Redefining Greatness

"How are you?" Oh, I am great! This dialogue has happened in all of our lives, in some way shape or form. We've had little time examining what we mean by 'great'. This blogpost is an attempt to find your version of greatness. It is pretty easy to get caught up in the daily, unconscious, and mandated to-dos and before you know it, it might be a little too late to do all the things you've been meaning to do. So, what do you mean by GREAT? If you've never thought or took time to define this, this post has some pointers for you!

The feeling of wellness goes beyond the physical well being, and at this point, it is well established. For me, 'great' is when I feel at absolute ease with all aspects of life. When I do not have any rumination or reminiscence of events- past or future in my mind, no distractions of discomfort in my body, and no emotional carry overs. When I have no real concerns about the drama with people in my life or around me, when I can stay synchronous with the Higher Power through Yoga/Meditative practices, I feel like a breeze, the force that is invisible, with no real 'thing' of my own, no baggage of sorts. That's when I truly feel great. This way of well being feels like a fresh shower inside, out, and beyond.

"Well being is the sense of total ease in physiological, psychological, emotional, social, and spiritual aspects of life, and being able to go through life circumstances without resistance" - Sru🔥

This is my current definition of feeling great, and it evolves. It evolved over the years, and I do not think there's much to evolve past this point, but we'd never know. Do I always feel great- NO! But I feel great many times in a week. There are a few clarifications required to drive the point home:

1. This does not mean I have reached my best in all aspects of life. I am far from it! How I look at events changed, and how I act changed- These bring about the ease, not the situations in itself.

2. This does not require success in professional, financial, or aspirational areas of life. The social definition of 'doing great' is evolving as the times pass, and we cannot let situations, society, and events determine how well we be.

Our life is a dynamic combination of circumstances and our responses, and we may not always have the favorable situations, so the internal climate should be independent of the external- as much as possible to keep ourselves well in every way. What I mean by this is our well being and how great we feel, be, and behave should not be influenced by what is happening around us. A sense of contentment and peace within in spite of the events require commitment, practice, and most of all, careful observation to not just our external actions, but our internal dialogue, and preceding changes in behavior, thought process, and emotions. The inner narrative with anything that happens, or that does not happen is composed of our experiences from the past and all that we've gathered, consciously through reading or observing others, or unconscious tendencies.

Our responses and reactions then are formed these inner narratives which are not from a space of pure intelligence and fresh perspective but tainted with the flavors of the accumulated past. It is important to understand this and is repeated in many of my posts, because, the difference between where we anchor our inner narrative determines our wellbeing. You have a great partner in almost all aspects of life, but you're hung up on one time when he did not check your expectation box taint the narrative of the current events.

These statements could be misunderstood, so here's a few clarifications:

1. This does not mean being forgetful of the past. This just means that you do not carry the past with everything that happens. The past serves as a lesson, not the book. Keeping the past as a matter of fact and not paint colors of your emotions, expectations, assumptions, and morals would ensure your choices and decisions are not from the past but of the current perspective considering the learning from the past.

2. This does not mean to avoid conflicts, to be the compliant one, to not stand up for what you deserve. This just means to act from a place of conscious and a general well being space rather than protecting the mental framework. To know the nature of actions, and the intention behind an action of others, to behave with sense, not ego.

The reason these need to be addressed in the discussion of well being is- How we feel is how our internal climate is, how we keep ourselves within is usually entrusted with the external aspects of life- people like friends, family, colleagues, manager, even the social presence on the media, and material things like house, car, bank balance, investments, food, etc. We do this, and then wonder why we suffer and stay miserable everyday. Every single thing out there can go wrong and we can do close to nothing to stop or reverse these circumstances. So, this post is to discuss ways to shift the control back into our hands so we can feel great irrespective of the nastiness around.

My Greatness Checklist:

This list is usually what I do to keep myself feeling well:

1. Body: - Drink close to 2.5L water per day.

   - Eat 3 vegetables, 1 or 2 protein source, 3 fruits, and complex carbs.

   - Vit D, Vit B12 (Vegetarian here), DHA/EPA capsules, and Ferritin supplements (Borderline Anemic here).

   - an hour of physical activity (Which I am currently lacking).

   - Surya Shakti (OR any Hatha Yoga Practice).

   - Healthy skincare and dental routine.

   - Dental appointments and Optometrist checks.

   - Annual health check up and follow through medical care necessary.

   - Invest time to watch sunrise, sunset, full moon, or just walk in the nature (Which I lack too)

1. Mind:

   - Keep books in 3 forms handy- 1. Audio 2. E-book 3. Physical. (Detailed post available)

   - Listen to podcasts relating to General knowledge (Finance, History, Geography, Science, Economics, Politics (Civil), and other fields of interest)

   - Listen or read the daily news from a reliable resource (NBC News) for 10 mins.

   - Learn a professional skill outside of the usual work everyday for at least 30 minutes.

   - Journal- Morning pages for the beginning of the day, Reflections for the night.

   - Have an active passion or a passion project (Writing)

   - Invest time every week in learning a new skill or hobby (Dancing, Painting)

1. Environment:

   - Have a list of to dos- Daily, Weekly, Monthly, and Yearly.

   - Write the to do list everyday and ensure the items get checked off every night or carry over.

   - Wake up 1 hour earlier than required.

   - Get the kitchen clean before going to bed.

   - Grow as many plants indoor and outdoors.

   - Try minimalism and decluttering in as many areas as possible.

   - Light an oil lamp or unscented pure wax candles whenever possible.

   - Light incense sticks or Benzoin (Sambrani) everyday rather than room fresheners.

   - Keep a notepad and pen handy in every room.

   - Do the seasonal switch up and clean.

   - Make the list of groceries as you recall, and have a list of produce in the fridge.

   - Meal prep or prep the ingredients for the upcoming week.

   - Make a weekly chart showing the weather, school projects (for my daughter) if any due, meal plan, and other important meetings/appointments.

   

   
   
   
   

2. Beyond:

   (Find your Guru or have the real intense longing to find one, and the rest will follow. My suggestion (ONLY SUGGESTION IN THIS AREA) is to enroll into practices offered by Isha Yoga Center (Offered by Sadhguru).

   - Do Guru Pooja chant.

   - See His face and recenter myself to the ultimate reality as I drift away during the course of the day.

   - Practice a Breathing Yoga practice to align Life energy (Prana)

   - Practice an energy activation Yoga practice.

   - Practice Presence Time chant.

   - Practice Shoonya meditation (Conscious Non-doing)

   - Observe the lessons in disguise in life events.

   - Take a cold shower (At least towards the end)

   - Mantra Chants when possible.

This might appear like an exhaustive list but the key is to make it a system in life, to not lose track of the ultimate goal of these habits. Initially, it might be a bit tiresome, to pack every available gaps in the day with the activities in this list, but it shows the number of things we can accomplish in a given day. Structuring our day in such a way that it is constantly focussed on enhancing the quality, combined with the quantity is one way to get there. This does not mean you cannot feel great without any of these to dos. If you're able to find the well being without any of these, AND without any external sources (Food, physical pleasures, TV shows etc), that is the ultimate realization required for each of us for life. But until then, we can prepare ourselves by taking care of various aspects of our life through conscious choices.

Create your own greatness checklist and I hope the list is wholesome, just the way it should be :)

-Sru^🔥