Why is it many of us (in fact, most of us) occasionally experience some kind of empty feeling in our life? It is like being hungry. When we eat, we feel satisfied and become less interested in food. But as some time passes, we get hungry again. Then all of a sudden we feel so attracted to the smell and thought of food. We can also feel some kind of hunger when we are not even physically hungry—just after eating something. Some of us stay being hungry all the time. Constant emotional hunger is not the most pleasant thing to have. Then, how can we live our lives to the fullest? How can we be more satisfied permanently?Maybe the answer is simple: just live our lives as a whole. The word ‘whole’ holds the meaning of completion. Then the secret to live a complete life is simply to live it as a whole. Let’s start to look at one example of this ‘wholeness’ with something awfully close to our heart—our stomach. Whole Food VS Half FoodWe have heard the term ‘whole food’. They say that eating whole food is the key to the health and wellness we seek. Then why is whole food so much better than ‘half food’?A whole grain for example has a life. So, if you soak the whole grain in water, drain the next day and leave for a few days, it sprouts. It has a life of its own. When we eat such food, our body absorbs the full live nutrients. It has all the properties to cleanse, heal and nurture different body cells. And just like the example of a grain, most traditional eating includes eating whole animals as well. Eating whole fresh fish used to be more common than taking a part of fish and throwing the rest away. It was the same for meat and the same for vegetables. ‘Half food’ sometimes has more sweetness and flavour but not much other nutrition. We like its taste, but we could develop a long-term illness if we only ate ‘half food’ every day of our life. So, to balance the missing part, we started to take dietary supplements. We have been studying and researching for a long time to find the perfect balance. It gets more and more complicated as we chop the food up, preserve and transport, and even try to balance with other parts coming from different sources, regions and seasons. Some of the nutrients even come from non-food items. They are chemically generated. After analysis and testing, we approve it for human consumption. But no matter how hard we try, we cannot put all the ‘bits’ together to make it come alive. Half Life—‘Sweetness’ of LifeSo, if we looked at our life now, part of what we are doing can be like eating the ‘half food’. Just savouring the sweetness of life but throwing away the real nourishing part. And if we soaked our ‘half life’ in water with other bits and left it in the sunlight, could it shoot and grow into a beautiful whole life? Whole food is not (as some people perceive it) poor in taste. It is actually tastier when we prepare it properly. But while the demand is low, it is more expensive. It is actually more economical in the long run though, as we have less medical expenses later on. When more people start eating it, it will naturally become cheaper because it is a simpler food with less processing and waste. Our life is the same. When we only appreciate the ‘sweetness’, and throw away the rest in rubbish bins because we don’t see its value, we may be wasting the most important part. And the part we throw away could have the greatest power for the sustainability of our life and our economy. It also takes more energy and resources to discard it. Better yet, the part we throw away is free. So, what is it we are not seeing?Imagine a life where we didn’t really feel we were missing anything there. The secret is right there. The secret of whole life. Whole Life—The Complete LifeWhen it’s ‘whole’, it doesn’t matter how big the whole is. It can expand simultaneously. It can still contain all the elements to sustain itself as a whole living being. Once it grows to a certain size, it can still live without some of the parts. Like plants can live after being eaten a little by birds or trees still thrive even after losing their leaves. But if we neglect the balance for a very long time, eventually it can start creating a fatal imbalance. Then it could become too complicated to get back into balance. We don’t have to go back to the Stone Age to find the wholeness. Wholeness exists right now. All we need do is look closely; look closely enough to really see. When we start seeing our life as a whole and stop throwing away what nourishes our life the most, we start feeling more and more fulfilled without looking for ‘things’ to fill holes and dents of our life. Everything finally falls into place. We now understand the mechanism of our world in a very different way. Yes, it is now time to find out how we can create (and see) this balance, continuously and sustainably. The real nourishing part of our life is what makes us feel good deep down. It is like the part of food that makes our body become healthy in the long-term. Feelings we experience in our everyday life are the real key to our long-term happiness. And there are feelings that make us feel more complete. The smiles we see when we give acknowledgements to others. The joy we feel when we give gifts to others. The love we feel when we see our children being happy. The inspirations we receive when we feel our life is full of meanings…Let’s experience these moments of our life fully and enjoy the flavour of our whole life. Then we will see how it is not so necessary to continuously fill our mind (and stomach!) with temporal gratifications—those type of things that make us even more hungry afterwards. We can actually feel this joy, gratitude and love in order to experience the life as a whole at any moment regardless of the situations. It is not about what we see, what we hear or what we do that complete our life as a whole. It is about what we ‘choose to’ feel about our life. Yes, our life indeed is already complete. When we start taking actions based on this understanding, we can become true masters of the balance creation—long-term health, wealth, nurturing relationship and happiness.
Masami Sato is an International Speaker, Serial Entrepreneur, Founder of Buy1GIVE1, and the Best-Selling Author of JOY and ONE. Masami is VERY different. She brings a new, almost upside-down strategy to everything she does. And she radiates it magically through her writing and speaking. Visit b1g1. com to learn more about Masami and Buy1GIVE1 which partners businesses with charities.
