Much of life follows the metaphor of a puzzle. You begin with the bare minimum and begin searching for the correct pieces, which correlate with each other enough to make a connection. This connection broadens the picture, yet leaves more mystery and knowledge to be desired. As the picture develops, as we develop, there is always another piece to find. Right when we think we have a pretty good set up, we discover a whole new part of the puzzle, an extension to the picture, changing the game entirely.
In a similar vein, lighting a torch in a dark cave expands your ability to explore the cave and understand what you are exploring, yet the little amount of light you have found only illuminates how much darkness there really is to be lit, uncovering multiple paths to possibly venture down.
Sometimes we end up exploring areas of which although are part of the bigger picture are not necessarily of the utmost importance. These areas become part of the larger experience, yet like the pendulum-like swinging of both yin and yang may be a momentary stray from the harmonious balance between the two.
For example, individuals who are have stumbled across the health and wellness scene may become extremely obsessed with diet, or yoga, or one specific portion of maintaining balance to the greater whole. Because they are new to exploring it, and may experience the immediate and temporary benefits these new upgrades in experience bring, they become overly excited focusing entirely on this one aspect, allowing other areas of life to fall out of balance. This is paradoxical in the sense that it entirely defeats the purpose of what that one specific activity or piece of knowledge was supposed to bring, being… balance. This is the fruitarian juice fasting in the middle of winter, ignoring the fact that their body is cold, and that they haven’t had solid feces in months, that their constant elevated or rapidly dropping blood sugar and emotional swings alienate them from being able to communicate effectively with others outside of that immediate radical community. This affects their financial situation, relationships, health, and ability to maintain a grounded and accurate perception of reality. This overall affects their life education and speed of trajectory on their own path towards becoming.
All things balance out as they are supposed to, but with this freedom of shared information through Internet media, the information revolution of our time, it is foolish to not take advantage of learning form the experiences of others. This results in saving time, energy, money, and accelerating the path to your ultimate goal of unraveling the mystery of your soul while perfecting the intentions of why you are here. For some of us, we have to go down the wrong corridor in the cave only to see that it is a dead end ourselves; perhaps this is part of our story, and entirely necessary.
I wanted to offer you my top 3 tips for staying on trajectory and not falling too far into extremism.
#1. Dedicate at least 1 day a week to undisturbed rest, allow your body and mind to just flow freely. Do not overbook yourself to the point of where you are not able to sustain your schedule without collapse or compensating through artificial means. Allow yourself to do nothing on this day, to move slowly, to walk in nature, to not worry and obsess over the things you have to do, to not check email or answer your phone. The story that most of us tell ourselves that if we stop doing things (checking email, working obsessively, working out obsessively, ect..) that everything will fall apart is a product of the egotistical consciousness of the horizontal linear plain of reality. It ignores the vertical energetic reality of sustainability, rest, and rejuvenation, which produces much more efficiency than running at full speed seven days a week. This is part of checking in with you, to see how you are doing, both physically, and emotionally. Become a non-judgmental observer of the states of yourself, of both negative and positive emotions. This is vital to avoiding the epidemic of individuals in our culture, which cannot be alone, and need constant stimulation, distraction, and connection with others. They become the hamster running on the hamster wheel trying to get away from feeling their inner emotions, all the while depleting themselves further and ignoring vital signs of disharmony. This is part of becoming self-reliant, and achieving a state of abundance rather than dependency. This is part of being truly honest with ourselves.
#2. Dedicate at least 1-3 hours of the beginning of your day to you. Meditate, listen to positive and inspiring affirmations and talks, ritualize your morning with spiritual practices that reconnect you to your inner self, and enjoy a nice cup of tea, or coffee. Engrain habits that set a positive tone for the rest of your day, which you look forward to, so that you are encountering the challenges of the day at your best self.
#3.Make the best dietary decisions possible, in your given circumstance. Choose quality as the highest indicator of your decision to consume something. By setting the intention to make the best decision in your given circumstance you are drastically accelerating your growth. Eating better food means feeling better, and having more energy. This also means that over time the quality of work you produce will be higher than those who do not follow this intention. By putting top quality fuel in your body regardless of what type of body you have, it will run better, getting more miles per a gallon.
Hopefully you’ve enjoyed these and reflections and tips on the larger picture of reality.
Talk soon,
Brandon