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Total Well-Being |
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In pursuit of happiness, we try to make ourselves happy by looking for fulfillment in people, places, and things. When this outward bound nature becomes our habit and way of life, we make it extremely difficult to ever find true happiness and security. The happiness or joy that we derive from outside pursuits can never be secured—it will always disappear. To find true happiness, the first thing we need to do is to stop looking for it in the wrong people, in the wrong places, and in the wrong things. The person we are most familiar with, and closest to, is our own little self. If that little self has a big ego then we have a problem. If we do not know we have an ego, then we have a very big problem. If we are in our ego, we are in the wrong place. If we are in our ego and do not even know it, then we are definitely doing the wrong thing. When we in our ego but don’t know we are in our ego, it means we are doing those things that support or validate our small self. We are doing the wrong thing when we are looking for happiness in people, places, or things. We are doing the wrong thing when we are pretending that we know better than others but are not doing anything to better ourselves. We make ourselves better when we stop ‘spreading the butter’—when we stop covering our selves with our comfortable feelings. We should neither butter ourselves up nor butter up anyone else. Instead, we should speak the truth to ourselves and share the truth with others. ‘Speaking the truth’ means feeding the mind wholesome food for thought. Just as we need to digest the food that we eat, we also need to digest the noble thoughts that we read, hear, or think about. This is how we get inspired. But along with inspiration there must be some perspiration too—we need to put out good energy, we need to put the truth into practice. The simple truth is this: WE ARE FREE. That’s right, we are already free! That is, our Essence is eternally free. We ARE the Shining Light, we do not need to BECOME the Shining Light. But we do need to make our MIND shine. We need to THINK free. We need to FEEL (experience) free. We need to LIVE free. We must live free from our mind games. We must live free from excuses. We must live free from the ups and downs of the mind. We must act free of ego, free of anger, free of self-pity, free of frustration, free of fear and self-doubt. This is what we must do. This is what we mean by putting the truth (that We Are Free) into practice. When we do this, the mind will become our helper, then our friend, and eventually our mind will become a sage, it will become saintly, and there will no shame, no fear of loss, and no greed for gain. The mind will be at peace because the mind will be formed into the likeness of the soul, our Real Self. This is the Total Well-Being. The total well-being means that we are physically, mentally, and spiritually well. This is the meaning of being WHOLE. If we are abusing our body with bad habits (like drinking alcohol, smoking, overeating, not exercising, etc.), we will lose our physical well-being. We lose our mental well-being when we do not put what we know into practice, and we lose our spiritual well-being when we hold onto our ego and images. The truth is that WHOLENESS is a state of total well-being. It is the healthy integration of the body, mind, and spirit. Every human being is already the integration of the body, mind, and spirit, but for a human being to be truly happy one must be WHOLE (which means that the integration must be a healthy one). Physical well-being alone is not enough. Mental well-being alone does not result in lasting happiness. Spiritual well-being alone will not spare anyone from pain and suffering. We must have the total well-being, and this only comes when we live our life with total awareness. We need to take care of our body, mind, and spirit. Caring for one and neglecting the others is a sign of selfishness, it is an indication that there is an ego problem. A person who is very careful to take care of their body but neglects to improve their mind or expand their consciousness will not stay healthy or happy for very long. Similarly, a person with a sharp intellect who does nothing to control his ego is never going to find lasting peace of mind. And a person who meditates and prays daily, who studies the scriptures and seeks to understand the mysteries of birth, life, death, and the beyond, but neglects his health and ignores practical advice and scientific advancements is only going to become a burden to himself and others, and will surely never attain the highest states of consciousness. Peak performance requires careful and exact tuning. To reach the apex of consciousness, we need to bring together all the elements of physical, mental, and spiritual health and dissolve our ego-consciousness into the Essence. For that, our devotion, commitment, and resolve must be singular, or one-pointed. Diversions will only create more divisions in our psyche, and our fractured personality will become a painful distraction. With a whole heart (a mind filled with wisdom) may
be remain on the path of Eternity and attain the state of Total Well-Being. |