By Ricardo Andrés Torrellas Nazario
There are many ways which can prepare us for the creation of a different (and better) world for ourselves and others. Here are eight ways to do just that:
Get a few dictionaries.
Get at least one for your main language, another for your second language, and a cross-language one.
Start reading and transcribe the meaning of words that you think would be useful to describe how you’d like your future life to be. You can also transcribe the meaning of words that accurately describe past events in your life, whether negative or positive. Write down words that matter to you. It’s simple. Get a few notebooks, a few pens, and get to writing. The road will be long, especially if you choose to transcribe the majority of words you find, but it will be worth it. As you know more and more words and their definitions, it becomes easier to express yourself and easier for others to understand you. Also, try to get in many positive words transcribed. A great resource for the origin and original meaning of words is Etymology Online.
Get some books on topics that interest you.
Whether you’ve studied these topics before or not it doesn’t matter. Part of the reason you should get some books is to stop reading from a computer screen or tablet screen and give your eyes a a rest (screens increase eyestrain). The less you look at or use a computer and other technologies like a smartphone, the better.
Get educated. Education doesn’t only lie at universities or schools. Education lies in your hands. I’m not talking about fiction books. I’m talking about topics which you could learn in order to be able to provide a healthy service to the community around you, potentially to the world, and to yourself. An incomplete list of the sort of topics that could be useful for you and others:
- Cooking
- Farming
- Exercise
- Natural Health
These are very general topics and you should not limit yourself at any point in time. Read anything, as long as it gets you out of your bad habits and patterns.
Use the knowledge you’ve gathered by reading to change your language.
Change the way you speak and the words you use. Begin to substitute negative, cursing, and insulting words for positive, peaceful, and loving words. Avoid curse words and negative words as much as you can, and if you know people who use many of these kinds of words, you have to take a break from these people so you don’t integrate and imitate what they do. Try to meet new people and make other friends if you see that these people don’t care about changing their speaking patterns. Try to wish everything and everyone well as much as you can. This means even to those who insult you, mock you, and give you mean stares. Wish them well, because if they are well they will stop these negative actions. It just makes sense, if everyone was happy why would anyone be mean? The only person who would be mean would be an unhappy one or unsatisfied one.
Turn off you phone as much as is permissible.
This is obviously dependent on your job constraints and other responsibilities. If it’s possible, have it off forever. In fact, this applies to all sorts of computer and gaming technology and anything that involves a screen with light. Avoid all of these things as much as possible. All of these things worsen your eyesight. It is OK to search for things that can help improve your health from time to time, just remember that the less you use all of these things the better for your eyes and your hands.
Exercise
Exercise is very important for overall health and for strength. I remember when I used to sit down in the computer all day I would get horrible pains in the knees. From one day on, I decided to walk 1 mile everyday, then I moved to 2 miles, then I did 4. I then started running. At first I felt pains but I kept telling my body parts (in my internal dialogue and sometimes verbally) that they were not hurt or weak…that they were strong and they should do their job. They are here for keeping us strong and healthy not weak and sad. Now I have no knee pain.
Activity vs. Sedentarism. Activity always wins. Activity and movement are healing. Be patient with yourself. You don’t have to increase the amount you run or walk everyday, although you could, if your will, your strength and your belief are aligned. Some pains are worse than others, you can measure for yourself if your pain needs to be attended with a doctor or if you can heal it by yourself. However, keep in mind that the power of self-suggestion is important in your everyday life. Every time you or someone has called you weak or has insulted you, call yourself strong or a positive attribute. In fact, never insult yourself or others if possible. You don’t come off scot free when you insult another or even yourself, you attract karma. Try to speak to yourself and others in a positive, kind way.
Visit a safe and natural location
Go to a beach, a river, a forest, a lake, or a desert. Going into nature (turn your phones and computers off) can give you a different perspective of what life is. Be there in silence, listen to the animals’ songs, whether they be birds or insects. Listen to the flow. The rhythm of a natural place. Learn from it’s serenity. It’s a song. A calm, patient, and peaceful song. Walk or run a mile or two or three or four or more. Swim on safe bodies of water. Walking and swimming are great exercises for people with injuries as they are low impact, especially swimming. Swimming is a whole body exercise as well, which helps strengthen your entire body.
Respect everyone
Don’t mock anyone, no matter what you may think of them in your mind. Everyone is just as capable as you are. You are not superior or inferior to anyone. Give everyone the respect they deserve. In fact, if you can find the positive in even the most negative people you encounter and wish them well, even better. Sometimes people (myself included) get their egos inflated (or deflated) and they think they’re superior (or inferior) to others but that is one of the biggest lies you can tell yourself or others. Remember to avoid doing things that you wouldn’t want being done to yourself. That is key.
Think and meditate
Take at least 30 minutes to an hour a day of just laying down in a pose like Savasana and just thinking about whatever comes to mind. Try to understand yourself better, your past actions better, your negative reactions better, and your positive reactions better. What do you want for yourself and others? Try to forgive those who’ve done negative things to you. Resentment and vengeance are only contributors of the karmic cycle, and you want to stay out of it.
I hope that you will learn and practice something useful out of all the suggestions I’ve written. If not, you can write to me and ask for any question that you may have.
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