I have been wanting to talk a bit about my thoughts and realization when I thought of this topic the other day.
I have tried to do a 3 weeks detox from alcohol (not that I'm alcoholic or drink too much previously) with the intention of changing my drinking habit a bit, the goal to see how I feel, knowing that alcohol essentially is not good for me. In the first week, it was very hard, and I believe for a lot of people as well, especially in a city like Shanghai where drinking is the primary social and entertainment activity. But after the second and third week, I am fine and I'm use to it, even my lifestyle has changed. There are occasions when I was very tempted or pressured to break the rule, but I set my intention before, during the action, it was hard at the moment, a period after I feel the positive results in different aspects, some of which may come much later.
With that example, I started to think on some other cases in life. And then I start to think why there are over eating, over drinking, or over dose in life. If a person is allergic to peanut, she/he would not touch any food that has peanut in it. Why? Because even though she like it, she will suffer immediately from the peanut intake. That effect is quick and there's almost no delay between the action and the consequences. However, if it's not something a person a allergic to, say chocolate for example, a person may not be so strict in terms of eating or overeating it, even though she/he knows that too much chocolate, or too much chocolate everyday makes a person fat, which consequently brings other effects such as high cholesterol or blood pressure. We all know that. But compare to the first case, the time between the action of eating the chocolate and the results is much longer, and we don't suffer immediately.
The great yoga master Iyengar said, in our individual lives, we struggle most with two sorts of action. The first is: Do something "nice" now and at some unspecified time in the future a "nasty" will emerge. The chocolate case for example. The second is: Do something now that it would be easier not to do and reap the benefit a bit later. This refers to actions like wake up early and run (even though it's hard to drag ourselves every morning), and we repeat the benefit to the very least, a healthy body. I think there is another action, which is an extension of the first, which is: Not do something that seems "nice" now and harvest the compound interests as the future unrolls. In the detox case for example, is realizing that too much alcohol is bad for our body, and not drink or not drink too much, and feel the benefit a bit later.
In our daily lives, I'm not encouraging people to suppress our pleasure from doing, the most important thing is when we choose to do/not do something ( run marathon, learn a language, not buy too much clothes and save money for example) understand the relationship between the action/inaction and the effect/consequences. Set intention and stick to our strong intention when the immediate gratification comes which we know would lead to the "nasty" effect at some point in the future. And be honest to ourselves.
I have tried to do a 3 weeks detox from alcohol (not that I'm alcoholic or drink too much previously) with the intention of changing my drinking habit a bit, the goal to see how I feel, knowing that alcohol essentially is not good for me. In the first week, it was very hard, and I believe for a lot of people as well, especially in a city like Shanghai where drinking is the primary social and entertainment activity. But after the second and third week, I am fine and I'm use to it, even my lifestyle has changed. There are occasions when I was very tempted or pressured to break the rule, but I set my intention before, during the action, it was hard at the moment, a period after I feel the positive results in different aspects, some of which may come much later.
With that example, I started to think on some other cases in life. And then I start to think why there are over eating, over drinking, or over dose in life. If a person is allergic to peanut, she/he would not touch any food that has peanut in it. Why? Because even though she like it, she will suffer immediately from the peanut intake. That effect is quick and there's almost no delay between the action and the consequences. However, if it's not something a person a allergic to, say chocolate for example, a person may not be so strict in terms of eating or overeating it, even though she/he knows that too much chocolate, or too much chocolate everyday makes a person fat, which consequently brings other effects such as high cholesterol or blood pressure. We all know that. But compare to the first case, the time between the action of eating the chocolate and the results is much longer, and we don't suffer immediately.
The great yoga master Iyengar said, in our individual lives, we struggle most with two sorts of action. The first is: Do something "nice" now and at some unspecified time in the future a "nasty" will emerge. The chocolate case for example. The second is: Do something now that it would be easier not to do and reap the benefit a bit later. This refers to actions like wake up early and run (even though it's hard to drag ourselves every morning), and we repeat the benefit to the very least, a healthy body. I think there is another action, which is an extension of the first, which is: Not do something that seems "nice" now and harvest the compound interests as the future unrolls. In the detox case for example, is realizing that too much alcohol is bad for our body, and not drink or not drink too much, and feel the benefit a bit later.
In our daily lives, I'm not encouraging people to suppress our pleasure from doing, the most important thing is when we choose to do/not do something ( run marathon, learn a language, not buy too much clothes and save money for example) understand the relationship between the action/inaction and the effect/consequences. Set intention and stick to our strong intention when the immediate gratification comes which we know would lead to the "nasty" effect at some point in the future. And be honest to ourselves.
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