When you get tears of joy (😂), your body is set in joy motion. You feel something and that can get you to move and take good action.
You get to experience freeing moments like you’re on top of the world, and your mind is joyfully elevated. This helps your mental health and outlook. And when your mind is happy, your body feels the connection. That’s Ayurveda in a nutshell.
Well… except it’s not that cut and dry (…I don’t think anything is these days). I wrote some personal notes below at the end of this post, from over a decade of intentional-balanced and healthy-minded living
I think it’s safe to say, we all have different body goals. One of mine is to stay looking young for as long as nature will let me. I can’t stop gray hairs from coming, but I can avoid the stressful grays that started in my mid-20s.
And our preferences are different, like in music…
For me and maybe for you, that can be in listening to a song that strikes a chord inside, like Adele’s emotional songs or the empowering words from a Lauren Daigle song.
Lyrics matter to me more now than they used to when I’d hum along to anything that had an upbeat vibe. It’s a good idea to be choosier about what we put in our minds (and body) if we want certain results.
And in modern Ayurvedic living, you choose as it’s not rules-based but certain practices work because the body is intuitive.
In other happy moments, seeing someone else happy can leave us smiling. Or when they have tears of joy, we do too.
And in another moment, that could be laughing out loud (does anyone even use LOL anymore…besides me? 😊).
And btw, I get a good laugh in watching The Great British Baking Show. I’ll spare you the witty, but clean jokes swirling in my head. But, that’s what sets it apart from every other baking competition. It’s standup (filmed) comedy or silly, tongue-in-cheek banter… oh, and beautiful bakes too.🍥
And it’s easy to love and relate to all the friendly contestants (and be glad you’re not under the pressure!). Read-dy?…Now Bake.
Just kidding. (I can’t say lol since I just called myself out on it).
But, anyway… in life, you’re usually witnessing your life from and with other people even if it’s through a computer or television. Even if we feel like we live in a bubble, our energy permeates through social media and our connections made. It doesn’t take a plane ride… it takes nanoseconds for our energy and atoms to travel.
And that’s the relational power we have in this life. Along with our connecting breath.
Next time you think about it, pair your tears of joy (or routinely adding daily eye drops) with a special breathing exercise called Pranayama, that’s a controlled way of breathing.
Here’s how you do Pranayama breath. Blow out all your air through your mouth. And then inhale breathe in a big gasp of air through your nose. Hold your breath for about 6-8 seconds. And then let out a big exhale through your mouth as you had started with. You can feel a burst of concentration/clarity in your mind. The mind fog is lifted (even if it’s temporary) and it can feel like you just had a shot of espresso or strong matcha tea.
In doing the breathing exercise, you’ve just relaxed and massaged your body from the diaphragm muscles to your vital nerves that impact your brain, breathing, and the body parts that regulate your stress. Sounds like a big deal… it is.
But we forget. And living in purpose is everything to intentional balanced living.
You get to feel alive! And that may be the that’s-what -I’m talkin’-about prescription you need, especially if you have constant stress in your life. You can try to find areas of life where you can shed tears of joy.
You can practice breathing purposeful daily wherever you are, so remember to do this regularly or when you next feel anxiety or a breather moment.
This can be another purposeful move where you step outside where you spend most of your day. Like when you’re out and see a work of art that moves your heart and stirs your soul. That can be from nature or something that is living and breathing like a baby-making cooing sounds or a dog with a wagging tail you see walking outside.
If you’re cooped up inside and have no errands to run (lucky you!), here are some outside ideas to get out of your nest:
Go to the dog park.
Visit your local garden or arboretum.
Visit your closest natural body of water and wonder.
Find a nearby waterfall to marvel at.
Find a bike path and take a walk (or ride).
Find a new way or path to get somewhere. Take the scenic route, away from traffic.
Find a bridge to cross as a metaphor for your life.
Get a healthy dose of Vit D bottle of sunshine on your face that’s better than any facial product.
If you feel anxious or have worried thoughts, get busy. The easiest way to shed anxious energy is to focus on an activity, other than the one that makes you nervous.
You could listen to coffee fireside music when it’s cozy or warm out. And hear the distant sound of coffee mugs making a connection to plate surfaces, and the refreshing swirling and whirling sound of a frothing machine in the faded distance.
Or listen to a refreshing piano played against the gentle pitter-patter of raindrops by a window. And if you love Christmas music as I do, have a Christmas in July celebration happening in your headphones (or play a modern twist through your home speakers).
These days, there are Christmas coffee music albums for every genre.
And then keep taking time out. That’s a good strategy for getting things done. When I’m writing articles, I write my best headlines with ending deadlines (where I plan to take mind breaks) 😉
On the east coast, I love seeing the explosion of bright fall leaf colors change. A beautiful site or photo never gets old. And can bring tears of joy.
If you grew up on the east coast and moved away or are on travel, these types of images can be very grounding, soothing, and stir up some fond nostalgia… reminding you of things you did on calm and peaceful days. And maybe some happy, tears of joy memories.
Good things never get old.
And simple joys can bring tears of joy if you allow them to. Then you can take your optimism and happy mind to build on everything else in your life.
And that’s where Ayurveda can invade-a, when you embrace your whole and well-being aspirations and living.
I find it interesting when people say Ayurveda is gimmicky or a trend. For me, it’s sustainable and lifelong because it’s not prescriptive… I run from those ideas.
It allows for the bio-individuality in this world is (and that unique column post full of leaves growing like ivy above is living proof). You get to decide your details based on basic natural body principles.
And when you get off balance (we all do at some point), you can help heal yourself.
It’s actually brilliant in my opinion, and the organization part makes sense from this often chaotic world. It’s structured, science-based, practical, and individual-based. It’s a combination of art (creation) and science. And I think you need both for balanced living (and to thrive in this life). 🧡
🎋 Biodiversity and bio-individuality is like this… If you think you have a dairy sensitivity, you may be able to eat certain cheeses from buffalo, goat, or sheep milk. This works for gluten and other sensitivities where you don’t have a known allergy (like Celiac disease or a seafood allergy).
You can find the right formula for you so you don’t have to give up your favorites (which is not a formula for success).
Ayurveda points to finding the healthy options that work for you as an individual and your preferences, and how to balance your one-and-only body. And like medicine, it compares you to others (who specifically have your 1 out of 3 dominant Ayurvedic body types).
Western medicine approaches seem to fall short when nothing concrete is diagnosed and you know something needs fixing. Then you can be sent around to specialists. That’s half the challenge. And then standard battery tests are run (often based on symptoms) and if they don’t fit a profile, then you’re back to Square Qne scratching your head for solutions… that can be reason enough to stay healthy and prevent preventable health problems, where I believe Ayurveda rocks and rules. …And good motivation to live balanced.
🎋 Ayurveda also complements your natural healthy desires. You probably do Ayurveda in your life whether you acknowledge, or know it or not. I won’t get into the yoga aspects here. Spices and herbs enhance your food and bakes. And cayenne spices can even set off tears of joy, while lovely tea adds joy. And promotes disease prevention anti-inflammatory living (the only diet I like to talk about).
I’ve been focused on prevention since the ‘90s when I volunteered at the local American Cancer Society office. People were still smoking then so the campaigns were about smoking cessation (I mean people used to smoke on airplanes… can you imagine? I remember.).
And during that same time, we were light years ahead in knowing that cancer and heart disease (the number one killers) were often preventable or able to be slowed down through lifestyle. Guess what the top causes of death are today? The same.
But, types of cancer have changed. While public smoking trends have completely changed today and we now slather on suntan lotion, a lot of what we know today about antioxidants had already broken ground.
The word has been out that disease prevention came from eating anti-oxidant-rich fruits, veggies, and grains (cutting down on fats and sugar, and avoiding daily red meat).
Since college, I was into nutrition trends and fad diet books, and the only way that has stuck with me over time as gospel is anti-inflammatory eating that includes, fruits and vegetables, dairy, lean proteins, beans, grains, pasta as filler, EVOO, and gluten-less bread…
That hasn’t made a revolutionary change from my American Cancer Society volunteer days. What’s old is new. What has changed is we have more awareness, easier and more ways to learn about health, and better choices are available to us, like more plant-based options and an array of new fruit types.
And the last point (and probably one that is understated), is…
🎋 Ayurveda encompasses mind, body, and spirit (and complements faith-based living).
When you have a healthy running, optimal body, then you can better align with mind and spirit. That’s fully using everything you’re empowered to manage and run inside you. When you have a well-oiled machine you can intuitively hear and lean into what good things your body-mind naturally wants and points you to.
It’s as simple and complicated as that.
Your natural body and rhythms can more easily be restored. Any annoying body symptoms you are facing for a week or a season can subside or turn a new leaf from growth.
You can be more into spices, consciously spicing up your foods more often. Holiday things can creep up on you from July in Christmas, to Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Last year I wrote a post on the array of rainbow color spices (where I used my catering events planner hat) that can be helpful to inspire holiday meal planning. That could be a reminder to someone that now’s a good time to get the festive spices you need. It’s never too soon or too late to plan your spices!