"Ingamozgas" by Zátonyi Sándor (ifj.) Fizped
ACHIEVING BALANCE
Balance. A powerful ideal preached to us by healthcare providors of all kinds. The power of balance is that if we move in its direction even a little, we benefit. Here's an example: a recent article in the news detailed how a man lost 40 lbs eating only McDonald's food. How could the worst of the fast food joints possibly bring him closer to health?
The answer is in the power of balance. Even though he was eating low quality fast food, he dropped the size of his meals to a healthier portion, and that was enough. Moving this one factor - the amount of the meal - in the direction of balance improved his health. To be sure, if he replaced fast food with whole, organic foods, his health would improve even more, but my point is that a positive change in even a single factor in our lives can shift the whole system toward greater health.
Now let's talk about extremes.
I have a friend who posted to Facebook that he had over-eaten during the holidays, and that he wanted to "balance" his bad eating by fasting for several days. This is common logic. We've all engaged in, or seen binging and purging, feasting followed by fasting, or going to the gym for hours to make up for poor meals. Or, after years of poor nutrition, some of us will eat only raw fruits and veggies for a month, or try the master cleanse, or some other "healthy" way to kick-start a movement toward our goals. I've made most of these mistakes myself, and none of them yielded lasting health.
Here's why: you cannot achieve balance by acting out an imbalance of either side of the spectrum. The only way to achieve balance is to stop the extreme behavior, return to balance, and wait for it to harmonize the system and heal the damage. Trying to achieve balance by acting out opposite extremes is like trying to stop a swinging pendulum by lifting it to the opposite side. As soon as we let go, it swings back again, and with more force than it had to begin with. The only way to stop the pendulum is to let it rest in the middle.
The Mind and the Middle
I'm describing two different minds within us. The first is the mind that “wants stuff, and wants it now.” This mind wants rewards. It wants delicious, yet low quality food; and addictive, yet unhealthy behaviors. Then, when it begins to suffer from the results of its actions this mind comes to its senses, or so it thinks, and wants a quick turnaround on its health. It wants some healing, and it wants it now! It wants to feel healthy again, as quickly as it can. It wants its hot body back, and its tight skin, and its less puffy face and eyes. So it motivates energy for change. Fast change! Explosive exercise and supplement driven change. But the change it wants is also not safe or sustainable. And the deeper truth is that it’s not the extreme behaviors we need to change at all, it’s the mind that we are letting run the show that we need to change.
Instead of letting the first mind run the show, we need to access the second mind. Actually, the second mind isn't a different mind from the first at all; it's really our sense of awareness. A deep consciousness within us that experiences everything we encounter, and acts appropriately and spontaneously on what it sees, without wrapping itself up in any of it. It's not trying to grasp at what it's experiencing in an addictive way, nor create a self around results. This mind simply takes an action each day consistently, and let's go, knowing that the results will come in time. This mind will lean toward resting in the middle; in good clean eating, and balanced behavior that can be deeply satisfying in its own right.
Achieving balance is really very simple: eat moderate amounts of mostly whole and unprocessed foods. Stretch and exercise an appropriate amount each day. Rest well. Meditate. Do one thing at a time. Relax as much as you can, especially in interactions with others. Stop focusing so much on results, and focus instead on consistently repeating healthy causes. Acknowledge and move on from mistakes. That's it. In fact, bring even one of these areas into balance and, like the man who ate only at McDonald's, but changed his portion size to a balanced one, you will move your entire system closer to the healthy middle.
Now let's talk about extremes.
I have a friend who posted to Facebook that he had over-eaten during the holidays, and that he wanted to "balance" his bad eating by fasting for several days. This is common logic. We've all engaged in, or seen binging and purging, feasting followed by fasting, or going to the gym for hours to make up for poor meals. Or, after years of poor nutrition, some of us will eat only raw fruits and veggies for a month, or try the master cleanse, or some other "healthy" way to kick-start a movement toward our goals. I've made most of these mistakes myself, and none of them yielded lasting health.
Here's why: you cannot achieve balance by acting out an imbalance of either side of the spectrum. The only way to achieve balance is to stop the extreme behavior, return to balance, and wait for it to harmonize the system and heal the damage. Trying to achieve balance by acting out opposite extremes is like trying to stop a swinging pendulum by lifting it to the opposite side. As soon as we let go, it swings back again, and with more force than it had to begin with. The only way to stop the pendulum is to let it rest in the middle.
The Mind and the Middle
I'm describing two different minds within us. The first is the mind that “wants stuff, and wants it now.” This mind wants rewards. It wants delicious, yet low quality food; and addictive, yet unhealthy behaviors. Then, when it begins to suffer from the results of its actions this mind comes to its senses, or so it thinks, and wants a quick turnaround on its health. It wants some healing, and it wants it now! It wants to feel healthy again, as quickly as it can. It wants its hot body back, and its tight skin, and its less puffy face and eyes. So it motivates energy for change. Fast change! Explosive exercise and supplement driven change. But the change it wants is also not safe or sustainable. And the deeper truth is that it’s not the extreme behaviors we need to change at all, it’s the mind that we are letting run the show that we need to change.
Instead of letting the first mind run the show, we need to access the second mind. Actually, the second mind isn't a different mind from the first at all; it's really our sense of awareness. A deep consciousness within us that experiences everything we encounter, and acts appropriately and spontaneously on what it sees, without wrapping itself up in any of it. It's not trying to grasp at what it's experiencing in an addictive way, nor create a self around results. This mind simply takes an action each day consistently, and let's go, knowing that the results will come in time. This mind will lean toward resting in the middle; in good clean eating, and balanced behavior that can be deeply satisfying in its own right.
Achieving balance is really very simple: eat moderate amounts of mostly whole and unprocessed foods. Stretch and exercise an appropriate amount each day. Rest well. Meditate. Do one thing at a time. Relax as much as you can, especially in interactions with others. Stop focusing so much on results, and focus instead on consistently repeating healthy causes. Acknowledge and move on from mistakes. That's it. In fact, bring even one of these areas into balance and, like the man who ate only at McDonald's, but changed his portion size to a balanced one, you will move your entire system closer to the healthy middle.
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