Question: I feel tired and generally run down all the time. I know a lot of this is due to my hectic lifestyle and my unbalanced diet. I eat whatever is easiest (quickest) and have not taken the time to make my surroundings the way I envision they should be.
I want to change certain things in my life and need advice on where to begin. What can I do to feel some relief and how important are one's surroundings to your health and wellbeing?
Answer: An evolutionary life naturally ingests nourishment and releases toxicity. If every impulse of our experience were nurturing, we’d live long, healthy and happy lives.
Since few of us were born into a household of enlightened beings, hearing only beautiful sounds, touched in only loving ways, witnessing only uplifting sights, eating only nutritious foods and smelling only beautiful scents, almost everyone has had experiences that have left some toxic residue.
Now that you are committed to living life more consciously, you can make choices that augment the flow of life energy, while minimizing those that deplete it.
A simple way to assess the evolutionary value of an experience is to ask whether you would encourage someone you unconditionally loved to have it. If, for example, you witness a conscious loving mother, you’d see that her only concern is for the wellbeing of her beloved offspring.
She only wants the child to eat nourishing food, engage in loving relationships and avoid experiences that create unnecessary distress. If we treated ourselves with this same loving intention, we’d minimize experiences that disturb our mental peace and physical well being while favoring those that increase our freedom and joy.
Ayurveda characterizes the net effect of an experience as producing either ojas or ama. Ojas is the essence of nourishment that supports every cell in the body and thought in the mind.
Ama is the byproduct of incomplete metabolism leading to stagnation and distress. Review the signs of ojas and ama in the charts below. If you recognize that you’ve been accumulating more toxicity than nourishment, make the commitment now to make choices that reflect the self love that you, as an expression of the sacred, deserve.
Signs of Ojas
- You feel rested upon awakening.
- Your skin has a healthy glow.
- Your tongue is clear and pink.
- Your body feels light, regardless of the number on the scale.
- You feel centered throughout the day.
- Your digestion is strong without bloating.
- You feel energized and enthusiastic.
- Your mind is clear.
- Your body has a pleasant smell.
- You rarely get sick.
Signs of Ama
- Bad breath
- Coated tongue
- Dull appetite
- Delicate digestion
- Sluggish or irritable elimination
- Generalized pain
- Fatigue
- Depression
- Susceptibility to infections
- Difficulty manifesting intentions
