Self-Belief: The Hardest Creed

How to Grow Old the Right Way Up

Saturday 25th January 2014

Self Belief: The Hardest Creed

 

Many people are happy to believe in God, in their Doctor, in the Government, in the Social System, in their Rights as Citizens, in Charitable acts, in their families, in the remedies they take, in the sky, the stars, the sun, the rain, the soil, being there all the time for them.

The reality is that the only thing we probably can believe in is ourselves. We can turn into sophistic logic of some description and even try to deny that. But that is difficult. Because we believe we know we are here; we experience hunger, cold, pleasure, pain. Paraphrasing Decartes’ “Cogito Ergo Sum”, we think, therefore we exist.

Yet, when it comes to the value of our existence, our purpose, our direction in life, even our wishes and desires, it is incredible how often we doubt. And we doubt to the point of not caring about our bodies and minds; we doubt to the point in which we discard and refuse to search for or acknowledge our purpose, our direction in life. How often this essential doubt leads us to squander our health; our ability to be happy; our time; our money.

I keep thinking of creating more of an order to these posts… but perhaps at the moment I value much the spontaneity of having thought I should continue with one of the 3 pillars of physical health, and yet in the last minute deciding, I wanted to speak about the cardinal Virtue of Faith in ourselves.

I leave you with a quote from one of my books: “I don’t know if God exists, but I am totally sure God believes in me.” (From The Thermodynamics of Love)

IMPORTANT DISCLAIMERS

1. I am not a health practitioner of any description. The tips I will be giving are directly related to my personal experience and my experiences with family and friends who seem to have benefited from those tips. Please if in doubt, always consult a qualified practitioner.
2. With their permission I will be mentioning in these pages the names and expertise of many people who have contributed to my current state of health. Whenever possible  and relevant, I will be leading you to their websites or giving you a direct contact if you ask me. Nobody is or will be paying me or rewarding me in any way for doing so. I will be doing it because they are wonderful practitioners, to whom I owe much and to whom I am very happy to direct people to, for the benefit of all. I don’t and won’t recommend anyone whose help and expertise I haven’t experienced and benefited from directly.

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Mind… the Gaps in your Awareness

How to Grow Old the Right Way Up

Saturday 18th January 2014

3. Mind… the Gaps in your Awareness

Many people are aware about the condition of their minds and bodies. Sadly, many of us pay more attention to the state of our car, our furniture or our house than to ourselves. We tend to numb our senses and subject ourselves to excess or deprivation in ways that in my view, if we were in our right ‘mind’ we would never consider.

If at all times we were aware, ‘Mindful’ of our real needs (I’ll talk about the mind and emotions in another post):

Would we eat or drink in excess?

Would we put inside our bodies harmful substances, food and drink that are not good for us, or smoke?

Of course, the question is, unless the cause is genetic – and I’ll come back to that at some stage- would we suffer from indigestion, obesity, diabetes, and perhaps allergies, which in my view might be caused by saturation of the body with a particular food or substance?

Would we deprive our lungs from that most essential fuel, Air? We tend to breathe so carelessly, that most of the time our lungs are 3/4 full with poisonous Carbon Dioxide. As with food, we tend to take in more than we can expel! Have a look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypercapnia

Would we deprive our bodies of movement if we realized in our bones that a sedentary life can kill us? Everybody knows that it leads to heart disease, arthritis, with the consequent body parts replacement if they are replaceable, and that it is also one of the biggest contributory factors in depression, lack of energy, poor sleep, obesity, etc, etc.

I suggest for this week, that you treat your body as you would treat your car:

Check the alignment = Posture

Check the quality of the fuel and oil you put in it = Air, food and drink.

Keep turning the engine on to make sure the battery keeps charged.

You could also chose to go to a mindfulness class near you.

I have personally attended Hugh Poulton’s  www.yogaunlimited.co.uk Ashtanga Yoga and Mindfulness classes and I just think he is very excellent.

IMPORTANT DISCLAIMERS

1. I am not a health practitioner of any description. The tips I will be giving are directly related to my personal experience and my experiences with family and friends who seem to have benefited from those tips. Please if in doubt, always consult a qualified practitioner.
2. With their permission I will be mentioning in these pages the names and expertise of many people who have contributed to my current state of health. See also the Links page. Whenever possible  and relevant, I will be leading you to their websites or giving you a direct contact if you ask me. Nobody is or will be paying me or rewarding me in any way for doing so. I will be doing it because they are wonderful practitioners, to whom I owe much and to whom I am very happy to direct people to, for the benefit of all. I don’t and won’t recommend anyone whose help and expertise I haven’t experienced and benefited from directly.

The Three Pillars of Good Health

How to Grow Old the Right Way Up

Saturday 11th January 2014

2. The Three Pillars of Good Health

They are in my view, Faith, Hope and Charity… just joking for now but we will actually come back to those in due course. If you are at all curious about my approach to religion and spirituality, please continue reading till the end of the post.

Last post was about The Posture of the Soul and the Tree of Life. But for the time being, in order for this blog to be a practical guide, and not too esoteric, let’s move into the physical aspects although as I warned you in my first post, physical/spiritual/emotional will be all jumbled up in these pages.

The Three Pillars of Physical Health

1. Posture

2. Breathing

3. Movement/Rest

1. Posture.

I consider that posture is a sort of coded message. In the majority of people, it reflects their general state of health, their energy levels, the way they feel about themselves and the way they relate to the outside world.  In turn, it is the most immediate aspect of our physique that other people perceive, even if that is often done in a totally unconscious way.

I suggest a little task, which is for you to reflect on the following questions.

1. What does my posture feel like?

2. How does my posture make me feel about myself?

3. What does the image on the mirror tell me about my posture?

4. How does my posture make me feel in relationship to the outside world?

5. What do I think is the message I am giving to others with my posture?

6. Last but not least: Does my posture reflect the direction of my growth? Am I still growing the right way UP?

You are very welcome to share your insights with me and others, or ask any questions you might like to ask. I will probably have to sort out a forum or some sort of interactive site… We’ll see.

 

Religion and Spirituality: my view as a sceptical believer

I describe myself as a sceptical believer: I doubt everything and I believe everything is possibly.

I don’t follow any organized religion or specific spiritual movement, because in a way, I follow them all.

Just to clarify my position, whereas I find in all religious and spiritual organizations/movements, very important and essential ethical principles and directions for life that are useful, beautiful, and that should ring true to any member of humanity, I find also that too many wrong and unethical deeds have been and are constantly performed in the name of religion. I often find that ritual replaces feeling; rules and duties, replace natural, humane spontaneous behaviours, often jeopardizing spiritual growth and true compassion for oneself and for all the creatures in the Universe.

I find that organized religion has often been at odds with progress, with curiosity, with our rights to create, re-create and make of our world a better world for the present and the future.

Therefore I am happy to follow any aspect/rule/claim of any religion or movement, that increases my sense of well being and happiness, my awareness and correction of my behaviour and the constant striving for compassion, humanity, solidarity,

IMPORTANT DISCLAIMERS

1. I am not a health practitioner of any description. The tips I will be giving are directly related to my personal experience and my experiences with family and friends who seem to have benefited from those tips. Please if in doubt, always consult a qualified practitioner.
2. With their permission I will be mentioning in these pages the names and expertise of many people who have contributed to my current state of health. See also the Links page. Whenever possible  and relevant, I will be leading you to their websites or giving you a direct contact if you ask me. Nobody is or will be paying me or rewarding me in any way for doing so. I will be doing it because they are wonderful practitioners, to whom I owe much and to whom I am very happy to direct people to, for the benefit of all. I don’t and won’t recommend anyone whose help and expertise I haven’t experienced and benefited from directly.

Saturday 4th of January 2014 1. The Posture of the Soul and the Tree of Life

How to Grow Old the Right Way Up

I was born with a heart murmur, double hernias, a weak liver and no prospects for a long or healthy life. My childhood and young years were plagued by chronic anaemia, fevers, sickness, pains, parasites, rickets and visits to doctors and hospitals, operations, injections and a pretty constant feeling of unwell-being.
However I will be celebrating my 61st birthday in less than a month and I feel, and I am sure I am, far healthier than throughout most of the last 60 years.
To celebrate, I want to share with whoever is interested my own brand of tips on “How to grow old the right way up“. i hope they help.
A page or extract will be published in my website http://www.patrissiacuberos.com hopefully once a week. If you would like to subscribe in order to receive it directly to your e-mail address, please fill the form at the bottom of the page or contact me directly with any comments and questions through my Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/patrissia.cuberos  or via e-mail to patrissia.cuberos@yahoo.co.uk

IMPORTANT DISCLAIMERS

1. I am not a health practitioner of any description. The tips I will be giving are directly related to my personal experience and my experiences with family and friends who seem to have benefited from those tips. Please if in doubt, always consult a qualified practitioner.
2. With their permission I will be mentioning in these pages the names and expertise of many people who have contributed to my current state of health. See also the Links page. Whenever possible  and relevant, I will be leading you to their websites or giving you a direct contact if you ask me. Nobody is or will be paying me or rewarding me in any way for doing so. I will be doing it because they are wonderful practitioners, to whom I owe much and to whom I am very happy to direct people to, for the benefit of all. I don’t and won’t recommend anyone whose help and expertise I haven’t experienced and benefited from directly.

So here it goes:

Saturday 4th of January 2014

1.

The Posture of the Soul and the Tree of Life

Mind/Spirit/Emotions/Body

How to separate them? I think with my mind. I might feel  or recognize a feeling by its physical expression through some part of my body. A thought, a feeling, an emotion, might make my heart beat faster or slower, or my solar plexus contract or expand. However I can only recognize and label it, as thought, or feeling, purely intellectual, highly spiritual or basic, physical/ animal, through the description my mind cares to make of it, based on its experiences, culture and intellectual development.
So I will have to jumble them all up… we will see what happens.
Let’s start with posture:

The Posture of the Soul
The posture of the soul, I would suggest it to be erect; not looking too much up, or too much down. Just level, forwards, regarding the world and all fellow beings as equals. Equals as the leaves of a tree are equal in their contribution to the life of the tree, between themselves, and in comparison to the roots. Are the roots that take nourishment from the soil any less than the leaves that suck nourishment from the sun and the air?  or the trunk that protects and counts its years, any less than the seeds that will reproduce its life? We are all equal and all of us contribute in equal measure to the beauty, the health and the present and future of the tree of life. Let’s be erect, upright, sincere in intention, alert in attention. Let’s allow the “gravity of goodness ” the attraction of the bright and the beautiful, exert unhindered its influence, so we can keep “growing old, the right way up.”