Lessons from the week (5 Nov 2023)
Lessons on life from Sadhguru
Sadhguru is full of anecdotes and examples. Every time Steven thought he understood what the prescription was, Sadhguru would stop him and give him another example to make his point. Sadhguru states that we should see life at is, instead of how we want it to be. According to him our desire to create meaning and constantly push boundaries to chase the next thing makes us miserable. His advice is to have a joyful approach to life and not let outcomes affect your peace of mind; to focus on the process.
I personally feel like being a lifelong learner and making progress towards goals is important to have a healthy state of mind.
Below you will find notes I took from the podcast.
It doesn't matter who you. Where you are. You want to be something more. If that something more happens. You want to be something more. You want to expand limitlessly. It doesn't matter where I set the boundary. Once you feel the boundary you want to break it. There is something intrinsic within you that doesn't like boundaries. It's a consequence of evolution.
The most important thing is to see life as it is (not as you want it to be).
If everything is working for you in your life, you're living a very petty life. 95% of the things in my life don't work. But the situation around me and how I am are never connected. I am the way I am. I will do my best.
There is expression and there is perception. If you perceive well, your expression will be valued. Right now everyone is on an expression binge. They aren't perceiving a damn thing.
If your intelligence turns against you, there is no power in the universe that can help you.
If you're happiness depends on what's happening on the outside, then you being happy is a remote possibility.
Your sense organs, your ability to see, hear, smell, taste or touch, are outward facing. They are your survival instruments. Life cannot be enhanced by them. You can only survive better. All your sense organs is only to perceive what's happening around you, not to perceive what's within you.
To perceive what's happening within you needs striving. It requires effort. Because it goes beyond survival so it doesn't come naturally. It's like learning English. We need to learn the alphabets.
Being peaceful and joyful is more important than me being better than you.
If something unpleasant happened to you either you can become wise or you can become wounded. Choose.
People think love will bring them happiness. That is not true. If you are very joyful, you will look upon everything in a loving manner.
Life is a phenomenon beyond all meaning. Meaning is an ailment of the mind. Your mind needs a meaning. Meaning is a serious problem. If life was a blissful process why would you care about the meaning. It's only when you are distressed that you look for meaning to justify the burden of life.
Your experience of life is determined by you. It's your choice.
Harsh Batra
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