Set Higher Standards by YogiRavi

We face lots of decisions that are binary, YES/NO decisions. Should I workout this morning? Should I call mom? Should I drink (another) nasty green drink? Should I go to that party? Should I bother showering today ?

In all cases, the answer YES is the right one.

We program our brains to say NO far to often. We are guarded and afraid that other people will take advantage of us, that our time is too valuable or that we will put ourselves in a situation where we might be hurt.

I’ve found that it is far more difficult for us to say YES than to say NO. Perhaps it was all that “say no to drugs brainwashing” (good brainwashing but brainwashing nonetheless) that went on in elementary school; but for many of the hard things in life, saying NO is far too easy.

This applies for learning a new skill, getting into a new social situation, exercising, diet….or anything really.

Take this example: you are faced with the decision of a) ordering and consuming a large veggie lovers pizza from Papa John’s or b) eating a large green salad with some tofu and avacado..something I am faced with at this very moment…the ensuing mental wrestling match will entail your brain trying to “say no” to the pizza. This is a losing proposition.

Saying NO implies scarcity. It means that you are giving up something. It closes off opportunity.

Instead of saying NO to the pizza, try refocusing your brain to say YES to option B, the big less-tasty-but-much-more-nutritious salad. Ignore option A and just say YES to option B as loud as you can.

Do not focus on what your are giving up, focus on what you are getting.

It may take a while, but reprogramming your brain to say YES should result in a much more powerful cue that you can leverage to make the right decisions in your life. It should also become easier to d over time.

NOTE: I just thought about this “just say YES” technology today. I have no idea if this concept is something that is taught by other success coaches, but it makes sense to me so I’m gonna try it out in my own life! I’ll post updates about how this is going as we move along.

Bamboo Garden Vegetarian Restaurant

Originally uploaded by ravisraman.

Eating a vegan lunch at Bamboo Garden. Its right near Tower Records in lower queen anne.

full menu is veggie…with fake meat (made from veg protein) and noodle soups.

Hare Krishna Festival

Originally uploaded by ravisraman.

The seattle hare krishna temple sponsored a heritage festival on alki in west seattle today. I decided to check it out. They had some great (free) veg food ( including raw and vegan) and a prominent booth display on why being a vegetarian/vegan is good.

good to see this sort of positive outreach happening.

Great talk on raw food, the health benefits and challenges. Paul is a leading authority on raw food and a raw food chef. He’s been raw for over 14 years.

Went sailing for the second time ever with couple great friends. Luckily, they knew what the heck they were doing! We were out for 3 days, heading north in Puget Sound to Port Ludlow and then on to Port Townsend. My body is still rockin with the waves!

More pics @ my flickr album.

I’ve been traveling for the past two weeks. For the first few days I was diligent about sticking to my raw food diet. Breakfast would typically be a few pieces of fruit. I carried raw almonds with me to snack on during the days. Lunch was typically a large salad. Dinner would typically be eaten out (or should I say “ordered in” since we were conducting focus groups during dinner time) with my Microsoft teammates; usually Chinese, Thai or Italian. I was doing alright, actually feeling great; then I headed out to Philadelphia to hang out with my college buddies and go to a wedding. I fell off the bandwagon.

Luckily, my college buddies also happen to be triathletes, runners and cyclists. Which means that no matter how much alcohol, or how many burritos were consumed the night before, working out the following morning was an absolute given.

After a few days of this craziness, and a couple days back at work, I headed out this past tuesday afternoon for a multi-day sailing adventure in Puget Sound with a few friends. Even when the sun is shining, the cool wind on The Sound cuts right through you. Fortunately, someone snuck a bottle of whisky, giant bags of chips and few packs of chocolate covered cashews on board. That stuff will definitely keep you warm

So since last Friday, I’ve been about 10% raw at best. I’ve supplemented with more than my share of crap food. I’ve had much less sleep than normal. I’ve been over hydrating with Lionshead Pilsner, Stella Artois and Hot Whisky.

It’s hard to say if it is all the cooked food or the lack of sleep or the alcohol that has been making me irritable and totally tanking my energy level (probably all of the above); but it has been a nice comparison point to my little raw food experiment.

Besides the generally lower energy level, I find that as my diet reverted back to a more “normal” diet, many of my bad habits resurfaced. I felts like drinking coffee to wake up (and often did, including today). I slept later than normal. I overate, or just ate crap. I also wasn’t as mentally alert or pleasant to be around. Not that I turned into some raving lunatic, but the  shift was much more dramatic than I would have expected.