Today, I will start with a story…
During the times of King Janaka, there was a young student named Richeek. Richeek was a very talented student but despite this, he used to fail in all types of endeavours that he would perform. His master, the great Rishi Pulatsya was watching over him and one day he asked Richeek to visit King Janaka to learn how to be successful. Richeek, respecting his Guru’s orders, bowed and started for the king’s court.
On his way to the palace, Richeek got caught in doubtful thoughts around how a worldly king can teach him. He thought, “I am a sage in the making, a student of the great Pulatsaya and all the kings of the world bow down to my knowledge.”
Filled with doubt, he reached the king’s court. King Janaka greeted him with great respect and offered him a seat in his court. King politely asked Richeek the purpose of his visit. Richeek told him that his Guru had sent him to here to learn the art of success from the king.
The King asked Richeek to take rest and that they will start the lessons after 2 days. After 2 days the king started his lessons, asking Richeek about gardening. He assigned Richeek a portion of the royal garden and asked him to plant new seeds and renovate that area. As Richeek started planning, he felt hungry. Now, since it was too early for lunch, he searched his belongings for food, but all his supplies were exhausted. He started looking for some food in the palace only to realize that there was no way he could get food before lunch. He felt disheartened and came back to the garden. He realized that the best way to distract himself from the hunger was to start working in the garden and he immediately started executing his plans for that patch of the garden. Over lunch, he was expecting a royal spread to feast on but to his surprise, the food was simple but nutritious, consisting of roots and vegetables. Seeing this his appetite became half and he ate quickly and went back to work. In a week’s time, he understood that the food at the palace was healthy but did not satisfy his tongue, so he would eat the minimum required and go back to his work. He worked day and night and soon his garden flourished. This was his first success! He became joyful and requested the king to pay a visit to his part of the garden.
The King inspected the garden and was satisfied with the work done by the young boy. He patted Richeek on the back and said, “Do you now understood the secret of your success?” Richeek said, “No”.
The King said,” Your problem was your food. At your master’s place, you ate too much. Your Master knew that because of your food you are getting stress and lethargy, but he never wanted to give you this hard lesson as it would have been hard for you to learn this lesson in your known environment. So, he sent you to me. I observed you for two days and understood what your problem is. I gave you nutritious food on time and no in-between meals. You can see for yourself that you were able to focus on your work and you completed it successfully. This is the only aspect you need to add to your life and success will be yours.”
Richeek thanked the king and went back to his master’s place, happy and confident.
Just like this story, you can fail in your work if you are eating non-nutritious food and eating too much. Food plays an integral part in defining your success in life. Food not only nourishes your body but your mind too. A body under stress gets all sorts of illnesses like diabetes, hypertension, etc. Your stressed mind and ailing body are recipes for failure. People are driven by taste and eat whatever they like:
- Sugar Drinks
- Fatty Burgers
- Processed Foods
- (Too) Salty food
- Pesticides and other chemicals in food or drinks
- Too much Alcohol
- Caffeine or Energy drinks
Watch out for the following conditions in your mind and body and you will realize that these play an important part in carving your success or failure!
- Stress
- Irritation
- Lack of focus
- Mental and physical fatigue
- Brain fog
- Decreased productivity
- Conflicting thoughts
- Fatigue
- Diseases created by stress
To ensure that you do NOT create stress for yourself and see yourself failing in your endeavours, start eating nutritious food today in small quantities. This will kill your stress. Nutritious food will include:
- Fresh fruits, especially berries like Blueberries, Blackberries, Strawberries, grapes, etc.
- Organic vegetables
- Eggs
- Protein-rich food
- Organic poultry, meat or fish
- Honey, Stevia or coconut sugar (Instead of sugar)
- Good oils like Olive oil, Ghee, etc.
- Leafy greens
Now, what are the habits you have to adopt?
- Eat on time
- Always eat nutritious and natural
- Avoid processed foods as far as possible
- Avoid Alcohol and caffeine as far as possible
- Avoid sugar and artificial sugar-free alternates
See you next week. Till then, Eat nutritious food, Stay Healthy and Stress-free!!