The Art of Holistic Living

By Dr. Manish Sethi

The never-ending pull of your attention between career and family can be an exhausting and overwhelming cycle. In a world of endless competition, it is easy to lose your way and the focus needed to achieve your goals. The art of holistic living is the pursuit of bettering your overall life.

Recognizing that your body, your mind

• Language: English
• Publisher: EK ONKAR PUBLISHING
• Release date: Nov 8, 2022
• ISBN: 9798986549613

Book preview

1

The Earth, The Sun, and The Moon

Throughout my personal and rekindled journey towards a more freeing and fulfilling life, there were periods of darkness and confusion, as well as periods of clarity and joy. I found myself reading my fair share of articles and books meant to help me better myself; I figured it could not hurt to help others in the same position as myself.

A lot of discovery came during my downtime and introspection. I found that throughout my journey, the three main priorities of my current existence boiled down to my family, my career, and myself.

What seemed to make sense in my mind was not being properly applied. I found myself in the ultimate balancing act, trying to level the three sectors that mattered most to me, yet somehow always falling short in one. It appeared to me that I was trying to climb all three branches at once, which is an impossible task, until I realized they were all intertwined at the roots. That is when I slowly began developing my understanding that everything is connected.

Through a bit of clarity, I saw the same harmony within my own life and the factors that make it worth living. There was a collective whole among my family, my career, and myself that I came to apply metaphorically as the earth (my family), the sun (my career), and the moon (myself).

In forgetting to care for any one area appropriately, the systematic whole will no longer prosper as it potentially could.

I realized that all three areas are interconnected and must be properly tended to in order to thrive. In forgetting to care for any one area appropriately, the systematic whole will no longer prosper as it potentially could. The thinking behind this mindset ultimately calmed me down.

I observed the parallels amongst the metaphors of the earth, the sun, and the moon present in my own life. During my self-actualization and spiritual journey, I saw my home as earth, a sector that both needs and provides nourishment, love, and care. In essence, our earth is what we know and where we are from. The grounding love and support that comes from the ones who care for us makes surviving truly worth living.

However, the earth does not stand alone; it is dependent on other factors within the solar system to survive and flourish. I then thought of the sun and how it would be impossible for the earth to continue existing without it. It is necessary that our home planet, and ultimately home life, receives light and energy from the sun. With that said, I considered the thought of myself being the sun for my family, but that was not the case. I found it more applicable that the sun symbolized the career sector of my life.

As much as I wish the world would not go on without me, it would. The earth is in a consistent orbit around the sun, comparable to working to make a living within our society. Without service, contribution and income, our society, civilization, and homes would crumble at the foundation. Thus, to me, the sun is representative of our career and the resources it provides for survival. While the sun does not shine bright on all days, it is always there, consistently providing for the earth.

Even with good intentions, paying too much attention—or not enough—to the work sector in turn negatively impacts parenting and overall home life.

It was a great motivator for me to have a mindset of fulfilling my career-based duties for those I love. I found along my journey that this perspective keeps me focused on achieving what I must in the work sector for my family’s well-being. Nevertheless, the universe follows a divine order that ensures the adequate amount of everything needed to thrive. If the sun shined longer or stronger than it already does, this could potentially harm the earth and create less optimal living conditions. In other words, if you are too focused on just your career, this added power and heat, in a symbolic sense, could be damaging. Even with good intentions, paying too much attention—or not enough—to the work sector in turn negatively impacts parenting and overall home life.

There is no denying that we orbit around the security of our careers and live off the support of our families. However, there was still one important sector of my life worth developing, which was me. I came to see my being as the moon. In parallel with the moon, the individual self is constantly going through phases of healing, discovery, and development. This occurs in the darkness—or privacy—of one’s mind and heart, and allows for much-needed reflection and introspection.

While constantly adapting and shifting, the moon is still responsible for continuing the cycle and rising to illuminate the earth. Throughout your own personal journey towards growth and success, your family, friends, and colleagues are still dependent on you. Shining down on the earth when the sun has set, the moon nurtures key traits on the earth that cannot come from the light of the sun. Focusing on yourself and allowing healthy results to reciprocally transmit to both your career and parenting or household sectors completes the greater picture. Satisfying all these variables and paying attention to all three factors makes for a habitable and fulfilling life overall.

However, there would be imbalance and darkness without the illuminating and guiding light granted by the moon, yourself.

However, there would be imbalance and darkness without the illuminating and guiding light granted by the moon, yourself. Taking inspiration from the natural world we are made up of, you must adopt the task of learning to become the moon. I enjoyed this comparison as it facilitated further understanding of balancing the sectors of my life that I had not completely grasped before.

My advice to you is to draw inspiration from your surroundings while keeping your focus on the earth—your loved ones—getting your warmth from the sun—the resources and security found through career and purpose. Additionally, do not forget about the power of the moon in the dead of night. The guiding light carries on for you and your loved ones as long as you remember to properly care for your own well-being.

Conclusively, there is a lot of hope and understanding to be achieved through the comparison between your unique life and the universe in which you exist. I admire the importance of our universe, taking all I can learn from a system that has provided and thrived for eternity. With the common blessing of being alive, we all share the same space on this planet. As a result, it is important to take inspiration from it.

There is an endless and cosmic dance amongst and within us all. The secret is to unlock this through effective and powerful balance within the important realms of our current lives. As such, better yourself and remain driven in your career, and the sun and the moon will continue to shine down on your life and those you love.

2

Life Is Multi-Faceted: Let’s Face It with a Smile

Juggling multiple aspects of your life is achievable, be it home versus career, being a parent versus a devout child or a sibling, a lover versus going solo, or anything else that is applicable. You might have found yourself between a rock and a hard place at times, wondering what you should cut out of your life in order to perform and be your best. What if I told you that it is possible for you to find your version of harmony amongst all the dynamic and multi-faceted systems within your life?

When you begin to develop both on a physical and a metaphysical level, it becomes easier for you to see the areas you need to focus on for your holistic growth overall.

By setting the stage with the affirmation, know that you will find yourself capable of developing some simple yet powerful skills, such as communication, connection, sympathy, positive thinking, habit restriction, and habit formation. Positivity cannot be forced in, and negativity cannot be forced out. You also cannot simply mask your negative emotions with positive ones. When you begin to develop both on a physical and a metaphysical level, it becomes easier for you to see the areas you need to focus on for your holistic growth overall.

With a deeper understanding of yourself, you can develop a clearer awareness of the world and those around you. When you learn the process of improving yourself, you learn to care for others and the diverse sectors of life, which, in turn, helps you to grow further. This creates a continuous feedback loop that emphasizes cohesion and balance, and it is possible within your own life.

FINDING HARMONY

Performing your best when required for your career and being your best for your family are a part of the same cycle. One cannot be fully beneficial without the other’s interaction. You need harmony at home to function well at work. The same holds true for the reverse. Most importantly, to achieve that work-life, home-life balance, you need to be in harmony with yourself. Reconnecting with your immediate exterior world, self-discovery, and growth allows you to nurture yourself. Further, a healthy self, both mentally and physically, translates to heightened performance across all sectors.

Juggling both life at home and life on the job is not just a possible endeavor, but it is also meant to be enjoyable. Life being a balance between the physical and the metaphysical, in other words, the material and immaterial, is more than what simply meets the eye. You are no different from the universe. You are a part of it, and as a matter of a simple mathematical corollary, you are The Universe. Just think about it for a second. You are created in and from the universe, like everything and everyone around you. You have a gravitational force just like the heavenly bodies. You emit and receive electromagnetic radiation, just like all the man-made electronics around you. In essence, you are always in a cosmic symphony, whether you believe yourself to be part of it or not.

You experience the physical world with your five senses. Certainly, you need to keep them sharp, and we will discuss that later. However, you should not completely ignore the metaphysical just because it cannot be fully explained by the current scientific instruments and theories. Let me ask you some simple questions that may help you open your mind.

Have you ever had a gut feeling that you cannot seem to explain? Where did it come from? Which sensory organ gave you that feeling? When people believe in themselves, or in some higher power, miracles happen, right? We all hear about staying positive before a big game or in employee team meetings. How does positive thinking affect the outcome of an event?

We read and hear about these miracles all the time. How many times are scientists and doctors unable to explain the effect of placebos? How is it that our mind, when believing in something like a placebo, is able to perform unexplainable events? How and why does the placebo even work? How can your brain’s autonomic nervous system, the one responsible for the coordination of involuntary functions of the body, be able to affect the outcome of voluntary functions? While conventional science tries to explain it, we find answers from some of the ancient texts. You see, it is a matter of surrendering to this underlying concept first, and then tapping into your inner potential to translate it into your everyday reality.

A plan streamlines thoughts and intentions.

The most important thing is the Mindset; thus, I strongly encourage you to take important steps to open and develop it. While believing in the ultimate success of your dreams is sometimes all you need, a tip that is greatly beneficial, at least in the very beginning, is to create a plan. Being able to have a tangible action plan that you can write out and look at helps you declutter your brain. A plan streamlines thoughts and intentions. Questions I included within my own plan allowed me to organize my thoughts on where I wanted to go and how I envisioned myself getting there.

While I now know that the how is not as important, it still can benefit folks in order to achieve clarity and faith in their destiny. Of many things in life, I wanted to spend more time with my family, yet I also wanted a promotion, a raise, and accolades at work. So the underlying theme of my plan was to find more time out of these 24 hours. While this was my personal plan based on my needs, you can use it as inspiration to create a plan for your own situation. What do you want? Where are you currently? How do you plan to achieve your desires?

DREAM BIG—THE LOGICAL APPROACH

I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase think outside the box. I challenge you to think outside your box that we call the brain. First, believe that anything is possible and that you can achieve anything. Do not limit yourself to self-imposed doubts and beliefs. Dream, and if you are going to dream, then dream big! If you are going to believe in something, then believe in limitlessness! It is going to cost you the same amount of neuronal energy as keeping things small and limited, so just go for it—shoot for the stars!

You have nothing to lose but only to gain if you do that first. Next, think about what you need to do to achieve your dream. Write down the things that will help you achieve what you want as well as things that could potentially hold you back. Do not forget