Uncertain between worlds;
Caught in time, circle by circle;
When you already know all the storms;
You’re playful, yet you’re alone.

(Round and Round; Tinkara Kovač)

Do you also sometimes feel like you live between worlds, a little trapped in a time, sometimes a little less sure of yourself, sometimes a little less sure of yourself, and all too often feeling lonely in it all? It is as if you are alone against the world. Like Cervantes’ Don Quixote battling the windmills he thinks are giants. Do you ever feel like that? If not, that’s more than fine (and then you can just leave this introduction out), but if you can answer yes, and maybe with a little lump in your throat, I would just say to you to try to eliminate the lump first, because you are absolutely not alone in these feelings. And why does this happen to us?

Joe Dispenza, neuroscientist and Doctor of Chiropractic, who first came to prominence as one of the scientists featured in the award-winning film ‘What the Bleep Do We Know!?‘, writes in his bestselling book ‘Let Go of Who You Are – How to Get Rid of the Old Mind and Create a New One‘ that by the mid-30s or 40s (somewhere in the same age range as younger users of NANU products 😁), when the personality is fully formed, we have already experienced most of what life has to offer. “Therefore, we can pretty much expect the outcome of most experiences. Even before we start most things, we already know how we will feel about it. We know the nuances of life because we have experienced some good and bad relationships, we have been competitive in the job market or made a career, we have suffered losses and rejoiced in successes, we know what we like and what we don’t like. Because we can anticipate likely emotions before the actual experience happens, we decide whether we want to experience a particular ‘familiar’ event before it actually happens. Of course, all this happens behind the scenes of our consciousness. / …/ Why do things get complicated? Because we can anticipate the feelings that will accompany most events, we already know whether we want to experience a ‘known’ event before it happens. But when we reach middle age, nothing can completely banish the feeling of emptiness. You wake up every morning and feel like the same person. The environment that you relied on so much to help you deal with pain, guilt or suffering is no longer doing the job. How could it? When the impact of the emotions provoked by the external environment has worn off, you already know that you are still the same leopard that has not changed the spots on its pelt. /…/ This is the mid-life crisis that most people know. Some people try really hard to keep their feelings hidden, so they go deeper into their external world. They buy a new sports car (a thing), some rent a sailboat (another thing). Some go on long holidays (a place). Some get plastic surgery (body). /…/ All these are futile efforts to do or try something new, to feel better or different. But when the excitement of novelty wears off, these people get stuck in the same identity on an emotional level. They return to who they really are. /…/ When we try to escape this void, or when we run away from any emotion that is painful, we do so because it is too uncomfortable to deal with…”

Let the publisher not offend me that I have summarised such a long composition (perhaps it will also be a copy of the book more sold 😁), but I find it a really great starting point for thinking about change. The sparrows on the roof are already chirping about it as the only constant in life, and one of the most quoted quotes is from Mahatma Gandhi, who says: “Be the change you want to see in the world.”

Change should lead to a better quality of life

Of course, it makes no sense to force change if we are completely happy in our (physical, mental and spiritual) bodies, but I believe that a person who is not thinking about changing for the better would not even read this reflection. And that’s what it’s all about – wanting to make changes for the better in our lives, to make life itself better, fuller, more alive.

In Ayurveda (the science of life), a good agni (inner fire) is essential for a long and good life. This makes a little more sense if we first remember how food also becomes consciousness (more on this in a separate blog) and that the main agni (jathara agni) in the stomach area is also ‘responsible’ for the other agni or ‘consciousness’. The ‘internal fires’ that are busily powering our organism. A well-functioning agni brings stability, patience and confidence, among other things, as well as a healthy tenor, strength and vitality, our teacher reminded us during the winter module of the Ayurveda School Kaja Kastner Yadav.

And as I say (and as several participants of the ‘Let’s Balance Our Lives’ programme I run at Lake Balaton have also tried it): the easiest way to change yourself is actually to start with your diet. Because no one will end up without chips (quite the opposite!) and no one will end up without, for example, heavy dinners or alcoholic beverages! Bearing in mind that we are just entering the season when kapha dosha (which will be with us in spring too, when spring tiredness likes to set in), which is slow, heavy, oily and wet by its nature (kapha occurs in the latter part of winter, which in many areas brings more wet weather), we can reinforce these traits (which can turn into obesity, laziness, even depression in humans) in ourselves if we do not avoid eating foods that taste sweet, salty and even sour. So, in the meantime, let’s do away with sweets and fatty and salty foods, as well as too many (even cold) liquids, and instead of taking some daily rest, let’s encourage ourselves to take a walk in the now awakening nature. (Have you heard that familiar morning chirp of lively birds this year? 😁)

All of this will help to reduce toxins (ame) in our organism, so we’ll prefer to have it whole, and – it’s proven! – lovingly preparing our own meals every day. And of course, these should be made up of sattvic foods (remember: sattvic energy is contained in freshly prepared, unprocessed and properly seasoned foods; MORE). And since ama refers not only to toxins that build up in us due to inadequate diet and, say, not enough exercise, but to toxins that come from a wider lifestyle and may include, in addition to inadequately processed food, unprocessed emotions, let us refer to Tinkare Kovač, ‘quoted’ in the introduction (we are very proud that Tinkara has become a NANU Ambassador this year 😁), the aforementioned Don Quixote and Dr Joe, all of whom, in their own way, invite us to reflect on ourselves and change.

If we knew how wonderful our inner intelligence can be, how powerful our being and how magnificent our higher nature can be when given the chance to express itself, we would not blink an eye. To blink before taking the first step towards changing (ourselves) for the better I mean. There is indeed a small sea of techniques and methods (only a modest handful of hints on where to start are half-inserted in the given record), but everyone can find a path that suits him or her, if he or she embarks on the journey of seeking at all. And believe it or not, every morning brings an opportunity to do just that!

And if nothing else, let’s spin to the verses of our Tinkara 😁:

All will be the same again;
All will be the same;
What was;
Only the heart will be;
Which will never be the same again;
What was;
All that was.

(Round and Round)

But the beginning of a change for the better can also be the establishment of a loving routine towards yourself and thus taking care of yourself, which is what we advocate at NAN. 😁