Living Wide Awake

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“Making a difference starts with each and every one of us. The biggest threat to our planet is the belief that someone else will save it. We are all responsible for our actions and we can all make a difference – so let’s start now and spread the message of living wide awake.”

Katherine Braha, Director and Co-founder of SaladStop!

More than just Eating Wide Awake – a SaladStop! movement which calls for greater transparency in the F&B industry and a more conscious approach towards food and eating – we’re firm believers in living a fully conscious and intentional life.

In other words, it’s about being mindful, bringing attention and awareness to everything we do.

It’s easy to get loss in the mundane routines of life, surrender to our habitual patterns, and trudge on in life without giving much thought to anything. But we’re not robots are we? We’re conscious beings, capable of designing our own life, governing our own thoughts and opinions, and igniting change in the world.

Here are some easy ways to help you live life as it’s meant to be lived – wide awake, making every moment count as you fill in the pages of your life story.

Heighten your senses

Our 5 senses allow us to appreciate and interact with our external environment. Use them wisely. Nature has given us little moments of wonder which often slip by us unnoticed; that little tingle of energy that surges through your body when the wind blows across your cheeks and you hear the leaves rustling, that feeling of comfort and quietude when you smell the rain hitting the ground, and that overwhelming sense of elation when a rainbow breaks from the dark clouds. Moments like this make you feel alive.

Be Inquisitive

Be like a child. Ask questions. That’s the only way to learn and grow. Being aware and educating yourself on issues and topics that you are unfamiliar with or that have meaning to you gives you a better understanding and appreciation of the world you live in. When you are more informed, you can make better decisions for yourself instead of solely relying on the opinions of others.

Attract Positivity, Dispel Negativity

Ever heard of the Law of Attraction? Focus your energy on inviting good thoughts and experiences into your life and shun all negativity. Surround yourself with people that are genuine, kind and caring, and put yourself in environments which elevate your mood and bring you into a more positive mindset. At the same time, take this energy and use it to bring joy to others, converting it into tangible actions which benefit people and the world around you.

Be grateful

A skill worth cultivating. Being grateful brings everything back into perspective. It reminds us of our place in the world, the relationships we have, the people who have value-added our lives, and the little things that we often take for granted. It reminds us not to be so critical and quick to attribute blame for everything that may not go our way. This not only makes you more grounded, it also contributes to overall well-being and happiness, and allows you to express compassion and kindness more freely.

Make the mundane meaningful

Eat, sleep, work, repeat. Life is more than just going through the motions of our daily routines. We need to stop conditioned reactive ways of living, find meaning, and assign value to everything we do. Turn eating into more than a biological motive of staying alive. It should be about savouring the flavours and textures of your food, understanding how it nourishes your body, and appreciating where it came from and how it got onto your plate.

Similarly, household chores don’t have to be boring activities to simply get ‘over and done with’. Consider why you are doing them, and who you are doing them for – a loved one or family. Does it also play a part in setting your life up for success? Our surroundings can often affect the state of our mind. Clean home, clear mind.

Take the chance to turn these activities into mindful tasks, without any interruptions from the incessant chatter your mind makes the rest of the day.

Experiencing new, rich, challenging and meaningful experiences and embracing them to the fullest is what living your life should be about. This includes the good, bad, mundane and ugly.

Moreover, we’re not lone beings. We’re all interlinked in this ecosystem we call earth. Every action we take and decision we make has a rippling effect on our environment and those around us. Likewise, we also need to be aware of and question why certain things are happening in this world, before choosing whether to be apathetic, or agents of change.

Only then can we grow as unique individuals – spiritually, mentally, intellectually, and emotionally.

What does living wide awake mean to you?