“Money will come and go. But time will never stand still for anyone. Be grateful for what you have received, what you are receiving and what you will receive.” – Chayya Sakhuja

A deadly virus kills millions of people every second. Many are not even aware of this deadly virus. For all you know that deadly virus is killing you right now while reading this.

The deadly virus that is killing you and many around you is self sabotaging feelings, thoughts and actions. This may include feeling down or low in energy to something more life threatening like depression, suicidal or behaviour that leads to destroying yourself and others. It could be the obsession with materialistic wealth or showing the world you are a success.

There are so many people who sell you the dream of being happy, joyful and blissful. Embroiled with their mumbo jumbo of having a purpose, passion, goal, better health, amazing relationships, or making loads of money.

Material/financial success is great to have. Times are such that many of us are taught to measure happiness in terms of material/financial success. For many the driving force in life is material/financial success. And very easily you forget the essentials of a life of happiness and fulfilment. In the rat race for material/financial success you kill your integrity, health and beautiful relationships.

We take these, fundamentals for granted. In fact most of you forget to appreciate the essence of these in your life. Your life can easily be magical and exciting if you learn to say “thank you” to these core elements. As a child we had the ability to easily and effortlessly appreciate all of these. The eighteen essentials are simply:

1. Taking In Fresh Air – My friend death is only a breath away, so enjoy every breath you take in. For example yoga is a wonderful life style which promotes the focus of life being your breath although many are lead to believe it is all about the postures.
2. Drinking Good Water – You are full of it, I mean water. Approximately 70% of our body is composed of water, so replenish yourself regularly. Check out Dr. Masaru Emoto’s water experiments. Through his experiments it was discovered amazing physical effect of words, prayers, music and environment on the crystalline structure of water. So, in simple terms the water within you can have positive or negative effect depending on the thoughts you use for yourself.
3. Be In The Sunshine – No matter how I feel the sun always makes me feel better, it brings a smile to my face. “Without enough sunlight exposure, a person’s serotonin levels can dip low. Low levels of serotonin are associated with a higher risk of seasonal affective disorder (SAD). SAD is a form of depression that is triggered by changing seasons.” as stated from http://www.healthline.com/.
4. Healthy Eating – We all indulge in eating harmful foods which leads to being fat, obese and further more to depression. It is best to stick to non processed food. The key to healthy eating is simply moderation. Moderation in terms of healthy eating means eating only as much food as your body needs. Be aware, please follow a high content of fruits and vegetables in your consumption of food.
5. Regular Exercising – Apart from the fact it assists in maintaining your weight. The benefits are endless such as combats health conditions and diseases, improves mood and boosts energy. In simple terms regular exercising keeps the happy hormones on a high, a natural high, no drugs are required.
6. Sleep Well – Many of us numb ourselves through watching too much television, surfing on the internet, social media, alcohol or smoking. Unfortunately, these are not relaxation treatments. They are the worst tools to use to relax yourself. Get good sleep on a daily basis to amplify your awareness. It makes you much more alert and active.
7. Smiling/laughter – “Your sense of humor is one of the most powerful tools you have to make certain that your daily mood and emotional state support good health.” – Paul E. McGhee, Ph.D. Smiling/laughter simply relaxes the whole body, boosts your immune system, triggers the release of your endorphins and protects your heart. It is a natural medicine to combat anxiety, fear and stress. And it has the ability to improve your mood, enhances your resilience and strengthens your relationships. Smile please 🙂
8. Alone Time – Many of us are filled with terror and are deeply afraid of our own company. Being alone with yourself for many is grim and intimidating that we occupy ourselves with our work, business, hobbies, laptops, mobiles, social media, partner, friends, family and much more. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this but our so called elders forgot to teach us the importance of being alone. Being alone in our silence is where some say we can truly find that peace we seek, as that is when we truly empathetically listen to the unsaid words and feelings that is us. For even we know all of this but knowing is not being. And the wiseman is the one who lives a life of being rather than just knowing. Meditation is a great way to know yourself.
9. Relationships – A 75 years research by Harvard (and the research still goes on) showed that Grant and Glueck studies led by George Vaillant and Sheldon Glueck revealed happiness is love or “Good relationships keep us happier and healthier.” The study discovered the most important happiness choice is to invest is in your closest relationship whether it’s a spouse, partner, parent, sibling or friend. 75% of those extremely happy give a top box rating to the importance of success in their intimate relationships.
10. Amplify Your Compassion – This is where we need ensure that through our smile, silence and gratitude fuels the compassion, which is hidden with ourselves. My doctor teacher who I call him Doc Uncle, Dr.Segu Ramesh calls this this entering the unknown anatomy of the heart, I call it entering compassion for self and others.
11. Know Your BS – Yes you have guessed it right, yes your Belief System…or did you think something else. Well, it could be that as well : -). Accept that you will need to regularly educate yourself to overcome your sabotaging feeling, thoughts and actions to be an on-going success. You will be rejected, beaten to a pulp both mentally and emotionally. Many times fear will cloud your vision. Remember to accept such a state as that will be the only way to overcome the dark-side.
12. Shoshin – A Japanese word meaning “beginner’s mind”. It refers to having an attitude of openness, eagerness, and lack of preconceptions when studying a subject, even when studying at an advanced level, just as a beginner in that subject would. In other words, it means no matter how much experience you gain in life never let your judgment, pride and ego blind you. Listen to everyone empathically and remember even a foolish person can teach you many things.
13. The Two Wolves – A Cherokee Indian grandfather narrates a story to his grandson. He vividly explains there are two wolves inside us. Both are always at war with each other. One wolf’s character is of kindness, bravery, and love. The other’s character is of greed, hate, and fear. With great curiosity, the grandson looks up at his grandfather and asks, “Grandfather, which one wins?” The grandfather replies with a smile, “the one you feed”. In simple words, it means wherever you focus your feelings and thoughts that is what your life will return back to you.
14. Ikigai – Ikiagi is a Japanese concept that roughly means “reason for being” or “thing that you live for” or “the reason for which you get up in the morning.” Everyone, according to the Japanese, has an Ikiagi. Its essence is that happiness in life is more than money, luxuries or being in the limelight. Ikiagi simply says wants are never-ending. Stop asking yourself “What do I want?” Start asking yourself “What is important to me?” Ikagi allows you to improve your health, wealth and most importantly gives you your purpose in life. Fortunately, Susan Jeffers, in her book Feel the Fear & Do It Anyway® makes this easier for us by defining it as the “The Whole Life Grid”.
15. Row Your Boat – It is more than words of a nursery rhyme. These are words of life. As Dr Wayne Dyer use to say it is about rowing your own boat and not someone else’s. People will come to your boat and will leave your boat. You may row your boat next to someone for a while or a lifetime and vice versa. And as you row your boat of life you will have trials, tribulations and terrors. You will have love, happiness and fun. This will happen in life but always remember to row your boat; it is not a competition. It is about enjoying the ride and appreciating all that is in the journey, even the failures not just the success.
16. Kintsugi – Also known as Kintsukuroi. It is the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with lacquer dusted or mixed with powdered gold, silver, or platinum. It is very easy to throw away or discard something that is broken as it may it may look ugly or repelling. Now imagine how many times you beat yourself help, have lost hope, trust or knowing of yourself. It makes you feel ugly an unwanted. Instead of trashing yourself to bits how about filling those cracks with powder of gold, silver, or platinum; called compassion, self-compassion. We have a great ability to shower others with compassion, its time to show it yourself.
17. The “F” Word Is Most Important – It is a terrible state of affair that the “F” word is horribly miss-used and abused. As Ray Jacobs always says “You need to understand the “F” word is the most crucial word in your life. Yes, FOCUS is crucial.” Many of us lose our focus in both work and personal life. Thus we need to be like an autofocus on a camera. Like autofocus, we need to constantly adjust our attention to be most productive in any given situation or time. Focus gives you the opportunity, direction and courage to boost your self-worth in order to overcome adversities and enhance your performance in any given scenario. Stay in focus as the only thing that is permanent is change.
18. Accept & Pass Through Your Dark-side – To live a life of happiness, joy and bliss many of the so-called self-help gurus, experts, doctors, physiologists fail to address the basic. That basic being nothing will transform for individuals until one accepts their own dark side. In a world of duality, we shun away from our dark side. We have a decrepit way of segregating our actions, feelings and emotions into good or bad. As a child, we are conditioned into a duality behaviour pattern that when we enter into adulthood we find it difficult to cope with our emotions, especially the so called “bad”, “negative”, “ugly” ones. Most of us sweep these “bad”, “negative”, “ugly” emotions under the carpet as barely anyone is able to guide, support or assist us to pass through them. Yes indeed, we all are masters of deflectors or hiding (most of us have got a double PhD in this) from these dark emotions but find it next to impossible to pass through them.

By simply “giving gratitude” to these essentials uplifts you from your lower self to your higher self. Time to give respect and thanks to what you have, make a difference to yourself.

The rat race will only kill all of you from the inside out.

“When you lose your smile, you lose your way in the chaos of life.” – Roy T. Bennett