There are so many ideas and theories about how to live a good life.
Am I right?
Just a casual flick through the interweb will give you a plethora of lifestyle tweaks and tips about what you need to do to be stronger, faster, smoother, slicker, smarter with better sleep and hair that everyone wants.
Diet alone is a minefield:
If you eat this thing you will lose fat and gain brain cells.
Carbs are the enemy. Animal fats are worse. Gluten is Satan.
Coffee will kill you, but if you add coconut oil it becomes nectar.
You know?
When did life get so complicated? I used to be looking for someone to hand me a document that told me how to live a great, stress free, peaceful life - I read all the stuff in search of it.
In order to be the master of my mind and experience unwavering calm in the face of adversity I tried many many things.
I was a vegan, I ditched coffee and alcohol. I stopped eating onion and garlic (inflames mental and emotional activity - apparently).
I got up at stupid o’clock to do yoga and breathing - because that was the time before dawn which was “best” for evolution, according to someone who sounded convinced.
I sat on the floor with folded legs and a ramrod straight back, being “equanimous” - which is Buddhist speak for sitting on a sharp spike and pretending not to care.
What for?
All so I could lose stress and get calm and content and focussed - and happy?
I squeezed myself in such a box - someone else’s box of what was right.
Even though it was hard work I was prepared to do it too - I felt the rewards were such that I could keep it up.
What a joke.
Just because some guru says it’s a good idea, doesn’t mean it’s a good idea for you.
The fact is so many of these gurus are spouting whatever “wisdom” they hear from every other guru.
It all goes round in circles and has little truth in what actually works.
Social media has just accelerated this to an absurd degree.
Experimenting is good, but see the results, for real.
All I got from was increasingly serious and withdrawn, less and less happy.
When I learnt the Ishayas’ Ascension meditation they threw the rule book out the window.
And I was never happier.
Because it finally allowed me to set myself free from expert advice.
They taught me the essentials -
Just the tools that I needed to master my mind and nothing else.
I asked them: “What do I do next? How do I live my life is the best way?”
They laughed:
“How do YOU want to live?”
Set free indeed.
Free to really see what really works for me, to see what is rubbish, and what is sensible advice.
https://arjunaishaya.leadpages.co/sane-fb/ Go well, Arjuna
PS.
The meditation I tried before I learnt the Ishayas’ Ascension was a bit boring, quite painful, and really hard work.
I felt more grateful for stopping than anything I did during.
No wonder so many people run a mile.
It has to be simple, and easy, and yet powerful to do exactly what you want it to:
Which is allow you to live as the best version of yourself, and not grumpy, exhausted and frazzled.
Let me tell you more about meditation and mindset though: