Power within – 12 Strategies -

The previous 12 posts describe the 12 strategies!!

What is the key for the happiness in life? Now, you would have in your possession of all those things that you desired few years before. Now, you would have bought your dream house, car, fancy gadgets, farmhouse etc. but somewhere deep inside you, you might be experiencing emptiness, a craving to get more in the pursuit of your happiness.

My personal transformation has taught me some valuable lessons that drive my direction for a meaningful & purposeful life. Here is the formula that gives a solution to your present problem. First, understand your physical, mental & emotional energies & align those energies in identifying your true resource capabilities. Once that is done, you will see a proportionate growth in all the dimensions of the life i.e. your Health, Wealth, Relationships & spiritual development. This is what you might be lacking right now. For example, you may be good in generating wealth but not in your Health or other two dimensions & so on.

Here is my attempt in compiling twelve mental, emotional & physical strategies that give the desired alignment that you sought in understanding your Power within.

Achieve Active life beyond 50s,60s &above

Physical Strategies

1 Art of listening to the body

2  Physical Exercises: Basis

3  Consistency: Success

Mental Strategies

4   Mind Pendulum

5  Mind Centre Point

6  Mind Persistence

7  Mind: Wandering

8  Thoughts:Effects

9  Mind:Comfort Zone

Emotional Strategies

10  React vs Response

11  External Reality

12 Emotions:Memory

WISH A HEALTHY & PROSPEROUS YEAR 2018

Power within – 12 Strategies – Part 12 Emotional Strategy: EMOTIONS: MEMORY

"STRONGER THE EMOTIONAL ATTACHMENT TO AN EXPERIENCE BETTER THE MEMORY STORAGE/RETRIEVAL OF THAT EXPERIENCE”

Memory:

 Your memory to a particular event depends on how strong you attach emotions to that event. Your experience to an event is deeply stored in your memory when the emotion attached to that event is high. This emotion can be positive or negative but that doesn’t matter. What matter the most is the intensity of the emotion. Memory storage and retrieval are faster when the intensity of the emotion to an event is stronger.

This is why; you could able to recollect your worst experiences of your life or the best happiest events of your life in a split of a second. The experiences would have happened twenty years before. But, it is still fresh in your mind as the emotion attached to the event is stronger.

Construct:

You are simply a construct of your past experiences. You do certain things and avoid other things in life. All these choices are primarily driven by your own past experiences. You and your behaviour are simply driven by your experiences to the events that accumulated over the years until now.

Take away: Here is your take away based on the above two principles. The primary difference between human and animals is to thrive above your survival. Animals exist here to survive whereas human exist to thrive. Thriving means that we create something of our own. Remember, we exist here to CREATE. With this mind set, we can change our experience, our memory storage & hence our own definition.

Personally, I was at my worst health condition at one point of time. Then, it was considered really bad. That desperate situation changed my experience of life & changed my own definition. The experience which was considered bad has given a new definition of me as a Health coach now. So, what was considered bad at one point of time has become good now.

This is going to be true in your case also if you simply review your own experiences. What was bad for you a year before is now causing good in your life. Fundamentally, when we are here to CREATE and so, whatever good or bad events are primarily steering us in the path of creation. So, here onwards, do not worry when an experience appears to be bad. You now know now how to redefine this experience. This event is exposing you to something good. When the emotion attached to an event is always converted into positives, your memory bank is stored with positive data and eventually, that convert to a person who is here to THRIVE.

Summary:

“Stronger the emotional attachments to an experience better the memory storage/retrieval of that experience”. Experience is stored deeply in our memory when the emotion attached to that experience is stronger. Memory retrieval is easier for the high emotional stored content. Simple Strategy: Mindful of the emotion that you attach to an event/experience.

Power within – 12 Strategies – Part 11 Emotional Strategy: EXTERNAL REALITY

CHANGE YOUR CONDITIONED MIND, CHANGE YOUR LIFE”

Our life experience is limited to the extent of how well our internal world is programmed. If one starts to experience this truth, it is not only inspirational but very liberating too. Personally, this is my experience of life. Such an experiential knowledge changes the way how one perceives the life. There was a shift that happened within me during the process of my personal transformation. Today, after eight years, if I look at the kind of people whom I deal on day today basis in my current life with the set of people whom I moved with eight years before, they are totally two different set of tribes. This alone is a proof of how our internal programming determining the external reality.

Intellectual base:

 Let me try to convince your rational brain to buy this idea. Consider a scenario of two friends taking a walk to the park in the neighbourhood. The experience of walk in the park is not the same for both of them even though the place & time of the visit are preciously the same. The experience of one person is completely different than the experience of another person.

The above example demonstrates the different lenses that every one of us carries. Yes, we use filters while perceiving the events. This filter makes our experience different than the experiences of others.

Filter:

 If your filter is good then you experience a wonderful life. If you experience hardship of the life then it is time to change this filter. What is this filter? Our past experiences of life are a set of collective database stored as our faith & belief structure. Our conditioned mind operates from this database which preciously acts as a filter. We say the mind is conditioned because it can’t act beyond the limits of this database.

In other words, my life experience is simply a construct of my conditioned mind. In fact, this is our internal programming.

Mind-Body Practice:

 So, changing your life experience is as simple as changing the way your conditioned mind works. This requires bit of regular mind-body practice. This practice makes you to become aware of the conditioned mind and hence get an opportunity to manage the conditioned mind.

Experiential knowledge: 

Above, I have given an intellectual base to convince your thinking brain. So, you now know the value of such a belief. But, “knowing” is different than “owning”. If you want to own this then you need to integrate this belief experientially through mind-body practice or some other practical means.

Once when you experience this faith then you know that you are the architect of your reality. This faith is an immense power. The way how you perceive your life is no longer the same. You live like you never lived like this before!!

Summary: External Reality is the mirror image of our internal state. Our life experience is limited to the extent of how well our internal world is programmed. (Or) My life experience is simply a construct of my conditioned mind.

Power within – 12 Strategies – Part 10 Emotional Strategy: REACT VS RESPONSE

Design:

 If you open up the books of neuroscience, you’ll come to know at a very abstract level that we have three layers in the brain namely the brain stem, limbic & prefrontal cortex. In simple terms, these are called as the lower, mid & upper brains. Each section of the brain has a unique function. The lower brain is called the survival brain, mid brain is called as the emotional brain & the upper brain is called as the thinking brain.

Evolution:

 Brain has evolved in few billion years. It starts with the survival first then with the emotions followed by the thinking ability. Considering the rate of growth of the brain, the brain has evolved very rapidly in the recent few million years. The size of the brain has increased to three fold during this period. The brain was five hundred grams few million years before and now it weighs one thousand five hundred grams. Most of this rapid development has happened in the upper section of the brain i.e. the thinking brain.

Living condition:

All these neurological systems in our brain are pretty much intact even in today’s living condition. We survive, we become emotional & we think and accordingly the respective brain section gets activated. Unlike other animals,

Human is a weak animal by nature. We can’t fly; we can’t run fast & so on. We always live in the dangerous situations & hence, our brain is evolved to look for the potential threads.

But in today’s scenario, we live in a very safe world in comparison to the living condition few million years before. So, the survival & emotional centres are slightly out dated mechanisms. The smartness rests in the way of how we utilise the recent development of the brain i.e. the thinking section of the brain.

React:

 If I react to a situation or to an experience then it is a spontaneous action from my brain which uses the lower & mid sections of the brain. So, we react emotionally out of fear, worry & anxiety for the given situation & hence, we engage the survival & emotional centres of the brain. This is an out dated mechanism in today’s safe world.

Response:

Response is a simply a mechanism of giving a slight PAUSE before reacting during an experience. This pause brings the thinking brain into the equation. Once thinking brain comes into the play, it changes the way how you assign a meaning to an event and hence changes the very nature of our experience itself. This is the new way of leading the life using the newly developed part of the brain i.e the thinking brain.

This habit if it developed then it changes the way one experiences the life. So, learn to “Pause” gives an opportunity to “Respond” instead of “React” during adversity.

Summary: Unlike other animals, human is a weak animal by nature. Can’t run fast, can’t fly extra.

Hence, our brain is evolved to look for the potential dangers always.

So, we react (emotionally out of fear& anxiety). This is an out dated mechanism in the safe world now. Practice to respond i.e Learn to pause before reacting.

Power within – 12 Strategies – Part 9 MIND: COMFORT ZONE

In general, conditioned mind is trained to pull you in the comfort zone. Here, you live and do things which are familiar to you. This way your safety is ensured. Security is of primarily significant for the survival. It is pretty much etched in our DNAs.

Monotony is established when we start to live in the comfort zone for a prolonged period of time. This is because, we perform the same actions and lead the same kind of life that we lived a month/year before. We stagnate and that we don’t establish a path for our growth.

Step out:

To see growth, it is important to recondition the conditioned mind. Or otherwise, it is important to come out the conditioned mind to see our own pattern of the conditioned mind. Yes!! Stepping out the conditioned mind gives us an opportunity to see our own construct of the conditioned mind. After all, the conditioned mind operates based on the already stored database that has been accumulated by you as your experiences. It cannot think and act beyond this database.

We need to have new experiences & new learning to move forward. For this, step above the conditioned mind.

Awareness:

Awareness plays a key role in reconditioning the conditioned mind. Once the reconditioning has happened, the mind starts to work in your favour for your own growth. Yes, the same mind that pulled you in the comfort zone earlier now pushes you to the discomfort zone.

In other words, to win this game, it is important to keep the strength of your awareness far bigger than the strength of the conditioned mind. If the strength of our awareness is bigger & stronger then it gives an opportunity to mindfully step into the unknown zone. There is always a risk to move here and this is where many fail to develop the gradient in progressing through this zone. If you take a wide step then you will be thrown back to your start point because you exceed your resource capability. If you take a small step then that is not good enough to take you to your higher level. Mindful moderate steps are the key for the success and that can be achieved by heightening your awareness level.

Summary: Mind is a protective mechanism that keeps you in your comfort zone by default. Growth means stepping into your discomfort zone.

Simple Strategy: To see growth in our life, we may need to work against our conditioned mind & mindfully step into our discomfort zone.

Power within – 12 Strategies – Part 8 THOUGHTS:EFFECTS

THOUGHTS:EFFECTS

"BODY IS A CHEMICAL FACTORY.SANITISE THE BODY BY GENERATING THOUGHTS BASED ON THE POSITIVE EMOTIONS”

Energy:

 Every thought is a form of energy. In fact, modern science has proved beyond doubt that thought generates electrical impulse. This energy can be utilised productively or else it may get wasted. So, what do you think right now? It does matter a lot!!

Feeling:

Thought generates an associated feeling. Positive thought generates a positive feeling & negative thought generates a negative feeling. The emotion associated with a feeling creates a physical reaction in the body. One may experiences this as a bodily sensation. Also, every thought, every feeling and every associated reaction has a form of chemical reaction in the body.

Chemical reaction:

 A thought that generates anger has an acidic effect in the body. This chemical reaction pumps up your heart beat & increases the blood pressure. In the extreme case, it creates even ulcer, an extreme acidic nature of the body. A serene thought with an associated positive emotion changes the chemical reaction in such a way that improves the immunity system of the body.

Balance:

 PH is the balance of the alkalinity to the acidic nature of the body. The thought & the associated feeling changes the balance of the system. Thoughts based on fear, worries, frustration enhance the acidity of the body. Thoughts based on joy, love, compassion, happiness set your body in the alkalinity. So, it important to maintain the PH balance of the body. our body becomes the breeding ground for many diseases when it is dominated by its acidic nature.

Factors:

There are obviously many other factors such the food, environment etc that determine the body chemical composition. But, the way we think about ourselves as well as our perception of our surroundings play a major role in deciding the balanced chemical composition for a healthy body.

So, remember that the body is simply and purely a chemical factory. Do not pollute with the thoughts that have negative emotions. Instead, sanitise the body by generating the positive thoughts with the positive emotions.

Summary : Thought generates physical reaction in the body. Thought generates emotional response as well. Simple strategy: Choose your thoughts to change your chemical reactions in the body. Thoughts based on the negative emotions addup toxin in the body

Power within – 12 Strategies – Part 7 MIND: WANDERING

"TO STOP THE WANDERING MIND, SET THE RIGHT LIFE GOALS KNITTED WITH THE POSITIVE EMOTIONS”

Thought & physical reality:

Today, we enjoy & experience in the physical reality many such things as mobile phone, house, car etc. Earlier, these were then just in the form of thoughts or imaginations in someone mind. Our thoughts or imaginations that we have in this present time will manifest physically as things or products in near future. An intense thought or an idea in the mind will turn into an innovative product in future. Such is the power of thoughts from the mind.

Imagine the thoughts are not cohesive in nature? We all have this experience in our daily life. No one is an exception to this experience. Only, the time & duration of this experience vary from person to person. When the thoughts are not cohesive and random in nature then we call that experience as “mind wandering”. If you open up the books of neuroscience, this is referred to as “Default network” of the brain.

Reason:

 Why we switch to this random mode? Let us understand the characteristics of the mind. Mind always revolve around a centre point which is nothing but your important, interesting and significant idea. When you don’t have this, your mind loses its centre point. You can always witness this behaviour of the mind especially in a scenario where you have nothing important to do. This is a right opportunity for the mind to roam around.

Random thoughts:

Every thought is an electric impulse in the brain. Now, the technology has evolved to an extent where one can able to read this signal from the brain. So, thought is a form of energy. If we generate random thoughts then we waste our energy. In fact, brain alone consumes 20% of the total energy.

Organised thoughts:

Organised thoughts occur when there is a strong presence of the centre point. If the centre point is based on negative emotions such as fear and worries then the thoughts are organised but work in a negative way. When the centre point is based on the positive emotion then the thoughts are again organised but work in a positive way.

So, it is not only important to have a centre point but make sure that it has a positive emotion attached to it. Future can be imagined and planned as it is yet to happen. So, we have the liberty.to think. It is our choice. We have the choice to imagine positively. When we set our goal knitted with the positive emotions, mind gets organised & work towards the goal.

So, here is my message!! Mind wanders in the absence of the direction. Direction can be set by the goals.

Simple strategy:

Goals when knitted with the positive emotions give direction to the mind. Single stream of thoughts set by the goal is contemplation

Power within – 12 Strategies – Part 6 MIND: PERSISTENCE

"FOCUS ON "WHAT YOU WANT" IN LIFE INSTEAD OF FOCUSING ON "WHAT YOU DON'T WANT" IN LIFE”

Persistence:

Two simple questions!!  What do you want? What you don’t want in life? Whatever the answers to both these questions, the answers persist in your mind. The persistence is much stronger and deeper for the negative question. Considering an example of building a new relationship. Now, you may say to yourself that you want to build a relationship with someone or you don’t want to build a relationship with that person. Both these ideas persist in your mind.

Direction:

 When the answer is positive such as “I want to build a relationship” then you have set a direction. Mind works in tune with direction. It gives all the possibilities for you to take actions and whatever actions that you take will lead you in this set direction. So, there is a progress. But, when the answer is negative such as “I don’t want to build a relationship”, mind still gives all the possibilities for you to take the actions. But, you will be thrown with number of other alternatives too. Should you need to build relationship with yet another person? Should you be satisfied with the existing relationship? Should you need to strengthen the current relationship? Or simply think of something about your profession. So, the direction is lost here & hence, there is no progress.

Strength:

What you resist persists. I don’t want to see my boss very often. A very nature of a thought such as this creates a situation where you are forced to meet your boss very often. Instead, focus on “what you want “in life. You may want to meet the client who will help in assigning an order or you may want to meet your colleague who will help in your project. When, such thoughts become stronger then the situations created will work in your favour.

Deeper Mind:

Negative connotation has a different meaning at the deeper level of the mind.  A thought such as “I don’t want to meet my boss” will be translated as “I want to meet my boss” at the subconscious level of the mind. So, focus on “What you want” in life instead of focussing on “what you don’t want” in life. By doing so, your direction is set.

Summary:

Mind: what you resist persists.

Resistance: I don't want to see my boss,I don't want this project, I don't want this relationship... a wrong strategy.

Right strategy: I want this project; I want this relationship... strategy that gives direction to your mind.

Power within – 12 Strategies – Part 5 MIND : CENTRE POINT

"CHANGE YOUR PRIORITY FOR GREATER GOODNESS AND CHANGE THE DIRECTION OF THE MIND”

Centre Point:

Consider the following two scenarios. When I am on an important task, naturally my mind revolves around that particular task. My thoughts at that moment are all related to the task in my hand. In a different scenario, when two persons are in a conversation and if one does not pay attention to the conversation, it is clear that this person mind is occupied with something which has higher importance than the conversation. In the above two examples, you may notice that the mind works on the priority or what is considered significant. Thought patterns are related to the event/action which is considered important.

Emotional association:

Mind revolves around the centre point which is nothing but our set priority or interest. This priority has an emotional component associated with it. The highest priority has a motivation to do the action because there is a strong bonding of emotion attached to it. This emotion could be the positive type of emotions such as joy, love, happiness etc or negative type of emotions such as fear, worry, doubt etc.

Thoughts:

We prepare the action because we worry/fear about something or we have some motivation such as reward that generates happiness. So, the mind is simple equipment that aids in generating the thoughts related to the important task in hand. Imagine a scenario in a situation where there is no demand for an action with higher importance. This is the time; the mind is free to roam around with no centre point. The mind wanders when there is no pressing need.

The direction of Mind:

So, it is good to have a centre point so that mind has a direction to work on. Setting a higher goal in life & making it important that permits the mind to work in a direction. A positive emotion is tagged to this goal that styles the mind to work in our favour.

In other words, if you see your life is not going the way that you always wanted then it is important to analyse those centre points. Eliminate those centre points based on worries & fears. Set the centre points with the goals based on the positive emotions for the greater goodness!!

Summary:

 If you see your life is not going the way that you always wanted then it is important to analyse those centre points. Eliminate those centre points based on worries & fears. Set the centre points with the goals based on the positive emotions for the greater goodness!!

Power within – 12 Strategies – Part4 MIND: PENDULUM

  MIND: PENDULUM

"LIVE IN THE PRESENT MOMENT HERE & NOW. FUTURE WILL BE FINE”

The mind is a powerful device gifted to the humankind by the evolutionary process. This device can be deployed for our own benefits provided we know preciously the method of handling of this device. The life experience becomes frantic & hectic when one fails to manage this device.

Pendulum:

Mind movement is like a pendulum. It swings between the two opposite sides from the neutral position. The two sides are the “past” and the “future” and the neutral position is the “present”. So, the entire time mind moves towards the past and future while crossing the neutral state momentarily. This is especially true when we don’t have an important task at hand. Watch the movement of your mind in the situations like driving a car, brushing your teeth!!  Naturally, mind dwells in the past or fantasizes the future.

Default Network:

In neuroscience, scientists call this pendulum action as the default network of the brain. Nearly 49% of the time, the brain stays in the default network. We know that each of our thought generates an electric impulse. Considering this fact, we spend half the time wasting our energy by random thoughts. We tend to worry when the mind thinks of the past experiences. We fancy our future which is yet to happen. But, there is a way to make this mind lot more productive that generates better life experience.

Leading a life:

We have choices!!  Either, we can think of our future life and compromise our present life or simply, lead the present life to the fullest. Most of us fall into the first category compromising this moment for the better future. But, the simple secret is that if we live and experience the present moment to its fullest, the future will be fine. This secret that I learned has directed my life for greater goodness.

Present moment:

What is the definition of living in the present moment? When I get involved in an activity or simply, when I experience a moment, the experience of space and time become void. This means that I would have spent thirty minutes experiencing an event but in my experience, it was like a minute. Remember those moments where you read your interesting book or watch movies for hours together but the hours fly in seconds. These are those “present moment” where you live in that moment. Future will be fine & very well secured for those who experience the present moment very often in life. It is simply because; how I live today that governs my future.

Summary: Mind always dwells in the past & future. The mind is like a pendulum that swings between past and future.By default, we live in the past or future. So, naturally, we tend to worry our past and fancy our future.

Power within – 12 Strategies – Part3 CONSISTENCY: SUCCESS

Our Definition:

An action when it is repeated on a regular basis becomes our habit. Our habit drives our behaviour. Our own definition is based on our behaviour. Such is the power of repetition and thus consistent actions when done on regular basis have the potential to give a new definition of you on the long run.

Wiring:

 We are automatically driven by our habits in an autopilot mode. It is subconsciously etched in our neural network and doesn’t require the association of our thinking brain. Habits are spontaneous & automatic. It is the easiest path in the neural network that can be activated without our conscious effort.

Problem:

Our own programming and hence our own definition is the net results of consistent repeated actions that were executed in the past knowingly or unknowingly. In fact, we are a slave to our own old habits. All our old habits work in our comfort zone. We strive for a comfortable life & hence, we tend to live in the comfort zone driven by the old habits.

It now becomes difficult to change the old habits or form a new habit as we are engulfed within the framework of the old habits. Your new actions that you want to follow have to be consistent. This is not going to be easy as we need to come out our own comfort zone and that requires effort & determination.

This is where practicing yoga, or going to the gym on regular basis becomes offstage activity. It is simply because it is a new neural network that we need to form but the stronger old network is called upon automatically and restraining us to stay within our comfort zone.

But, remember your consistency that shapes your new definition. If we need to change for good then we need to be consistent in our actions. 

Success pattern:

  The sole reason for not getting the desired result is the lack of the regularity in repeating an action. This is significantly true when it comes to the subject of lifestyle modification. Simple strategy: Constantly repeating a new action on regular basis creates a new habit. New good Habits create a NEW of you.

Summary: The sole reason for not getting the desired result is the lack of the regularity in repeating an action. This is significantly true when it comes to the subject of lifestyle modification.

Simple strategy: Constantly repeating a new action on regular basis creates a new habit. New good habits create a NEW of you.

Power within – 12 Strategies – Part2 PHYSICAL EXERCISES BASIS

"DIRECTIONAL MOVEMENT & ALIGNMENT IN THE EXERCISES ARE THE BASIS FOR THE GENERATION OF ENERGY”

To have your ideal health & fitness level, you might be training your body using some exercise formats such as weight training, aerobics, running, swimming, cycling, yoga training etc. All these pieces of training help in adding up your flexibility, agility, endurance level, stamina, strengthening your body etc.

Energy Flow:

 Any format of exercise calls for the energy consumption and hence, there is a need to generate a proportionate energy for you to sustain through the different phases of an exercise. In other words, you have to become a medium for the energy transference to happen in this simulated condition effortlessly. Smartness lies in acting as a perfect medium that retains this equilibrium state throughout the phases of the simulated condition. Otherwise, we will burn out as we progress the different phases of the exercise. Our inability in gradually building the resource to match up to the requirement that is called upon is the key element for our failure in any format of exercise.

Energy Generation:

Energy generation is the source of your resource. The basis for the energy generation comprises of two elements.

Directional movement

Alignment

Yes!!  Directional movement & alignment during the physical exercise are the basis for the energy generation. Remember, the earth rotates in an orbit and revolves on its axis. These movements require a lot of energy.  But, the earth is not drawing energy from an external source. It is simply drawing the energy from its own directional movement & alignment along its axis.

Human Body:

 Here are the two important elements of the body. The navel is the centre of mass of the body. Consider this as a centre point for the body. The spine is the axis and the entire central nervous system operates upon this axis. Consider this axis as a centre line.

Any directional movement with respect to the centre point and /or centre line generates energy. For example, a forward & backward movement of the body generates energy, twisting the body along the spine generates energy & so on.

Earth aligns by a degree along its axis as it revolves. Same way, for us the spine is the axis. How one stays in the neutral spine position determines the seamless flow of energy in the body. The perfect posture with the awareness to the spine plays a crucial role in the generation of energy. This is absolutely true in all sorts of exercises such as running, horse riding, yoga, swimming etc.

SUMMARY:

Earth rotates in an orbit & revolves on its axis. Earth generates its energy by the directional movement & alignment of the earth. Here is the simple strategy: Mimic the pattern of the earth and ensure that the exercises deliver directional movement & alignment irrespective of the form of the exercises to generate energy.

Power within – 12 Strategies – Part1 ART OF LISTENING TO THE BODY

Physical Strategy: 1

ART OF LISTENING TO THE BODY

"LISTEN TO YOUR BODY FIRST IN ORDER FOR THE BODY TO LISTEN TO YOU”

SUMMARY: Pain, heaviness, warmness are gross sensations. Throbbing, tickling, pulsating feelings are the subtle sensations. Art of listening is simply tuning to the subtle sensations in the body by which you will gain access to your involuntary system (autopilot mode).

SIMPLE STRATEGY: The art of listening to the body gets enhanced by the practice of yoga mindfully.

  If you are into the endurance sports such as marathon running then you must be well aware of the level of injuries that the beginners agonize. It is overwhelming 65% injury rate for the novices. The early enthusiasm that one has in developing the endurance skill diminishes at the later stage due to the injury factor. One of the main reasons for the cause of injury is the inability to focus and listen to the warning signals that spring out from the body. Yes, body has an inbuilt intelligence that breeds warning signals when one surpasses his own resource capabilities.

Mechanism: So, it is a common recommendation in this arena to “listen to the body”. What exactly does it mean listening to the body? For example, you are trying to run much faster than what your limits are. Your breathing is the one that distresses first. You may start to breathe faster. Since, you consume lot of energy in the faster running; your body naturally calls for more of oxygen to burn. As a consequence, Lactic acid forms in the body when there is depletion of oxygen. This lactic acid induces fatigue & hence, the brain generates pain signal in order for you to stop or slow down the running process.

When the distress occurs, the signals can be picked up at various levels such as breathing sensation, faster heart beat sensation, pain signals, heat sensations etc. These are the combinations of signals varying from the subtle to the gross sensations. Some of us feel the signals at the subtle level whereas others feel at the gross level. Some even ignores the signals.

  This process is not only transpires during the process of running but it is always there and can be witnessed for every normal happenings such as walking, sitting & sleeping.

Levels: Ignoring the warning signals is the worst thing and one can cause harm to himself. Pain, heaviness, warmness are gross sensations. One should able to acknowledge & honour these gross sensations. Throbbing, tickling, pulsating feelings are the subtle sensations. These are the finer signals that keep you in close proximity to yourself.

Power: Do increase the level of awareness & stay closer to you by tuning into the subtle sensations. By doing so, you will have the power to tap the whole gamut of the involuntary systems such as your respiratory, cardiovascular, nervous system etc. It is magical. It is the body intelligence that runs in an autopilot mode for which we have no control. Now , you get this power.This power changes the way you perceive your internal world. Obviously because of this same power, you start to experience your external world very differently.

Techniques: There are multiple levels of techniques defined in the yoga culture that gives you an opportunity to tap this power. The art of listening to the body gets enhanced by the practice of these techniques mindfully.

Live Large -Success Characteristic

Success:

Opportunity is presented to all of us equally. In fact, the opportunity is infinite. But, success comes only to the handful of people. These people have mastered to abode their awareness in the gradient zone and explore the things regularly in their area of interest irrespective of the results. These people, when the opportunity presents they have the upper hand over the ordinary because they get the ability to cross the tough boundary that the opportunity demands. Can you see the characteristics for the success here?

These people, when the opportunity presents they have the upper hand over the ordinary because they get the ability to cross the tough boundary that the opportunity demands.

Live Large - Solution

Design the platform that exposes the gradient of the comfort zone and discomfort zone vividly which provides an opportunity to tap the evolutionary energy.

We have been discussing, on one hand, the powers within and how to channelize those powers for our growth. Also, we have discussed the traps & limited belief which hold our progress. In this chapter, I would like to put forward the solution.

The solution is to create a right platform that provides an opportunity to tap the evolutionary energy. For this, whatever one does in his life, the platform should create an opportunity for an individual to push himself little further to the next level mindfully. This allows him to gain new learning & new experience.

The result becomes futile when one step into the discomfort zone mindlessly without utilizing his full awareness. This means to move mindfully from the termination of the comfort zone to the commencement of the discomfort zone. This transition is not a step response but it is a gradient. The whole point is to keep our awareness in this transition region (awareness area as shown below). So, design the platform that exposes this region vividly that provides an opportunity to tap the evolutionary energy.

Live Large - Limited Belief

Limited belief is a belief that one cannot execute certain task & he feels that he has limited resource and unable to perform the tasks. This kind of situation naturally constricts the person and eventually hampers the growth.

Initially, a person tries to do a new task which he has not done before. Let us assume that he has failed in executing the task. He tries again & he fails one more time. With multiple failures, he may come to the conclusion that he is not good enough to execute the task. This is now imprinted in his memory.

But the questions: What are his resource capabilities? What are the resources that the task demands and what are the resource gaps? Now, if one moves mindfully in extending his resources (not too far or too less) then he will get sufficient time to gauge in real time the resource needs that the task demands. Eventually, he may not end up completing the task at one go but he would have learned to step into that unknown area mindfully and get adapted to this new demand. This is really a big step and a great achievement. He has now experienced this area which allows him to stretch his resource little further next time when the opportunity presents. Over a period of time, he will develop the ability to enhance the resource to complete the task.

With the absence of the mindfulness, a limited belief constricts a person. Then over a period, this construction really takes a shape & practically starts to limit a person. It is unfortunate that we only nurture the construction that is being imposed upon us. We are not experimenting ourselves with the evolutionary energy & hence we are limited.

Live Large - Trap 3 Mass Copying

Mass copying: This is yet another trap which hampers our growth. Human are social animals by nature. We live as a tribe for the security reason. We are more powerful as a group of people than the segregated individuals.

Security and protection are the very basic needs of the human. When one is too aligned in securing himself, he tends to mimic the pattern of the masses. If all of them do a particular action then he tends to similar action so that he is not odd out. By doing so, he feels that he is secured. It requires some additional power & guts to do something different than the masses. Because this person is taking a very different path than others in the tribe and the support structure is going to be minimal from the rest of the tribe. This new path of him is less known & travelled by none or only a few.

A person with the new exploration competency goes through the hardship but he is the one who is going to set the trend. So, the question is: Should we need to mass copy and stay secured or should we need to come out and explore from the protection loop?

Those, the so called successful people have explored the regions falling beyond the protection loop. But, knowingly or unknowingly, we seek for security and do things in life what others do.