Self Improvement by Reduction

In the health approaches, psychological outlook and the pursuit of an enviable lifestyle, it is typical of modern global society to constantly seek to add elements in an effort to improve.
Often driven by the marketing orientated capital based socio-economic dominant culture we have ever increasing needs and more complicated lives than ever.

Our endevours to use time most effectively and get maximum benefit from each moment has led to vast adoption of technology assumably intended to engender efficiency. The result is often that we are consumed by our need to stay connected to our network of 'time saving' technology. Advancements in communication and connectiveness keep us attached to social platforms that never existed before. Our very effort to promote, streamline and simplify human interactions seems to demand, instead, more time, effort, attention and energy from us which was previously available to dedicate as applicable to the needs of the moment; be it in activity or lack thereof.

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To be fair advancement is inevitable, we were evolving long before we consciously saught improvement through intentional means but it's easy to forget that nature is constantly taking away as well as creating.
In pursuit of the health and wellness ideal we are bombarded with suggestions as to things we can add to our diet, exercise or self help regime. A plethora of vitamin and supplement options are touted as the key, the missing piece, that will bring us into the state that we so eagerly strive for.
The same applies to psycho-spiritual well-being. Countless psychological and meditation techniques are available to us to choose and in our struggle to properly discern what might be helpful or not it is always tempting to 'double up' just in case. In diet we are constantly introduced to new 'super foods' or results of research into optimal nutrient intake. Playing on our doubts and the difficulty in obtaining a comprehensive subjective certainty, we are always inclined to supplement rather than to look at improvement through removing the superfluous, unnecessary or harmful. Even the idea of dieting or detox fasting, is in a psychological sense, a concept we are adding to our outlook. We take this idea up, or that idea, and adopt it as a conceptual framework to operate from without truly letting go and easing into a physical or psychological contentment that is available as a basic state and was available before we began tweaking, and 'improving' it.

In my struggles with ill health and my ever increasing desperation for a solution, I was deeply caught up in the marketing initiatives of health and wellness branding. Supplements, super-foods, dietry outlooks. Fads are presented as truth in the form of scientific advancement or re-discoveries of ancient forgotten principles. There is so much available that there was, I found, an inevitable tendency to use more than one approach simultaneously. Admittedly this was ill advised but is realistically the result of the combination of perceived need and the abundance of available options. It's easy in retrospect, to look back at how caught up I was, and to see the foolishness of it. I can now understand the ugly fact that without knowing the correct approach and making use of it, I was more than likely doing more harm than good, however, I still see this kind of behavior continuing and even increasing all around me.

In my case and through my struggles I learnt that I needed no additions and that what really helped was reduction. The answer all along was not to solve any problem because the problem would hardly exist if I approached the whole question with simplicity and the space simplicity created for understanding.

It is difficult to express but somehow subtly different from adopting a fasting regime or plan for 'optimal' diet. There is a deeper level in our hearts and minds that this need to let go exists. I needed to embrace simplicity. Psycho-spiritually can be seen as an attitude akin to faith. To relax, respond, review and re-align.

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I was struck by an insert in a documentary I saw recently. The insert in question was a scientifically duboius 'for TV' practical demonstration on the effects of antioxidant supplementation. The presenter (test subject) avoided fruit, colourful vegetables, coffee and any other foods that might be naturally high in antioxidants for three days. After a blood test she then commenced consuming numerous fruit smoothies over the course of the day with further tests. The results showed that the first test showed the highest blood levels of antioxidants. The body seemed to treat the high levels subsequently intaken, as if they were a mildly poisonous substance such as drugs like caffeine etc. The body's effort to eliminate the excess resulted in overall lower levels than on a diet practically devoid of any significant sources of antioxidants. This was fascinating to me because although we know that these substances are beneficial, even necessary to human health, taking them in a concentrated form resulted in a situation where A: the body was stressed attempting to rid itself of the excess and B: we apparently get a perfectly adequate level without even trying, so to speak. The same documentary also claimed that vitamin supplementation has absolutely no benefit and in a similarly has the potential to harm due to differences in peoples needs and the possibility of undiagnosed sensitivities or conditions.

I am using health and wellness as an example to demonstrate a situation which I think is applicable in a much deeper and wider context. The same logic applies to inner health and wellness. In psychological development, spiritual seeking, social interactions and self help, I think the most beneficial and powerfully transformative thing one can do is settling and simplifying. Not only reduction of harm but stepping back, gaining perspective without formulating a mindset. Of observing, waiting and responding. My experience is that oftentimes, with the application of patience and observation, no response is necessary or a completely different approach than what is initially assumed.

Purposeful action is important but timing is equally important. The understanding of the right action in the right moment is a subtle art worth not striving for.