Life Alchemy: Become Your Own Life Chemist

I’ve never been one to subscribe to any one particular idea for too long.  It never works, anyway, because there is no one-size-fits-all anything in life that works for everyone…well, at least not me.

This is easy to see; just look around.  Look at all the diet books out there, all the self-help books, the religions, and so on.  If any one of these particular ideas and modalities worked for everyone, the others would quickly fall away into obscurity.

Even though I’ve known this seemingly simple concept for years, it’s taken me most of my life to deeply understand it and actually implement it into my own life.

Lately, I’ve been flirting with the term Alchemy, which is an ancient tradition (still practiced today) that combines chemistry, spirituality, and the pursuit of perfection all into one fancy, beautiful mess.

A classic alchemist is concerned with two main things: 1) turning base metals into gold, and 2) finding the one elixir of life that will provide ultimate health and immortality.

Well, I’m not so interested in #1, but #2 has the very thing that inspires most of us deep down inside; that drive to keep us moving forward into the impossible — perfection of self.

I Googled the term Life Alchemy recently and was pretty disappointed with what I found.  So instead of letting this awesome term that’s been officially trademarked go to waste, I’m going to use it as another definition on this site to further describe where I’m heading in my life, and a way to help others always remain on that path of ever increasing growth:

Life Alchemist: One who takes different parts of life and combines them together to create something greater than the individual parts for the purpose of achieving the Best Life Ever.

Not bad for my first attempt at this definition, but I’m not done with it yet.  I’ll be updating it as I go along with my continued Life Experiments in order to Live the Best Life Ever.

An Example of Life Alchemy in Action

Ok, as you probably well know if you’re a reader of this site or Raw Food Right Now, I’m a big believer in the concept of raw foodism.

“But wouldn’t that be pigeonholing yourself into one concept?” you may be asking…

Well, yes and no.  I’ve found the concept and practice of raw foodism to be one of the most profound experiences and changes in my life.  But it’s not a perfect philosophy.  I won’t get into the nitty-gritty details about it in this post, but suffice to say, there is no end to how healthy you can get, and there is no end to finding the perfect diet for you.

But with all of my research and experimentation (and talking to hundreds of raw foodists), the concept of “pure raw foodism” usually breaks down for most long-term raw foodists fairly quickly.

I’ve seen successful 100% raw foodists.  I’ve seen very unsuccessful 100% raw foodists.  I’ve seen extremely successful 80% or more raw foodists.  I’ve seen successful raw foodists who eat meat.  And some eat dairy.  The list goes on, and on and on.

What it really comes down to is building the right diet for yourself.  For me, raw foodism is the “base” of my diet.  It’s where it all starts.  If I choose to eat something non-vegan or cooked, there is a reason for it.  I study food on a daily basis, I study how my body reacts to it and I adjust accordingly.

I don’t use “raw food” as a religion, as many, many people do, because I’ve seen the dogma of it break people down way too many times.

Mad Scientist

Other raw foodists would call me mad, but the majority of modern Internet raw foodists have discovered that a purely raw food diet is not optimal for most people, or at least not optimal all of the time.  Instead another round of “the debate rages on”, I remove myself from those debates completely and get down to the original reason I went raw: to achieve the best health possible. (Notice how that doesn’t say  “be raw” in there, it just says the best health possible).

I think you get my drift.

What’s really important is beginning to live your life like a mad scientist.  You know, like in those crazy black and white movies where there is a wily-haired scientist in his basement, always conducting some insane experiment which usually blows up in his face?

That’s me.  And I love it.  I’ve adopted, used, modify, and trashed more beliefs, life systems, and ways of living than I can count.

What remains is a particular way of living that works best for me, my body, mind, and soul.  Not only that, but like a true Life Alchemist, I’m always reaching towards the next, better, more improved platform.

Until next time, don your craziest mad scientist wig and start some experiments of your own in your basement.

Explosions are optional, but can be very fun.

~ JS

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