The efficient ones always find ways to optimize their performance in unknown/unfavorable situations. My husband’s trick is to remember the symbol of yoga (sun and lotus) when he is forced to sit in pointless meetings and when he has to teach disinterested students. My father’s trick is to coin phrases. For instance, “Cart before the horse” is one such. When he feels stuck, it reminds him that he needs to figure out the right order of things to move his life forward, not to get stuck in the cart-before-the-horse mode.

For me, nothing has worked better than acronyms! Acronyms contain so many reminders inside a single word. Recently, as I was clearing my inbox, I stumbled upon one of the first ones I coined to regain my physical and mental health in grad school: S.H.I.E.L.D.

My algorithm for any problem had three steps:

1) Google all the solutions and make a list.

2) Select ones that have the maximum impact on the outcome I want.

3) Formulate a plan with a tracker and the necessary changes in the environmental cues.

With experience, I realized that Google can be wrong and that my sources of information can be limited in knowing the whole truth. For instance, the Western science that has only recently discovered vegetarianism keeps reversing its recommendations (read: the coconut oil and ghee debacle). So, I decided to update my step number one: Google for all the solutions, talk to elders and friends with the result I want, tabulate them by source, and use only time-tested solutions catered to my constraints.

Complicated? Let me simplify.

In the context of health, now that I’ve reconnected with Ayurveda, I revisited my previous SHIELD list. As you know, Ayurveda talks about three aspects of life that need attention every single moment – Ahaara (what we consume), Vihara (lifestyle), and Vichara (our thoughts). It encourages us to contemplate how we spend our days and nights.

Based on that, here is my updated SHIELD.

S: Sunlight, Smile, Sleep 

1. Nothing like a warm hug, right? I like to up the notch. I like to get a nice warm hug from the morning and evening sun, and the rest of the time be wrapped in sun-kissed, crisp, natural fabrics. Is that cool or warm?😎
2. Smile: I remind myself often that we are on a planet spinning in the middle of nowhere. Do you?  Smile 😊 The trick seems to do all work with utmost sincerity, but with the least seriousness. 
3. Sleep well: I’m a super-woman saving the world at night! Turn gadgets off at 9 pm, pick a book. Once feeling sleepy, do padabhyanga and turn the lights off at 10 pm.

H: Harmony inside and outside, Home-value set, feel Hunger

1. Let’s face it! Most of our problems stem from our interactions with other people or from health/wealth concerns. Regularly taking time out to reflect on what disturbs you and update your working model of the world is the only way to achieve harmony. Just like you throw out old clothes, throw out old notions that no longer serve you.
2. Home-value set: Life with compromised values is nothing but a disaster! Write down the set of values you will not compromise, even if you were paid a million dollars. This value system is what we call Dharma in Bharat. Clarity in values helps align our thoughts, feelings, and actions with our higher truth.
3. Feel Hunger before you put a morsel in your mouth! This habit is an absolute must to have any semblance of health. 

I: Interactions that inspire and initiate the right action

1. Useful, respectful and mutual! The easiest way to spot these relationships where you both value each other is the feeling of peace/joy you experience when you see the other person! You are more energized after meeting them! I have a nested acronym to simplify it further: PETBAG (Positive(hopeful), Effective, True, Beneficial, Attentive, Good-will in mind).
2. Set and respect boundaries, both your own and others’. If it is your time, protect it. If it is others’ time, respect it. 
3. Always ask, “How does this argument look from the other person’s perspective?” 

E: Exercise to Energize

1. To prevent injury and build strength, exercise has to be done on an empty stomach, after clearing bowels and after abhyanga (oil massage), preferably in the morning. Check out the 13th Anushtaana.
2. Be mindful of your capacity when you exercise. Focus on the breath. Listen to your body when it asks you to stop with sweat or gasps for breath. 
3. We don’t need to limit exercise to a gym visit. Add a variety of activities throughout the day: Dancing, gardening, walking around the block, carrying groceries, cleaning the bathroom, cycling, and swimming. Helps with overall

L: Learning and leisure

What if you lived a life where you never stopped eating? You will be left with an indigestible complex in your stomach that will make you sick! 

Same with life. If you don’t know how to balance work and leisure, you will be left with a lot of undigested knowledge that will make you sick. You need to learn to synthesize and integrate all that you learn. Learn to learn and learn to master leisure!

Every time you sit down to learn/ relax, be intentional. 

1. Learning: Deep learning without distractions on a topic of interest for a long period of time, consistently, with curiosity. Focus all your senses on what you study, visualize, and revise often. Teach. Recall often. 
2. Leisure: Music, prayer, art, observation and reflection time, nature time, leisure stroll, or just doing nothing. Leisure is not passively seeing other people create content. As you can guess, gaming and TV are addictive and hence do not come under leisure! Doing it for the joy it gives, not to post on social media or to make it another income stream. Get out of the mode of performing for others!

D: Digest better through a good Diet and a good Dinacharya 

1. Prioritize digestion. According to Ayurveda, poor digestion is the root cause of all diseases. Bowel movement first thing in the morning, Hunger, feeling of lightness, and enthusiasm are all signs of good digestion. Imagine a car that needs help to start every day. You would get it fixed. Same with our body. A bowel movement first thing in the morning indicates a well-functioning body. Fix your sleep, stress, diet, and daily rhythm to help it start right. 
2. Diet: Follow the principles of cooking and consuming fresh food.  
3. Dinacharya, which follows the time of the day and seasons, is the only way to keep our body moving harmoniously in this world. This is also a very vast topic that I started learning a few years ago. Maybe someday we will try to take this up in our Ayurvedic initiative, Anustaana.

If you have gotten this far, I’m sure you, too, have a favorite hack or two to keep your life aligned with your vision. Leave a note below! 🙂

Keep coming back!

श्रीकृष्णार्पनमस्तु 🙏🏾