Thursday, December 31, 2009

What Your Body And Soul Crave

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.

Why is it many of us (in fact, most of us) occasionally experience some kind of empty feeling in our life? It is like being hungry. When we eat, we feel satisfied and become less interested in food. But as some time passes, we get hungry again. Then all of a sudden we feel so attracted to the smell and thought of food. We can also feel some kind of hunger when we are not even physically hungry-just after eating something. Some of us stay being hungry all the time.

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 straightforward: just live our lives fully. The word 'full' holds the meaning of entirety. Then the secret to live a life in entirety is only to live it fully.

Let us commence by looking at a sample of this 'fullness' with something very close to our heart - our stomach.

Whole Food VS Semi Food

We are used to the usage 'whole food.' People say that taking whole food is the secret to the vigour and wellbeing that we require. How is whole food better than 'semi food?'

A complete grain pulsates with a life of its own. If one keeps the complete grain in water, drains it off and keeps it for a few days, it germinates. It has got a full life. When we consume such an item, our body absorbs the full spectrum nourishment. It has the ability to clean, cure and nourish various body cells.

As in the example of a grain, most conventional dining includes having whole creatures as well. Having entire fresh fish used to be more popular than taking a portion of fish and throwing the balance away. It was ditto for poultry and also for vegetables.

'Half food' sometimes has more sweetness and flavour but not much other nutrition. We like its taste, but we could develop a long-term illness if we only ate 'half food' every day of our life.

So, to make up for the missing half, we began to take nutritional supplements. We have been trying and researching for pretty long to find the perfect equilibrium. It gets more and more difficult as we slice the food up, add preservatives and transport, and even try to supplement with other parts coming from various sources, places and seasons. Some of the nutrients are not even from natural resources. They are synthetically generated. After it is tested and analysed, it is approved for man's consumption. But however hard we try, we cannot merge the 'bits' from different sources to make it alive.

Semi Life-'Sweetness' of Life

So, if we view our life now, a lot of what we are doing is akin to eating 'semi food.' Just relishing the sweet taste of life but discarding the actual nourishing part. And if we immerse this 'semi life' in water with other bits and kept it under the sun, could it sprout and develop into a lovely full 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 very similar. When we only value the 'sugariness', and cast out the rest as litter because we don't perceive its value, we may be throwing out the most important portion. And what we jettison could have the biggest power for the endorsement of our life and our financial health. It also takes more strength and resources to cast it out. Better still, that which is thrown away comes free.

So, what is it we are not seeing?

Picture a life where we didn't in fact believe that we were lacking anything there.

The secret is right there. The secret of a whole life.

Whole Life-The Complete Life

When it is 'full', it does not matter how big the full is. It can spread out all at once. It can still have within it all the components to uphold itself as a complete living thing. Once it develops to a given size, it can continue to live without some portions of it. Like plants can remain alive after birds feed on a little of it or trees survive even after losing their leaves. But if we ignore the equilibrium for a pretty long time, finally it can lead to a deadly disproportion. Then it might become too difficult to revert to normalcy.

We don't have to go back to the Stone Age to find the wholeness. Wholeness exists right now. All we need do is look closely; look closely enough to really see.

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 find out how we can create (and see) this balance, continuously and sustainably.

The actual enriching part of our life is what makes us feel fine deep inside. It is like that portion of food that makes us hale and hearty in the final tally. Sensations we experience in our daily life are the real answer to our lasting joy. And there are sensations that make us feel more full.

The smiles we see when we give acknowledgements to others. The joy we feel when we give gifts to others. The love we feel when we see our children being happy. The inspirations we receive when we feel our life is full of meaning

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 feel this joy, gratitude and love in order to experience the life as a whole at any moment regardless of the situations. It is not about what we see, what we hear or what we do that complete our life as a whole. It is about what we 'choose to' feel about our life.

Yes, our life in fact is already whole.

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.

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