Discarding the mango and 5 coping lessons

Nice dim morning and the first mango again looks nice . Energy is low, and no mental energy to organise the messed up body to do the yoga which had been a part of the survival routine . A day's tasks ahead which require focus and concentration. Take a look at the mango and think whether to go downstairs and then decide to go down.

The mango is not ripe yet but it has bird pick. Turpentine mango. If it was ripe I would have eaten the bits which the birds and the ants had left back.

Mango positioned on the pile of dry grass. Take a picture of it to write a blog about lessons learned.


1. Detachment is not the same as withdrawal
 Hindu philosophy is full of detachment from desire and the results of actions. The mango would have been nice but it was not there and the ants are eating it. No sorrow felt at the loss of the juicy mango at breakfast, no joy felt that at least the first mango falling from the tree this season is given back to the animals around.

It is easy to see how people might shut down though, to become immune to the feelings of sorrow and joy rather than to be mindfully detached.  It is important to resist cravings, and not become to anxious when resisting, or when failing in the resistance of cravings, to not have too much sorrow about that.

I am glad I do not drink. I understand now how people need to drink alcohol and smoke drugs.. as I keep managing not to go after pastries, and ice cream and junk food.

Withdrawal as a way of avoiding problems though is probably not the best thing. The problems are in the mind and therefore, exercising the mind is as important to exercising the body.  Is masking part of that exercising so as not to be isolated?  Masking is not good.

2. The danger of routine
It is said that routine helps with managing depression. It is easy to lose focus though when doing routine tasks.. I found myself messing up with the singing of the Ramayana and in some of the things with the cooking because I was not paying attention. Routine allows functioning and easy masking because you can 'perform'. The absence of routine, the disruptions can create more desire for withdrawal or on the other hand.. exercise to push the clouds away so that you know you are alive, if not thriving just yet.


3. Keep moving
 
The body has to be healthy even if the mind is not. The two are linked, no secrets about that. If the mind could be conditioned to routine, it should be easy to move the body. I remember the days when I used to run and reaching the end of the run without realising it. Or finishing the full yoga routine without feeling different.

With the slip into dangerous eating (or other habits), it is really important to keep the body healthy as the healthy body/healthy mind thing is close. What is difficult though is that with the focus on keeping the mind healthy and surviving, the work needed to be done to keep the body healthy might not be done.


 It is so easy to say, to hell with it, let me take that sugar and that ice cream and so on because the body has failed really. New ways have to be found to move the body with the various joint pains and stiffness crap which have to be dealt with every time there is a shift in position.

4. Trust, help etc
A man asked  me if he could trust me as he tells me a story which is stranger than fiction about life etc. I told him no, don't trust me and he continues though.

It is good to be useful. The detachment thing helps with referrals and with encouragement. Small ways which do not engage too much emotional and mental energy.

There is a lot of emphasis on getting help if things are not working out. As I contemplate getting help, I detach and ask.. but what help do you need? And those questions need answering first really before the help is sought. And the man part of me hopes that in answering those questions, I will also be able to get through this.

Somewhere I need to understand what the vision of wellness is , given all the experiences of not meeting those vision.

5. Mind exercising
Ideas float across the mind. It has been awhile since any letter to the editor.  There are requests for some workshops which the Universe seem to postpone. Some of the IT learning requires some focus and concentration to learn. Reasoning is difficult at the moment as research is needed.  Meditation is supposed to help and perhaps it will help.

But the mind has to be exercised. The detached self asks .. how can your coping with this time, how can you not succumbing and shutting down, and not saying that you should shut down and die, how can you do something with this which shows that you still have a mind?