Tafreeh — Outing in Urdu
Ever noticed how rejuvenated we feel when we travel to new places, when we are out on the beach enjoying a walk, when we trekking on the foothills of gigantic mountains, when we meet people we love to hang out with ? I am sure you would have a sense of a rush of new energy over you draining out all lethargy and laziness that you may be experiencing till that moment eg. the grogginess from sleep disappears when you are on the beach enjoying the walk. These beautiful moments, cherish-able moments have a beautiful impact on you, your mood, your state of mind and your productivity eventually (for that day if not more).
But what if you are keen on this desired state of being, this blissed state of being, this amped up state of doing throughout the year. What if you want to access this high all the time? The answer is right in front of you. You don’t see it, since you are consumed in the self and you miss to see that IT IS THE ENVIRONMENT STUPID !!!!
The reason you feel tired and drained by end of the day is a result of obsession for money, fame, success, standing out, performing, expectations, fulfilling on responsibilities, etc . Nothing wrong with it, I am very ambitious too. But these pursuits drag you down as they consume loads of mental and physical energy day in day out. You can’t run away from these and sit in the caves of Himalayas, but you surely can create an environment inside of which your mental , emotional and physical faculties operate at optimum capacity. There is enough scientific evidence to it too i.e. Your environment affects your cells ability to grow and nurture the body it feeds.
And if you could get to doing that, you land up producing so much more results and joy out of everything your upto.
For now, let’s see what this environment around you includes #
- People around you
- Nature around you
- Vibes around you
- Structure around you
People Around You play such a huge role in fostering the right attitude that enables you to deal with what life throws at you. If you are not careful, you may surround yourself with people with constant cribbing, sulking, bitching and moaning behaviour (passively or aggressively) .Many of these resort to drinking, smoking or entertaining themselves to run away from reality they dealing with. More than their habits, what will affect you most is their mindset, intentions, emotions and it will more often drag you to their level too.
This works at subconscious levels and unless you are not conscious enough about your energy levels, you will not be able to catch the influence your friends or peers having on you. Hence the statement “Show me your friends and I will tell you about your Future”. The only reason is your friends/peers/closest people are having a rub on effect on you with their behaviours, emotions, feelings and thought processes.
But if you worked on this consciously and surrounded yourself with those who seem to be in control of themselves, their mind and body, their lives with healthy habits, routines, mindset and value system — then chances are extremely high that proximity to them will influence you in a beautiful manner. All this will happen over a period of time but the ultimate finished product after years of being around them is a beautiful life with solid mindset, healthy routines, self discipline and so much more.
Eg. See the impact that Army personnel have on their friends, fitness professionals have on their community, avid readers have on their families, spiritually inclined individual has on her/his spouse— the rub on effect is all in front of you. This alone isn’t enough but it plays a key role.
Surround yourself with people better than you, mentally stronger than you, with better habits and routines and preferably with success/maturity in your chosen field. Choose conciously to get closer to them, pay if it requires to have a coach or attend classes with these personalities, go out of the way to change this about your environment and see your spirits soar every time your in their company. No matter how much your working, it wont feel like work cos you will be in a different mindset altogether. You will be looking forward to work cos the wiring inside is slowly changing. Its slow but its a sure thing.
It is said that walks in nature is healthy for the body. And it becomes so easy to determine that it is the walk that makes it healthy. THAT IS NOT THE CASE. IT IS THE ENVIRONMENT AGAIN !! If you read the article above on Wisdom of Cells, you will realise that your biology responds to exposure to nature. Your biology depends on nature, it’s functionality is directly proportional to it’s collaboration with nature.
Eg. Plant’s need sun for photosynthesis, body needs sun for vitamin D production, meditation needs a silent place or soothing music to work its magic on you, people living in places like Himalayas or Hunza live closer to 100 yrs old compared to city dwellers , etc. So many examples are there to show that nature has an impact on a breathing organism. Plants, animals and humans — all are living organisms and they breathing in life through nature.
Every time you walk in the sun, you optimise your biological abilities to synthesise the sunlight for many of its functions. Every time you walk on the beach bare feet, the earthing generates an energy field that produces oxytocin in your body that makes you feel happy. Every time you meditate out in a silent open space , the calming effect on your sensory system is profound allowing you to experience theta brain waves . Every time you are walking in nature, the nature communicates with your cells in its own language resulting into you having elevated levels of dopamine in your brain making you feel happy.
What if you experienced this state of being on daily basis? It could only allow you to access a better version of you which creates better output, more productivity, better relationships and better health. It’s not only your mind that is working for a better life for you. If your body, your biology, your cells also support the mind in this pursuit, then you could become unstoppable at the same time graceful.
Vibes around you includes energy from anything and everything around you. Try being in a messy room, try sleeping on a bed dumped with lots of clothes, try eating in a kitchen which is stinking with the garbage lying there for days, try drinking tea in an unwashed vessel — it will not be an experience you will cherish . So every time you have an experience that isn’t cherish-able , that isn’t enjoyed by you , then you are allowing bad vibes to exist around you. You are allowing a shoddy environment around you that will affect you biologically cos your body responds to your emotions and feelings. And if the vibes around you do not make you feel good, your body won’t be feeling good either.
If you took the space around you as sacred, if you respected the space around you as sacred, then everything you experience through your senses will be cherish-able for you.
See — happy places, happy people, Cleaner room, cleaner wardrobe, greenery around you, movies that make you laugh or educate you or entertain you, nature, sunlight,etc.
Hear — soothing music, music that makes you happy, light music, devotional music if you pray,etc.
Smell — flowers, fragrances, incence sticks, fresh air, etc.
Feel — the breeze, the cool air, cold water, sand on your feet, bark of a tree, walk in the sun, the peace in a spiritual place, etc.
These have tremendous value to you biologically. Try any of these for 30 days and see how you feel.
Structures around you allow you to operate better, with more clarity, with more energy, with more peace of mind and consistency — these are preferred by your body, these are loved by your biology putting it into a state of high performance in supporting you to heal faster, live longer and feel better.
Hire a coach in as many endeavours as possible.If you leave your mind to rule you, then you will be dropping standards of eating, working out, meditation, success, etc. The structure of a coach allows your mind to become a servant of yours, processing information to make wise choices, directing energy to parts of your body needing it at the required times, making you function well, think well and work towards a longer term betterment while you go through short term pain and let go off short term pleasures. Reduce role of your mind partially by hiring a coach else you will get seduced into what your mind finds juicy in the current moment.
Create routines, time table for your to dos. Stick to those routines. Be sacred about these routines if you would like to conserve energy. Why would Mark Zuckerberg wear only tshirts and jeans almost at all times, why would Steve Jobs wear black tees and jeans almost at all times, Dr. Joe Dispenza wakes up everyday at 4:30 am for meditation, Tim Ferriss has a morning journal filled up in his first 30 mins of waking up — its a routine. No mental energy is wasted on unnecessary decisions leaving you with energy for better purposes and clear thinking. I have read about so many billionaires that have the same breakfast for decades, same morning routines, same evening routines, few closest friends, coaches at all times in all endeavours, carrying same things with them when they travel, etc.
Creating structures around you clears brain fog and unnecessary energy drain on you leaving you with enough resources mentally and physically to focus on what’s important instead of diffusing energy all over the place.
Your Outer World matters to your Inner World. Your outer world plays a very important part in your inner workings. Your mind, body and soul needs nourishment too, needs nurturing too. It is upto you now to make these nutrients available to self . Sooner the better !!!
Enjoy this song that inspired me to write this blog !!! I love Amit Trivedis music. It’s good for my soul at most times 👍