Feeling Good

and we're back with another reflection on the daily vedantic today's episode is on how to feel good what does the most ancient of philosophies predates philosophy that we know of in the west by a couple thousand years with the rig veda in 2016 being said it was a portion of it dated back to 6000 bc we really have no idea how old this philosophy is but we know that it is ancient what we don't know is just how practical it is that's what we're constantly exploring with these episodes or anyone that studied vedanta knows just how insanely practical it is as you see your life just go from effortful to effortless many of our listeners maybe you have asked yourself how does everyone not know about this the practicality comes to a head with a topic like how to feel good and it can be summed up by something that swami says all the time the ashram nothing feels as good as doing what you ought to do sit with that statement for a little while question it like crazy really nothing feels as good as doing what you ought to do kick the tires and experiment with it in your life when have you felt the best the last week the last month when have you felt your best and maybe you've had glimpses of feeling good for a second and then sat with a price like a literal hangover or a physical emotional hangover from doing the wrong thing i know i did the impulsive thing today with my daughter we were surfing and we were going in i was like i wanted to get she's six our oldest daughter i wanted to get one wave before we go in just to spark that excitement to want to keep going out we spent the whole day in the water but she hadn't jumped up on a wave yet and i'm coming back in to do some work and get started my day and i'm like you know what we're right here let's just get her on the board we've been she's got her wetsuit on we've already been out there for a little while let's try to get her on a small little white water wave and i was like you know these are a little heavy let's just uh we could we could just call it a day and say it was great just to be out there and keep it uneventful and it was great that she was even in the water but i said no let's let's press it let's try to get that lightning in a bottle that is the feeling of riding a wave before we go in because we've done 99.9 percent of the work already we're here fast forward 30 seconds later she's hysterically bawling i'm even kind of scared because i'm scared the board's gonna hit her we get we get snacked by what looked like a small medium-sized wave right near the shore and it just had way more power than i thought the board flipped up over her she tumbled luckily she did not get hit by the board her head went right into the sand and yeah it turns out the impulsive thing the greedy thing is it's not how you end up with a great surf session that's not how you feel good when i think about the last week moments where i felt best it's after recording these even in the midst of a lengthy to-do list it's after hosting people over for venice every first friday we have people over for venice vedanta club vbc is what we call it and within the venice vedanta club it's just hosting people here to talk about this philosophy and each time i go into it knowing it's gonna be fun it's gonna be with great satsang great community but i always underestimate just how fulfilling it is to create that space for community to come together always underestimate it that's oftentimes doing what you ought to do is that simple if oh yeah i'm gonna enjoy this too or doing the cold plunge for four minutes and 42 degree water feel amazing on the other side a big part of that equation could be just that's what doing something like that does makes you feel amazing but i'd argue the majority of the equation is actually doing what you just know okay that's a gift to my body that my mind does not want to give but my intellect is jumping and saying nope we're doing this i could have given that gift to my daughter and not doing the impulsive thing letting a great day letting a good day be a good day not trying to make it a great day not trying to get greedy in the last moments and just shoehorn something else in instead i gave her probably a slightly traumatic experience that just set the whole equation back um getting her comfortable in waves by a few weeks talk about how not to feel good see you you're just at that roulette table no one should leave and just say no double double up double my money i'm waiting a little bit let me double it all in work and casinos and relationships or experiences with your family you do that enough times and it's just in fact shakespearean tragedies almost always go back to one huge misstep and that one misstep that one mistake ends up where everyone's dead macbeth listening to lady macbeth saying hey you should be king actually fast forward a few minutes and everyone is dead on that stage that's how not to feel good is not doing what we ought to do doing the impulsive things so see if it actually fits in your life if this is how your experience is not because some ancient philosophy says it not because certainly not because some dude on the internet says it but over the next few days few weeks later today do something that you know you ought to do do something that you know you ought to do and see how you feel on the other side so how to feel good for the rest of your life just keep doing things that you ought to do surrender to a duty-bound existence and feeling good is all you'll feel it is not complicated does not mean it isn't hard bench pressing 500 pounds isn't complicated it's simple but that does not mean it's easy but at least you and i we have the benefit if you reflect on this you feel like it's true at least you know the map the directions the very simple directions of how to get where we're all trying to go at least you'll know how to feel good that's today's reflection on the daily vedantic we'll see you next time thanks for listening to the daily vedantic this reflection is part of a free repeating two-year course in if i doubt vedanta rooted in the timeless wisdom of the upanishads arguably the oldest philosophical texts on earth you can begin with episode one which gives the 15 minute overview of the whole philosophy of vedanta or you can join the journey with any episode at any point but the critical aspect of this course of understanding and mastering anything is to study and reflect even for 10 to 15 minutes on the timeless each day preferably at the start of your day as is said in this philosophy reflection is 100,000 times as powerful as listening so listen journal sit with discuss these concepts or ask questions at thedailyvedantic.com with our ai powered chatbot informed by about 700 episodes here as regularly as one can if you want to see clarity and peace almost effortlessly unfold in your daily life and if it doesn't result in a near immediate increase in clarity and peace then toss aside and feel free to never listen again one of the things that you might notice is after seven or eight days in a row this doesn't feel like a discipline this feels like a visit with a best friend to dive into the timeless with daily reflection within a few days it becomes one of your favorite parts of the day you can also find out more including news about in-person events in los angeles and beyond at thedailyvedantic on instagram or through our weekly newsletter at thedailyvedantic.com additionally check out the links in our show notes for more resources like the books that are mentioned most frequently in the episodes including vidanta treatise perhaps the simplest and most straightforward read on this philosophy i've ever come across until next time and from the entire team that works on the daily vidanta project thanks for listening