Here are some simple habits from my journal which got me good results. I’m not a medical guy – reader discretion mandatory. And they’re not shortcuts for instant reduction.
A more natural sustainable approach is the key. The more independent we become the better, independent of devices and gadgets and chemicals and circumstances (access to a sport or depending on weather, a group of people, etc).
But over the years, I’ve found that more than anything else, there’s one single thing above everything else that can ensure good health – intently and intimately listening to our body.
When we drive a car, we listen to the engine and it makes an odd sound, then we know that we need to do something, like slightly ease the accelerator, or press on the clutch or change the gear. Same thing we need to do with our body as well! 🙂 So solutions may keep changing, but this listening should be maintained constantly!
If this listening is really implemented, then its much more easier and effortless to maintain health i.e. when one starts to eat a tasty pastry, one immediately knows for sure that the body cannot stand it! One can clearly see the “darker side” of an oily samosa and make a more controlled choice about whether to eat it or not instead of blindly devouring it.
This is the normal process – maybe slight exaggeration but just to illustrate the point…
———–
Very hungry.
One sees a samosa.
Very hungry, tasty samosa ==> obvious logical choice is to devour it.
Eat the samosa… enjoy it. Eat a few more. Very tasty!
Forget about it.
Some other day:
Very hungry.
See samosas again. Remembers the taste, eat it again, enjoy it again. Forget about it again.
This happens in a loop.
———-
But with listening, things change.
———
One eats the samosa, enjoys it.
Listens.
Body dosen’t like it so much. Some heaviness and sluggishness is there.
Next time one sees the samosa, one remembers the taste.
Listen.
One also remembers the sluggishness. Both these things.
Hmm… now the choice of eating the samosa isn’t so obvious as last time.
May still eat, and enjoy. [But eat & listen – eat slowly and not blindly, and enjoy completely and not hurriedly]
[Guilt may be there, but that’s of no use. Has one not been listening, one would’ve eaten many more anyway! Just eat peacefully.]
The loop starts to weaken.
———
A passage from an article by a woman named Portia Nelson – Autobiography in Five Chapters.
Chapter One:
I walk down the street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I fall in. I’m lost. I’m helpless. It isn’t my fault. It takes forever to find a way out.
Chapter Two:
I walk down the same street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I pretend I don’t see it. I fall in again. I can’t believe I’m in the same place, but it isn’t my fault. It still takes a long time to get out.
Chapter Three:
I walk down the same street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I see it is there. I fall in. It’s a habit. But my eyes are open. I know where I am. It is my fault and I get out immediately.
Chapter Four:
I walk down the same street. There’s a deep hole in the sidewalk. I walk around it.
Chapter Five:
I try walking down a different street.
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