rhinoceros gazing at full moon

Love that name for a qi gong exercise.  Recently I took up qi gong again, a very gentle yet powerful, ancient Chinese practice that is thousands of years old and is so much more than exercise.  I love exercise forms that do more than just get you to move your body.  Qi gong promotes wellness by moving the qi or life energy in your body around to circulate it more freely and unblock energy channels along the way.  It is a very slow practice that doesn't look like anything much when you observe it from the outside.  Yet it turns out to be incredibly complex.  Qi gong requires intense mental focus because it entails the coordination of many aspects, such as eye movement, breath, different body parts, awareness of postures and precise positions.  And because the movements are so slow and repetitive it also promotes endurance.

Qi gong works well for me as a meditation in motion, and that is what it is often called, because I don't have much patience with sitting meditation.  With qi gong I am so busy focusing on the various aspects of my body that I am never bored, no matter how many repetitions of the same exercise, and I cannot not be totally in the moment.

I admire our teacher who, on top of doing the exercises with us, talks us through them in a slow, meditative voice, all the while noticing when someone locks their knees, hunches their shoulders, or cringes their face.  Then she gently makes us aware of how to improve the posture by a nod of the head, a movement of her eyes, a constructive comment or a prodding question.  Powerful!  What movement practice do you enjoy and why?

transparency promotes trust

My son recently went to a car dealership about a recall as well as a muffler issue.  The recall fix was of course free, but the muffler repair was to be $1200, they said.  I am so tired of corporate rip-offs, of corporate padding, the relentless push to pack on the costs, but also the plain disregard for our pocket books.  This behavior sows distrust. 

Having done his research, and knowing that not everything was broken that the dealer wanted to "fix," my son went to a small mechanic, who he knew he could trust, and who did the muffler repair for $540. 

With regard to price shopping the internet is bringing out one of the millennial values, transparency.  Of course, this pricing transparency can also turn into its flipside - ever smaller profit margins because the competition is so large, which can make things more difficult for small local merchants.  But all in all our ability to do our research on the internet and understand what's what, promotes honesty, accountability, trust and transparency.  Transparency promotes trust.

my vacuum

My vacuum cleaner is twelve years old and going strong.  Before I bought this one I got a new one every three years or so.  This one cost double what the others cost, but in the long run it's cheaper.  The others always cost around $300, which comes to about $100 per year.  This one has so far cost me half, $50 per year, and becomes cheaper every year of its life.  My dad used to say, "We can't afford to buy cheap." He is right.   

Built-in obsolescence may be good for the manufacturer and the economy, but not for your wallet or the environment.  Long-term thinking is more sustainable - more money in your pocket, less stuff in the landfill. 

reset and reboot

Two days before this year is over I find great comfort in the idea that I get to try again, do it better, do it differently, try something else - a bit like the movie Groundhog Day.  Next year is another chance, a chance for a do-over, a chance to redefine myself, a chance to try something else, a chance to catch my breath and start anew.

The beauty of a circular understanding of time - according to indefinitely returning seasons, years, or cycles - is that we always get another chance. Our humanly understanding of time has changed as our consciousness has evolved.  We now combine a circular and a linear way of seeing time.  All natural processes are circular, while our modern industrial processes are linear - they cannot be indefinitely repeated the way the seasons return over and over, or the way the moon phases repeat themselves endlessly.  Our concept of time has evolved accordingly.  We see history as a linear process that begins with the Big Bang and goes endlessly into the future, or our life that begins with birth and ends with death.  At the same time we experience our life as a succession of Christmases, or summers, or school years, or birthdays - markers that repeat themselves, at least until this life is over.  That is comforting.

What are your dreams for the New Year?  Your hopes?  Your ambitions?  Are you planning any do-overs?  Something completely different?  It's never too late! 

stop counting calories

You can stop counting calories if you eat a balanced diet.  My understanding of diet has shifted fundamentally over the past few years, and our entire culture is catching on fast that a balanced diet is different from what we thought a balanced diet was twenty years ago.   

Our official food pyramid is changing in real time, and has not yet caught on to the newest research, revelations, and understandings of the deeply intertwined relationship between what we eat and our health.  For fifty years the food industry sent us looking at lack of exercise, fat, cholesterol and those bad eggs, as the culprits of our dreaded civilization diseases.  But lo and behold, it's the carbs that send our system for a loop - it's them.  They are inflammatory, cause blood sugar ups and downs, food cravings, mood and hormonal swings, short-term energy bursts with predictable lows soon after, and the dreaded weight gain or inability to lose it.  They've only been in our diet for about ten thousand years ago, when our society turned agrarian, and thus our systems are not well adapted to them.  Most of all, carbs are addictive.   That's why it's so difficult to stop after one slice of pizza, one slice of crusty country bread with butter, or one cookie. 

Hi in carbs means also high in calories - cut out the carbs, stop calorie counting.  A low carb diet excludes sugar, and all grain products like bread, waffles and pancakes, pasta, grain flour, couscous and such, as well as starches like rice, corn, and potatoes - at least most of them, most of the time - sigh, if you must.   It includes lots more vegetables and fats than what you may be used to.  Since switching to a low carb diet I naturally, and completely without effort, calorie counting or other shenanigans, went back to my pre-kids weight.   I eat the French Paradox and don't put on an ounce of fat.

Switching to a low carb diet requires a big mental shift for sure, but you can do it gradually, especially if you are not a natural in the kitchen and rely on ready-made items.  You might replace one carby pantry item a week, or, if you are more adventurous, you can empty your pantry of carby items cold turkey - then the pasta won't be lurking on the shelf, beckoning for an excuse.  A low carb diet with enough good fats also stops food cravings!  Hence you can eat until you're satisfied - no calorie counting, no guilt.  I managed to avoid a whole Christmas dessert buffet, other than the strawberries, without too many regrets, because I was already satisfied and didn't crave the sugars in front of me. 

Many of us are forced to make this shift for health reasons.  Besides, who wants to be on meds for the rest of their life?

Please reread these earlier related posts, "let food be thy medicine," and "on losing weight."

how to manifest

Visioning boards, intent, and lists are all techniques for clarifying what you want and helping you to manifest it.  Ideas move into the physical via thought crystalization.   A very effective and very simple technique to accelerate this manifestation process is to write down what exactly you want to manifest.  Writing is a crystalization process; it literally condenses thought.

An easy example is a shopping list. You just scraped the last bit of jam out of the jar, and the thought pops up in your head that you need to buy more jam.  Chances are you might forget if you don't write it down, hence the usefulness of a shopping list.  Next time you go to the supermarket you buy that jam you wrote on your list.  Lo and behold, you come home from the supermarket, unpack your bags, and note that you have manifested the jam.  And it all began with a simple thought, the thought that you were out of jam and needed to buy more.

You can actually not manifest something you cannot precisely formulate. If you can't define it the universe doesn't get it.  Fuzzy thinking brings forth fuzzy outcomes (hence, no jam if you forget about it), clear thinking and precise writing help to manifest exactly what you want.  When you write down an idea you want to manifest and read it back to yourself out loud you'll hear if it sounds clear, and reflects exactly what you want to manifest, whether it's jam, a new car, or a new life.

I keep a visioning box on my night table and periodically drop little notes in it with things I want to manifest.    Then I forget about the box.  Every once in a blue moon I open the box and go through the papers.   Usually I notice - with a bit of surprise - that some of the ideas have actually manifested.  What would you like to manifest in the new year?

I love your coat!

The other day I crossed paths with a woman at the supermarket, or should I say lady, who was well dressed (no sweat pants or jeans), wore nice shoes (no sneakers), pleasantly subtle make-up (no just-got-out-of-bed face), and thoughtfully done hair (no quickly tied up pony tail to get the hair out of the way).  

It showed that she cared, not only about herself but also about how she appeared to others.  She stood out because she was different from all the other shoppers, in a positive way.  I smiled spontaneously when I saw her.  Her encounter also made me aware of how much my own behavior, my demeanor, my appearance influences others.  Every time I wear this very colorful checkered coat several people smile at me and exclaim spontaneously, "Oh, I love your coat!." 

I have come to the realization that I have to put out what I want coming back at me.  If I want generosity to come back to me I need to be generous.  If I want kindness to come back to me I need to smile at people more.  When I wear that coat I put out joyfulness and I get it right back.  What do you want coming back to you?

Please also revisit a recent related post, "giving is good for your health."

conquering negative thinking

Always seeing the glass half-empty can send you into a perpetual negative spin and eventually leave you depressed.  Yes, for self-preservation purposes we are evolutionarily wired to react faster to negative than to positive news.  However, it is important to realize that dwelling on negative thoughts keeps you stuck in the past and is self-perpetuating.            

How to get out of that vicious cycle?  Psychotherapist Lesley Alderman explained in a recent article that it is important to actually acknowledge your negative thoughts in order to move on, rather than suppressing them.  The first step to any self-improvement - wanting to change a behavior or pattern - is always to become aware of what you're doing.   Many depressed people actually deny that they are depressed; they don't realize that they keep producing unhelpful thoughts and are on a hamster wheel of negativity.  That is fooling yourself, burying your head in the sand.  Without interior work there can be no improvement. 

If you believe that everyone is out to get you, that people don't appreciate you, that you're alone, that there is a lot of negativity in the world, that things are not going well - maybe it's time to take a big long beautiful breath and acknowledge that you are the one who has been producing all these negative thoughts and beliefs.  If you are ready for change, if you are ready to think positive thoughts, uplifting thoughts, go see a funny movie and make a conscious shift - housekeeping of the mind needed.

are you wealthy?

Wealth can indeed not always be measured in dollars and cents.  As a matter of fact, I suspect that many rich people may actually be emotionally poor.  Money can't buy happiness, nor meaning, nor friendship or love.  You can be very rich money-wise, but emotionally starved.  Grinches have no joy.

You might enjoy your wealth in a different way - wealthy emotionally, rich in experiences and memories, enjoying abundant sunshine, warmth in your heart, abundance in other areas of your life.   You might enjoy the wealth of information available on the internet for free, abundant health, rich foods, a supportive social network, a big heart, a radiant smile, contentment, ample space, immense pleasure, a bountiful harvest, an expansive mind, or a generous disposition.

The definition of wealth can be so much broader than the dollars in your bank account.  Think about what you give (and I don't necessarily mean the material stuff), not what you have.  Are you generous with your time, your attention, your advice, your help, your compassion?  Because that's the way to enrich other people's lives.  You are wealthy if you have generous people in your life, and to attract generous people you need to be generous yourself.

eating healthfully takes time

No beating around the bush - navigating this crazy world's food system, and eating healthfully, takes time. 

All the reading and research take time.  Granted, I love food, and the food system interests me, not in the least out of a sense of concern and self-preservation.  Every time I find out something new and relevant about diet or food I try to incorporate it into my ways of shopping and cooking.  That makes things more complex - discerning fact from fiction, understanding what particular research results and dietary recommendations actually apply to my family, sourcing new items, and finding ways to prepare additions to our food selections.

All the shopping takes time.  I go to a lot of different places to shop as reasonably as possible, for as much variety as possible, to buy as locally as possible, to get the most organic and least sprayed foods possible, to buy pastured meat and eggs, find the most healthful seafood, and to research and buy those items I cannot find locally online or through my food coop.  It takes time.

All the preparation takes time.  Cooking from scratch takes time, no way around it.  Most of my meal prep time goes into preparing produce since I often make several vegetable dishes, some raw, some cooked.  But I, too, use short cuts - see an earlier blog post, hurry-nights, on that - my own fast food ways.  And I love leftovers, frozen for a later point in time, or simply for lunch the next day. 

Ultimately, you, the consumer, are responsible for discerning what information is relevant to you, what is healthy for your body, what diet makes sense, what food items to buy, and how to prepare them.  Make no mistake, the current food system is not designed to provide you with the most healthful food, but to make money by selling you product - product earns more than produce.  Hence big-ag and big-food's cat and mouse game with you, the consumer, to manipulate you by hiding facts that would prevent you from buying more of their stuff.  Spend some valuable time to read between the lines and dig deeper.  Whole unprocessed foods have no hidden agenda, only packaged and processed foods do.