Kaza, Himachal Pradesh, India, 22 January 2017, 0735 hours:
I had expected that I might be inclined to sleep in or get up late every day, like 8.30-9 am. But turns out that I wake up between 6.30-7 am every day. Which is pretty much my waking up time in the city or anywhere I go.
The night temperatures in Spiti are somewhere between -15 to -20 Degrees C, while day time temperatures vary between -5 and -10 Degrees C, depending on wind chill, sunshine, clear skies, snowfall, et al.
I guess the human body adapts and adapts quickly if the mind allows it to. Tsering Bodh, the owner of Sakya Abode Homestay said something very interesting the other day: “You must not pamper your body. You must make things a little difficult for the body, so that it struggles, adapts and gets into the habit of adapting. Otherwise, no amount of warm clothing or heating will make you warm.”
He was talking in context of whether we were comfortable, and had said that personally, they switch off the room heaters in the night because otherwise the body gets too comfortable.
Am re-learning some old lessons on this trip and learning many new ones. And a key learning so far is not to let the mind or the body seek comfort as a goal.