The curious case of 'ME'

We live in abundant times. Never in the history of the world has there been a time when humanity has flourished so much. Because of ample choice around us, we have become pampered and confused. Our life span has increased and newer drugs are promising to reverse ageing. Despite all this, the number one cause of death is stress-induced conditions. The number one medicine in vogue on the planet is *antidepressants. It's not just old folks. Younger people are also diagnosed with different mental ailments. This begs us the question 'if we are living in such prosperous times, why are so many people unhappy?'. Why is there a proliferation of mental afflictions in the golden age that we are living? The answer lies in two things - nature and nurture.

Nature

We are a complex chemical soup made up of characteristics inherited from our parents. There are 82 billion letters in our DNA which goes back to our parents and their parents and so on. What comes out of this complex mixture are genes (a section of DNA) that emphasize attributes like our skin color, the shape of our nose, our predisposition to certain diseases, etc. All the genes of our ancestors are within us. But some are turned on and some are turned off. When we are born, we come with a predefined set of these which some term as 'destiny'. The argument that I have this disease because my father had it too is inherently false. Yes, there are some hereditary diseases, but they just make up only 5%. The remaining determines our afflictions and they are because of only one thing - our lifestyle or nurture.

Nurture

The way we live decides how healthy we would be. There are four important areas to focus on - diet, exercise, sleep, and mindset. A lot has been said about the first three while mindset is being explored. Happiness or say being introverted is not something that we inherited. It's our choice. Every day we are bombarded by so much of information that we forget to put the guardrails on it. By that I mean focus. This can be good or bad. Good if it serves your purpose and bad if you overdo it. It has been found that optimists live 15% longer than pessimists. Thoughts and Emotions are a part of you. But they are not you. Today we confuse this psychological drama in our heads as us. There's more to life. When we align our body, mind (thoughts), emotions and energies in one single direction, we become a whole. Our basic nature is bliss. (imagine when we were little children)

Life is like a million lego pieces in which we are holding say 50. That is our headset. For somebody else it's different. From this limited number of legos, we are trying to figure out life. We can't. Not with our puny minds or even AI. Life is something to be lived or experienced. There is no other ulterior meaning. The meaning is what we make of it. We are the only creature on this planet that perambulates between the past and the future. All other animals live in the 'now'. They don't have a concept of time. They also live within boundaries. The human condition is such that we desire for infinity. Our tools distinguish us from other creatures and that is the only reason we are dominating the planet. How far we go is anybody's guess. But like some wise person has said

"Time doesn't come and go. We do"

God Bless!

(((Rajesh Menon)))