As the old saying goes, health is wealth. And in this case we are referring to spiritual wealth. Whole food is good for our health because our body is able to absorb its full nutrients - the same with our life. When we embrace our life as a whole, savoring all the experiences and feelings in it, our soul will be able to absorb its full 'nutrient', grasping the full essence of our existence, and enabling us to live our life to the fullest. Masami Sato shares the magic of living a whole life in this excerpt from her latest book, ONE.
Why is it many of us (in fact, most of us) occasionally experience some kind of empty feeling in our life? It is like being hungry. When we eat, we feel satisfied and become less interested in food. But as some time passes, we get hungry again. Then all of a sudden we feel so attracted to the smell and thought of food. We can also feel some kind of hunger when we are not even physically hungry-just after eating something. Some of us stay being hungry 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 easy. Just live our lives totally. The word 'total' holds the meaning of fullness. Then the secret to live a full life is just to live it totally.
Let us begin by looking at an example of this 'completion' with something very close to our mind - our stomach.
Whole Food VS Semi Food
We are used to the usage 'whole food.' People say that taking whole food is the secret to the vigour and wellbeing that we require. How is whole food better than 'semi food?'
A full grain throbs with a life of its own. If you put the full grain in water, drain the next day and keep for a few days, it shoots. It has its own life. When we dine on such food, our body takes in the entire live nutrients. It has all the qualities required to purify, remedy and foster different body cells.
And exactly like the example of a grain, much of customary eating includes consuming whole edible creatures as well. Eating full fresh fish used to be more prevalent than having a half of it and casting the rest away. It was exactly so for meat and every edible plant product.
'Semi food' at times is more sweet and aromatic but does not offer much nutrition. We may savour its taste, but we could become a victim of a long-time malady if we only ate 'semi food' every day of our life.
So, to compensate the absent half, we started to have dietary supplements. We have been analysing and learning for quite some time to reach the correct balance. It becomes more and more problematical as we chop up the food, process it and ship it, and even try to make up the deficiency with other parts that have its origin in other countries, seasons or sources. Some of these supplements do not even come from natural food sources. They are artificially made. After testing and analysing, it is endorsed to be edible. But no matter how much we strive; we cannot bring all the 'bits' together to make it alive and pulsating.
Half 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 the same. When we only appreciate the 'sweetness', and throw away the rest in rubbish bins because we don't see its value, we may be wasting the most important part. And the part we throw away could have the greatest power for the sustainability of our life and our economy. It also takes more energy and resources to discard it. Better yet, the part we throw away is free.
So, what is it we are not seeing?
Think of a life where we didn't actually sense we were missing anything there.
The secret is right there. The secret of a whole life.
Entire Life-The Complete Life
When it's 'whole', it doesn't matter how big the whole is. It can expand simultaneously. It can still contain all the elements to sustain itself as a whole living being. Once it grows to a certain size, it can still live without some of the parts. Like plants can live after being eaten a little by birds or trees still thrive even after losing their leaves. But if we neglect the balance for a very long time, eventually it can start creating a fatal imbalance. Then it could become too complicated to get back into balance.
We do not have to return to prehistoric times to find fullness. Fullness exists in the present. All that is required to do is view intently; view intently enough to actually find.
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 learn how we can form (and find) this equilibrium constantly and manageably.
The actual enriching part of our life is what makes us feel fine deep inside. It is like that portion of food that makes us hale and hearty in the final tally. Sensations we experience in our daily life are the real answer to our lasting joy. And there are sensations that make us feel more full.
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 absorb these moments of our life wholeheartedly and savour the aroma of our full life. Then we will find how it is not obligatory to incessantly fill our heart (and belly!) with earthly satisfactions - those types of things that only add to our yearnings afterwards.
We can actually sense this pleasure, gratefulness and ardour in order to be aware of life as a whole at any moment despite the conditions. It is not about what we find, what we learn or what we accomplish that finalize our life in its entirety. It is about what we 'elect to' experience 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.
Why is it many of us (in fact, most of us) occasionally experience some kind of empty feeling in our life? It is like being hungry. When we eat, we feel satisfied and become less interested in food. But as some time passes, we get hungry again. Then all of a sudden we feel so attracted to the smell and thought of food. We can also feel some kind of hunger when we are not even physically hungry-just after eating something. Some of us stay being hungry 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 easy. Just live our lives totally. The word 'total' holds the meaning of fullness. Then the secret to live a full life is just to live it totally.
Let us begin by looking at an example of this 'completion' with something very close to our mind - our stomach.
Whole Food VS Semi Food
We are used to the usage 'whole food.' People say that taking whole food is the secret to the vigour and wellbeing that we require. How is whole food better than 'semi food?'
A full grain throbs with a life of its own. If you put the full grain in water, drain the next day and keep for a few days, it shoots. It has its own life. When we dine on such food, our body takes in the entire live nutrients. It has all the qualities required to purify, remedy and foster different body cells.
And exactly like the example of a grain, much of customary eating includes consuming whole edible creatures as well. Eating full fresh fish used to be more prevalent than having a half of it and casting the rest away. It was exactly so for meat and every edible plant product.
'Semi food' at times is more sweet and aromatic but does not offer much nutrition. We may savour its taste, but we could become a victim of a long-time malady if we only ate 'semi food' every day of our life.
So, to compensate the absent half, we started to have dietary supplements. We have been analysing and learning for quite some time to reach the correct balance. It becomes more and more problematical as we chop up the food, process it and ship it, and even try to make up the deficiency with other parts that have its origin in other countries, seasons or sources. Some of these supplements do not even come from natural food sources. They are artificially made. After testing and analysing, it is endorsed to be edible. But no matter how much we strive; we cannot bring all the 'bits' together to make it alive and pulsating.
Half 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 the same. When we only appreciate the 'sweetness', and throw away the rest in rubbish bins because we don't see its value, we may be wasting the most important part. And the part we throw away could have the greatest power for the sustainability of our life and our economy. It also takes more energy and resources to discard it. Better yet, the part we throw away is free.
So, what is it we are not seeing?
Think of a life where we didn't actually sense we were missing anything there.
The secret is right there. The secret of a whole life.
Entire Life-The Complete Life
When it's 'whole', it doesn't matter how big the whole is. It can expand simultaneously. It can still contain all the elements to sustain itself as a whole living being. Once it grows to a certain size, it can still live without some of the parts. Like plants can live after being eaten a little by birds or trees still thrive even after losing their leaves. But if we neglect the balance for a very long time, eventually it can start creating a fatal imbalance. Then it could become too complicated to get back into balance.
We do not have to return to prehistoric times to find fullness. Fullness exists in the present. All that is required to do is view intently; view intently enough to actually find.
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 learn how we can form (and find) this equilibrium constantly and manageably.
The actual enriching part of our life is what makes us feel fine deep inside. It is like that portion of food that makes us hale and hearty in the final tally. Sensations we experience in our daily life are the real answer to our lasting joy. And there are sensations that make us feel more full.
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 absorb these moments of our life wholeheartedly and savour the aroma of our full life. Then we will find how it is not obligatory to incessantly fill our heart (and belly!) with earthly satisfactions - those types of things that only add to our yearnings afterwards.
We can actually sense this pleasure, gratefulness and ardour in order to be aware of life as a whole at any moment despite the conditions. It is not about what we find, what we learn or what we accomplish that finalize our life in its entirety. It is about what we 'elect to' experience 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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