Delayed Gratification Is the Key To Healing & Happiness

I’m sitting here, 3 days into a kitchari cleanse, and the deep thoughts are starting to emerge. Any sort of fast, cleanse, or mono diet is a mental hurdle. Our brains want to fixate on all the things we can’t have for this short speck of time, and it takes a lot to stay the course.

Tonight, I caught myself thinking about eating all the foods again—all the things that aren’t the mush and veggies I’ve now eaten for the past 9 meals straight. (And if you know me, you know that variety is my spice of life; I can’t eat the same meal on repeat!) I almost felt gluttonous, thinking about all the things I wanted to devour that weren’t on this week’s mono diet menu.

Then, this quote from my mentor came back to me:

“Ayurveda is the science of delayed gratification (while feeling great).”

For anyone who doesn’t know, Ayurveda is the mother of all healing systems. It’s the longest continually practiced medical system on earth today, with immense wisdom on how to live in balance, prevent disease, and manage the illness we do experience. Ayurveda takes a fully integrated approach to health, considering all aspects of one’s life and well-being. This ancient wisdom holds true today, which is why it’s such a big part of my herbal practice and personal practices.

Let’s marinate on this… “Delayed Gratification.”

I am delaying my gratification (that I get from eating foods that aren’t kitchari and steamed beets) in order to feel good, restore health, bring my body back into balance, reset my sugar cravings, and more by engaging in this short-term kitchari fast.

And yes, I’m certainly giving up a lot of in-the-moment pleasure to do so.

But in the grand scheme of things, it’s this delay in gratification that will truly help me restore health and live a life feeling good.

This concept doesn’t just apply to me tonight. It applies to us in all areas of life. Delaying gratification pays off. It allows us more freedom than we could have imagined.

Our need for instant gratification tends to bring more trouble into our lives.

Think of a time you made a purchase. You should have done your homework, price-shopped, waited until you saved enough to pay outright, but you wanted it now. So, you made the purchase in the moment and got the gratification, but that gratification came at a cost.

Have you ever been in an argument? Things are heated, and words are flying. You know you should walk away and come back to the conversation with a clear, even head. But instead, you continue, because you want to be seen as right. You want the gratification of knowing the person you’re arguing with understands your stance. Instead of delaying the gratification, stepping aside, and engaging when tensions are calm, the argument continued—and went to places with repercussions.

Or maybe you’re at a party, and they’re serving chocolate cake. You eat three pieces because, in that moment, you wanted it; you wanted the gratification that came with each bite. But you paid for it with your health. Had you eaten less in the moment or even skipped the cake altogether, you might have found more satisfaction in the long run.

Delaying gratification is becoming increasingly harder in our current society. We gravitate toward more instant transactions, and we have social media, Google, and an entire computer at our fingertips nearly 24/7, making it so we can get what we want, when we want it.

Think Amazon Prime.

But all of this instant gratification comes at a great cost to our health and happiness. We lose our power when we give ourselves over, again and again, to being gratified in the moment. It creates addictions and cravings that enslave us and undermine our entire human existence.

Delaying Gratification… is the key to health, happiness, and harmony.

It allows us the freedom to move through this world making decisions for our highest and best selves, even at the cost of momentary enjoyment.

So, when I come off this kitchari cleanse, I’ll do so with a steady mind. I’ll continue to delay gratification to fully reap the rewards of my labor. I’ll nourish my body instead of yielding to every whim it has after eating rice and mung beans all week. I’ll remind myself why I’m doing what I’m doing, weigh the consequences of my actions, and decide if they’re worth paying up front.

All because I want to feel as good as possible, for as long as possible—and delaying my satisfaction is part of that journey.

It’s amazing what we can gain when we release.

Om Shanti, 
Lila