This month, while pondering my monthly blog, I am comforted by the warm cup of a tea in my hand. And my thoughts turn to a beverage that I used to unconsciously drink – wine. The weekend bottle of wine. An old habit of comfort that has taught me lots.
There is an old Indian proverb that says everyone is like a house with four rooms. And that we ensure good spiritual hygiene or self love when we consider all four pillars of understanding in our lives:
The Four Pillars
Spiritual (SQ)
Physical (PQ)
Mental (IQ)
Emotional (EQ)
As a member of SQ Worldwide I am well versed in filtering experiences through these four pillars of understanding. And by doing so, have grown and developed an awareness that is helping me be the best that I can be.
Let us filter alcohol through these four pillars with love, truth, balance and awareness.
SQ – The ‘spiritual quotient’ or your spiritual health.
The word alcohol is derived from the Arabic al-kuhul, meaning made via an extraction or distillation process from a natural mineral and is produced by separating the essence from the object. In fact it does the same to the human body by energetically leaving your being exposed and more vulnerable to low vibrational intrusions. But in small quantities alcohol can also help clear waste from the body. Everything in moderation I feel and consider the motivation for its consumption.
PQ – The ‘physical quotient’ or your physical health.
My PQ is my biggest weakness! Throughout my life I always carried extra weight, even as a child. I really have to challenge myself to keep motivated to walk, stretch and have to work hard at being more disciplined with my sweet tooth. And I have fallen off the weight loss horse as many times as I have got back up. An average bottle of wine contains about six hundred calories. So, over the course of a year, at one bottle a weekend is 31,200 calories a year! And with very little other nutritional value I have definitely become more aware of the habitual pattern that was not of great service to my body at all.
IQ – The ‘intelligence quotient’ or your mental health.
In the past I would casually drink a bottle every weekend. A glass on a Friday, two on and Saturday and finish it off on a Sunday. And if it was a pretty stressful week, one bottle could be gone on a Friday evening. With the cost of living facing us in everyday life and then constantly brought to our awareness via the media, it made me think. The average fairly decent bottle of wine is about £10 and even more if you are purchasing a healthier organic brand. By cutting out the weekend wine I am now saving around £520 per year by working on my old habitual pattern. A much more conscious way to save, invest or donate to charity I would say.
EQ – The ’emotional quotient’ or your emotional health.
Since losing our son last December I have been so aware that I am too vulnerable to drink. The trauma and grief I had experienced was amplified by alcohol and the feelings afterwards were never worth it. When consumed in good humour, alcohol effects the parts of the brain that control our inhibitions. It creates a short term illusion of confidence that quickly changes as the effects wear off. This is not a nice place to be and definitely one I am not comfortable to consciously allow in my life. I choose confidence in more empowered ways. Recently taking part in our SQ members Conscious Manifestation Programme on ‘Confidence,’ I dug deep. I realised that confidence can have no voice. That the true essence of who you are speaks volumes about you before you even have to say a thing. That the real confidence comes from healing and dealing with your issues. And that this is an ongoing process, which alcohol can hold back.
Of course everything in moderation. For example alcohol in moderation can assist digestion, contains B vitamins with a light larger said to have fewer calories and a lower alcohol content. And in this dimension of duality everything we experience in our lives comes with its pros and cons.
Lots of learning done and still more to do. Knowing that we all have our strengths and weaknesses. And that a healthy perspective often comes from looking at our issues from different angles, like the four pillars as a support.
Be gentle with your thoughts, words and actions. Let your motivation be love as you filter the best possible choices for you.
Love Love Love
Sharon
“Looking at the cause and effect of our addictions with honesty and insight will set you down a path of changing the behaviour.”
Derek O’Neill
SHARON QUINN 