4 universal Laws that take you from chaos to the golden age

When’s the last time someone paid you a better comment than, “You look good”? It’s perfectly reasonable to aim for “You look magnificent.” Inwardly you can bounce like a baby boy or girl. Of course, this would show in your appearance. But if you’re Baby Boomer age or beyond, your bounce may be just a tad dusty. Here is some easy, painless way to shake off that dust, bringing a new shine into your life. Use the tips and techniques here to develop.

DAZZLING EYES, AWESOME EARS, and SUPERSENSUOUS LIPS

In the process, according to your own beliefs, you just might find yourself more strongly connected to your spiritual Source. That makes magnificence for you, for anyone entirely possible. 

Fresh beauty begins with your choice. 

You happen to live in a culture with way too many images of beauty. Even if you didn’t watch TV, you’d see these images in stores and on the Internet. Spiritual score empty, these images are inflicted upon you, usually with the ulterior motive of making you buy things. Call it coercive beauty. But beauty is best enjoyed when you choose to seek it. This kind could be called soul-awakening beauty.

A third type is a customary beauty. Even an exquisite painting becomes a mere possession if you habitually see it the same way. How can you make it come alive again? Be willing to look long enough, differently enough. When you find something new, joy will be your signal. You have rediscovered soul-awakening beauty. All three kinds of beauty are part of a Beauty Scale. It ranges from coercive through customary to distinctively lovely. Once you understand this, you can choose where to position yourself along the continuum. Intention can move you from a low-end beauty experience to the kind that thrills your soul. 

Each day you start toward the low end because familiar surroundings (no matter how gorgeous) are dulled by habit. But you can easily reposition yourself. Start by choosing one sense. Which will delight you most with a sound, sight, touch, smell, and taste? Decide, then pick your beauty object. It could be something you never noticed before, like one square inch of a table. Stay with it long enough to find its lotus-like heart of splendour. Or begin with something you already find beautiful and deepen your senses by adding something new. Put on a favourite shirt or fragrance, then ask inside for an original idea to link with it, for example, “Through this, I explore a new quality of God’s tenderness.” A person can be undernourished through fat.

Similarly, though bombarded by images, you can long for real beauty. What will happen when you switch it on, full and strong, early in your day? With experience, moving up high on the Beauty Scale can be done in seconds. All it takes is practice. Whenever you seek and find soul-awakening beauty, the process changes you, opening up a channel to beauty’s Source. Each channel works in two directions, both to and from the Source. So your game of hide-and-seek for beauty creates new ways for the joy of God to find YOU. Sneaky, huh?

GET GORGEOUS WITH YOUR EARS

All around you, heavenly choirs sing. The trick is to hear them through human ears. Whether auditory or otherwise, beauty for humans registers only when we are willing to receive it. This is one way to distinguish a beautiful experience from a painful experience. If you’re walking down the street and a piano falls on your foot, you’ll notice. Pain grabs attention. Real music, however, is never inflicted upon you. To hear really beautiful music (the kind that awakens your soul), you must meet it halfway. Background music may rightfully make you snooze. Dispassionately you recognize what’s playing, but so what? To open up delight, you must open the ears within your ears. Inwardly you must say, “Let the concert begin!” Your role as the listener is so instrumental, and you can even attend a concert where no official music plays at all.

 For instance, right where you are now, you can breathe deeply, close your eyes, and investigate what you hear. Postmodern life may be treating you to layers of electronic buzz from half a dozen gadgets. Can you hear car rhythms or the wordless chant of an air conditioner? Nature adds harmonious sounds, like wind and rain. Listen closely enough, and your own body will play music. Have you ever appreciated the quiet roar of your breath? If you were to listen intently enough, could you hear your heartbeat? One extra sound of delight is available no matter where you are. Silence underlies everything. In silence, God’s voice speaks with majesty. Listen for That comfort, That wisdom, variations on the theme of love.

Could there be more to the heavenly concert? Sure. As you develop deeper perception, you open up mystical layers of hearing. Next time you hold a flower, listen to its song. At every layer of creation, you can eavesdrop on sounds of delight.

Adorable flavours to keep you young 

Yum, a new day!

Perhaps that isn’t how you greet each morning…yet. But how long has it been since you took in your minimum daily requirement for flavours? According to the ancient healing science of Ayurveda, you need six different flavours each day. Unless you taste them all, you’ll feel incomplete. Here’s the lineup: 

• Start with sweet or perhaps end with it. Sweetness doesn’t come only from desserts. It’s the subtle essence of many vegetables, from asparagus to zucchini.
• Sour provides the obvious contrast. Citrus fruits, unsweetened yoghurt, vinegar or pickles will get you there.
• Bitter isn’t necessarily bad, or folks would never crave coffee and chocolate.
• Salty can come from celery, olives or sea vegetables (like those that wrap sushi), not only snack food like pretzels.
•  Astringent tastes make you pucker, such as the apple a day that keeps the doctor away or oh-so-mighty spinach.
•  Putting pungent flavours into your diet requires just a twirl of your pepper grinder, a dollop of hot salsa, a smidge of Tabasco sauce or a wink of chutney.

So there you have it, six highly distinctive and necessary flavours. All it takes is one bite of each to balance your buds, and multiple tastes can combine in one dish. One salad, for instance, could score you the flavour equivalent of bingo. Ideally, it’s best to sample all six at each meal. Doing this might help you to lose weight. It’s definitely guaranteed to help you lose boredom. Has anything been left out from our discussion of the six flavours? Only the best part: Your own moods may need to go through the full sequence, too. Let all your emotions, not just the sweet ones be welcome as you savour this day.

18 YSR OCTOBER 2007

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