We all know our humanity too well.

That is why we put the focus on recognizing the part of us that isn’t stuck in the human-ness. Not to deny our humanity, but rather to bring it into balance through a compassionate heart.

That’s what you offer another person. When I look at some of you, I know you have problems with addiction and sexual obsessions, problems with loneliness and problems with anger, diseases and frigidity. I see the whole sea of stuff and you tell me about it, and I see curriculum after curriculum.

I see a group of beautiful souls on earth, each having its own karmic work to do.

There is a story about an old Zen monk who was dying, who had finished everything and was about to get off the wheel. He was just floating away, free and in his pure Buddha-mind, when a thought passed by of a beautiful deer he had once seen in a field. And he held on to that thought for just a second because of its beauty, and immediately he took birth again as a deer. It’s as subtle as that.

It’s like when we begin to see the work that is to be done, and we go to an ashram or a monastery, or we hang out with satsang. We surround ourselves with a community of beings who think the way we think. And then none of the stuff, the really hairy stuff inside ourselves, comes up. It all gets pushed underground. We can sit in a temple or a cave in India and get so holy, so clear and radiant, the light is pouring out of us. But when we come out of that cave, when we leave that supportive structure that worked with our strengths but seldom confronted us with our weaknesses, our old habit patterns tend to reappear, and we come back into the same old games, the games we were sure we had finished with. Because there were uncooked seeds, seeds that sprout again the minute they are stimulated. We can stay in very holy places, and the seeds sit there dormant and uncooked. But there is fear in such individuals, because they know they’re still vulnerable.

Fad diets come and go, but officially the subject of nutrition is guided by science. The public stubbornly thinks in terms of "good" foods and "bad" foods, so when the government's nutritional experts issue scientifically based advice, any attempt at a nuanced picture generally gets lost. Recently there were headlines when the highest board for dietary protocols, the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Council, reversed a government warning about avoiding foods high in cholesterol, which has been in place nearly 40 years.

The public is likely to shrug off this about-face, or else decide that eggs, the most common food high in cholesterol, is no longer a "bad" food but has moved into the "good" column. This ignores the council's message, which weighed one thing against another. For people in a normal state of health, saturated fats from animal products pose a higher risk than high cholesterol. This finding is more a shift in focus than an about-face. It's still unhealthy, the majority of nutritionists agree, to eat too much red meat as opposed to eggs, but eggs are high in saturated fat, too, so you shouldn't overdo them, either.

Creating a balance with stress should be our ultimate aim and desire in life. As most of the activities in our lives are so dependent on our reactive state to our own personal stress levels. Of course we cannot completely eliminate stress from our lives, as a certain amount of stress is essential for a balanced lifestyle, and completely eliminating stress would lead to a "couldn't care less" attitude. The most effective balance to stress management would involve ways and means of minimizing the stress we encounter in life. The best would be to create an adequate mixture of thought patterns and behaviors that minimize stress.

CUTTING STRESS

This is by far the easiest solution to effective stress management. Once we understand our own stress patterns, we need to make a conscious effort to eliminate them.

Most of us in today's hectic paced world are overscheduled, and frankly, most of us can't say "No". The simple act of not taking on more responsibility than you can handle, should not be a stressor, but it seems to be a major factor we add on to our bandwagon of stressors. we already seem to carry. 

WHY CAN'T WE SAY NO

This is a difficult task for some of us. we think perhaps people concerned may get upset by our refusal, or maybe you are guilty when you are not helping others or maybe you actually accumulate so much stress, that eventually it makes you less healthy and less helpful.

INNER CONFLICT

This gets created because you don't know in which direction to swing. Sometimes we carry a misguided notion of " I can do it all" My suggestion to you would be '' Please get rid of this notion"

take on only as much as you can handle and feel comfortable with.

Maybe you’ve been there. You’re determined to try and gain (or regain) a greater measure of insight and enlightenment in your life - the kind of enlightenment that can lead to real joy and significant satisfaction. So you make the decision to begin a spiritual practice - meditation, prayer, journaling, or even simple reflection.

The setting for the first day of your new practice can vary. You may be in a low-lit room or you could be outside in the sunshine. Maybe you’re alone or surrounded by others with a similar goal. No matter where you are, it can feel like you’re a warrior on the day of battle. You sit and you wait for this momentous beginning to occur, for enlightenment, insight, and truth to wash over you.

However, there’s a good chance that all of this is occurring at the beginning or the end of a long day. As you sit there, your mind, which didn’t get the memo regarding your new practice, starts to spit up all the things that are on your to-do list. Or...all the things that you failed to cross off that list.

Stop it! Concentrate!

You take a deep breath and begin again, trying to clear your monkey mind. But it swings wildly, throwing crazy disjointed thoughts through your awareness like the never-ending news ticker at the bottom of a CNN news report. Red wine. Yes, full-bodied delicious red wine. You think about how nice it would be to have glass of wine and slip into a warm bath. Isn’t the new episode of “The Crown” on tonight?

Stop this! Cut this crap out! Get serious!

From time to time we need to address the concept of stress management within us. It is an ongoing process you need to keep track of. It is important that you should have an overall plan for managing your stress and not allow your stress levels to rise high before you start handling them. I feel the need to talk about the available resources for handling most of the stressful situations. 

In essence, supporting your health is an act of gratitude and worship. You have been given this vehicle to express in the world and you must address the body’s requirements in a balanced fashion. Since you must eat, eat with mindfulness, eat with balance and eat what supports health. Since you must move, move and exercise with balance and grace. Since you may get sick and someday will die, do not become too attached to the body. The body allows you to be here, to evolve and know the essential self. You must kill to survive so always express gratitude and connect to what you eat mindfully. Allow the body to serve its purpose and support it in that.

Health also includes a healthy mind. Realize that every thought you think affects you and your state, including your body. You are ingesting what you take in through all of your senses and filling yourself up with whatever that is; beneficial or harmful. The beneficial will calm the mind and expand consciousness. The harmful will agitate you and create narrow vision.

Most gyms survive on clients who sign up and stop coming after one month. Most people have a great intention but it quickly fades in the reality of the time and effort required to succeed in the area of exercise. The New Year’s resolution to exercise is probably the most un-accomplished resolution people make.

You understand the need for balance in life and exercise is a core factor in living a healthy life. It needs to reflect your body type and temperament. Find what works for you. Exercise can never become an integrated part of your life if it doesn’t resonate with you. Forcing yourself to exercise is simply a form of resistance and suffering. For some going to a gym is an enjoyable respite in their day. For another it is torture. Some can only stay regular if they hire a trainer or go with a friend because they really don’t like what they are doing. Find what resonates with you. What inspires you to feel good? Maybe walks that allow you to feel close to nature and breathe in the air and see the sky inspire you. When you fight against it the whole time you are doing it, you will quit. When you enjoy and resonate with what you are doing, you will continue. Simply knowing it is good for you isn’t enough.

Balance a real thing?

Ever feel like you are a tight rope walker who will plummet to the ground if you make the wrong step?

It may be a bit drastic but many of us feel a similar feeling of overwhelm when it comes to balance in our lives.

What is the perfect balance? What does it even mean – balance?

Every day in this repeated cycle of vicious sameness. We build our lives on this precedent of what success means, what it means to be happy, what it looks like according to the messages we receive hidden and openly from society. The empty ramblings hidden in all of the voices speaking to us at any given time.

To thrive on the level of the body requires the support of an optimal functioning physical system. For that, proper diet is required and that means a diet that is suited to your unique needs, situation and location. If you live in the tropics and do hard labor your diet will be quite different from someone living in a polar region who is sedentary. If you are tall and thin naturally, or if you are short and stout your requirements may be different. The same holds true for age and activity levels. Does eating seasonally feel good to you? And your philosophy will affect your diet; are you a carnivore or vegetarian? Some people tolerate caffeine and alcohol and some don’t. Some people can eat late at night and sleep well and others can’t. You are unique.