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How to live softly with ease and help the planet

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Looking out of the window today at the sky and the trees, the world seems a calm and beautiful place. But picking up a newspaper or turning on the news, the picture is very different. Unless we go around with our eyes and ears closed to the outside world, we all know that there are huge imbalances that urgently need addressing.

Leaving footprints

An old Daoist adage enjoins us to leave no footprints on the Earth. Another saying is to leave only footprints when we die. Either way, as a race, we are stomping around in big boots making an almighty mess. Whatever action we may take as individuals to reduce plastic waste, carbon emissions and so on, the situation can at times seem overwhelming. That is because the root causes of the world’s problems are not so much “out there” but within each and every one of us, in our consciousness. When we have imbalance inside, we create imbalance outside.

Living softly

In our heart of hearts, we know must learn to live more lightly, more softly. It is difficult to do that if we are overstimulated, which most of us are. Subconsciously, we crave space, which is akin to our inner nature. But the tendency is to seek out more and more information – the latest news, weather report, bargains, technology, fashions, miracle food and so on and so on. This creates tension inside us, mentally, energetically and emotionally.

So what can I do?

The most effective thing we can do immediately is simply to stop. Yes, just stop. Try it: stop and breathe. Bathe your body inside and out with your awareness, as though sweeping all tiredness and stale energy away. Let the tension start to flow out of you. When you are ready to move, after a few breaths, move slowly.

Don’t hurry

There’s never a need to rush – we just think there is. Slow down. Let your steps become softer. Make it a habit, and softer living naturally follows. Needs and desires become simpler, less demanding. We connect more to the Earth and our footprints on it automatically become lighter. Yes, it feels good, and it’s really good for the planet, too.

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Seasons and ageing: the life-enhancing secret of Nature

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Seasons autumn leavesSeasons are wonderful. They are like a gift that can teach us so much, not only about the world around us but ourselves, too. The optimist embraces the change of the seasons and our culture has always recognised the significance of the equinoxes and solstices in the annual cycle.

Seasons are Nature’s rhythm, so let’s dance

Often, we associate November with gloom and dampness but this year in the UK, Nature is particularly glorious. Thanks to the hot summer, the colours of the leaves on the trees are now spectacular. Is this a hint that if we live a full life, our own autumn will be colourful? Perhaps not necessarily for all, but it does indicate how deeply the past affects the present. Always living fully in the present enhances not just life today but our future, too. For the pessimist, spring is too wet, summer too hot, autumn miserable and winter just too cold to be mentioned – life is just shades of grey. But if we embrace all seasons, both Mother Nature’s and our own, life will be like a kaleidoscope – a continuous play of colour and rhythm.

Seasons hang in thereDon’t resist – hang in there and enjoy the ride

As our individual life goes through its phases, it is easy to see the correspondence with the seasons outside. The spring of youth and the summer of adulthood are full of energy. Seeking to prolong them is perfectly understandable. Knowing that these periods won’t last, people have been looking for the secret of eternal youth since time immemorial. Who can blame them? But internally we create resistance and interfere with the flow of energy through us. Instead of being happy with life, there is a cloud of dissatisfaction lurking in our hearts. In tai chi, which should be an effortless flow, our teachers will always find the knots of resistance in us. Gradually we learn to let go and practice becomes easier. The same applies in life. Outside, enjoy the seasons; inside, welcome the present with an open heart.

Much more on living in tune with life cycles is in The Great Little Book of Happiness.

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Be rooted again: how a simple trick enhances life and wellbeing

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Be rooted treeBe rooted and you can become almost unshakeable. This is a common principle in martial arts, especially taiji (tai chi), where we can become so firmly grounded through the legs and feet that another person finds it impossible to push or pull us over. It gives an illusion of enormous strength but there is little muscular force in it, in fact quite the opposite. To be rooted, we have to learn to become centred and to relax. Although this technique, if we call it that, we express through the body, it is a mental approach that we can apply throughout life.

Be rooted: find your centre

When we are anxious – and we are living in an age where there is much anxiety – whatever we think or do plays out on a background of instability. Our energy is unsettled and our minds are too active, too yang. As a result, events in life and even what people say can pull us this way and that. Our stress responses go up and quality of life goes down. We have forgotten how to be rooted.

The first step in coming back is to find our own centre. Instead of letting our energy go up through the chest and into our head, creating chaos on the way, we bring it to the centre of the body and down into the belly. Just focus. Let the energy build. Focus at the navel or slightly below and slow the breath down. The energy will come home to its centre. It’s a good feeling and is entirely natural.

Relax: keep your head up but let your feet sink

Letting the energy come home to the centre is the first stage. To be rooted well, we also need to let go of everything and relax. Relax your legs and feet, too. Your feet are designed to be in contact with the ground, so let them enjoy that. Let them sink. Really feel the earth through your feet. Thich Nhat Hanh used to say, “kiss the Earth with your feet”. Or we may like to feel as though we are breathing through the soles, drawing in nourishment from the ground beneath us. Once we have learnt to be rooted like this, there is no cause for anxiety. Centred and relaxed, we belong to the Earth and wherever we are, we are at home. Life is so much better like that. And it’s easy.

There is more like this in The Great Little Book of Happiness and my other books, available here.

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Love: why cosmic glue stops us falling apart

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Love is cosmic glueLove is an amazing expression of cosmic glue – the innate universal force that binds everything together. That may not sound very romantic but romance is not the same thing. Don’t we say that we feel a connection with someone we love? When we talk of such matters, we usually try to describe a mixture of feelings or emotions and a state of mind. But that’s simply because we can. Birds and animals, on the other hand, probably don’t discuss the finer nuances of relationships – they just get on with things. Either way, whether we have the capacity to analyse or not, sentient beings – animals and us humans – generally thrive in groups.

Sticking together is essential for humanity

We depend on society and society depends on cohesiveness. Despite being riddled with imperfections, imbalance and injustice, humanity survives and carries on. As though there were an invisible magnet, we stick together. That’s how life has always worked, and probably always will.

Our own wellbeing, too, depends on love

Where there is altruism and cooperation, society not only functions but flourishes. On an individual level, our mental and emotional health, and very often the physical, too, improves when we love. That’s because caring for our environment and being compassionate for both ourselves and others helps us to feel whole. We flourish rather than exist. Even the cells in our body can vibrate happiness! Yes, love is very practical. Everyone benefits. It’s good stuff, this glue. And it’s free.

The importance of love and compassion in society are explored in my book Awakening Heart – The Blissful Path to Self-Realisation

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Knowledge can be seriously bad for your health

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Knowledge or facts
Too much information?

Knowledge is good. Of course it is. But knowing a great deal is not the same as being wise. Thanks to technology, we have a plethora of information at our fingertips. Social and news media keep churning out all manner of assertions that are sold as facts. Whether they are true or not is one thing. More of an issue is the strain on our consciousness of digesting all this information. As our bodies become ever more obese, our minds, too, are becoming overloaded. We have mental indigestion and this affects our wellbeing. Knowledge of this modern ilk is seriously bad news for health.

Real knowledge is fact-free

Real or pure knowledge is completely different. It is like a cosmic computer. We can only access it when the mind is still. The route to it is through the intuitive faculty of the mind. When the intuition is awake, knowledge comes as and when it is needed. We know how to act, what to say and when to remain silent. Love and compassion are natural bedfellows of this way of knowing, so we respond with warmth and, at times perhaps, with fire. This is Actual Intelligence, as opposed to Artificial Intelligence, and it comes from learning to practise stillness. A short fact-free diet could do us the world of good. Who knows?

Read The Art of Not Doing for more on this

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