Friday, January 30, 2009

What Your Body and Souls Needs

By Masami Sato

As the proverb goes, health is wealth. And in this instance we are talking about the wealth of the human spirit. Good food is necessary for our health because our body is able to absorb its full nutrients - it is exactly so with our life. When we accept life in its sum total, relishing all its phenomena and sensations, our soul will be able to imbibe its entire range of 'nutrients', comprehending the full meaning of our existence, and letting us live our life to the utmost. Masami Sato shares the secret of living a full life in this excerpt from her latest book, ONE.

How come that many of us, (in fact, more of us) occasionally have a hollow feeling in our life? It is like the pangs of hunger. When we eat, the hunger is appeased and then we are not as much interested in food. But after a while, we become hungry again. Then, surprisingly we feel again enticed by the flavour and vision of food. We also experience some sort of a pining when we are not even actually hungry - just after we had some food. Some of us are perpetually hungry.

Persistent emotional thirst is not the happiest feeling to have. Then how can we live our lives to the brim? How can we be more contented enduringly?

Maybe the answer is simple: just live our lives as a whole. The word 'whole' holds the meaning of completion. Then the secret to live a complete life is simply to live it as a whole.

Let's start to look at one example of this 'wholeness' with something awfully close to our heart-our stomach.

Whole Food VS Semi Food

We are familiar with the word 'whole food.' It is said that consuming whole food is the secret to the health and fitness we need. What has whole food got more than 'part food?'

A whole grain for example has a life. So, if you soak the whole grain in water, drain the next day and leave for a few days, it sprouts. It has a life of its own. When we eat such food, our body absorbs the full live nutrients. It has all the properties to cleanse, heal and nurture different body cells.

And exactly like the example of a grain, much of customary eating includes consuming whole edible creatures as well. Eating full fresh fish used to be more prevalent than having a half of it and casting the rest away. It was exactly so for meat and every edible plant product.

'Part food' sometimes tastes better and smells better but does not have much nutrition. We may enjoy its taste, but we could have some lasting illness if we only ate 'part food' all days of our life.

So, to compensate the absent half, we started to have dietary supplements. We have been analysing and learning for quite some time to reach the correct balance. It becomes more and more problematical as we chop up the food, process it and ship it, and even try to make up the deficiency with other parts that have its origin in other countries, seasons or sources. Some of these supplements do not even come from natural food sources. They are artificially made. After testing and analysing, it is endorsed to be edible. But no matter how much we strive; we cannot bring all the 'bits' together to make it alive and pulsating.

Part Life-'Sweetness' of Life

So, if we looked at our life now, part of what we are doing can be like eating the 'half food'. Just savouring the sweetness of life but throwing away the real nourishing part. And if we soaked our 'half life' in water with other bits and left it in the sunlight, could it shoot and grow into a beautiful whole life?

Whole food is not (as some people seem to believe) of a bland taste. In fact it tastes better if cooked properly. But as requirement is low, it is more costly. It is in reality more cost-effective in the long term though, as we will have to pay less as medical costs later on. When more people will start having it, it would automatically become less expensive as it is a simple food with less processing cost and waste.

Our life is identical. When we are only conscious of the 'sweet taste' and discard the remainder into the dust bin because we do not realise its worth, we may be jettisoning the most important component. And that which we cast out could have the maximum power for the substantiation of our life and our financial system. It also needs more vigour and sources to throw it away. Better yet, that which we throw away comes at no cost.

So, what is that we are not looking at?

Imagine a life where we didn't really feel we were missing anything there.

The secret is right here. The secret of a complete life.

Full Life-The Complete Life

When it is 'entire', it does not matter how large the entire is. It can swell concurrently. It can still hold within it all the parts to support itself as a full living being. Once it matures into a specific size, it can manage to live even without some of its components. Like plants can survive even after being consumed a bit by birds or trees can flourish even after they lose their leaves. But if we disregard the proportion for a very long time, ultimately it can begin creating a critical inequity. Then it could become too problematical to come back to normality.

We do not have to return to prehistoric times to find fullness. Fullness exists in the present. All that is required to do is view intently; view intently enough to actually find.

When we begin seeing our life in its fullness and stop casting out what nurtures our life the most, we start experiencing more and more satisfaction without looking for 'things' to fill the gaps and hollows of our life. Things finally fit into place. We now grasp the intricacies of our world in a completely different manner.

Yes, it is now time to discover how we can fashion (and perceive) this equation consistently and affordably.

The actual sustaining element of our life is what makes us feel joyful deep down. It is like that component of food that makes our body strong in the long-term. Emotions we feel in our everyday life are the real solution to our permanent happiness. And there are emotions that make us feel more absolute.

The smiling visages we see when we acknowledge the merit of others. The happiness we feel when we give others gifts. The tenderness we feel when we see our children being happy. The motivation we get when we sense that our life is full of substance ..

Let us internalize these moments of our life totally and relish the flavour of our entire life. Then we will perceive how it is not so imperative to constantly fill our heart (and tummy!) with physical indulgences - those types of things that only increase our cravings afterwards.

We can actually sense this pleasure, gratefulness and ardour in order to be aware of life as a whole at any moment despite the conditions. It is not about what we find, what we learn or what we accomplish that finalize our life in its entirety. It is about what we 'elect to' experience about our life.

Yes, our life indeed is already absolute.

When we initiate taking actions based on this knowledge, we can have real control over the balance creation - enduring health, prosperity, enriching connection and delight. - 16003

About the Author: