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 that many of us, (actually, most of us) now and then feel some sort of a barren sensation in our lives? It is like being ravenous. When we eat, we are satiated and become slightly indifferent to food. But after some time, we once again feel like having food. Then suddenly we are drawn again to the aroma and picture of food. We can also feel strange pangs of hunger when we are not actually craving for food – just after having eaten something. Some of us have a craving 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 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’s start to look at one example of this ‘wholeness’ with something awfully close to our heart-our stomach.
Whole Food VS Part Food
We have heard the term ‘whole food’. They say that eating whole food is the key to the health and wellness we seek. Then why is whole food so much better than ‘half 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.
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.
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 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 that we are not looking at?
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.
Entire 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 do not have to revert to Stone Age to find entirety. Entirety exists in the current. All we should do is watch intimately; watch intimately enough to actually 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 find out how we can create (and see) this balance, continuously and sustainably.
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 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 begin acting based on this awareness, we can have real mastery over the balance creation – lasting physical wellbeing, riches, nourishing bond and joy.
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