Why do we ignore our most important assets?

Picture "Spirit + Nature" kindly provided by h.koppdelaney

The Dalai Lama, when asked what surprised him most about humanity, answered “Man. Because he sacrifices his health in order to make money. Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health. And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present; the result being that he does not live in the present or the future; he lives as if he is never going to die, and then dies having never really lived.”

It strikes me why we routinely ignore our most important assets, ourselves, our body, our emotions, our minds, our spirit.  Its almost like all different aspects of ourselves are living in different parts of the same house but not knowing or being intimate with each other.  Look around you, there is plenty of evidence, how many people stay in the current moment, witnessing with the full attention what is happening?

Take our bodies for example, in the Gym most people are either listening to music, watching TV, or reading a magazine rather than paying attention to their bodies while exercising.  Even the motive for Gym is mostly to have a body that others might find attractive...There is no harm in trying to look good, I must say, but I was more questioning the motive for people to go to the Gym, it seems to be more to look good (to appease the Ego), rather than to pay close attention to what the body needs (to know thyself)

I really liked Eckhart Tolle's comment on this in his book "The Power of Now":

The more consciousnesses you bring into the body, the stronger the immune system becomes. Its is as if every cell awakens and rejoices.  The body loves your attention. It is also a potent form of self-healing. Most illness creep in when you are not present in the body. If the master is not present in the house, all kinds of shady characters will take up residence there. When you inhabit your body it will be hard for unwanted guest to enter

A simple "mental body scan" is a great accessible method to get in touch with your body taking only 10-15 minutes a day...Paying attention to your body, emotions, thoughts pays large dividends, managing stress is free, energizing and pleasurable, yet we don't seem to have the time of day for it.

Don't sacrifice your piece of mind, health for anyone else...everyone has the obligation to put self leadership first, which naturally leads to real leadership...