Harmonising the Triad: Uplift Mind, Body and Soul
Have you ever felt your heavy and cloudy mind? Have you ever found yourself in the situation where you can’t process things as quickly as you would want at the workplace? Or found yourself completely lost while reading without comprehending anything? Sometimes even moving out your bed seems futile in the morning? Or looking at those sports shoes or hanging unused racquets makes you feel guilty but you don’t have strength?
Early on in my career, I have found myself in these situations quite often. This was worrisome as it affected everything in my life — my behaviour, my relationships and my work output. I couldn’t ignore these symptoms of my draining energy — at physical level, mental level and spiritual level. That was the time, I started paying attention to a lot of things and habits that constituted my world and was part of my everyday routine.
Connection of Mind, Body and Spirit:
My parents helped me to recognise that there are factors beyond my physical body that have an impact on my overall wellbeing. Being doctors and ardent meditation practitioners, they were my first teachers who introduced me to the relation between body, mind and spirit. Our overall health is dependent on all these facets. Hence, I have tried to capture few practices below across these three realms which I have developed over course of time:
1. Mental Wellbeing:
The first thing I focused was on building my support system. When we are mentally burnout, we need to be surrounded by our people whom we trust. These people act as an anchor and protect us from being vulnerable to negative vibes. We need our close aid of circle whom we can speak to when feeling low. It’s important to share and let out our emotions, to let out the toxicity instead of carrying heavy load which infect us internally.
It is equally important that we are also aware of our close friends and aides on how they are feeling and keep on checking with them. The other day, a close friend of mine confronted that she had been away purposely from all of us as she was dealing with mental pressures. She apologised. That made me think — how bad friends we were. She couldn’t trust her close friends to open up and neither did we check on with her. This was a reality check to build deep connections with your community.
Additionally, finding time to pursue hobbies and just relax is equally important. Whenever my partner is feeling stressed, he engages himself in creativity — he find his sparks doing what makes him happy. This takes off all the mental pressure and anxiety. Community service can be another way to indulge in — after all we all feel good when we help others.
2. Spiritual Growth:
Being spiritually bankrupt can make you question on your purpose and stir your very foundation of your existence. I faced this crisis soon after I finish my college. At that point in time, I started focusing on three things — Information I consume, Prayers I offer and Surrounding I am in.
Thoughts are really powerful source of energy transfer. These thoughts are affected by what I read, listen and consume everyday in my life. I reduced the information from online / social media drastically as I found them unnecessary for living my life. Rather, I focussed on what books I am reading, the online content I am reading — these act as soil for my soul to nurture.
Sitting quietly for 10–15 minutes, saying my prayers and practicing meditation is the the most soul-enriching moments for me in the day. I ensured that I practice it every day in the morning. Choose whatever time you feel like, take time to connect with yourself. This is your ‘me time with divine’. I also started using affirmations in my prayers — as you attract what you think. Hence, I would refrain from framing any negative sentences intentionally during this time.
And last, I started connecting with nature — they say — nature can be the best teacher and the healer. I became more aware of my surroundings and started observing nature closely. Opening my senses to experience the nature in all its form — this is something I learnt during my 10 day silent meditation retreat. Nature can helps us to regain our natural inner energy. The people we are surrounded by also impacts us — we are an average of 5 people whom we spent our most time with. So choose wisely.
3. Physical Strength
Everybody knows that being physically active and having a balanced healthy diet make us feel good and have lasting impact on our health and mood. But the question is — do we still prioritise it?
Being an active sports person throughout my childhood, it should have been an easy front to conquer. But I failed at it occasionally succumbing to the work pressures and lazy attitude. To recover, I started focusing on building routines to help me stick to some sort of physical activity- walk, running, yoga. I started playing sports — as it helps to be part of community and keeps you going when you feel like giving up.
I also started focusing on my diet — what goes inside my body. Long back, I had given up soft drinks. I am lucky that my partner and I share the same views when it comes to food. We both love home-cooked fresh food as compared to packaged food. We realised that nutritious food can also unlock so much of our physical and mental energy.
Overall Wellbeing
We all want to lead a life of full of happiness, joy, healthy and purpose-driven. It’s important that we take time to carefully tend to ourselves on every day basis. This will help us to keep our energy levels high. Let’s strive to lead a life where we are spiritually connected, mentally and emotionally charged and physically active.
