inspirational Facebook?

I don't know what your impression of your Facebook stream of information is.  But I find that Facebook has become quite a forum for inspirational and spiritual postings.  As a matter of fact, at times I get more inspirational postings than status updates from friends - not sure whether that's good or bad.  Be that as it may, there may be two reasons for this. The first one may be that I have so many like minded friends that I simply see reflected back to me what I am putting out there - seeing the spirit in all of us and the rosy side of life.

The second reason might be that more people overall are actually inspired and in tune with themselves, each other and the world.  I am hoping it's the latter because then there would be real progress.

What do you think?  What is your impression?

the difference between cause and effect in healing

A headache is a cause of something deeper in your psyche, as is for example stress, low self esteem, depression or any number of symptoms we may experience on and off.  These symptoms have causes (try to analyze what happened before the onset of the headache -  too little sleep?  stress?  overwhelmed?)

Allopathy, as the Western healing system is called, treats the effect, the symptom your body puts out to signal that something is not right.  It does not heal the cause! A  medication is a chemical that alters your body chemistry by sheer force (and with more or less harmful side effects) without changing the cause of headache or depression or whatever.  In the same way surgery removes the effect by force without addressing the cause.   This type of treatment does not always work predictably (which is worth a whole other discussion).

Energy and alternative healing modalities, such as reiki, acupuncture, homeopathy and so forth gently realign your internal energy stream by removing blockages.  Once realigned you can feel what it is like not to have the symptom - ahhhhh.  These methods are gentle and have no harmful side effects.  However, even they still do not heal you on a soul level unless you shift the beliefs or thoughts that created your imbalance in the first place.  So, here too, the symptom may reappear in its former or another form.

The ultimate healing mechanism is an awareness on a consciousness level of what created the symptom, and then dissolving or shifting that belief.  While this is a simplified outline of the healing process, and there are also other causes of illnesses, it has been estimated that 85% are due to emotional issues.  You may also want to reread earlier posts on this: "healing is shifting," and "pill or self-heal."

warming winter foods

This time of year we naturally tend towards hearty soups and stews.  The French have their cassoulet, the Chinese eat their snake soup in the winter.  As Paul Pitchford says in his seminal Healing with Whole Foods, "cold and darkness drive one to seek inner warmth."

But besides the thermal warmth of a hot stew, according to Chinese medicine certain foods have actual warming properties and accelerate your sluggish energy when the temperatures are cold (such as snake soup, but no recipe for that here, although we ate it when we lived in Hong Kong many years ago).  Paul Pitchford talks about the benefits of salty and bitter foods in the winter, and my acupuncturist reminded me that this is the time of year for bone broths and warming spices like ginger, cinnamon, and cloves.

Save the bones or bony back when you make chicken or get some beef bones, and simply put them in a big pot of water with some carrots, celery and onions and simmer for a long time, even over night.  Right now I have a whole bunch of chicken necks cooking on the stove to make a soup base (found two bags in the freezer from my last chicken order from the farm).  Or better yet, for a richer broth roast the carcass or bones in the oven with some vegetables before cooking.

These broths are delicious as is, or make a great base for all kinds of heart warming and hearty soups. And why not invite a few friends over to share your soup and shake off the winter doldrums?

piranhas and the eco-mind

It is interesting and eye-opening how "the truth" can be so deeply in the eyes of the beholder.  We see what we believe, and we don't see what we don't believe.  We have been thinking along the (somewhat) misinterpreted Darwinian lines of nature's potential ferociousness and cruelty in the name of the survival of the fittest.  But scientists are beginning to dismantle this paradigm. Sunday's NY Times article took wildly exaggerated reports about the supposedly blood thirsty piranhas apart and reduced them to nothing much.  Growing up I remember hearing stories about entire cows supposedly being stripped to the bones in minutes by a huge swarm of these fish.  But I also acknowledge reading later about indigenous people wading and swimming fearlessly in piranha inhabited waters.

A short video on Suzanne Simard's work on the wood-wide-web and the mycorhizzal (mushroom) network recently made the rounds on Facebook.  Dr. Simard is involved in research about mother trees (huge old trees in the woods) and their social network, where plant seedlings grow up around the mother tree, and mushroom networks reach far underground, living in symbiotically nourishing relationships with the trees for their mutual benefit.

Nature is becoming friendlier by the minute as our outlook on the environment is shifting and we are becoming more eco-minded.

let the universe do some work for you

There is a difference between pushing, pushing, pushing, possibly against a wall, and putting intent out there and letting the universe do the rest. Our son, who will go for his road test later this month, had been looking for a well-priced used car (stick shift being a must) since the fall.  At every for-sale-vehicle by the roadside we stopped - price too high, no stick, bad condition.  Local dealerships were too high priced, no appropriate ads in the papers.  He became frustrated, but I kept saying that there was no rush since he didn't even have his license yet, and once the time came closer we could make a more concerted effort at finding him a car.

Well, through a comedy of unexpected circumstances we ended up going to his great-uncle's for Christmas, and lo and behold - we pulled up and found a car for sale in his driveway.  Our son jumped out in excitement, looked at the car and the sign in disbelief, announced it was a stick shift and cost exactly what he had intended to spend.

Voilà or That Was Easy!

Also look back to an earlier post on the Taoist principle of wu wei.

new year's resolutions

The Russian billionaire Mikhail Khodorkovsky came to two major philosophical-spiritual realizations during his ten years in prison, as reported in the NY Times a few days ago.  One of them is very relevant on this New Year's Day when many of us make resolutions. Khodorkovsky said "I think the Russian problem is not just the president as a person,..., the problem is that our citizens...don't understand that their fate, they have to be responsible for it themselves.  They are happy to delegate it..."  This is a life changing realization for everyone who wakes up to this enormous and beautiful responsibility, because that is what it is.  We can't wait for Prince Charming to show up at the doorstep with a million dollars.  We have to show intent, move ourselves in the direction of where we want to go, and actually do it.  It is work, it takes courage jumping over your own shadow, it means taking risks, and it may be uncomfortable at times.  But it is rewarding and it works!

No diet pill or new fangled miracle diet will take your pounds off for you if you are not willing to pull through with it.  Complaining about the government and not voting or taking action in your own small way is delegating "we the people" to some abstract politician or entity, as Khodorkovsky pointed out.

With every New Year's resolution you need a solid action plan that comes from the heart; think business plan for whatever you are striving to achieve, whether it is losing weight, making more money, moving to a warmer climate, leading a more balanced life, or whatever else. Let's toast to intent and courage, because they are what make things happen!

too much of a good thing

What goes up must come down.  We have been eating a lot of rich foods in the past few days, and are likely to resume eating rich foods next week for the New Year's celebrations.

Fact is most of our special holiday dishes are protein based, whether from meat, fish, or crustaceans.   Fact is, though, that as omnivores we thrive on a well balanced diet, and that festive meals tend to be especially rich in protein, fat and sugar, while lacking what we consider the mundane basics - produce, fiber, grains. Culturally and historically, protein in whatever form was expensive because costly to provide - ergo reserved for special occasions.  Same went for sugar and fat. Remember the Sunday roast? It was special.  Meat was not eaten every day; nor were cakes and pastries.   We used to save them and savor them.

photo courtesy www.jeanclaudesbakery.com

Things are a bit out of whack now because food has become cheap and that former frame of reference is gone.  Most of us can afford all the "special" stuff, which is no longer so special.  Therefore we need to reign in those cravings through self-control and activate our critical-analytical thinking skills.  At the prospect of a meatless dinner my son usually says "awwww" in disappointment.   But too much of the rich stuff and we feel heavy, sluggish, full.

So back to well balanced meals after the holidays for a well balanced body.

Merry Christmas

my child, my teacher

The traditional perspective was that children should be seen but not heard, meaning children are supposedly lesser people because they are young and inexperienced.   Watching children these days I am occasionally wondering whether some parents are now sending the exact opposite message by permitting their children just about anything, showering them with material stuff, failing to teach them respect and social manners, worshipping them endlessly and providing no gauge or boundaries - basically granting them adult style freedom. But I am headed elsewhere yet.  I believe that we can actually learn from our children even though they are indeed much younger and have less life experience (on the surface).

First of all, especially young children react in a socially unfiltered way, they speak truthfully and to the point (refer to The Emperor's New Clothes) without trying to spare people's feelings.  Secondly, from a spiritual perspective our children are our peers because as spirit beings (in a material body) we are all equal.  We could go further yet, into the idea of reincarnation.   Here we get into potential role reversals and the possibility that your child might have been your parent, mentor or partner in another lifetime.  Intriguing.

When my daughter was 10 we had a deep and spiritual conversation about defining health and healing and how it was more a mental than a physical thing, and in conclusion she burst out "we'll then no one is healthy, not even a doctor."   Children can be downright wise.  Next time your child says something that upsets or irritates you at first blush, do listen, completely, and try to see their side, where they are coming from.  Often we think we know better, but sometimes they actually do.

to tree or not to tree

The kids have pressured me many times to decorate our Christmas tree early following local custom, and I have always resisted.  According to German custom the tree goes up on Christmas Eve.  In fact, when I was little the door to the living room remained closed all day Christmas Eve.  We knew magic happened behind those doors, we heard noises, we saw the parents going in and out and quickly closing the door again.   And we couldn't wait until it got dark, until the doors were finally opened and the lit (real candles) Christmas tree was revealed to us, all sparkle and splendor, with lots of presents beautifully displayed underneath, after a whole month of Christmassy anticipation.  Total magic!  It was all worth the wait.  Because of our busy schedules now we usually decorate our tree the week-end just before - this year it'll be this coming Sunday.  But that doesn't mean that our house is any less Christmassy before the tree goes up.  Actually, "es weihnachtet sehr" in our house, which translates as "it Christmasses a lot" (because Germans are very Christmassy people, this has become an actual verb).   But The Tree is more special when it becomes the long awaited apotheosis of the Advent period. 

We'll be patient until then.