What Are You Hungry For? by Deepak Chopra Read Free Book Online Page A

but leave the light inside.
    On your next breath, take in more light. See the light filling your chest now begin to suffuse the rest of your body, moving down into your abdomen. Don’t force the visualization, and don’t worry if you have trouble seeing the light—even a faint sense of white light is good enough.
    With each breath, let the light suffuse your arms, then your hands all the way to the fingertips. Let it suffuse your legs down to your toes. Finally, send the light into your head and out the top in a beam that reaches high.
    Sit with the light for a few moments, then lift your arms, lettingthem float upward as if the light is causing them to rise. You are like a balloon filled completely with light. Enjoy the sensation, then open your eyes.
    This is a good exercise to counteract feelings of dullness, heaviness, fatigue, and sadness. The sensation of being physically light, paired with the visualization of inner light, creates a big change in how you relate to your body. But there’s much more that you can do with the theme of light:
    •  Favor lighter foods, the fresher and more natural the better.
    •  Drink lighter beverages—flavored spring water instead of sodas, for example, or alcohol-free beer.
    •  Do one thing every day that makes you feel lighthearted.
    •  Be gentler with yourself and others, using a lighter hand.
    •  Wear lighter colors and lighter fabrics.
    •  When you feel happy, let your light shine so others can see it.
    •  Be in the light by associating with people who inspire you.
    •  Read inspiring poetry and spiritual literature, gaining nourishment at the level of the soul.
    Once you get it—that
light
nourishes at every level—this is a wonderful theme to play with. Each meaning of a single word can be turned into countless actions. A life that is lived in the light is the best anyone could ask for.
    Since every life story is complex, there’s a need for simplicity so that you can change without getting lost in the weeds—and let’s face it, everyday existence gets pretty weedy, filled with distractions, complications, accidents, and obstacles. Anyone can benefit by using the simple model of themes or tags. If you devoted yourself to just two themes we’ve been discussing—
light
and
nourishing
—your existence would be totally transformed.

Getting the Message
    Let’s go deeper into the mind-body connection. The words in your head follow a circular path known as a feedback loop.
    You have a thought.
    It registers in your brain.
    The brain sends chemical signals to every cell in your body.
    The cells react and send a message back to the brain.
    As feedback runs through the loop, you experience a new sensation, emotion, or thought. Some aspects go unnoticed, however, which is why it took decades before modern medicine discovered that every mental event affects the body, too. The research to discover the brain’s microscopic, fleeting neurotransmitters—the carriers of messages from cell to cell—was quite painstaking.
    Changing negative input to positive input makes a world of difference. A few basic principles apply to everyone (assuming the absence of serious physical or mental disorders). We’ve been discussing them already, but it’s good to be specific.
    Principle #1:
To change your body, first change your story.
    Principle #2:
Every story is about how to be happy.
    Principle #3:
If you find a better way to be happy than by overeating, your body will naturally return to its balanced state.
    If you are chronically overweight, one or more of these basic principles needs your attention. You are the author of your own story. Let me give an example of how the plot can go out of control, even though it doesn’t have to.
    Jerry is forty-five and securely employed. He went through arough divorce this year. Now it’s ten months later, and Jerry must have started to find comfort in overeating, because he can squeeze the beginning of an inner tube