Habits I'm Cultivating This Year
Last year was a year..
It’s done and sitting in the past with all the others.
Now it’s time to focus on this one. Or is it?
Focusing on a whole year is pointless. Actually it’s not even possible. We cant focus on something that doesnt exist. A year is too conceptual and abstract to focus on and if we do we’ll simply be wasting our time in dream land (chewing the minds bananas). The best thing to focus on is the moment you’re in right now.
“Shoot the target in front of you and move forward” has been a powerful principle for me lately. At the same time it’s wise to shoot with a commitment to a future rather than just shooting whatever target comes into your view. That’s why I compiled a list of habits I want to have kept to by the end of the year.
The future that these habits bring forth is the future I live for - a world where everyone serves Krishna spontaneously and directly according to their ashram and their strengths and no one expects anything more from one another.
Here are the some habits I’m cultivating to bring forth that future for myself. Some have already become second nature, some are my natural nature and some are things I’ve always wanted to come naturally but never have.
Ride or walk everywhere
This is something I have done forever just due to the towns I have lived in. I only recently got a vehicle and a restricted license and my current life just wouldn’t work without them but I still ride whenever possible. The elements are important to me because they keep me humble.
Be Krishnatarian
I am not a vegetarian, vegan or any diet. As an aspiring devotee of Krsna I only eat after Krsna has tasted the meal. It just happens that Lord Krsna only accepts fruit, flowers, vegetables, grains, beans, legumes, nuts and other things people call “vegetarian”. Offering our food to Krsna makes the food sweet with the flavor of devotion or bhakti and food not offered first in sacrifice is called papa or sin even if the packet says Vegan, Gluten Free, Keto, Raw or whatever other “conscious eating” trends are in vogue.
Mindful Eating
In an ideal world we eat our meals with devotion to God in a similar way to prayer. Most people pay zero attention to God while eating. Food and God are two opposite things foe most people. Most of the time they are diametrically opposed because their “food” is synonymous with murder of the worst type - cow killing.
They go to a shop and buy something packaged in plastic with numbers for ingredients. They eat it while trolling someone else’s life through their device and hardly even chew. Some don’t even stop to eat but instead eat while walking, driving or standing around gossiping about others while crumbs fall on their clothes. They wash their hands and mouth with tissues or by licking their fingers and wiping them on their pants.
The habit I’m taking on is honoring meals like we did in the temple - cross legged, with others, eating food cooked and offered to Krsna by a practicing devotee, silently, slowly and using the hands rather than metal instruments.
Cutting Out Junk Food
I grew up with little to no opportunity to eat foods high in sugar. I developed an intense greed for such foods and as soon as I got money I’d splurge on junk food. Actually I stole many chocolate bars as a teen. I was even caught and after I did the Landmark Forum I went to the store I stole from in Maleny and apologized.
My obsession with sweets has started to wain since living with my wife. Her cooking is so pure and wholesome I rarely buy sweets. I’d rather wait till I get home and enjoy whatever she has made with her sweet devotion. Recently I saw an instagram reel on parasite detoxing and decided to do a cleanse. It’s been a week and I have never felt so clean. The main benefit I have noticed is I am being someone who controls their tongue. Ofcourse being a Krishnatarian is automatically a huge step towards Theres massive power in this as it sets a precident for controlling your life.
Although one may conquer all of the other senses, as long as the tongue is not conquered it cannot be said that one has controlled his senses. However, if one is able to control the tongue, then one is understood to be in full control of all the senses.
-ŚB 11.8.21
Grounding Before Grinding
Have you ever considered that mother earth is a giant battery charger for our bodies and shoes are a deliberate blocker from her healing power? Grounding/earthing is the practice of walking barefoot on the ground. Pretty simple.
The idea put forward by Clint Ober is that shoes make you sick and by taking them off and standing on the grass all inflammation in the body is reduced to zero.
I’m doing this whenever I get a chance and absolutely relishing it. The ground has never been so calming and.. grounding.
Don’t just grind. Take time to sharpen the saw you’re cutting with.
Listen to the Tui’s advice:
My attention is drawn
to the cry of the bird nearby,
to the bush wren
Calling "Bind, join, be united as one"
May it be woven above,
Enmeshed below,
Entwined outside.
and within our very beings,
Interlaced by threads of human love
May there be peace at night (in death)
and peace by day. (in our lives)
TE TANGI A TE MATUI
Notice the order of things? Unite with what's above, below, inside and then with others.
Ground before grinding.
Chant 16 Rounds of the Hare Krishna Maha Mantra Daily
This is a practice I have done for 16 years but I’m including it here because it’s never easy and always requires discipline. I’m at a place now with this habit where I’m sick of the bad habits I have developed around my practice - things like multi tasking, slouching on the couch, thinking things other than the mantra and interrupting myself and others to talk about “practical things”
My new habit is to chant 8 rounds before I start my day and chant them in front of our home alter.
Read and Speak from Scripture
There’s power in repeating that which is authorized. Given I am a small fry compared to Srila Prabhupada my best chance at sharing knowledge is to quote the masters. The greatest master is Srila Prabhupada. When I speak exactly what he says people are moved. One person I met called me out of the blue recently and as I was talking with him I made an effort to represent Srila Prabhupadas teachings as chastely as I could. At the end he said “I want to come up to Whangarei for 3 weeks to learn from you”
Drink Pure Water
This is important. Just like we need contact with earth because we are electric beings and she is the charger, water is the fuel we need. One Ayurveda website recommends Men drink 2.5 liters per day and women drink 2 liters per day.
The quality of the water is important too. Fluoride is believed to calcify the pineal gland which is the gland that secretes Melatonin which regulates the circadian rhythm (more about that below). It is also the source of the “sacred secretion” or DMT which slowly makes its way down and up the spine (kundalini). Messing with this gland is no mistake. It is a purposeful act. If Flouride was so important for teeth and the government cared so much kids oral health so much they could provide them with tablets or gum but they put it in the water and everyone who cant afford filters has to consume it and potentially compromise an important part of the brain while fueling their body. It’s 100% a conspiracy
Use Electricity Sparingly
At our place I took out the light bulbs. My wife put most of them back in and I started using them again (LOL) but I think twice before I do and that has made a difference. Using electricity at night is not good for the circadian rhythm.
Gender Roles
Gender roles are magical things. It’s like when cars drive in their own lanes. When a male acts like a female he loses his power and reputation as a good man. When a woman acts like a man she loses her power and reputation as a good woman. There’s an agenda behind getting woman to go to work and children to school. It splits up the family completely and makes everyone easier to control.
By being the sole provider, keeping my wife serving within the family and teaching our children (when they come) I allow my wife to be relaxed and light which makes her attractive and fun. I also allow my child to be educated properly and I get to role model masculinity by not making my wife be responsible and letting the state have more influence than I do over the education, values and health of my child.
Integrity
This is a mountain with NO TOP. By practicing this one quality I have access to any other quality. It’s a meta skill that makes ANYTHING possible. With integrity I can give my word to anything and it will happen because who I am is my word. When I give my word to something it happens because I AM MY WORD.
I highly recommend this article on integrity for anyone who is up to big things in their life.
No Gossip
Sound creates our core. Nikola Tesla was aware of this.
By gossiping you are rotting your core and creating yourself as small minded or duratma. (The opposite to mahatma)
Small minds talk about people, mediocre minds talk about events and great minds talk about ideas.
Alcoholics Anonymous have 12 steps and 12 traditions. The 12th tradition is “Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all our Traditions, ever reminding us to place principles before personalities.” focus on principles without naming names.
When talking about people, keep the main thing the main thing - the benefit of the person.
These are the habits and lifestyle choices I'm aspiring to have solidly integrated into my life by the end of the year.