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Getting to Know Your Five Spirits
In Chinese, the character for Zhi is 志. The top half of the character is Shì 士, meaning soldier/scholar, and the bottom is Xin 心, heart/mind/intention. Thus the combined characters create the meaning of a trained and disciplined person acting with intent. The simplified translation is will/aspiration/ideal, or to keep in mind.
Getting to Know Your Five Spirits
The ancient Chinese had a unique view of the spirit. They believed that there are five aspects of being, each arising from different sources and housed in different places. These spirits are responsible for our emotional wellbeing and social behavior. Since they’re hanging around in there, how about we take a moment to familiarize ourselves with these facets of ourselves and how to support them.
Flipping the Script: How to Recognize and Correct Patterns of Negative Thinking.
Thoughts are remarkable things. We have developed the capacity – through imagination and language – to create complex and evocative ideas with enormous consequences. Myriad studies have been done to show the power of thoughts on our physicality. From perceptions of pain, to ideas of health, and even perceptions of self like intelligence, what goes on in the brain matter has far reaching implications. In short, the mind does indeed shape reality.
The Wisdom in Taking It Slow
I believe that there is no greater deception than the idea of progress. We’re so fixated on not being where we are. We need to be better, but often we aren’t even sure what ‘better’ looks like. Or worse, we think we know better but reality may be very different. We’ve been sold this idea of the right kind of life, and our anxieties arise from being unable to reach it.
How Mindfulness Can Help You Reach Your Goals in 2023
The demands of modern living value speed and efficiency. We are required to produce as much as possible in as short a period of time as we can manage. Mindfulness has grown in popularity over the last decade because it’s an essential counterweight to the ‘always be closing’ zeitgeist. It’s the compass that orients our drive for progress. If we don’t take time to recognize what’s important then we’re like high performance vehicles, spinning our wheels in the mud.
Winter: East and West
The Chinese see the seasons differently than we do in the West. Humans are considered an extension of their environment. They observed that the environment reacts in certain ways with the seasons, and believe that we do too.
This Is Your Brain on Gratitude
Gratitude is one of those things we all pay lip service to. When someone talks about gratitude we nod reverently and extol upon its virtues. But to practice gratitude takes work, humility, and persistence. It isn’t easy, so here in the US we’ve collectively shoved it into late November where it’s often skipped over between Halloween and Christmas.
What’s the Point?
In modern Western society we’re measured by our ability to produce so Fall and Winter are a challenge. But we slow down for a reason, ignoring the downturn is asking for trouble.
Latency and Long-Haul Syndrome
Long-Haul Syndrome has gained traction in the news cycle recently due to Covid-19, but the coronavirus is by no means the first disease to cause lingering symptoms months or even years after initial infection. In fact, Chinese doctors recorded the idea of latent pathogens in one of the earliest medical texts ever compiled, the Huang Di Nei Jing, somewhere around 300 B.C.
Can Needles Make You Less Anxious? They Sure Can
Anxiety in all its forms can be a debilitating and difficult illness. Acupuncture, Chinese herbal medicine and other treatments under the umbrella of Traditional Chinese Medicine are very effective tools in the management of anxiety, especially in combination with conventional therapies.
Spring and the New You
Spring is a new beginning. Throughout Winter we endeavored to separate what we wanted to keep from the last year and what was safe to get rid of. With introspection we pinpointed the things that are important. Now is the time to make a plan for reaching those goals and setting the stage to make it a reality.
Forward Head Posture:
Forward head posture is the chronic habit of hunching forward, then compensating by lifting our chin. When our spine is not in alignment this adds excess weight to the muscles and bones of our neck which over time will cause injury.
Grief and the Toll it Takes
Grief is a consumptive disease. Not only does it impact one’s mental well-being, but their physical health as well. Studies have shown that those with existing illnesses often get worse after loss. From the standpoint of Traditional Chinese Medicine, this is because one’s physical and mental states are inextricable. When so much energy is used in fighting off grief the body has fewer resources to utilize for itself, or it becomes exhausted from the strain.
Audit Your Rituals
Rituals are very powerful. From the weekly phone call with your parents to that post-meal piece of chocolate, rituals can be a defining part of your life for better and for worse.
Treating Headaches and Migraines at Their Root
Here it comes: mood shifts, auras, neck stiffness, light sensitivity. And then the pain – I’ve heard it described as a searing knife. Migraines.
Fall: The Season Of Consolidation
Adhering to the premise of ‘be as nature,’ we should adjust our behavior to match the change in our environment. Doing this prevents illness, stabilizes our state of mind and keeps us in peek condition through the season. Let’s talk about Autumn.