...of ourselves physically, and I believe spiritually. When I say spiritually, I dont mean, how often we go to church or synogogue-although that is one way a person may derive their spiritual strength. What I mean is the energy of ourselves. That which is us without our bodies. I am very sorry if I am offending anyone who diesn't believe in such a thing. If you don't just don't read this blog or at least ignore this aspect.

The point is-it is amazing to me as human beings how we continue to evolve if we remain open to it.No matter how much we learn, there is always more to learn. And, this is in the form of class, books, media, interaction with other human beings, and introspection about our experiences to name the most common.

I have been in learning for so long. It seems like forever. I spent most of my young adult life unwell and began my journey then. And, now, 19 years have passed since the beginning of my classical education in Chinese medicine and I continue to be amazed at what there still is to learn from other people and from life itself.

My interactions with patients teaches me the most I think. The human spirit is something that will always cause be to be in a state of awe and the unlimited variables that occur with its existance. And listening to what others think and feel and have learned themselves is incredible. Observing other people's perspecitve-there are countless perspectives regarding one issue that it is almost impossible to get your head around. And, yet, then one begins to see patterns after a while. When I see those patterns I endeavor to look at them from the various schools of thought that I have been trained in.

I thought the other day, that I have not often introduced the idea of the 5 elements to most of you. This is only ONE school of thought within Chinese medicine, but, it is a beautiful way to percieve the complxities that are involved with the interactions that occur within the human body and within the universe itself. There is a great book on theis subject that intorudces the fundamental ideas of it called "Between Heaven And Earth". It also came to my mind because a book I recently read "The Biology of Belief" by Bruce Lipton, Ph.D. referred to this chart as a way of illustrating the complexitites of all of the relationships inside the body. And, I was elated to see this illustration coming from someone who is a western based scientist.

What brought this whole post up for me, is that I did just finish his book. I have had it on my shelf for three years and haven't had the chance to read it. I have been so preoccupied with my work and with some things I have had to deal with in my own life, I have not been able to commit to my own personal reading time for a long time. This year,  I promised I will commit to that, and I have. Anyway, this book is really incredble on so many levels. But, for me it was a wonderful confirmation from someone coming from a western scientific background that many things that I have repeatedly said over the years have a place in scientific truth!

I have repeatedly said, we are not stuck with our gene pool and that we are able to trascend our genetic tendencies. And, Bruce Lipton gives the scientific foundation for whay that is an accurate statement. This is so important for many of you to know and to take into your own understanding, because one pattern I see with many patients having this condition is doubt.

Some will doubt that a natural approach to treatment can be effective, but, others will doubt on a more profound level-that they can even ever be well again because their bodies are too far gone or too complex. In this book, one can see some of the ways in which we became wired the way we did, and it offers comfort in knowing that we can rewire ourselves, that we can change. 

Also interesting is he delineates the importance of the impact on our beings from our earliest moments in life. This is something I focus on in my dissertation-mother child bonding (or father child). This fundamental relationship sets us up for so many things that happen after that in our lives. What he says is so interesting and gves foundational support to many of my thoughts and theories on the matter from a different perspective.

I read Bruce's book as if I were thirsty and could not get enough to drink. It was effortless--the messages in his book rang so true to me. I hope you all will read it, I think the message is wonderful and necessary for many of you to understand.

It is so good to hear the same things from different sources and from different perspecitves when you are struggling with ideas and feelings. This gives reinforcement and comfort.

The big message is that as human beings, we are capable of change, we are capable of movement in a positive direction, and we are most often only mimited by our own selves and what we believe.

Dr.M