Sattva: Issue 21

Mindful consumption, the usefulness of the useless, a mindful wardrobe, what to cook in Feb

Sattva (सत्त्व) is a beautiful Sanskrit word that has many meanings—spirit, true essence, good sense, wisdom, quality of purity, energy, consciousness and mind, among other things.

Through this fortnightly newsletter, I want to bring to you all things good, which will make your life better. My focus will be on topics such as mindfulness, productivity, slow living and sustainability, accompanied by genuinely useful recommendations of products, books, music, links to read, and of course food and recipes. Through these, I hope to instil some Sattva in your life.

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The master of mindfulness: Thich Nhat Hanh

Vietnamese monk, Zen master, Bodhisatva and a spiritual teacher to millions, Thich Nhat Hanh, passed away on 22 Jan 2022. His teachings will forever guide the seekers of mindfulness. In today’s issue, I would like to share with you some of Thich Nhat Hanh’s teachings on mindful consumption and mindful listening.

There are two kinds of food we consume. One is the obvious edible food and the other is sensory impressions. Sensory impressions come through what you read, what you watch, what you listen to, the company you keep and so on. For example, it is not necessary to click every link that comes our way on social media or to let videos autoplay on your feed. We do not have to reply to every comment or question that is popped to us on Twitter, or watch every new series that is released. We must exercise a stronger choice on our interactions and what we consume by way of content.

The zen master taught that even conversations are a form of sensory impression and they can be toxic. If a friend or relative is constantly bombarding you with negative and stressful conversations, you must tune out or distance yourself from such situations in your own interest. Sometimes, due to loneliness or anxiety, we allow all of these stimuli to reach us unfiltered without attempting to stop them and this takes its toll on our mental wellbeing.

Even therapists who listen to their clients' problems for several hours a day can get affected by this in the long run and face severe burnout. They may need to see a therapist themselves if they take on more clients than their minds can process.

Thây (“teacher” in Vietnamese and what the master was called lovingly), said that we need to consciously install gatekeepers in front of each of our senses such as eyes, ears, mouth, nose and skin so that we consume only what is good for us. Be selective about the films you watch, articles you read, the people you meet and the conversations you have, so that you will not add toxins to yourself.

The Fifth Mindfulness Training, Nourishment and Healing, says (in part):

Aware of the suffering caused by unmindful consumption, I am committed to cultivating good health, both physical and mental, for myself, my family and my society by practicing mindful eating, drinking and consuming. I am determined not to try to cover up loneliness, anxiety or other suffering by losing myself in consumption. I will make every effort to consume in a way that preserves peace, joy, and well-being in my body and mind, and in the collective body and mind of my family, my society and our Earth.

We have different types of conversations - social media messages, chat, phone calls, in person meet ups, and almost all of us find it difficult to listen, let alone listen deeply. We hear the opposite person’s words and parallely try to process what we hear, giving our own responses immediately, often interrupting the person who is speaking. This is something I had written about in Issue 04 of Sattva - how to listen well. Deep listening is something we can all learn about and put into practise in our lives.

Thich Nhat Hanh on deep listening or mindful listening:

Deep listening is the kind of listening that can help relieve the suffering of another person. You can call it compassionate listening. You listen with only one purpose: to help him or her to empty his heart. Even if he says things that are full of wrong perceptions, full of bitterness, you are still capable of continuing to listen with compassion. Because you know that listening like that, you give that person a chance to suffer less. If you want to help him to correct his perception, you wait for another time. For now, you don't interrupt. You don't argue. If you do, he loses his chance. You just listen with compassion and help him to suffer less. One hour like that can bring transformation and healing.

The above words were from an interview with Oprah Winfrey.

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The usefulness of the useless

Everyone knows the usefulness of the useful but no one knows the usefulness of the useless. - Chuang Tzu

Great ecstasy comes from doing something useless.

One of the rare times I was browsing through the newspaper, I came across this headline in the Speaking Tree section that made me stop and read. The piece was an excerpt of Osho’s teachings.

When you compare the useless with the useful, it seems like a no brainer of a comparison, right? Why would anyone choose useless over useful? Osho’s writing on this matter was an eye-opener. 

What is the usefulness of the beauty of a rose or the calm that you achieve from meditation or the feeling of being utterly moved when looking at a magnificent painting in a museum? There is no tangible value to these things and yet they are invaluable.

The article explained how the useful is only useful to some extent. It has a certain utility, but the useless has no limiting factors. We size up people and things by how useful they are to us, but the real joys of life come from seemingly ‘useless’ things like poetry, paintings, love, meditation or music. These are not utilities in the true sense of the word but they enrich life more than any commodity possibly can.

Taoist philosopher Chuang Tzu, who was a follower of Lao Tzu, wrote several parables praising the virtues of the useless and this is one of them. It is entertaining as well as thought provoking.

Carpenter Shi was on his way to the state of Chi. When he got to Chu Yuan, he saw an oak tree by the village shrine. The tree was large enough to shade several thousand oxen and was over a hundred arm spans around. It towered over the hilltops with its lowest branches 80 feet above the ground. More than ten of its branches were big enough to be made into boats. There were crowds of people as in a marketplace. The master carpenter walked past it without a second look. When his apprentice finally got tired of admiring it, he caught up with carpenter Shi and said, “Since taking up my axe to follow you, Master, I have never seen a tree of such fine material as this! And yet, you don’t even deign to look twice at it or pause beneath it. Why?” Carpenter Shi said, “Stop! Say no more! This is worthless lumber! As a ship it would soon sink, as a coffin it would soon rot, as a tool it would soon break, as a door it would leak sap, as a pillar it would bring infestation. This is a talentless, worthless tree. It is precisely because it is so useless that it has lived so long.”

Back home, Carpenter Shi saw the tree in a dream. It said to him, “What do you want to compare me to, one of those cultivated trees? When their fruit is ripe they get plucked, and that is an insult. Their large branches are bent; their small branches are pruned. Thus do their abilities embitter their lives. That is why they die young, failing to fully live out their natural life spans. They batter themselves with the vulgar conventions of the world — and all other creatures do the same. As for me, I’ve been working on being useless for a long time. It almost killed me, but I’ve finally managed it — and it is of great use to me! If I were useful, do you think I could have grown to be so great?” Moreover, is either of us in a position to classify and evaluate the other? How could a worthless man with one foot in the grave know what is or isn’t a worthless tree?”

The Taoist philosopher would often tell his disciples to learn from the tree and how being useless saved it. In this context, useless meant not turning ourselves into a commodity that people will try to own and use. Being non-commoditised allows you to live your life just as you want to.

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A mindful wardrobe

This is the third year into the pandemic and it may be a good time to update our fabulously unfashionable wardrobes of faded t-shirts and pajamas. And while we are at it, put some thought into it. Here are some tips on how to build a mindful wardrobe.

• Don’t let brand emails trick you into buying stuff you don’t need. Unsubscribe to all the shopping emails. One moment you are checking work email, and another moment you click a link in the email and you are on a shopping spree for the things you never wanted in the first place. Instagram ads are also notorious for this by the way.

• Do not buy something just because it is on sale. It is useful to keep an ongoing list of some specific items you want to add to your wardrobe - for example, a pair of black jeans, a jacket. When do you visit the store or when a sale comes up, you can pick the stuff you actually need Vs stuff that you buy because it is simply there. Trying out clothes in a store and buying them intentionally is also more mindful than online shopping.

• Buy forever in trend pieces that will not go out of style for years to come. I have worn some kurtas and shirts for 15 years and gave them away only because I got bored of wearing them and not because they went out of style. I’m talking about pieces like straight cut solid kurtas, unembellished t-shirts, solid linen shirts, standard jeans, handloom sarees and so on.

• Invest in slightly premium clothing which will not look worn out after a dozen wears or washes. The temptation of buying something at a lower price always lurks but the economics of buying a better quality piece works out cheaper in the longer run.

• Let me share a pointless piece of information at this juncture. I once won the third prize in a needlework competition in school. There is nothing uncool about doing minor repairs on your clothes like letting it out or taking it in, sewing up tiny tears or missing buttons. Do not trash clothes at the first sign of a small problem with them. I’m so glad that my school taught us some of these life skills, that make me a better consumer today.

• On my birthday last month, one of my dear friends gifted me her 30-year-old well-preserved cotton saree that was soft as a baby’s skin. She had worn it once and I had told her how much I loved it. Normalize giving each other items from our wardrobes in good condition especially if you know that your relative or friend will love it.

• Quite a few second hand (okay, you may call them pre-loved if you insist) stores on Instagram are doing a great job of reducing fashion waste. Apps like Poshmark that sell second hand clothes and accessories are also making their way into India. Buying from vintage stores is quite a hep thing to do among fashionistas around the world and it keeps clothes from going into landfills.

Some of the staples the mindful wardrobe I am working on are a white linen shirt, a white chikankari saree, black jeans, white sneakers and a couple of black dresses.

*Do let me know your thoughts on this and what are your favourite wardrobe staples.

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What to cook in Feb

Green beans or haricot beans are in season. I’m talking about the dark green, tender, stringless variety that is perfect for poriyal or a salad. Try both the salad and the simple subzi with soaked yellow moong. I hope you managed to enjoy some fresh strawberries this season, which is almost drawing to an end. Make the most of fresh strawberries in the two delicious tea-cakes. The cherry tomato vine in my kitchen garden is full of tiny pops of red, telling me that they are in season now. Use them in salads or if you happen to have plenty on hand, make gojju, a lipsmacking curry from Karnataka. With all the winter veggie scraps, make yourself a large batch of vegetable stock to use in soups. All it takes is 30 minutes.

• Easy 5-ingredient green bean salad

• Light and nourishing steamed green beans with yellow moong - sabzi

• Strawberry Yogurt Cake (eggless)

• Easy strawberry cake (all time favourite)

• Cherry tomato gojju

• Tea cake with red carrots and sesame seeds

• Vegetable stock in 30 minutes

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Books: Everyday Superfoods | The Everyday Healthy Vegetarian

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Resources:

Minfdulness: Photo by Carlos de Miguel on Unsplash

Speaking Tree / Osho

Tree: Photo by Faye Cornish on Unsplash

Mindful wardrobe: Photo by Visual Stories || Micheile on Unsplash