A Healthy Mind Promotes Physical Wellness Too

A Healthy Mind Promotes Physical Wellness Too

18 Apr 2008, Times of India,Acharya Mahaprajna

This is an article from TOI that I found pretty Interesting


Mental health promotes physical health. The reverse is also true. The mind and the body are two mutually connected entities. However, the mind’s influence on the body is deeper than that of the body on the mind. Mental health is connected with the feeling of equality. Without this feeling the mind cannot be healthy. The principle of equality is also the principle of mental health.

The first principle of mental health is: Know thyself. One who does not know his own strength and weakness cannot be mentally healthy. We do not know our strength because we are weak and we feel a sense of being wretched. We become excited when somebody misbehaves with us because we do not know our weakness. In such cases we overlook ourselves and try to find fault with others.

The second principle of mental health is the willingness to admit one’s responsibility for whatever has been done. We are not prepared to visualise the consequences of our actions and that is why our mind has no peace. It is unhealthy to avoid responsibility for our actions. It can lead to mental illness. One needs courage to admit his faults. A weak mind does not have this courage.

One should take responsibility for the good as well as bad consequences of one’s actions. It is the weak who find fault with others. They want to save their own skin. We generally like to be praised for our good actions but are not prepared to be blamed for the bad consequences of our actions.

Devotion to truth is the third principle of mental health. Truth is experience of the law governing the universe. Death is a universal law. It has no exception. All the prophets and great men of the world met death. Nobody is immortal. Everyone who is born must die one day. Death is, therefore, a truth. In the same way karma (action) and tela (time) are also truths. One who admits the operation of the laws, which govern nature, is a mentally healthy man.

Tolerance is the fourth principle of mental health. An intolerant man is always miserable. Moreover, the behaviour of an intolerant man is always unpredictable. If an intolerant man is meditating and if the fan is stopped, his mind will be upset and his meditation will break.

He who commands tolerance is indifferent to losses and gains. Wealth and riches are not lasting. Heat and cold, comfort and pain and convenience and inconvenience do not affect the tolerant man. They affect those who do not possess the requisite strength to face them. Those who have been born and brought up in the midst of difficulties and privations ultimately develop in themselves the spirit of tolerance.

The fifth principle of mental health is that we should present ourselves as we are. We should not put up appearances. Generally people are snobs in their social life and when people see them in their true colours they are put in a quandary. Secretiveness creates ill feelings.

Those who put up appearances not only deceive others, they deceive themselves also. They create difficulties for all. We try to create false impressions on the minds of others in order to hide our own real state. You cannot hide reality for a long time. Only he whose mind is weak tries to hide facts. On the other hand he whose mind is strong and sound will always present himself as he is.

(As told to Lalit Garg.)

The Last Lecture

This is a pretty interesting and inspirational true story from Randy Pausch, a professor in Carnegie Mellon.



You can view the full video at http://www.etc.cmu.edu/global_news/?q=node/42

Aesop's Fable: Donkey and the Merchant

A Merchant, driving his Donkey homeward from the seashore
with a heavy load of salt, came to a river crossed by a shallow
ford. They had crossed this river many times before without
accident, but this time the Donkey slipped and fell when halfway
over. And when the Merchant at last got him to his feet, much
of the salt had melted away. Delighted to find how much lighter
his burden had become, the Donkey finished the journey very
happily.

Next day the Merchant went for another load of salt. On the way
home the Donkey, remembering what had happened at the ford,
purposely let himself fall into the water, and again got rid of
most of his burden.

The angry Merchant immediately turned about and drove the
Donkey back to the seashore, where he loaded him with two great
baskets of sponges. At the ford the Donkey again tumbled over;
but when he had scrambled to his feet, it was a very disconsolate
Donkey that dragged himself homeward under a load ten times
heavier than before.

Moral:

The same measures will not suit all circumstances.
Counter old tricks with new ones.

Perception !!!

Life's Little Instructions

1. Every so often you push your luck.
2. Never underestimate the power of a kind word or deed.
3. Never give up on anybody -- miracles happen every day.
4. Become the most positive and enthusiastic person you know.
5. Learn to listen.
6. Think big thoughts, but relish small pleasures.
7. Don't expect others to listen to your advice or ignore your example.
8. Opportunity sometimes knocks very softly.
9. Leave everything a little better than you found it.
10. Don't forget: a person's emotional need is to feel appreciated.
11. Never waste an opportunity to tell someone you love them.
12. Treat everyone you meet like you want to be treated.
13. Make new friends but cherish the old ones.
14. Don't use time or words carelessly, neither can be retrieved.
15. Judge your success by the degree that you're enjoying peace, health, and love.
16. Smile a lot: it costs nothing and is beyond price.

I Can

If you think you are beaten you are;
If you think you dare not, you don't;
If you want to win but think you can't;
It's almost a cinch you won't.
If you think you'll lose you're lost;

For out of the world we find Success begins with a fellow's will;
It's all in a state of mind.

Life's battles don't always go To the stronger and faster man,
But sooner or later the man who wins Is the man who thinks he can.

Change your perception

Once upon a time, there was a king who ruled a prosperous country. One day, he went for a trip to some distant areas of his country. When he was back to his palace, he complained that his feet were very painful, because it was the first time that he went for such a long trip, and the road that he went through was very rough and stony. He then ordered his people to cover every road of the entire country with leather. Definitely, this would need thousands of cows' skin, and would cost a huge amount of money.

Then one of his wise servant dared himself to tell the king, "Why do you have to spend that unnecessary amount of money ? Why don't you just cut a little piece of leather to cover your feet ?"

The king was surprised, but he later agreed to his suggestion, to make a "shoe" for himself.

There is actually a valuable lesson of life in this story : to make this world a happy place to live, you better change yourself - your heart; and not the world.