“The difficulty is to learn to perceive with your whole body, not with just your eyes and reason. The world becomes a stream of tremendously rapid, unique events. So you must trim your body to make it a good receptor. The body is an awareness; and it must be treated impeccably.”
Carlos Castaneda, via Sunbeams (Page 95)
Health Quotes
“Good for the body is the work of the body, and good for the soul is the work of the soul, and good for either is the work of the other.”
Henry David Thoreau, Sunbeams (Page 41)
QUESTION: We Can’t Be Self-Disciplined 100% Of The Time—So, How Much Can We Indulge?
Excerpt: Self-Discipline is one of the key indicators of a person’s future success. But, can’t we indulge every now and again? If so, how much?
Read More »QUESTION: We Can’t Be Self-Disciplined 100% Of The Time—So, How Much Can We Indulge?
Choose Your Hard
“Marriage is hard. Divorce is hard. Choose your hard.
Unknown
Obesity is hard. Being fit is hard. Choose your hard.
Being in debt is hard. Being financially disciplined is hard. Choose your hard.
Communication is hard. Not communicating is hard. Choose your hard.
Life will never be easy. It will always be hard. But we can choose our hard. Pick wisely.”
Beyond the Quote (336/365)
We’re wired to follow the path of least resistance. But, choosing to do what’s easy now doesn’t last. In fact, in almost every case, it only makes life harder later. It’s the principle of delayed gratification (more on this below).
So, while life can be easier from choosing the easier options, the truth is, it’s only a temporary easier. Experiencing the “hard” in life is not a matter of if, but a matter of when. And take heed, hard now and hard later are not created equal.
Read More »Choose Your Hard“When the child is ill, take care of his body but don’t pay too much attention. It is dangerous, because if illness and your attention become associated… which is bound to happen if it is repeated again and again. Whenever the child is ill he becomes the center of the whole family: daddy comes and sits by his side and inquires about his health, and the doctor comes, and the neighbors start coming, and friends inquire, and people bring presents for him… Now he can become too much attached to all this; it can be so nourishing to his ego that he may not like to be well again. And if this happens, then it is impossible to be healthy. No medicine can help now. The person has become decisively committed to illness. And that’s what has happened to many people, the majority.”
Osho, Courage (Page 96)
“Our body and brain work at their best only when the stomach is empty. So be conscious of eating in such a way that within two and a half hours, your food moves out of the stomach, and within twelve to eighteen hours completely out of the system. With this simple awareness you will experience much more energy, agility, and alertness. These are the ingredients of a successful life, irrespective of what you choose to do with it.”
Sadhguru, Inner Engineering (Page 125)
“Well-being is just a deep sense of pleasantness within. If your body feels pleasant, we call this health. If it becomes very pleasant, we call this pleasure. If your mind becomes pleasant, we call this peace. If it becomes very pleasant, we call this joy. If your emotions become pleasant, we call this love. If they become very pleasant, we call this compassion. If your life energies become pleasant, we call this bliss. If they become very pleasant, we call this ecstasy. This is all that you are seeking: pleasantness within and without. When pleasantness is within, it is termed peace, joy, happiness. When your surroundings become pleasant, it gets branded success. If you’re not interested in any of this and want to go to heaven, what are you seeking? Just otherworldly success! So, essentially all human experience is only a question of pleasantness and unpleasantness in varying degrees.”
Sadhguru, Inner Engineering (Page 26)
Inner Engineering: A Yogi’s Guide To Joy [Book]
Book Overview: A yogi lives life in this expansive state, and in this transformative book Sadhguru tells the story of his own awakening, from a boy with an unusual affinity for the natural world to a young daredevil who crossed the Indian continent on his motorcycle. Today, as the founder of Isha, an organization devoted to humanitarian causes, he lights the path for millions. The term guru, he notes, means “dispeller of darkness, someone who opens the door for you. . . . As a guru, I have no doctrine to teach, no philosophy to impart, no belief to propagate. And that is because the only solution for all the ills that plague humanity is self-transformation. Self-transformation means that nothing of the old remains. It is a dimensional shift in the way you perceive and experience life.” The wisdom distilled in this accessible, profound, and engaging book offers readers time-tested tools that are fresh, alive, and radiantly new. Inner Engineering presents a revolutionary way of thinking about our agency and our humanity and the opportunity to achieve nothing less than a life of joy.
Buy from Amazon! Listen on Audible!
Great on Kindle. Great Experience. Great Value. The Kindle edition of this book comes highly recommended on Amazon.
Post(s) Inspired by This Book:
- 30 Sadhguru Quotes from Inner Engineering on Spirituality, Love, and Understanding Life
- Sadhguru on How the Whole Of Human Experience Is Self-Created (and How To Take Better Control of Your Experience) [Excerpt]
- Listen As Two WWII Vets Describe How The Potency Of Life Can Be Best Felt When Closest To Death [Excerpt]
- Sadhguru Quote on Transforming The World and Where To Focus Your Efforts First (Beyond the Quote 300/365)
- Sadhguru Quote on Priorities and How Discovering Your “Everest” Will Change Your Life (Beyond the Quote 298/365)
- Sadhguru Quote on Love and How It Has Nothing To Do With Someone Else (Beyond the Quote 290/365)
“Success is largely the failures you avoid. Health is the injuries you don’t sustain. Wealth is the purchases you don’t make. Happiness is the objects you don’t desire. Peace of mind is the arguments you don’t engage. Avoid the bad to protect the good.”
James Clear, Blog
Save Yourself. Because Even The Best Doctors, Teachers, Gurus, Mentors, and Trainers Can’t
Excerpt: Inspired by a quote from Naval Ravikant, this post is about taking responsibility for your own life and depending less on others to do the “saving” for you. Doctors won’t make you healthy. Teachers won’t make you smart. Mentors won’t make you rich. It’s all up to YOU. Save yourself.
Read More »Save Yourself. Because Even The Best Doctors, Teachers, Gurus, Mentors, and Trainers Can’t
Mae West Quote on Body Language and How To Better “Hear” What Your Body Is Telling You
“I speak two languages, Body and English.”
Mae West
Beyond the Quote (236/365)
Are you in tuned with what your body is telling you? Are you aware that your body has a language that needs to be learned in order to be understood? It’s no different than learning your ABC’s for the first time. You might hear the various sounds coming out of people’s mouths around you, but until you actually learn what the letters represent, how those letters form into words, how to pronounce those words, what those words actually mean, and how to combine them to express ideas… all you’ll hear is gibberish. And, unfortunately, gibberish is about all people hear when they listen to their body.
Read More »Mae West Quote on Body Language and How To Better “Hear” What Your Body Is Telling You10 Offbeat Ways I Stay Healthy (and Ideas For You To Consider, Too)
Excerpt: Healthy living is more ‘gray’ than it is ‘black-and-white.’ Read on to see my list of 10 offbeat ways to stay healthy that have helped me.
Read More »10 Offbeat Ways I Stay Healthy (and Ideas For You To Consider, Too)
38 Powerful Health and Fitness Quotes To Help You Step Up Your Game
Excerpt: These 38 Health and Fitness quotes will not only motivate you to step up your game, but will show you how to stay disciplined to keep it.
Read More »38 Powerful Health and Fitness Quotes To Help You Step Up Your Game
“People say, ‘I’ll sleep when I’m dead,’ as they hasten that very death, both literally and figuratively. They trade their health for a few more working hours. They trade the long-term viability of their business or their career before the urgency of some temporal crisis. If we treat sleep as a luxury, it is the first to go when we get busy. If sleep is what happens only when everything is done, work and others will constantly be impinging on your personal space. You will feel frazzled and put upon, like a machine that people don’t take care of and assume will always function.”
Ryan Holiday, Stillness is the Key (Page 230)
“Above all, do not lose your desire to walk: Every day I walk myself into a state of wellbeing and walk away from every illness; I have walked myself into my best thoughts, and I know of no thought so burdensome that one cannot walk away from it.”
Søren Kierkegaard, via Stillness is the Key (Page 193)
“Why quit cigarettes or all those sweets you’ve been eating? Isn’t life short and meant to be enjoyed? Don’t you deserve a treat? Yes, these are the justifications I gave myself too. And they’re a load of bull. Life is short, so why waste it on pure junk? Those things don’t make you happy—if anything, they made me less and less happy about myself. I’ve been happier once I gave up those habits and learned to be healthy and trustworthy to myself. Eating healthy food is a treat. Living smoke-free is pure bliss. But the biggest reason to change is that you love yourself. You don’t need to harm yourself to find happiness and contentment. Taking care of yourself is a form of self-compassion, and the sooner you start, the sooner you’ll feel good about how you’re loving yourself.” ~ Leo Babauta, Essential Zen Habits (Page 148)
“You don’t control the results of growing a plant—it will grow however it grows, because we don’t have god-like powers that can control how a plant will grow. You don’t control the outcome, but you do control the inputs. You can water it, give it more sunlight, feed it some nutrients, give it good soil, make sure bugs aren’t eating it. You control the inputs and environment, but not the outcome. So Grow a Plant when you’re making changes: you don’t control the outcome, so you can’t get fixated on it. Don’t attach too tightly to the results of a change. Instead, focus on creating a good environment. Focus mostly on the inputs: what are you bringing to the change? What is your intention? What is your effort? What is your enjoyment and mindfulness? If you do this with weight loss, then you don’t focus on the weight loss itself. You focus on the input: what kind of food are you eating? Are you eating mindfully? Do you have a compassionate intention when it comes to your eating? Are you exercising mindfully? Are you giving yourself a good environment to support these changes? If you focus on the inputs, you don’t know what the plant of your weight loss change will result in. Maybe it will mean a slimmer version of you, maybe a healthier one, maybe a stronger one with more muscle. You don’t know exactly, because you can’t sculpt your body like clay. What you can do is water it, give it sunlight and good nutrients, and see how it grows.” ~ Leo Babauta, Essential Zen Habits (Page 57)