New Beginnings in 2010
The beginning of the New Year is usually a time for making and renewing goals, for reflection on what you want to see for your life, packaged into what can be done this year. I would like to suggest five key areas to work on throughout the year, and I will elaborate on one of these areas in every newsletter for the next few months.
Five areas to consider are as follows:
- Building Awareness
- Be good to yourself
- Mend your Mind
- Prevention / Learn
- Concept of Balance
So let’s begin with the first one, building awareness.
I use the word ‘awareness’ in the personal sense, to pay attention to your body and it’s physical sensations, feelings, mental thoughts, and other observations, such as your interactions among other people. By being aware, or cognizant of your mind and body, you can create a crucial difference in building your ability to observe. This ability to accurately perceive, is a good first step to realizing your current state, and then you can decide how and what you want to see differently for yourself. For example, if you notice that your stomach often churns when you talk to your manager, or perhaps any authority figure, this may be a sign that you may have an issue with authority, or confrontations. With this awareness, you can then decide what you want to do with it, and consider different options: do you strengthen your confidence?; perhaps you can explore the concept of authority in your earlier years?; maybe you can support your body’s ability to deal with stressors; or perhaps consider other options such as the use of acupuncture to balance your energy in conjunction with a homeopathic or Bach flower remedy. Other examples of awareness, and some interventions appear in the chart below.
|
Self-Observation |
Possible Relationships |
Interventions to Consider |
|
Twitching of your eyelids |
Too much caffeine or sugar; nutritional deficiencies such as of magnesium, calcium, potassium; a sign of stress or emotional intensity; toxicity |
Nutritional testing to determine specific deficiencies; breathing exercises and or meditation |
|
You are listless, you notice you sigh a lot, and are generally sad |
You do not share your emotions; your Heart and Lung energy (qi) may be deficient (Asian medicine perspective) |
Connect with friends more, or with a counselor; start a course of acupuncture to balance your Heart energy |
|
Difficulty losing weight |
Poor dietary portions; inadequate exercise; low thyroid function; toxicity; emotional eating |
Get a fitness test and help from a personal trainer; get your MD or naturopath to test your thyroid; test for toxic exposures |
|
Frequent headaches |
Stress; low fluid intake; constipation; spinal or jaw misalignments; overly self-critical; chemical exposure such as to paint or perfumes |
Eat a better diet including water; see a chiropractor and or naturopath to determine the cause |
By starting to develop your ‘awareness sense,’ you can:
- know yourself better, your likes and dislikes, your gifts, your dreams
- understand how you relate with other people
- know if your thoughts, words, and actions are in line with your values and beliefs
- detect subtle symptoms, before they manifest as progressed illness; this is a form of prevention
- pick up on communication issues, that can affect your personal and work relationships
To make your self-observation easier, incorporate meditation and relaxation techniques such as slow deep belly breathing. Find out what a higher level of awareness can do for you, and track your thoughts, feelings, and sensations for a week in a journal each day. Do this seasonally, review it with your health care practitioners and keep on top of your health.