Don’t Settle For Less (With Practice)

May 17, 2025

I’m on the 12th day of my yearly panchakarma (Ayurvedic cleanse & rejuvenation protocol) in India.
As always, when we stop letting go (literally) of what is not serving us, we start to see more clearly some things that need attention. 
I’ve had this minor infection between my toes for a year now. I’ve tried tea tree oil and other creams, and nothing worked. It’s not itchy, just there, so I accepted it and stopped trying to heal it. 
When I come to panchakarma, I mention everything to the doctor, even the most minor things. He didn’t like it and was determined to get rid of it. He changed the medicated oil twice, and boom, it’s drying quickly.

It made me realise how we sometimes accept to live with toxicity in our lives and our bodies, and the body gets the message that this is normal, which is the definition of a chronic condition.
We accept the extra weight and bloatedness after food or disturbed sleep; we even settle into toxic—relationships, jobs, and thought patterns… and we chronically numb ourselves to survive. 

But what if we can thrive? What if we can shift our physical and mental wellbeing?
What if we could feel free of heaviness in the body and the mind? What if we could feel fully alive, like when we were kids? Not perfect, but to our optimal capacity. 

Sometimes life knocks us, and we lose the Joie de Vive, and we learn to live less than we can becase the fear of losing what we already have is bigger than our longing for true satisfaction. 
And less become the comfort zone, and what we really want feels unsafe. 

The good news is that we can rewire our brains, regenerate our cells, and start to feel safe (and, with time, familiar) with what we are longing for. 

PRACTICE.
Sit comfortably and breathe deeply. Reflect on your life, career, relationship, and physical and mental wellbeing and see where you compromise for less.
Just notice it, no judgment; bring your awareness to where you deny yourself the possibility of aliveness and satisfaction.
The awareness itself is the healing. As one master once said, “You don’t kick the darkness with a broom; you just light a candle.” Your awareness is the candle. 
Now, give some space to your longings: What do you wish for yourself? What makes you feel fully alive?
Write it down. 
Go for a walk in nature, feel the ease in your body when you look at the beauty around you, and whisper to yourself a few times: ‘I am safe.’ 
Then, bring to your awareness to all that you are longing for and feel yourself living it.
Try it a few times, and let me know how it’s going.