed to the higher quality of life.

The holistic approach to life (Continued)

Part 2 - Physical Health

- Keep teeth and gums clean. Wash after each meal

- Keep eyes healthy. Wash frequently with ice cold water

- Keep body healthy through daily physical exercise

- Have timely and healthy eating habits

- Do breathing exercises daily for at least 15 minutes

The holistic approach to life (Continued)

Thought 194: Resistances in the mind

Man imposes several limitations on himself - prejudices, self doubt, fear, hatred etc. "I do not like him", "I do not think I can do that", "I hate that" etc - are but a few examples, which are familiar to most of us. These are all like the hurdles in a relay race in athletic meets. These hurdles are firmly etched on your memory. These are the resistances, which make it difficult for you to convert your huge potential - efficiently into achievement. These resistences also cause considerable losses during the process of conversion. What you are able to achieve consequently is far less than what your potential is. These resistances also make it difficult for you to live in the present, undisturbed by the past memories and experiences. Thoughts and feelings of guilt, worry, hatred, anger, anxiety, fears etc lodge you permanently in either the past - the memory lane - or the future - the hide out.

In Nature, any resistance causes friction and loss of energy. According to Dr Sampooran Singh ("Paths of Meditation" - Sri Ramakrishna Math), meditation leads to the liberation from the resistances in the mind - freeing the mind from the past conditioning. Moving from a state of resistance to a state of resistancelessness is a "quantum jump of the mind from logical and scientific reason to unfettered philosophical reason; or from relative (conscious state) to an absolute state ". This is the Super Conscious State.

The electromagnetic spectrum is broadly divided into three regions – ultraviolet region, visible region and infrared region. The sound spectrum too is divided into three regions – ultra sound region, audible region and supersonic region. Similarly, consciousness is also divided, according to Indian Vedaantic philosophy, into three regions – subconscious state, conscious state and super-conscious state. When we are awake, of course, we are in the conscious state. When we are in a disturbed sleep state having dreams, the consciousness exists but in the subconscious state. When we are in the deep sleep, the consciousness is said to be in the super-conscious state. In the super-conscious state, mind is free from all limitations.

Dr Sampooran Singh sees a parallel between Man’s super-conscious state - and material which is in the super-conductive state. When some materials are kept at certain low temperatures, they have no resistance to the flow of electricity and the materials show an extraordinary capability. If we put a little electric current in the circuit under those conditions, it keeps on flowing, as there are no resistances and consequently, no losses. The properties of matter without resistance are described by a completely new set of physical laws. Similarly the state of the mind without resistances also functions in a different dimension altogether. This is called "super consciousness". "The state of the mind without resistance is capable of pure perception and as such, the mind receives the present moment of the chronological “space – time” continuum and there is a continuous flow of present moment only”.

If there are no resistances at all in your mind, there would be no losses and consequently, the entire potential lying dormant in you can get converted into achievement. You are no longer bound by the usual set of natural laws. Since Man's potential is believed to be infinite, imagine how creative and how productive you will be, if that happens.

You certainly can do without prejudices or resistances. You do not need them. Why have them at all and get limited? You have within you an infinite wealth of knowledge. It is in your power to uncover this wealth. Demolish the resistances and experience the great knowledge and happiness, which is the real you.

The next thought is about “The holistic approach to life” (in 10 parts)

Thought 193: Living in the present is difficult

It is not easy for any one to focus exclusively on any one topic for a reasonable length of time. The nature of the mind is flighty and erratic. It does not like to focus – it enjoys getting distracted. It is like a wild monkey – hopping constantly from one branch to another, randomly.

For instance, while you are in a movie theater, does not your mind drift to the various things that you forgot to do before starting out for the theater or things that you will have to do, as soon as you return home? Have you ever been able to enjoy the movie without any of these distractions? When you are walking, instead of enjoying the walking and the scenario around you, are you not constantly talking to your self, about things that have no connection to the walking or the scenario which is right in front of your eyes? While reading a newspaper, does not your mind suddenly drift over, say for instance, to the things that have been causing you worry at the place of work? While driving to your work, do you recall the times that you escaped getting into accidents because your attention was not on the driving, but was wandering constantly?

Unless, you train your mind properly, it is almost impossible for you to keep it focused on any given topic. Mind simply refuses to focus on any given topic - not even for a few seconds at a time. It never allows you to enjoy the present. Present passes into the past - and if not into the past, it goes into the future, so quickly that you hardly ever notice its surreptitious passage. You feel as if present never seems to arrive for you.

Let us call the interval of time, which merges so quickly with the past or the future without you being aware of it, as "dt" - a very useful concept of calculus. The concept is that this "dt" is infinitely small. This "dt" is the "present" that you have been missing.

The next thought is about “Resistances in the mind”

Thought 192: Life is meant to be enjoyed

There is more to life than spending all your time worrying about the future or feeling guilty over the past. You must enjoy friendships, relationships, your work, hobbies, the bliss of marriage and children, exercise, entertainment, vacation, nature, gardening, reading and a host of other things that make life colorful, fulfilled and exciting. You can experience all these wonderful things provided you stop living in the past and future - and start living in the present.

It is believed that a human being is a single input device. When you are focusing on doing some thing at this moment, you cannot do or think of any thing else. If this is so, then, living in the present becomes a very interesting experience. Suppose, you are able to concentrate completely in reading a book. If you fully focus on this reading, how can you worry at the same time, about some thing that is going to happen in future? You will, then, experience the joy of reading. Similarly, if you are playing tennis and you are thoroughly immersed in the joy of playing, how can you feel guilty, at the same time, about things that happened a while ago? You feel the exhilaration of playing tennis only when you are immersed in it completely and exclusively.

The next thought is about “Living in the present is difficult”

Thought 191: Those who run away from the Present have no where to hide comfortably

Most people facing a difficult situation today would start imagining that their lives are going to be like this for ever and get immobilized over this unrealistic scenario that they paint for themselves. They would build continuously over these imagined difficulties and fears - keep on magnifying them. The negative and unrealistic scenario that they have painted for themselves, frightens them so much, that they begin to hide in the future.

When you are afraid to face the realities of the present, you want to somehow run away, as soon as possible, to your safe haven, which is the future. Such persons know that they are safe in the future because it never happens - it is only the present that happens in reality. You want to hide in the future for fear of the reality of the present. Such persons never realize that life's processes are never static – they are always dynamic. Circumstances keep changing constantly and if they have a difficult period today, they are going to have a happy period tomorrow. Night must be followed by day. This is Nature's law.

Again, when they are in the future, they begin to imagine that it is also pregnant with several calamities. Since you have a low self-esteem, you feel that you cannot cope with those calamities. Such persons are also not happy being in the future. They feel devastated sometimes. In bewilderment, they run now hopefully back to the past. When they are in the past, they start feeling guilty about their past mistakes. Thus, they find that they are not happy being in the past either. They are not peaceful and happy – in any time period. When one keeps running back and forth in this manner, between future and past, life virtually becomes intolerable for this person; the quality of life fro such persons is obviously very poor.

If you are always living either in the past or in the future, when will you live in the present and experience the joy of living? Why do you like to see yourself always in a flashback? If not the flashback, you like to sit in the time machine and simulate future in it.

The next thought is about Life is meant to be enjoyed

Thought 190: Insecurity breeds fear

Fear of the unknown perhaps is one single big cause of all neurotic behavior. Dr Joseph Murphy in his book, "The Power Of Your Subconscious Mind", writes, that there are only two fears with which a person is born. These are, the fear of falling down and the fear of noise. All other fears are acquired. Dr Robert Anthony writes in his book "Super Persuation" that you will have no confidence in your self - and you will feel insecure, mostly because of four fears, and they are fear of failure, fear of appearing ridiculous, fear of exposing the ego to hurt and fear of rejection.

Most of us have a measure of insecurity within us and some people have a tendency to get neurotically concerned over it. You worry excessively about future events in your life –
what happens if you get sick,
how can you support your family if you lose your job,
what if your son gets into bad company and takes to drugs,
what if you suffer a loss in your investments

and so goes on the list of imagined calamities. Such fears are called irrational fears. This fear psychosis due to irrational fears becomes more and more intense, when you begin to live in dread of the future. This is usually the result of, amongst other things, low self esteem.

The next thought is about “Those who run away from the Present have no where to hide comfortably”