Sahaja means ” That with which we are born”. It is about living in harmony and flow. Sahajata refers to doing activities smoothly and in harmony. We all dream of a peaceful day in which everything works out as per our desire. Basically a life without struggle. We do not investigate the root cause of the struggle. Yes, it is easy to say that my husband or wife do not behave as they should or my child is not listening to me. However, it never helps and they are not going to behave as you expect. What is needed is internal work. I have listed inner solutions that will help you to create a peaceful day or days.
When we say we want a peaceful day, we are saying that we do not want to struggle with anyone or anything. The real struggle is happening within us and hence we need to establish the harmony within. The real harmony is achieved when our body and mind are in the same flow. For, e.g. your mind is worrying about all the pending tasks while you are performing one of them. It only brings anxiety and lack of focus on the current task.
Steps to a Peaceful Day
A reminder of our nature – Our true nature is that of peace and of bliss. We have forgotten this and have accepted frustration and stress as our normal behaviour. We need a regular reminder to create a long-lasting impression in the mind. This will lead to auto-response in every situation keeping in mind that we are at peace.
We can do the same by affirming “I am a peaceful soul” throughout the day. We can also meditate on this sentence for 5 mins every day.
Focus on the given task – This is what all the Buddhist monks follow. Even if they are doing a mundane task like washing a dish, they would bring their all attention to the given task. The practice is also called mindfulness.
When I am focused on the current task, I am not worrying. You might say but I need to plan other pending tasks. To be honest, you are not doing the planning. You are just looking at the list of the pending work and creating unnecessary anxiety. We will cover the planning part as well.
Acceptance of the situation – I don’t like keeping my stuff at its regular places. But this haunts me for the entire day when I see my stuff, not at the right place. Even If I don’t like, I have to organize them. It is tough in any situation but we will have to accept that no one else is going to come and do it. We rather accept it and do it. Acceptance reduces the inner struggle and the energy that we wasted in ignoring, can be utilized in finishing the task.
Regulated life – This advice comes directly from spiritual gurus. A regulated life leads to pre-planned day and that does not change frequently. Every day we follow almost the same routine. It may sound boring to many but it helps reduce unnecessary anxiety. You can always select a day or two to not follow routine may be on weekends. Apart from that stick to the same time of getting up and going to sleep.
Planning your day ahead – There are many productive tips available on the internet to help us plan our day well in advance. I particularly like the book “Getting things done” by David Allen. The author shows different ways in which we can be productive without being anxious. For, e.g. he asks us to write down all the pending tasks and not just keep in mind. This tip alone helped me finish many tasks.
Be OK with storms – I am still a juvenile in this but we will have to learn to face storms. There will always be a situation outside our control. We will always get extra work in the office or there will always be new mess created by kids. We are programmed to give an initial reaction based on our impressions but we should not aggravate it.
Start your day with Positive thinking – First 10 minutes in the morning can create a road map of our entire day. Spend this precious time in either meditation, prayers or affirmation. You can also read some inspirational books. I keep the intention to read either Swami Vivekananda’s book or Upanishad. Keep the habit of looking at mobile after you are done with above.
Ritual before sleep – To have a nice sleep, you can create a small routine before going to bed. This helps in creating a relaxed morning. Either read a good book or meditate. You can also listen to Yog Nidra meditation. This will help in planting good thoughts in your mind which will be there along with you in your sleep.
You are not missing anything – I used to have this constant feeling of missing out on something while performing my duties. Being a spiritual aspirant I wanted to spend more time on spirituality rather than doing any work. You might be feeling similar for some of your creativity or art or any other passion.
We need to let go of this feeling as this only brings misery. We can bring spirituality, creativity or passion into the work we need to do. For, e.g. in Vedanta, they teach that only meditation will not work. What is needed is a constant reminder of your true self in every moment.
If we believe that we are a soul even for a minute, then what soul will miss? This entire world around us, our hobbies, our passion, our art are all only related to this body and mind. Nothing affects the soul.
Duties to be performed – In spirituality, we believe that we all have to perform our duties till the time we are in this body. There are many stories where characters are performing very mundane and considerably low nature tasks and yet they possess the highest knowledge of self.
One such story is of Vyadha the butcher. The Vyadha Gita (meaning, teachings of a butcher) is a part of the epic Mahabharata and consists of the teachings imparted by Vyadha (Butcher) to a brahmin sannyasin (monk). No one can imagine a butcher giving knowledge of self to a monk.
Such stories remind me that whatever duties we perform, we can rise internally. Ultimately we want to grow. This is arising from our nature of supreme consciousness which is infinite and hence we cannot be limited to this finite body or mind.