Preventing the need for food from becoming greed for food
Detachment arises from understanding that desire can only be dealt with by tolerating it, never by titillating it. We all face sensual desires, and it [...]
When food becomes our enemy
What we eat is meant to energize us, to help us break free from the forces that control us, not energize those forces to control [...]
Are we afraid of looking at ourselves?
Some people who are very bodily conscious and who especially feel that their body is not attractive enough, sometimes are afraid of looking at themselves [...]
How much we improve
How much we improve depends not on how much we know but on how much we are ready to say no. Many times, to improve [...]
How to get the will to say no
To get the will to say no to something, focus on the thing that we are saying yes to. Whenever we have to say no [...]
What are we saying no to
How we are saying no, even when we aren't saying no? Saying no is difficult, whether it is to some person who is asking us [...]
Gita 06.17 explained
Link to purport by A C Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada Transcript of Bhakti-Shastri class on this verse by Chaitanya 10-32: From practice to perfection in [...]
When the mind’s greed masquerades as the body’s need …
Suppose our car fuel indicator alerted us that our gas tank was becoming empty. We would naturally seek a gas station. But suppose we noticed [...]
The importance of doing something we love
During our daily life, we often face struggles and setbacks. Additionally, our consumer culture aggressively displays before us countless things that we don’t have. Both [...]
Three principles for managing stress
Stress is becoming alarmingly widespread in today’s world. Naturally, people are seeking effective ways to deal with it. Sometimes, acute stress needs to be treated [...]
To live life fully, leave life regularly – take breaks before life breaks you
Suppose we use a machine continuously without turning it off. If it’s not given enough time off, it will deteriorate rapidly. Downtime is essential for [...]
Better to be crazy in being busy than to be just crazy, better still is to be busy without being crazy
We sometimes feel, “I am so busy that I am going crazy. I need to slow down.” Yes, slowing down can help, provided we use [...]
To regulate your eating, listen to your body, not to your mind
Our body is like a car. Both cars and bodies give signals when their fuel tanks or stomachs respectively start becoming empty. We respond to [...]
Being conscious of the body is not bodily consciousness, being conscious only of the body is
Suppose a car driver is obsessed with their car. They drive around just to parade how attractive it is and to find some ways to [...]
Regulation is the road to realization
Some people ask, “Isn’t regulation deprivation? If we enjoy something, why should we check ourselves in doing it?” The purpose of regulation is not deprivation, [...]
Seek balance through dynamic determination, not frozen formula
We need to balance our various obligations and aspirations, material and spiritual. Pertinently, the Bhagavad-gita (06.17) recommends regulation in attending to bodily needs. In seeking [...]
Spirituality is not about abandoning but about reclaiming
Some people fear: “Won’t practicing spiritual life require me to abandon my material things?” This fear stems from a fundamental misapprehension about what is actually [...]
Plans may not work, but planning works
“My plans never work, so I have decided to give up planning.” We may think like this when our plans to balance our material obligations [...]