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.

Constant emotional hunger is not the most pleasant thing to have. Then, how can we live our lives to the fullest? How can we be more satisfied permanently?

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 us begin by looking at an example of this 'completion' with something very close to our mind - our stomach.

Whole Food VS Part 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 balance the missing part, we started to take dietary supplements. We have been studying and researching for a long time to find the perfect balance. It gets more and more complicated as we chop the food up, preserve and transport, and even try to balance with other parts coming from different sources, regions and seasons. Some of the nutrients even come from non-food items. They are chemically generated. After analysis and testing, we approve it for human consumption. But no matter how hard we try; we cannot put all the 'bits' together to make it come alive.

Part Life-'Sweetness' of Life

So, if we perceive our life now, much of what we are doing can be similar to eating the 'part food.' Just enjoying the sugariness of life but jettisoning the real nutritious part. And if we put our 'part life' in water with other pieces and left it in the sunlight, could it germinate and grow into a beautiful complete life?

Whole food is not (as some people perceive it) poor in taste. It is actually tastier when we prepare it properly. But while the demand is low, it is more expensive. It is actually more economical in the long run though, as we have less medical expenses later on. When more people start eating it, it will naturally become cheaper because it is a simpler food with less processing 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 it that we do not perceive?

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

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

Whole 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 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 start seeing our life as a whole and stop throwing away what nourishes our life the most, we start feeling more and more fulfilled without looking for 'things' to fill holes and dents of our life. Everything finally falls into place. We now understand the mechanism of our world in a very different way.

Yes, it is now time to learn how we can form (and find) this equilibrium constantly and manageably.

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 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 start taking actions based on this understanding, we can become true masters of the balance creation-long-term health, wealth, nurturing relationship and happiness.

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