This post is all about improving your Four Pillars of life, and the philosophy that encompasses it. Originally posted on the old blog before this new site's migration. You'll find terms like ULCian, which means a person of the United Living Construct.
Each section goes into what that Pillar is, imbalances with it, and what you can do about it!
The Physical Pillar
We live our lives on the physical plane, and everything we do can be observed only on that plane. That means that the vessel we use to transverse upon it is very important. Our bodies are the vessel I speak of and for many people all over the world their vessels are in disrepair. For most of them they can’t do anything about it (say like starving people in the 3rd world), but for us in countries that have the freedom to eat what we want. The freedom to make a change in our own lives, then it truly is our responsibility to take care of ourselves.
Our bodies (and minds) are a tool that we can sharpen or dull from the things we do. If we constantly try and do the same thing the tool becomes dull and inefficient. If we sharpen the body too much it becomes too sensitive to do basic tasks (take people who work out at the extremes, i.e. Olympic weight lifting). Our bodies need a moderate amount of exercise, maybe a bit more depending on your condition. Keeping this in mind the exercise you do has different effects on the body.
Imbalances
Many things can throw your body out of balance, and the Body Pillar is the most commonly damaged Pillar because of this. If your mind is deranged then your body will soon follow suit. If your spirituality suffers, then your body will feel fatigued, and almost as if it was left alone in an ocean. You feel separated from yourself and your strengths.
If your emotions are scattered about, and you are going every which way with happiness and sadness. If they are out of control, then your body will change accordingly.
The major aspects of imbalance are when you actually start to feel terrible, and the effect is impacting your life. Laziness, fatigue, and irritability are all very common symptoms of this!
What You Can Do
Your body is a tool and it can be sharpened. Not only through exercise, but by diet as well. The old saying “You are what you eat” really does have substance. If you sit there and eat fast food all the time then you are going to feel akin to garbage because of it. Conversely if you eat right, or at least to the capacity that YOUR body needs then you will increase internal strength. Some people need to eat more than they do, others need to eat less, and everyone thinks they are somewhere in between.
Exercise can help a multitude of aspects of your body. Anywhere from your metabolism, brain function, mood, and sheer strength itself. Being able to lift a box or person in a time of need is a tremendous feeling. If you can barely pick up a 10 lbs box then there needs to be a change. Working out also releases endorphins which make you feel good (both mentally and emotionally). Some exercises even improve your balance and spatial awareness, which helps in everyday life.
Keep yourself in shape and there will be nothing you can’t do!
Keeping Balanced
Attaining a balance way of life isn’t just training your body and mind, but keeping strength and acuity throughout your life. That means continuous training. You can always get better, and you can always improve. Even if that bar gets lower as you age, you still need to stay ABOVE the bar always. This will keep you in top condition, and may even slow your aging down as some research suggests.
Make a routine, follow it, change it, but never ever stop it.
Balancing the Body Pillar is more than likely the easiest out of the Four to get
started, but still takes work to get into gear. Trust yourself and your body, then you can reach new heights!!
The Emotional Pillar
Emotions are like an ocean that ranges over vastly, and can effect every aspect of your life. Out of all of the Pillars this one is the hardest to master, and the easiest to damage. Not only that but it impacts the other three Pillars as well.
Welcome ULCians to part four of the series about the Four Pillars of life. This philosophy ranges to every aspect of life, and includes many things that you may not know. Such as the deep interconnection between your mind, body, spirit. Your life will be determined by how you react, decide, and follow. If your own self state is imbalanced then how can you react properly to the stimulus around you? Your emotions is one of the biggest outside sign that people see when looking at you. When someone comes up to your they’re not going to see you mind or spirit being in health. Maybe your body if you’re physically fit, but being fit doesn’t always mean muscular so even that isn’t always the case. Your emotions are what people perceive.
Creating a proper emotional balance is something that really takes years to do, and something I’m not always good at. I consider myself to be a bit more inclined towards emotional intelligence, but even I have a lot to learn about myself.
Imbalances
Many things can change the flow of your emotions, such as outside stimuli (people, events, and your environment), and internally (thoughts, memories, meditation, and hormones). These for most can be a positive thing, and make people happier, such as a good job. Other times and more often than not in this time, the stimuli creates a sense of uneasiness, fear, and desperation.
These emotions flood the population, which causes havoc in societies, and impacts everyone. Unlike the other Pillars the Emotional Pillar is more connected to other people. Like I said before it is how people perceive you, but that goes the other way as well. You see people mainly through their emotions, or lack there of. This causes a certain bridge between you two, and on a larger scale the population as a whole.
What You Can Do
Keeping your emotions in check is harder than just working out, meditating, or learning. You can just do something a couple times a week to see improvement. Emotions are a constant process, keeping your mind on the fact that you feel angry, sad, happy, and choosing what to do with that knowledge. Knowing yourself before ever learning how to know others is key.
Being in tune with your emotions is a pretty cool state to be in, and you have a bit more control on the flow of emotions than you normally would. At times you may feel out of control of your life, and this can always be traced back to some sort of emotional disturbance. Understanding this ideology will illuminate many exposures to your own life.
Keeping Balanced
Keeping your emotions in check is simply keeping constant awareness of how you feel, and making sure you decide then and there what you truly want to feel. Realizing that is that particular emotion you’re feeling really what is best? Do you really want to feel angry or sad? No.
“Anger is a seed of corruption, that can only lead to more despair.” -U.L.C.
Keep that hatred, anger, and corruption in line. Don’t let it fester within you, it is not worth it at all. As hard as it is let it go.
Keeping this in mind, your emotions will have their effects on the other
Pillars. Always realize that it goes both ways, for if one of your Pillars is imbalanced that might be the reason why you are feeling so angry or upset. That might be why you’re happy because your body and mind are in sync. Etc. Control is key.
The Spiritual Pillar
Spirituality is a complicated subject, and for most people they default to religion when thinking about it. One point should be made from the get go is that you don’t have to be religious to have spirituality. This not to discount any religion by saying this, but too many people can become blinded by religion. Conversely there exists many enlightened people from a wide range of religions and beliefs.
Spirituality in it’s basic sense is the connection between your mind, and the inner being within you. Some say a soul, or Atman. That inner being is intrinsic to your personality and being, and when it is ignored you become disconnected from yourself.
For those who are atheist here is a point to make to you. It is fine that you don’t believe in a God, or deity, but can you answer me this “Do you not feel a mystical aspect of yourself that you cannot explain?”. Whatever your answer please comment below!
The Spirit Pillar is one of the more grounded Pillars for it cannot change very easily, which means in either way. What I am saying is that it cannot get damaged or healed very easily, and takes time to change it’s state. Where your Body and Mind can start to be forged over a few weeks, it might take a few years for your Spirit Pillar. Do not let this discourage you as over time when you become more align with yourself it becomes easier to see when something is astray (such as an emotional disturbance causing Spiritual decline for example). Still takes time to fix, but the detection is easier over time!
Imbalances
The imbalances in the Spiritual front can range greatly, for some can be quite noticeable and others not so much. Chakras are spiraling orbs of energy that exist in your being. They are simply represented in this way, for they can be complicated to comprehend in more spiritual terms.
Changes in your Chakras have an innate connection to each aspect of your life. When a certain one is blocked it hinders your spiritual progress, and can interfere with your own life.
Avatar The Last Airbender
I quite like the 7 Chakras explanation as shown above, for it simplifies the basic nature of energy flow within the body. -Dustin, PolyInnovator
This picture above rather over simplifies the ideas in each one, but lets take it to the next step. Each ball of color represents a certain Chakra and each with their own pool of energy. Almost like wheels or gears churning the energy around in each spot. When some aspect in your life has blocked the flow (such as emotional stress, physical trauma, or mental instability, or mental degeneration), then the flow is cut off. Preventing the harmony of the body. This point right here ^^^ is why the Spirit Pillar is so important, as to keep a balance between all Pillars then this one is the one that helps bridge them together.
What You Can Do
Lets start off with how to attain balance within yourself. There is an explanation in a video here that great defines each Chakra.
In that show the underlying philosophies scattered throughout the show was immense. Far greater than what a kid might actually understand.
I remember watching that particular episode for the first time, and being totally engrossed in what Guru Pathik was saying. Now I didn’t start meditation until I was towards the end of my teenage years (sadly!). -Dustin, PolyInnovator
Now its not that you unlock one Chakra and move on, as even previously unlocked Chakras can get blocked again. Which will happen a lot of the time with the Root Chakra. Which is based on survival (Think fight or flight instinct).
The basics would be to find comfortable place to sit and cross the legs, place your wrists on your knees, hand gestures aren’t crucial right now so don’t worry. Simply focus on keeping your eyes closed, take a deep breath and think. Some say to clear your mind, don’t do that. It is much better when you can deeply think about different aspects of your life. Especially when they coincide different Chakras.
Keeping Balanced
Keeping balance simply has to do with practice, same goes for the other Pillars. In order to temper the strength of the Pillars you need consistent practice. Ideally everyday is always best, but come on that is unpractical for most things. At the very least do everyday at least two Pillars. Mind, Body, Spirit, or Emotions. To work on two of them if not more will increase your progress much quicker.
Keeping trying on the meditation and over time it
will get easier and easier. Or more specifically you will get more patient .Then you will see an effect from doing it!
The Mind Pillar
Today we are focused on the mental aspect of life, the Mind Pillar.
With this series it is our hope to share with all of you the ideas behind balancing the Four Pillars. This philosophy is purely to determine on your own how it should be handled. If you choose to follow the guidelines closely then you can only see the future of your life improving!
The mind is a complex situation to keep in line, for some it can race as fast as a thousand horses, and for others it can be sluggish. We want a calm and focused mind in order to complete our daily tasks, let alone leave a great legacy in life. To keep a calm mind there needs to be no distractions from the other Pillars. So keeping the connections between Pillars will be a common idea throughout the series. We have said in earlier posts that they are all interconnected, and when one is in fault then the others will suffer.
Imbalances
The mind has many nooks and crannies where things can fluctuate. Now I know that sounds so scientific, but if you think about it there are many parts of the brain. From the hypothalamus, prefrontal cortex, Cerebellum, etc. Many studies show that memories are not stored in just one area or another, but in MANY areas in the brain with a complex way of being stored.
If even one of those areas is being affected, or if your mind is distracted by some event that has happened to you, then your mental cognition and focus will be impaired.
Other factors like the other Three Pillars will impact the Mind Pillar. Say for example your body is in poor condition. You’re sick, overweight, in pain, then the mind will be focused on that particular situation. That will prevent any improvement in your mental capacity. The same goes for the other Pillars as well.
Sometimes is simply comes down to the fact that you are not pushing your brain enough. The brain is a complex machine to say the least, but it can (at least in this context) be compared to a muscle. If you do not train it and challenge it a couple times a week, if not everyday, then it will become weak.
What You Can Do
There are many ways to train the brain to be sharper, more focused, and to be a smarter person in general. The biggest is simply to learn, and never stop. People who keep learning into their elderly years tend to have a far less change of getting dementia and Alzheimer. Leonardo Da Vinci NEVER stopped learning, and kept in impeccable mental and physical shape all of his life.
Training your brain can be a fun endeavor as well, video games have increasingly built connections in people’s brains. Forming new connections and synapses is one of the key things to increasing mental prowess. Video games of all kinds help form new bridges in the spatial awareness parts of the brain, hand-eye coordination, along with some games like shooters increasing the ability to look into the details more acutely.
Other ways are simply learning for learning sake. It can’t be something that makes you unmotivated though, but if you can find something that you WANT to learn. Then the process becomes easy. Reading articles, books, and blogs can increase information intake by a lot. Though try to stay away from distraction inducing sources like newspapers, media propaganda, etc. They can have an adverse effect on your learning.
All that can be said is level up!
Keeping Balanced
Keeping your Mind Pillar in balanced is both easier and harder than building it up. For some it can be a challenge to build up mental capacity, others maybe not so much. Let alone detect when the Pillar is in shackles in the first place. Keeping it in balance isn’t just keeping in balance with the other Pillars. You have to cultivate a lifestyle that benefits the Mind Pillar in it’s own right, not just with all the others. Each Pillar has it’s own formula for success, which must be enacted on it’s own.
For the Mental Pillar it does come down to the ability to keeping learning, and to challenge your mind.
One topic that will help with mental cognition , focus, and concentration is Nootropics. Which are supplements that help with all of the above. Some are simple like Caffeine and L-Theanine (A relaxation drug that is non-sedative), and when mixed together help increase focus.
C0Q10 is another common supplement that helps with mental agility, along with heart and Body Pillar bonuses.
Other Nootropics dive into an ocean of different studies, tests, and ranges
of effects. This level I would have to warn you to study as much as you can before trying much. Some though can really increase mental cognition. Which in reality is really important, and is something that should be sought after, but approached tactically!
There is a lot more where that came from!
You can find more posts about the Pillars here:
Dustin Miller | PolyInnovator
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