Mind & Body: Finding Inner Peace
In traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), emotions and physical health are directly connected. For example, irritability and anger can affect the liver and result in menstrual pain, headache, redness of the face and eyes, dizziness, and dry mouth. Alternatively, an imbalance in the liver can result in stormy moods. You will probably take medications easing the physical symptoms, which do not confront the problem's root cause. [1]
Switch your goals with seasons. Focus on nourishing your soul in the winter. Simultaneously, following the principle' food as medicine' and adding these practicing in your daily homework.
#1 Focus on YOU
Unsatisfistation results from comparison. Every soul is unique; why are you trying to weigh their value in one stander? Look at what you do, how you think, and which change you make but not others. If you want to make a comparison, use your performance/thoughts in a different time frame.
Tips:
📝 Pay attention to your breathing—practice your deep breathing techniques as you become aware of what needs to be released. Big exhales.
📝 Let Qigong help you https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xoiW1WP8WA
📝Guideline: Taking Good Care Of Yourself https://www.mhanational.org/taking-good-care-yourself
#2 Understand the roots of anger & Cultivate forgiveness
Compassion and understanding are universal in all of us. Resolve old hurts—the unresolved emotions of anger, pains and discomforts can express themselves as grief and negative self-image, leading to the Lungs and Large Intestine's imbalance and illness. Forgiveness allows us to release what we are holding onto, whether forgiving others or forgiving ourselves.
Tips:
📝 Letting Go of Anger Through Compassion https://ggia.berkeley.edu/practice/letting_go_of_anger_through_compassion?_ga=2.224037459.972394763.1609177637-1197365843.1609177637
📝 Eight Keys to Forgiveness https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/eight_keys_to_forgiveness
#3 Build resilience & Be open-minded
Psychologists define resilience as the process of adapting well in the face of adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats, or significant sources of stress—such as family and relationship problems, serious health problems, or workplace and financial stressors.
Resilience doesn't build naturally. It requires practice, like a muscle that goes stronger after training. The idea is to be mentally flexible. Think of it as the ability to go with the flow and develop different solutions or ways of thinking about a challenge or situation. [2]
Tips:
📝Practice Expressive Writing [3]. A 1988 study [4] found that participants who did Expressive Writing for four days were healthier six weeks later and happier up to three months later comparing to people who wrote about superficial topics.
📝Follow Bruce Lee's philosophy, be like water. 'Empty your mind. Be formless, shapeless, like water. You put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle. You put it into a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now water can flow or it can crash.'
#4 Self-care acupressure points
Yin Tang (Pressure Point Extra-1 ) locates at the midpoint between your eyebrows. Place your right thumb or forefinger between your eyebrows. Apply pressure in a circular motion on this point for 5 to 10 minutes. The pressure should be gentle and shouldn’t cause discomfort. [5]
Shen Men (HT7) lies on the inner wrist crease, towards the ulnar (little finger) side and about one-fifth of the distance across the wrist. Feel for a hollow at the base of the pisiform bone. Apply gentle pressure for two to three minutes. [6]
He Gu (LI4) locates at the highest point of the muscle when the thumb and index fingers are held together. Locate the point between the web of the first and second finger. Massage the point for 4-5 seconds. [7]
Resources:
How Emotions and Organs Are Connected in Traditional Chinese Medicine https://www.verywellmind.com/emotions-in-traditional-chinese-medicine-88196#:~:text=In%20traditional%20Chinese%20medicine%20(TCM,the%20body%20and%20vice%20versa.
Building your resilience https://www.apa.org/topics/resilience
Expressive Writing https://ggia.berkeley.edu/practice/expressive_writing?_ga=2.224044883.972394763.1609177637-1197365843.1609177637
Disclosure of Traumas and Immune Function: Health Implications for Psychotherapy http://psych415.class.uic.edu/Readings/Pennebaker,%20disclosure%20-%20immune,%20JCCP,%201988.pdf
Acupressure for Stress and Anxiety https://www.mskcc.org/cancer-care/patient-education/acupressure-stress-and-anxiety
Mind Your Heart https://www.acupressure.com.au/wprss/?tag=ht-7
Acupressure Point LI4: Large Intestine 6 or He Gu https://exploreim.ucla.edu/self-care/acupressure-point-li4/