MINDFULNESS CREATES HAPPINESS - BODY, RELATIONSHIPS, & WORK
BODY
Since your body is the means through which you experience everything in the physical plane, it is important to keep our body healthy. Our health is profoundly influenced by our mental health—because thoughts create beliefs, beliefs shape the story or internal narrative we weave about ourselves, others, and every experience we have, and that story generates all of our feelings.
The relationship between our thoughts, feelings, and physical health is a complex interweaving of the three. What the mind represses, the body expresses—emotional “dis-ease” invariably leads to disease. Chronic stress, depression, or prolonged anxiety trigger the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis to pump out cortisol and other stress hormones. Over time, this hormonal flood:
Dysregulates immune function, leaving you more susceptible to infections and slowing healing.
Promotes systemic inflammation, a root contributor to conditions like heart disease, diabetes, and autoimmune disorders.
Elevates blood pressure and accelerates plaque buildup in arteries, increasing cardiovascular risk.
Disrupts gut-brain communication, altering the microbiome, impairing nutrient absorption, and even influencing mood further.
Impairs sleep and hampers cellular repair processes—shortening telomeres, our “biological clocks,” and accelerating aging.
No amount of organic produce, daily workouts, or abstaining from alcohol, tobacco, and sugary drinks can fully offset the wear and tear of unchecked emotional turmoil. If we’re not emotionally well, our physical health will always suffer.
That’s why I’m such a huge advocate of meditation and authentic yoga. By yoga, I’m not referring to the American commercialization of asana (the body postures alone), but to the traditional, sacred practice developed in India that unites MIND, BODY, & SPIRIT and cultivates self-awareness. While the asanas offer some benefit on their own, the deeper breathwork, meditative focus, and energetic alignment of true yoga practice helps to reset the nervous system, calm the HPA axis (hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis) - again, your body’s central stress-response system, and ground you emotionally, psychologically, and spiritually. A daily practice of this kind will have you well on your way to boosting your physical integrity and cultivating the emotional resilience that underpins vibrant health.
RELATIONSHIP
Notice I didn't write "Relationships."
"All Knowledge begins with Self-Knowledge" - Buddhist Proverb
We cannot know anything outside of our self . . . every experience is only happening within us. Since consciousness is always outbound [from within], we are both the center and the circumference - the subject and the object - of every experience we are having.
No one else is responsible for the way we feel – blame does not exist in an awakened individual. An awakened individual doesn’t seek love and understanding from another person; they radiate it unconditionally to others. They love with NO CONDITIONS placed upon another individual, in friendships or relationship that are romantic in nature. In the series, “HOW TO MINDFULLY APPROACH ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIPS,” I really do a deep dive into the subject of how to navigate the intoxicating feelings of falling love without falling into codependency - importing our self-worth from someone else.
At the level of our ego, everyone we meet is a reflection of what we love or hate about ourselves . . . and with society only appealing to the egoic mind, it keeps us trapped at the level of comparison and competition. That is very dangerous in a world where our unattended minds are like a garbage heap; in that, every one that passes by throws something into it.
The cumulative sum of all the impressions made upon us over the course of our life has created our biases, beliefs, preferences, and opinions about everything. These predispositions create an internal dialogue within us, and the stories, judgements, and appraisals we come up with about others. If we pay close attention, they are always narratives that are commensurate with and reinforce our cognitive bias and the beliefs that we have about ourselves. The content of these stories is woven together so as to validate or invalidate both the affirming or negating beliefs we cling to about ourselves. That internal dialogue, validating us or attacking us, is a poorly designed coping mechanism developed in childhood that no longer serves us as adults. But it has become so compulsive we can't seem to stop it or just turn our minds off. Now our minds are working against us by keeping us trapped in duality.
"When pain, misery, or anger happen,
it is time to look within you, not around you."
~ Sadhguru
The stories we make up about others, their choices, and their actions, is just our mind's way of deflecting our own internal bully’s attacks (our intellect attacking our vulnerable inner emotional child), and gives ourselves permission to feel sorry for ourselves as victims . . . because as long as we judge the other person we don’t have to face our own self-deprecating internal dialogue who is really condemning us, not the other person.
As a result, when we focus only on what’s wrong with us, we fail to acknowledge or understand others’ feelings, wants, desires, ambitions, and choices. We then interpret everything they do as uncaring, neglectful, or even rejecting and abandoning us—never realizing they, just like us, are acting out of their own fear and simply trying to protect themselves.
Relationships with our family, friends, and colleagues, are only a by-product of the only relationship we’re ever having, and that’s the relationship we’re having with ourselves.
In other words, the only relationship we are ever having, from the day we arrive, until the day we depart this world, is the one we are having with ourselves in any given moment, and that relationship is always and only taking place in our head. How we see ourselves isn’t based on what others think of us. It’s based on what “we think others think of us.” All external relationships serve as mirrors reflecting the beliefs we hold about ourselves. Our interactions with others are evaluated, appraised, and evoke innate feelings that we then weave into stories to explain what’s happening around us and to us—when, in fact, it’s all unfolding within us. An experience of our own creation not based on anything external.
An accurate depiction of ourselves is elusive because that depiction is completely imaginary (and by imaginary, I mean, only in our heads) and always filtered through the complexion of a whole myriad of different emotions that unfortunately, are always changing. In other words, we see ourselves through a different lens every time we choose to look at ourselves and contemplate the essence of who and what we are.
For the most part, our perception of self in any given moment is reactionary and myopic in nature, usually in response to an external trigger, or some circumstance we find ourselves in. It’s illusory (an illusion), and making an accurate appraisal of ourselves, as a whole, in an isolated, transient moment of feeling something is virtually impossible because we are not what happens to us, nor are we the wellspring of feelings that bubble up to the surface in response to the events that transpire within a given day.
Developing self-awareness allows us to live consciously, in the eternal “NOW” and become the observer of both our thoughts and the messages we are constantly sending to ourselves, that can either build us up or tear us down.
WORK
Here’s all I’m going to say about work. If it’s not in line with your passions and you’re settling for a job out of fear disguised as pragmatism, it’s time to get out. And believe me, I know all too well how much easier it sounds than it is. I spent years trapped between security and my true calling, too afraid to admit that playing it safe was slowly draining my spirit. But here’s what changed everything for me: I chose to believe in myself, carving out hours in the margins of my career job to work on what lit me up.
People lose jobs every day—and often it’s a blessing in disguise. When you hate “playing it safe,” every morning becomes a reminder that you’re living someone else’s story. A career built merely to pay the bills might offer momentary comfort, but it never satisfies the deeper hunger of your heart. No promotion, no bonus, no pat on the back will fill the void left by unfulfilled purpose.
I get that pragmatism is our default setting—“responsibility,” “bills,” “security.” But here’s the truth: if you have even a small window of time, and a spark of a dream in your chest, give yourself permission to take it seriously. Start incrementally—an hour a week, a weekend workshop, a side project in your notebook. Watch how every little step builds momentum, bolstering your confidence and igniting hope.
Life is short, and it’s the courage to risk failure that rewards us with real joy. So take a chance on yourself. Trust that your dreams are worth the discomfort, and step boldly toward the life you were meant to live. You might just surprise yourself with how far you can go.
I would love to hear from you and hear your own personal thoughts on how you practice mindfulness or would like to in the comment section below. Let me know if the content of this article resonates with you, provides perspective, or helps you see things in a different way that empowers you to make different choices or see life and relationships through a different lens. I value your thoughts and feedback and look forward to hearing from you.
An Invitation to Holistic Transformation
True wellness thrives at the intersection of MIND, BODY, and our PLANET / ENVIRONMENT. The SHIFT ETHOS WELLNESS PATHWAYS PROCESS is a comprehensive, structured journey that guides you through every dimension of health:
Mind: Cultivate mindfulness, discover emotional / stress resilience techniques, and enhance mental fitness with meditation, breathwork, and brain-rewiring techniques.
Body: Optimize physical health - and prevent chronic disease with dietary & nutritional meal plans, build strength with a scalable fitness regimen, unlock consistent deep restorative sleep, and learn how to effectively manage stress.
Planet: Acknowledge that your outer environment shapes your inner health—detox your home of toxic cleaners, petroleum-based detergents, cosmetics, and other biotoxins to create a chemical-free sanctuary that supports both body and mind.
Imagine waking each day with a clear mind, energized body, and the confidence that your environment supports—not sabotages—your health.
I’d love to invite you to explore the SHIFT ETHOS WELLNESS PATHWAYS PROCESS. Discover a truly integrated approach to vibrant living.
When you’re ready to see how this all-in-one program can support your unique goals, schedule a free consult by pressing the blue button at the bottom of the WELLNESS PATHWAYS page.
Let’s embark on this journey together.
Love & Light to You in your continued Journey of Self-Discovery!
David
