Taoist Cosmology - who created me ?

Also known as, "Who Made Who," this question is often put in the form of "who created me?" or "why am I alive?" or "what is my purpose for living?" All of these questions are related to the overall question of cosmology.

You may notice one common theme underlying all of these questions: there's always some reference to "me." Is this not a bit biased? For Taoism, the first question would be: who is this "me" person anyway? How many times in a single day do people use the word, "me"? Yet this concept that people seem so familiar with using, they are very unfamiliar with the implications.

First of all, the seed for your growth was given by your parents, but the seed alone is not sufficient. This seed needs a vast amount of nutrients, which, when recognized by the DNA patterns in the seed, are put together in rather amazingly complex patterns to start building an embreyo. All of these nutrients are provided by the mother, which is in turn provided by the world in which she lives.

Right from the beginning, there is no you. The seed is not you; it was produced by your parents. The nutrients and the biological structures produced from them are not you either; they were provided by the world around you.

Then comes the profoundly complex structure known as the brain. This is nature's masterpiece. As various species evolved over time, nature continously selected only those beings which were more conscious. The conscious is the awareness of life, and everything else the brain learns to divide. Part of this awareness, however, is the awareness of self, referred to in psychology, and of course by Taoists, as the Ego.

Ego and Self, however, are two of the great misunderstandings in psychology and philosophy, even in Taoist philosophy. Ego is not some "thing" that sits in the brain. Ego is nothing more than a concept, that of self-awareness. It's silly to talk about "The Ego," as if it's some person inside your brain. If nothing else, "The Ego" is the thing thinking about "The Ego." The Ego is nothing more than "you" as a separate being, seeing yourself in relation to that which is "not you." It is self-awareness, nothing else.

Nevertheless, this concept is nothing more than a concept. There is nothing in reality like it other than that big lump of flesh we call our conscious brain. Of course, fiction serves its own purposes in other contexts, but fiction is not what I'm exploring in this essay.

Now that we've hit that dead end, it's time to try a different path. Let's start back at the question of "who made who," you know, the one that's usually phrased as, "who created you?" As I pointed out already, the "you" that is thought of here is nothing more than various nutrients pieced together by the instructions encoded biologically in your DNA. So if there's anything that anyone can point to as "you," the closest they could come is that initial seed provided by your parents.

The safest answer to the question, "who created me" is "there is no me to have been created," so the next safest answer would be "my parents." However, we could apply the same argument to them as that given above, and see that they, as seperate entities, don't really exist either, but we already saw where that got us, so let's keep going and say that their parents made them, and their parents made them, etc.

Uh oh. Looks like we've got ourselves trapped in circular logic again! I guess that's why the next safest answer would have to be, "God created us all!" Whew! Off the hook with that one! But no such luck, because the next inevitable question would be, "who created God?" I guess you have to end somewhere. The curiosity as to what spawned the Absolute Starting Point will spoil any answer to the Great Cosmological Question. If you must have an answer, then the starting point is arbitrary.

You'll pull back and back, starting with your biased concept of "self," then looking to your parents, then to their parents, and finally to the universe itself, then to God. You could pull back even further if you're creative enough with your theology. It really doesn't matter where you place the starting point, because you will always wonder what happened Before The Beginning. What came first? The chicken or the egg?

This is a common problem found in logic known as a paradox, or circular logic. You will always find yourself asking your original question. In fact, this is an excellent sign of your logic failing you. However, most people don't ask deep enough questions to get into too hot of water. They're usually satified with the usual overly-processed Answer, and they go on with their lives. In fact, this is what we have to do with everything, because logic, by nature, is finite, and that which logic tries to comprehend is infinite. It is inevitable that your logic will break down, and in fact it always happens in the form of a paradox.

Taoism teaches that nature itself is cyclical: there is no starting point, and no ending point. It's just like a circle. This is what creates the paradox in logic: you can answer question after question until you find yourself back to your original question. That's because you've gone around the circle and found yourself back to the beginning.

But logic thrives on linearality. Everything must have a starting point and a distinct ending point. There must be a this, and there must be a distinct that. Since nature is circular instead of linear, there is the illusion that you're going in a strait line with your logic because on an infinitesimal level (which is our relative size to the universe we're conceptualizing), a circle looks like a strait line. But then we find ourselves where we started and we say, "that doesn't make sense!"

This inevitable conclusion to every logical question is what Taoist writing thrives on. If you read the Tao Te Ching or Chuang Tzu for the first time, I'm sure you'll exclaim, "that doesn't make any sense!" But that is their whole point of writing it! How else can a Taoist describe the universe? We already know that it's futile. We'll just find ourselves back where we started. So instead of going in a strait line, we go in circles.

Of course it won't make sense to the conscious brain, because the entire reason for Taoist writing is to transcend the conscious brain and go deeper. You see, the conscious brain is only a recent (and in fact relatively unsophisticated) development in evolution. There is a whole other, highly unexplored, part of the biology that developed right from the beginning, just by the very nature of its inseparability from the universe around it. It is by this that beings operated before the development of the conscious brain, and it is this which Taoists are trying to tap into.

The conscious brain is excellent for adapting to environments and surviving in general, but it's awful at understanding things as a totality. By its very nature, its job is to not understand things as a totality, but to divide it up and analyze as separate parts. It's like trying to see a star through a microscope. The microscope is intended to analyze on a very tiny level, whereas the star is very far away and very massive in size. The microscope wasn't designed to observe stars, and it would be silly to use it in this way. That's why we have telescopes. Similarly, the conscious brain wasn't designed to observe the Whole, but there is something else that was.

So what is this "thing" that is used to observe the whole? It would probably seem more like "feeling" than "thinking." Some refer to it as intuition, or more mystically, "the third eye." Psychologists call it the unconscious brain. But it is not something bizarre and supernatural. It is something very natural indeed, and something very old in age, the oldest in fact. It is the very seat of creativity.

Taoists purposely say things that are paradoxical and downright confusing, but it only seems that way when you're analyzing the words with logic. If you understand the words at a deeper level, that of your intuition, or whatever else you might want to call it, it can be very profound. Entire philosophies of life can be derived from just a few single words. But insist on analyzing, and it will seem like nonsense.

When a superior man hears of the Tao, he immediately begins to embody it. When an average man hears of the Tao, he half believes it, half doubts it. When a foolish man hears of the Tao, he laughs out loud. If he didn't laugh, it wouldn't be the Tao. Thus it is said: The path into the light seems dark, the path forward seems to go back, the direct path seems long, true power seems weak, true purity seems tarnished, true steadfastness seems changeable, true clarity seems obscure, the greatest person seems unsophisticated, the greatest love seems indifferent, the greatest wisdom seems childish. The Tao is nowhere to be found. Yet it nourishes and completes all things. Tao Te Ching - Chapter 41

Now think of this circle which your logic will take you in. You have what you call a starting point for the universe, and you move along the circle until you find the ending point. You begin wondering what happened Before the Beginning and what will happen After the End. Is there just void? That's what the universe is anyway, relative to what we call "matter" which is contained in it. Explore the question long enough, and your logic goes in circles.

Taoism starts with a very basic premise, which I already mentioned: that of cyclical growth. Nothing in the universe goes in a straight line, but in circles. If you nail down a starting point, you have trouble finding the ending point. Likewise, if you nail down an ending point, you have trouble finding the starting point. That is the Way the universe works. So what created the universe? What existed before the universe existed? The only thing that could possibly exist is the Way itself.

Think about it. How do you build a house without knowing the Way to Build a House? You could argue, "but the Way doesn't build the house! The carpenter builds it!" Thus if you were to build a house, you would see it as your creation, just as many see the universe as God's creation. But we've already gone through that argument! There is no you, separate and distinct. You already know the universe created you, and we also know the troubles of seeking who created the universe.

The only possibility for the Ultimate Creator is the only thing that could exist before the Creator, which could spawn the Creation of the Creator. The only thing that exists in and of itself, without reliance on anything else, is the Way itself. In other words, there is no starting point on the circle. The starting point is the entire circle itself. This Way, or Circle, or Creator of the Creator, is given a special name in Taoism: the Tao, which is really nothing more than the Chinese word for "the Way."

There was something formless and perfect before the universe was born. It is serene. Empty. Solitary. Unchanging. Infinite. Eternally present. It is the mother of the universe. For lack of a better name, I call it the Tao. It flows through all things, inside and outside, and returns to the origin of all things. The Tao is great. The universe is great. Earth is great. Man is great. These are the four great powers. Man follows the earth. Earth follows the universe. The universe follows the Tao. The Tao follows only itself. Tao Te Ching - Chapter 25

To nail down a starting point is to limit yourself. To be finite, something must have a starting point. With no starting point, you have infinity. Since you are nothing more than a piece of the universe, and the universe is nothing more than a piece of the Way, and the Way is infinite, not being a piece of anything, that means that you are intimately connected with something infinite! There is no limit except for that which you impose on yourself by seeing yourself as separate and distinct from the Way, the beautiful, yet deceiving, talent of the conscious brain.

That is the goal of Taoism: to tap into the infinite Way. To do so, you needn't have a teacher, nor read certain books, nor sit in meditation for hours, although these help only if they clarify The Real You: the Way that is infinite. But my point is that you don't need "something else." Everything you need is given to you, you just need to learn how to use it. That is the only purpose that teachers, books, or meditation can serve.

The Master keeps her mind always at one with the Tao; that is what gives her her radiance. The Tao is ungraspable. How can her mind be at one with it? Because she doesn't cling to ideas. The Tao is dark and unfathomable. How can it make her radiant? Because she lets it. Since before time and space were, the Tao is. It is beyond is and is not. How do I know this is true? I look inside myself and see. Tao Te Ching - Chapter 21

By tapping into this infinite source, you have unlimited power. I don't mean power as in the usual term, that of the ability to control people and situations. Perhaps I mean Power with a capital P: the ability to control everything. Okay, this seems a bit wishy washy, but that is only because you're clinging to ideas, and seeing everything as separate. I did not say you can control each and every single entity which your brain has contrived to separate. I said that you can control everything.

How can this be? Because you are The Way. You are not just that body that nature assembled and gave a brain with which it can divide itself and everything that it is deluded enough to think is separate. This is nothing more than a concept. From the perspective of that concept, that body is indeed limited in its power, simply because to see itself as separate it requires limitation. Without limitation, there is no separation.

But once you feel yourself one with the Tao: no separate you, no separate Tao, then you will have unlimited power. Of course, you already have unlimited power, you just don't use it because you're too busy concentrating on your limitations. Just because you have a delusion of separateness and limitation doesn't mean you really are separate and limited.

One thing the delusion can do is cause you to behave as if you were. You are the ugly duckling who is only ugly as a duckling. Seeing yourself as a duckling makes you see yourself as ugly. Seeing yourself as the swan that you truly are makes you see yourself as beautiful. Likewise, seeing yourself as separate makes you limited, but seeing yourself as infinite makes you unlimited.

The Tao is infinite, eternal. Why is it eternal? It was never born; thus it can never die. Why is it infinite? It has no desires for itself; thus it is present for all beings. The Master stays behind; that is why she is ahead. She is detached from all things; that is why she is one with them. Because she has let go of herself, she is perfectly fulfilled. Tao Te Ching - Chapter 7

Article Author: Bill Mason
Article Source: http://www.taoism.net/articles/mason/cosmo.htm

Self-inflicted emotional pain

When your suffering is self-inflicted, you cause it to yourself. It's not inflicted on you from an external source. The self-inflicted suffering includes physical, mental and emotional pain, illnesses, problems and the difficult or dangerous situation you place yourself in.

Physical pain can be inflicted on you from the outside, but it is not so with mental and emotional pain. If you are suffering either or both of these pains, try not to lay the blame on other people. It’s pointless to do that. No one can inflict the emotional pain on you that you are bearing now. Your emotional suffering is the result of your inability to control your thoughts, and your pain comes from your thoughts. In most of these cases, medication cannot be of much help to relieve your pain. It is your own self that has to work on it. It is an inside job.

It is quite impossible for another person to harm you emotionally. You are the master of your own self. But you are no longer master of yourself if you acknowledge the power of others to cause you emotional suffering. For example, you accuse someone of arousing your anger. If you have complete control of yourself, you wouldn’t do that. If you can just face the truth that it's you who cause anger, fear and other negative emotions to be suffered by you, you will realize that you need not have to undergo such emotional pains. It is your beliefs, the decisions you make and the actions you take that are the culprit of the emotional distress you are experiencing now. Control your mind and you control your suffering.

You choose to get angry, experience fear, hold grudges, harbour resentment, feel jealousy, seek revenge, fill with hatred, and more. It's all your choice. No one can ever forcibly heap all these emotions upon you. You feel of your own free will. You would not be in any of these emotional states if you did not identify your own mind with what others have said or done to you. This is an undeniable fact of life which is rather hard to accept. Train your mind to accept that whatever happens externally can never adversely affect you emotionally. When you do, you gain complete freedom from such self-inflicted emotional wounds. You become untouchable. You are not able to be defeated emotionally and are as good as you ever hope to be.

For some people, a tragic event that happened in recent, or even the distant past still brings great sorrow to them. They allow their minds to dwell on it when they should have let it go long ago so that they can move on with their lives. In life, sad experiences are aplenty: Tragic events are inevitable such as the death of a dearly loved one or unanticipated such as the break up of an intimate relationship. They happen. Do the people directly affected have to relive the event and experience the distressing feeling with no end? Perhaps, it takes time as the absence of a beloved partner who passed away is a constant reminder of the painful loss. However, one need not continue living in the past, and never to be free from this needless suffering. The sooner one manages to summon up enough courage to overcome this problem in order not to be deprived of the opportunity to lead a normal and happy life, the better it will surely be.

Despite the health problems associated with heavy drinking and the harmful effects of smoking, a lot of people continue to drink and smoke. And the problem of drug abuse is on the rise. These self-inflicted habits are gradually eroding the health of the body and are very difficult to break. We have to be very careful to not even try out any of these as the next step could be addiction.

Accept the truth that it is your thoughts that have triggered all your negative feelings. Remember whatever other people say or do is of no consequence to you, and that you choose not to be unduly affected by them. Adopt this pragmatic approach to deal with events in your life. It releases you, and you will not inflict yourself again with any needless pains.

Article Source: http://www.mymotivational-nlp.com/self-inflicted

Cosmic Cycle - Eternal Cosmos

Eternal cosmos

Self contained: There is sound logic and good evidence for a cosmic-cycle. The cosmos is eternal and self-contained. It had no beginning and will have no end. The cosmos simply exists. It cycles for-ever.

No beginning or end: In the theory of a cyclic model of the cosmos we do not have to deal with the question of where the cosmos came from nor do we have to answer the question of where the cosmos will finally end up.

New God: The cosmos simply cycles for-ever. The cosmos is all in all. We are the consciousness of the cosmos. The eternal cosmos is the best description and measure of God that we have.

 ...in many cultures it is customary to answer that God created the universe out of nothing. But this is mere temporising. If we wish courageously to pursue the question, we must of course ask next where God comes from. And if we decide this is unanswerable, why not save a step and decide that the origin of the universe is an unanswerable question? Or if we say that God has always existed why not save a step and conclude that the universe has always existed.

--Carl Sagan

Article Source: http://www.cosmic-cycle.com/pages/eternal_cosmos.php

Being a Highly Sensitive Person

In an unaware state, an empath will experience the feelings or pains of others - be it distress, sadness, anger, etc., and any physical pain that accompanies it, and think that it is his / her own feelings or illness. It will be quite confusing because he / she will not understand what it is that is making him / her feel that way. It can be sudden and intrusive. This “taking on” is known as surrogation. Of course this surrogation can also be beneficial – say if you are a healer and need to know exactly what needs treating in a patient. For this to be effective you need to be able to discern your own feelings from those of the other person, and be able to clear yourself effectively afterwards.

The task is to learn to understand this gift– to understand how to discern between your own feelings and pain, and that of another. In this way you will have the ability to feel compassion for others from a self contained point of view instead of merging with them and taking on their pain in order to heal them. Because you understand what they are feeling you can then lead them to the correct path for them. You do not have to do it for them.

Being an empath, you see people as their naked selves. No matter how hard people try to hide who they are, an empath will see through them. This can be a blessing for some who feel unable to express themselves or unnerving for others if they are trying to hide something or if some ill intent is meant.

Some “Symptoms of Empathy”

• Acute senses – i.e. sense of smell, taste, sight, touch, hearing etc.
• Acute awareness of the feelings of those around them and feeling deeply for those in pain or suffering
• Often easily hurt
• Avoidance of conflict where possible preferring to keep things harmonious
• Easily startled by noise
• Easily moved to tears because of deep feeling
• Nervous in crowded situations
• People feel safe around them and able to talk to them easily. Even complete strangers will talk to them about personal things without consciously intending to do so
• Animals and children love and are attracted to them
• Easily affected by the weather
• Their greatest gift is to perceive with the heart
• They are usually a blessing to be around as they are nurturing and caring
• Music and harmony are very important to them. They can lose themselves completely while listening to music that resonates with them.
• Water is very beneficial and therapeutic to the empath

Article Source: http://www.whitebuffalobeadsandstones.com/empathy.html

Recognizing an Empath

The empathic person:

Is emotionally sensitive to the thoughts and feelings of others.

Is rarely concerned with their own achievements, a quiet leader.

Has little trouble discussing emotional issues.

Is uncomfortable around disharmonious or emotionally intense people.

Is very sensitive to violence and suffering.

Struggles to find a solution when a problem presents itself.

Often can't tolerate violent media.

Struggles to understand the causes of suffering in the world.

Has difficulty justifying harming others even in self-defense.

Is often an idealist, dreaming of ways to make the world a better place.

Can often be found as a volunteer.

Can sense places where bad things have occurred.

Sometimes shares another's physical pain, as well as emotional.

Is often expressive, musically, artistically, or verbally.

Makes an excellent counselor, therapist, or healer.

Is prone to unexplained depression.

Can sometimes sense a loved one's suffering, even at a distance.

Is considered to be "too emotional" or "too sensitive" by many.

Tends to draw others to them.

Is well liked by children and animals.

Is genuinely interested in others.

Is sensitive to what people really feel, rather what they pretend to feel.

Often has difficulty being in large crowds, is easily overwhelmed by too much input.

Is compassionate and understanding.

Is deeply interested in people as a whole.

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Can "catch" moods from others.

Tends to feel what is outside more than inside of themselves.

Is non-violent, non-aggressive, and often functions as a peacemaker.

Suffers from tremendous guilt if they harm another person, even unintentionally.

Has difficulty controlling emotions, cries easily.

Finds that others often open up to them without knowing why.

Has a way of making people who have just met them feel they have known each other their whole lives.

Article Source:  http://www.squidoo.com/the-empath-next-door

An empath is someone who is

An empath is someone who is emotionally, mentally, and physically sensitive to the energy around them. They often pick up the negative or detrimental thoughts, feelings, and emotions of others. They may also absorb or be sensitive to vibrations produced by electricity or cause disturbance to electronic devices.

This intuitive gift is increasing as the earth and humanity is shifting into a purer level of consciousness, which means more and more people are discovering that they have the ability to know what someone else is thinking or feeling. The difficulty comes when an empath or highly sensitive person doesn't know how to clear this energy and instead carries as if it were their own. This can create mental confusion, emotional mood swings, and even physical illness. Most empaths don't know what to do about empathy overload or compassion fatigue.

Article Source: http://weare1inspirit.com/empathy-intuition.htm

Bruce Lee’s Top 20 Tips for Living a Successful Life

1. Apply What You Learn

“Knowing is not enough, we must apply. Willing is not enough, we must do.”

How many people do you know that read a lot of books and spend a lot of time buying courses, but never apply the knowledge they learn?

You may even notice these tendencies in your life. It’s hard to take action and apply what you learn, because we’re all afraid of failure, and taking action can be paralyzing from time to time.

However, success in life doesn’t happens until you use the knowledge that you have inside of you. Most of us have exactly what we need to get to our goals, but we make excuses not to even get started.

2. Learn, Discard, Create

“Absorb what is useful, Discard what is not, Add what is uniquely your own.”

It’s all well and good to learn from others, but it’s not until you take action that you discover what works and doesn’t.

When you discover what doesn’t work, you simply discard it and keep going. When you keep moving forward, you will create your own path.

Living a successful life is all about experimenting and trying new things. The more things you try, the closer you will get to true success.

3. Simplicity

“Simplicity is the key to brilliance.”

If you can simplify your life, your goals, and your tasks, you will not only be happier, you will also get more done and be more successful.

It was not until I started focusing on one single task and one major goal in my life that I started seeing rapid results in the direction of my dreams.

If you’re trying to go after multiple things at once, you will end up accomplishing none of them. Pick one thing that’s the most important to you and go after that.

The funny thing about focusing on one goal is that it seems that you’re neglecting all the others aspects of your life, but when you focus on one goal, magically the other aspects of your life improve, sometimes dramatically.

4. Break Barriers

“Using no way as way, using no limitation as limitation.”

We all have negative beliefs that stop us from being as successful in life as we would like.

The only person holding you back is you. Once you become comfortable with overcoming your fears, you will start seeing dramatic success in your life.

One of the most common characteristics of successful people is that they are willing to try new things and face their fears. They are not fearless, they are merely willing to do what it takes.

5. Be Open-Minded

“Take no thought of who is right or wrong or who is better than. Be not for or against.”

There’s no right or wrong in the universe. It’s completely subjective.

Getting caught up in the drama of who is right or wrong or who is better than will only distract you from reaching your goals and creating a successful life.

Stay open to new possibilities, and the viewpoints of others. You can never know what you will learn when you explore things you at first thought were pure nonsense.

6. Contribute

“Real living is living for others.”

It wasn’t until I found my passion and started contributing to the world with my writing that I started feeling fulfilled.

We all have our unique gifts that we can use to make the world a better place. These are usually talents and skills you have that you are very good at, and that you like to do.

It doesn’t matter if you like to make jewelry or if you enjoy cooking, because everything is connected to everything else.

You are here to make a difference with the talents you have. There’s a reason why you are you.

7. Manage Your Time

“If you love life, don’t waste time, for time is what life is made up of.”

We are surrounded by distractions, such as e-mail, Twitter, and Facebook. They are great at connecting us to each other, but they distract us from what is truly important.

Learn to manage your time, and get the most valuable tasks done before you start to play. Use time management courses to get your life in order.

You can often double, triple, or even quadruple your productivity by using just a few simple time management tips.

A good one that I use is to write down the three most important tasks for the next day before I go to bed.

8. Be Flexible

“Notice that the stiffest tree is most easily cracked, while the bamboo or willow survives by bending with the wind.”

Life will throw curve balls at you, so you have to get used to being flexible. The more comfortable you can be with being uncomfortable, the faster you will grow as a human being and the more success you will have in life.

This is exactly what distinguishes successful people from unsuccessful ones. Successful people are more willing to be uncomfortable, because they know that that is the fastest path to their goals.

Whenever you bump into something that makes you feel bad, stay flexible, and find the positive in the situation. I’ve found that most of the problems in my life are blessings in disguise.

The only thing separating positivity from negativity is time.

9. Set Goals

“A goal is not always meant to be reached, it often serves simply as something to aim at.”

If you want to create your dream life you want you first have to know what you want. For the longest time I avoided setting goals, because I thought it was unnecessary.

It wasn’t until recently that I discovered that goal setting can not only make me more productive, it can also dramatically increase the clarity I have.

When you set goals, use the S.M.A.R.T criteria, which stands for specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely goals.

10. Be Patient

“A quick temper will make a fool of you soon enough.”

One of my weaknesses is my impatience. However, I’ve learned to channel my impatience into getting more done and being productive.

It’s also important to realize that most of the things that are truly valuable in life take time.

For example, I discovered that creating an online business usually takes anywhere from 3 to 5 years, if your goal is a full-time income.

Whatever you do, keep taking small steps each day toward your primary goal, and you will be surprised at how much you can accomplish in just a few years.

11. Kill the Box

“All fixed set patterns are incapable of adaptability or pliability. The truth is outside of all fixed patterns.”

It’s easy to get into a rut, which is simply a familiar pattern that feels comfortable. If you truly want to grow as a person and lead a successful life, you have to get out of the box.

In fact, throw the box out altogether, and start following your heart wherever it leads you. This can be as simple as following your highest excitement in the moment.

Most people are stuck in their minds and never listen to their heart’s deepest desire. Don’t let this be you.

12. Control Your Thoughts

“As you think, so shall you become.”

What you think about, you draw into your life. If you’re constantly being negative, you will draw more negativity into your life.

Instead of focusing on the negative, think about what you want to get out of life and focus on the positive.

This is another way of telling you that you have to set goals and focus on those goals as often as possible. The results you will get by doing this will be dramatic.

Most people sit around whining about their miserable life, and then they wonder why nothing good ever happens to them.

13. Take Action

“If you spend too much time thinking about a thing, you’ll never get it done.”

Don’t over analyze and over think. Take massive action even if things aren’t perfect before you start.

Most people that try to get things perfect never get started at all.

I used to be a perfectionist, but I realized that by taking action, I could get much more done and make much more progress.

I also realized that people don’t want perfect. They just want solutions to their problems.

14. Allow

“I’m not in this world to live up to your expectations and you’re not in this world to live up to mine.”

It’s easy to get stuck on what other people would think of you if you became successful. Most people are so afraid of this that they never rise above mediocrity.

It is not up to you to make people happy. You can only make yourself happy, and the way others react is just the way they will react.

Don’t let other people dictate how you live your life. Determine what you want, go after it, and don’t look back. You will be much happier for it.

15. Create Your Own Destiny

“To hell with circumstances; I create opportunities.”

You can make all the excuses in the world, but nothing happens until you stop blaming your circumstances or people in your life, and take control of your life.

It is up to you to take responsibility for your life and create your own opportunities. You may not be able to do exactly what you want right now, but you have the opportunity to take steps toward it.

No one will create the dream life for you. You have to do it yourself.

16. Be You

“Always be yourself, express yourself, have faith in yourself, do not go out and look for a successful personality and duplicate it.”

As I said earlier, you were born with unique talents, gifts, and skills. When you try to be someone you’re not, you will only attract people into your life that are not in harmony with you.

When you are you, and that includes the weird things about you, you will find that the most amazing and interesting people start popping up in your life.

Sometimes this may take years, and sometimes it can happen in just a few days. Let whatever happens be okay and go with the flow.

17. Have Integrity

“Knowledge will give you power, but character respect”

No success in life is worth it unless you have integrity.

It’s very hard to find people that are honest and have integrity as one of their highest values. It’s easy to throw in a lie here and there and try to manipulate people.

Only conscious people realize that this won’t make anyone happy in the long term. It might get you what you want in the short-term but it’s not a recipe for happiness.

Live with integrity, and people will respect you. And best of all, you will respect yourself which is a very desirable character trait.

18. Learn the Rules, Break the Rules

“Obey the principles without being bound by them.”

If you want success in life, learn what other successful people have done to get to where they are.

It’s important to learn the principles of success, but not be bound by them. Once you know what you need to do, follow your heart and your intuition.

If you want to learn how to create a profitable website for example, I recommend you sign up for a training course, and follow the instructions step-by-step.

Once you start seeing success, you can start breaking the rules and begin experimenting.

19. Do Things for You

“Showing off is the fool’s idea of glory.”

Life is not about impressing other people. If you try to show off, it will backfire.

And if you try to seek the approval of others, it will just make you miserable. The only person that needs to approve of you is you.

This goes hand in hand with many of the quotes above. You can only be you, and it is not until you reclaim your unique self that you can be truly great.

20. Believe in Yourself

“You just wait. I’m going to be the biggest Chinese Star in the world.”

Last, but definitely not least are the expectations you have of yourself. Your beliefs will determine the success you have in life.

There are ways to overcome limiting beliefs and negative expectations, but nothing happens until you accept that they exist within you.

And nothing happens until you take full responsibility for the life that you have created in this very moment.

Article Source: http://www.wakeupcloud.com/bruce-lee-successful-life/

Inner Alchemy

The human body is an organism, and like any organism it needs energy and a vital interaction among the functions of the principal organs so that they function well. We constantly lose energy and need to replace it if we intend to continue alive and healthy.

Chinese culture and medicine has been studying energy for thousands of years, charting its routes through the body and discovering its therapeutic applications. They studied a type of energy called Chi, or vital energy, which is the same type treated by acupuncture. The best word to describe this energy would be bio-electromagnetism.

The Chinese classified this perpetually flowing fountain of energy as Jing, the earth energy; Chi, energy of the cosmic plane; and Shen, the energy of the stars and heavens. Our lifetime and our health depend on the balanced flow of these energies and our capacity to replenish them. The meridians mapped by the Chinese and utilized in acupuncture are some of the routes through which this vital energy or Chi flows. Therefore, in our bodies there are special routes (marvelous vessels) known to Chinese medicine and which serve as psychic channels unable to be manipulated by needles. The technique for opening these routes and teaching a person to multiply this energy was kept secret in China for thousands of years. This knowledge was passed on from father to chosen son and transmitted orally throughout antiquity. Only the Emperor and his court had access to these techniques. In Taoist Internal Alchemy, as systematized by Mantak Chia, we learn the secrets of this ancient knowledge.

Article Source: http://www.healing-tao.com.br/en/alchemy/alchemy.htm

Internal Alchemy

Inner Alchemy or Neidan – a term often used synonymously with Qigong - is the Taoist art and science of gathering, storing and circulating the energies of the human body. In Inner Alchemy, our human body becomes a laboratory in which the Three Treaures of Jing, Qi, and Shen are cultivated, for the purpose of improving physical, emotional and mental health; and, ultimately, merging with the Tao, i.e. becoming an Immortal.

Each of the Three Treasures used in the practice of Inner Alchemy is associated with a particular physical/energetic location: (1) Jing, or reproductive energy, has its home in the lower dantian (and Snow Mountain area); (2) Qi, or life energy, has its home in the middle dantian; and (3) Shen, or spiritual energy, has its home in the upper dantian. Taoist practitioners learn to transmute Jing into Qi into Shen, and the reverse, i.e. learn to modulate consciousness along its full spectrum of vibratory frequencies, in much the same way that we are able to tune into different radio stations. The dantians can be thought of as similar to the “chakras” of Hindu yogic systems – locations within the subtle body for the storing and transmutation of qi/prana. Of particular importance for Inner Alchemy practice is the lower dantian, referred to also as the “stove,” and the home, ultimately, of what is known as the Immortal Fetus.

Internal Alchemy understands the human body to be a precious and necessary resource for our spiritual journey, rather than as something to be ignored or transcended. Along with the dantians, the practitioner of Inner Alchemy learns to perceive and work with the meridian system, in particular the Eight Extraordinary Meridians. As we open, cleanse and balance the meridians, our Awareness flows in/as the present moment. What emerges, then – quite naturally – is good health, clarified perception and a direct experience of our connection to and embodiment of Tao.

Inner Alchemical processes are represented visually in the Nei Jing Tu, a diagram whose various components are described here by Master Mantak Chia. These processes are represented also by the Lamp, candles and other items found on the altars used in Ceremonial Taoism, and by the practice of Baibai – offering incense to the altar. Taoist ceremonies are ritual enactments not only of Taoist Cosmological principles, but also of the transformations of Inner Alchemy.

An excellent place to begin your practice of Inner Alchemy is with the “Inner Smile” and "Snow Mountain" practices. As you move deeper into this wonderful terrain, it will be important for you to receive the guidance of one or more qualified teachers.

Article Source: http://taoism.about.com/od/internalalchemy/a/Alchemy.htm

Chinese Medicine - How Emotions affect our organs

Chinese medicine categorizes the major emotions as: anxiety, sorrow, fear, anger, joy, rumination, and empathy. Each of these, when excessive or fix (preoccupying the mind), harms an internal organ and disturbs the qi in specific ways.

Anxiety and sorrow both damage the lungs. The English word "anxiety" comes from a German root angst, "narrow," referring to the narrowing of the bronchial passages. During times of anxiety, breath and qi are constricted, unable to flow easily in and out of the lungs. It is well-known that anxiety can contribute to the development or exacerbation of asthma and other bronchial conditions. The lungs are also affected by grief as demonstrated by the heaving that occurs with crying. Grief depresses and weakens the lungs and, like anxiety, disturbs the easy and full movement of breath. According to Chinese medicine, the lungs extract qi from the air, regulating the supply of internal healing energy. When the lungs are weakened by grief, one's gen-eral health and vitality diminishes. However, this does not mean that we should suppress sorrow. It is not healthy to withhold one's tears in response to an upsetting event. Both prolonged grief and unexpressed grief weaken lung qi.

In Traditional Chinese Medicine, the word shen, "kidneys," includes both the kidneys and adrenals and, in some contexts, the reproductive sys-tem. The shen are most affected by fear. Fear causes pain and disease in the kidneys, adrenals, and lower back and creates favorable conditions for uri-nary tract disorders and incontinence. When one is afraid, the qi drops down toward the sacrum and in toward the center, away from the surface of the body. The body contracts in self-protection. The circulation of blood and breath slows down, resulting in conditions of excess and stagnation in the core and depletion in the periphery. A common sign of this is cold hands and feet. One is literally "frozen with fear."

Chronic fear can lead to a host of debilitating conditions. Fear and stress; cause the adrenals to secrete large amounts of the stress hormones adrenaline and hydrocortisone, which signal the cells to break down stored fats and pro-teins into sugar (glucose). This makes energy available to fight or flee from a threat - a necessity during short-term threats to survival but devastating if prolonged. As the stores of energy are sapped, we become weak and fatigued, leading to "adrenal burnout." The body's reservoir of hormones is not infinitely deep. If we do not have time to rest and regenerate our supply, our ability to cope with stress is impaired.

The release of adrenal hormones puts many bodily processes on hold, in order to defend against the threat. This includes the shutting down of growth, repair, and reproduction by inhibiting or disabling essential chemi-cals and immune cells. If stress is constant, the body may forget how to re-turn to the healthy state, losing its ability to defend effectively against pathogens or to repair and heal damage.

In qigong theory, the kidneys and adrenals also control brain function, especially memory. Scientific research has confirmed that fear and stress can weaken memory and create learning disabilities. The stress hormone, hydro-cortisone, damages the hippocampus, a region of the brain responsible for memory and learning and rich with hydrocortisone receptors. The connec-tion between the adrenal hormones and memory has also been shown in ani-mal experiments. In the 1960s, German physiologists found that these hormones damage the brains of guinea pigs. On the other hand, when the adrenal glands were removed from middle-aged rats, the hippocampal cells were spared the damage that one would normally expect with aging. The implication of all of this for humans is that by avoiding stressful situations or by resolving or changing our reactions to them, we can restore balance to the shen, the kidneys-adrenals, and preserve the health of body and mind.

Anger weakens the liver and causes the qi to rise. In fact, the common Chinese word for anger is sheng qi "rising qi." Other expressions used to describe an angry person include huo qi da "fire qi great" or yang qi tao gao "yang qi too high." Rising qi leads to muscular tension and various liver- and fire--related ailments, such as headaches, eyestrain, hemorrhoids, and irregular menstruation. It is interesting that in English, the word "bilious" also implies a connection between the liver and anger. Weakness of liver qi also con-tributes to mood swings, as the liver cannot perform its function of spreading the qi and harmonizing its flow.

In the West we distinguish between "healthy anger" and "unhealthy anger." Whereas the Chinese simply say that anger is harmful, Western mind-body researchers have found that honest expression of even "negative" feelings is good for one's health. Unhealthy anger is repressed, chronic, cruel, or violent. This kind of anger does not end after it is discharged; inevitably a trail of other feelings follows it, including resentment, frustration, and guilt. In my opinion, it is only this kind of anger that harms the liver. Many scien-tists have found that the inability to express healthy anger and other emo-tions conventionally labeled as "negative" may suppress the immune system and create favorable conditions for the development of cancer. Even mice exhibit different immunologic states depending on their behavior. More ag-gressive mice tend to have smaller virus-induced tumors. It may be that a strong, fighting (and feisty) spirit goes hand in hand with more aggressive white blood cells. It is important to note, however, that a fighting spirit is different from obstinacy and stubbornness. The challenge for anyone facing serious disease is how to balance determination and willpower with acceptance of human frailty and imperfection.

     Lao Zi suggests a distinction between healthy and unhealthy emotion in his classic Dao De Jing; "The highest virtue is not virtuous, and is thus virtu-ous "; that is, true virtue is not self-consciously or compulsively virtuous. Compulsive do-gooders are really afraid of or denying their own aggression and hostility. They try always to do what is "best," preferring to be placating, submissive, or self-sacrificing rather than expressing or fighting for what they genuinely feel, lest they "make waves." "The sage is not a do-gooder," says Lao Zi. The sage is true to his or her nature, neither compulsively following nor rebelling against rules of conduct. The sage is capable of expressing emo-tions, including anger, as necessary and appropriate to the situation. He or she practices self-acceptance and is thus more accepting and understanding of others. The first step in self-acceptance is giving oneself permission to feel what one is feeling; then inner resistance and friction is lessened and much of one's anger is already gone.

That joy is considered a negative emotion is troubling to most Western students of qigong until they realize that in Chinese medical literature the term joy (1e) means excitability, a tendency toward giddiness, talkativeness, lavishness, and general excess. In some texts, another character for joy is used, pronounced xi. Etymologically, this character means the joy derived from eating. According to Chinese medicine scholars Kiiko Matsumoto and Stephen Birch, "In a medical context, xi accurately refers more to the notion of problems caused by overeating. . . ."" Thus, "joy" disperses and scatters the qi. It can create an uneven pulse and make one prone to cardiac problems.

The excitable, joyous person is the opposite of the Chinese ideal of the sage, who is able to maintain inner composure and calm even in the midst of a storm. There is a Chinese saying, "Though Mount Tai collapses at your feet, the qi remains calm, and the face does not change color." Excitement places sudden demands on the heart. The most extreme form of excitement and thus the most damaging emotion for the heart is emotional shock, whether from a negative event such as the death of a loved one or from a positive event, like winning the sweepstakes. The epidemic of heart disease in the West may be symptomatic of our society's preoccupation with le, "joy, excitement." The heart is overstimulated by our quick pace of life, by fright-ening news reports, TV violence, and an infatuation with sex and romance.

In qigong philosophy, it is believed that the heart likes peace and quiet. It needs a feeling of security in order to keep an even pace as it pumps energy through the body. When the heart qi is disturbed by excitement and excess, mind and spirit are both affected, creating the possibility of insomnia, con-fused and restless thinking, or in extreme cases, hallucinations, hysteria, and psychosis.

The spleen is damaged by pensiveness. The qi becomes knotted and stuck. Pensiveness means excess concentration, an obsessive preoccupation with a concept or subject. It is the kind of intellectual nit-picking usually required for Ph.D. dissertations. Needless to say, college students often suffer from what Chinese medicine considers spleen-related disorders: gastric disturbances, elevated blood pressure, weakened immunity, and a tendency toward phlegm and colds.

Excess empathy, bei, also harms the spleen. Empathy is similar to com-passion. The American Heritage Dictionary defines compassion as "Deep awareness of the suffering of another coupled with the wish to relieve it." Empathy means that we also identify with that person's suffering. This feeling is especially strong when we come in contact with individuals who are facing hardships we ourselves have endured. Empathy is a positive attribute and creates a heating trust in any relationship, especially a therapeutic one. Empathy is considered excessive and damaging to the spleen when we lose a clear recognition of boundaries, when we feel distraught and upset by some-one else's problems." Pensiveness and excess empathy, the two qualities that harm the spleen, are related. We are pensive when we are preoccupied with ourselves; we are overly empathic when we are preoccupied with others.

Empathy is an important and difficult issue for many healers. Too much empathy makes it difficult to treat the patient objectively and may result in "picking up" the patient's physical and/or mental disease. A qigong student knows he is overempathizing when it becomes difficult to feel relaxed, centered, and rooted. To overempathize is to feel disempowered and out of touch with the earth, the element that corresponds to the spleen. Such empathy weakens the spleen, and conversely a weak spleen can create boundary issues.

The spleen carries the qi of the earth. Qigong masters say that the spleen needs grounding, time spent in nature. There is a wonderful cure for both of the spleen's emotional pathogens - pensiveness and empathy. "Lose your mind and come to your senses." Spend more time in nature, seeing nature as a positive model of health and balance. The earth supports all kinds of life impartially, without attachment. Let the mind become quiet and the senses open to the environment. Such a cure may seem too simple, nontechnical, perhaps even naive. The important point is that it works! I remember my old friend, Zenmaster Alan Watts, once remarking, "We believe that we haven't thought enough about the difficulties of life. Perhaps the problem is that we have thought entirely too much!"

In summary, each of the major internal organs can be damaged by emo-tional excess. There are also positive emotions that can help heal the organs. These positive emotions are identical to the five virtues that, according to Confucianism, can make one a "Noble Person." The Chinese word for virtue (de) was originally written with the same character as the word "to plant," suggesting that virtue is a power that can be cultivated. Similarly, the English "virtue" comes from the same Latin root as "virile," suggesting a power or potential that creates health.

The lungs are heated by yi, often translated "righteousness," in the sense of integrity and dignity. When I studied Chinese philosophy, my professor was fond of a particular example of lack of yi - the way people push and shove on crowded subways during rush hour. Yi means giving yourself and others a kind of psychological elbow room, room to live and breathe. The kidneys are healed by zhi, wisdom. Zhi implies clear perception and self -understanding, a sure antidote for irrational fears. The anger of the liver is mended with kindness (ren). The Confucian virtue ren is a pictogram of two people walking together. It is sometimes defined as the natural feelings.

THE ORGAN-EMOTION LINK

Element Metal Water Wood Fire Earth

Organ Lungs Kidney Liver Heart  Spleen

Harmful Anxiety, Fear Anger Joy, Shock Pensiveness,

Emotions Sorrow     Empathy

Qi Effect Constrict Drop Rise Scatter Knot

Positive Yi Zhi Ren Li Xin

Emotions (Integrity) (Wisdom) (Kindness) (Order)  (Trust)

that arise with companionship: benevolence and "human-heartedness." In the Analects, Confucius says, "Ren consists in loving others" (Analects XII, 22). The excitability of the heart is balanced by peace, calm, orderliness, all implied by the Chinese word fi. Li is usually translated "ritual." However, Confucian texts make it clear that li is not only ritual, but the state of mind required to perform ritual properly and evoked by the performance. Li con-notes "orderliness," setting limits on one's behavior as a means of fostering social harmony. Finally, the spleen is healed by the cultivation of xin. This is a rich concept that can mean trust, faith, honesty, confidence, belief. Trust is openness and acceptance, a feeling that emerges when one finds a common ground with another. Trust is a cure for the knotted qi that occurs from both pensiveness (an internal knot and stagnation) and empathy (one's qi tied to another).

The, correspondences between the five elements, the organs, harmful and positive (healing) emotions are reviewed in Table 1. This network is also the basis for a powerful qigong meditation called, very simply, "Healing the Emotions." You may wish to either memorize or record the instructions, so you can practice with eyes closed.

HEALING THE EMOTIONS

Sit in qigong posture for a few minutes, with the eyes lightly closed. Make sure you are relaxed and breathing naturally. Bring your mind to the lungs. Use your inner senses to feel the lungs in your body. As you inhale, draw in, integrity and dignity into the lungs. As you exhale, let the breath carry away all worries, anxiety, and grief Repeat this several times. Inhale integrity, ex-hale anxiety and grief ...

Now focus on the kidneys. Let the inhalation fill the kidneys with wisdom, with the confidence of inner knowing - Exhale all fears. Repeat several

Locate the liver with your awareness. As you inhale, draw in kindness, filling the liver completely. As you exhale, release and let go of anger. Repeat.

Bring your mind to the heart. Inhale, filling it-all the chambers, valves, the heart muscle-with peace and calm. Exhaling, release excitement, zealousness, excesses of any kind. Inhale peace again. Continue...

Now find the spleen. Locate and feet it inside. As you inhale, fill it with trust and acceptance. As you exhale, let go of pensiveness and Let go of excess empathy, so you can be secure and rooted in yourself. Again, inhale trust. Repeat.

Then bring your mind to the center of your being, to the stillness and silence of quiet abdominal breathing. Let all images and thoughts disappear. Stay with the feeling of pure being, "hanging out with yourself" as long as you wish.

You can also use Inner Nourishing Qigong for emotional heating. As we breathe, think of a heating phrase, for instance, "My emotions are balanced and calm." Inhale, gently expanding the lower abdomen, thinking, "My emotions are . .." Exhale, letting the abdomen relax, thinking, "ba" and calm." Repeat for about five minutes.

I FEEL; THEREFORE I AM

We can see that qigong approaches the emotions from a very different p than traditional psychotherapy. Qigong considers the way emotions affect posture, breathing, and visceral health. Rather than viewing psychological problems in terms of past influences on present behavior, qigong focuses exclusively on present energy blockages. Frequently, psychological problems seem to just evaporate as physical tension dissolves. Although memory is stored in unhealthy tissue, one need not always analyze these memories to achieve psychological health. Many qigong students note, in retrospect, that emotional difficulties they had at the beginning of mining are simply nonexistent a few years later.

This is not, however, to denigrate the need for insight-oriented

therapies. Serious psychological problems often do require delving into rea-sons and causes. Even if the energetic blockage is released, the patient may still need help breaking a loop of repetitive thought or a behavior

that reinforces the problem. It is here that both Chinese medicine and qigong are seriously lacking and must took to Western psychotherapy to fill the gap. Dr. Mark Seem's poignant commentary about acupuncture applies equally to qigong:

"Acupuncture therapy, while unblocking an energetic zone, simulta-neously frees up the psyche trapped in that zone, and if attention is not paid to the underlying psychological issues in the patient's life experience, a new energetic zone will soon become disturbed. This results in constantly shifting or wandering symptoms, a kind of ener-getic hysteria due to the practitioner's inability or unwillingness to focus on the soul as well as the body."

Several years ago I was discussing qigong teaching strategies with a well--known Chinese qigong master, visiting from Guangzhou (Canton). I brought up one of my favorite questions. "How do you help a student who has serious emotional difficulties? Let's say a student who cries every time she begins Standing Meditation." The master replied, "I would tell her Fang Song, 'Relax.'" "But what if this only made matters worse? What if relaxing the shoulders also relaxes the tension that controls her emotions and holds back the tears?" Again, the master said, "She needs to relax." No matter how I ap-proached this subject, the answer was the same, like a broken record. I have heard the same answer from more than 99 percent of the Chinese qigong in-structors; I have questioned.

Relaxation is an answer but not the definitive answer in every case. In the West, we tend to view psychological problems as having to do almost ex-clusively with the mind. In China, the reverse is true. Psychological prob-lems are somatized, interpreted and regarded as physical sensations. This belief could be the foundation of a true mind-body science, but it is not. The attitude throughout most of Chinese history has been that anxiety is only a problem in the lungs, requiring acupuncture, massage, herbs, or some other physical remedy. If you have a phobic avoidance of certain situations, your personal experiences in childhood are irrelevant. After all, everyone knows that fear is located in the kidneys. And so on. The five element theory be-came a way to pigeonhole phenomena in terms of one all-embracing system of thought. It is ironic that a system originally designed to show connections and relationships eventually stunted the development of creative approaches to mind-body health.

The five element classification could be applied to almost everything, sometimes in bizarre ways. If an individual was suffering from uncontrollable anger, the Chinese doctor might recommend a healthy dose of anxiety and worry, since metal (associated with lungs-anxiety) chops and destroys wood (associated with liver-anger). Or if a patient was thinking too much and had a tendency toward obsessive behavior, then anger could be the cure. Again, the rationalization is that in the cycle of the five elements, wood (anger) penetrates and destroys earth (rumination). This system of therapy, called "checking one emotion with another," is still practiced in China.

Somatization is reflected in present-day Chinese medical terminology." Grief is suan, "soreness in the joints." Insomnia and irritability are WU yun, "head dizziness." Depression is men, a Chinese character that pictures the heart napped in a doorway, suggesting a feeling of being closed in or suffo-cated. The catchall phrase for most psychological problems is neurasthenia, shen fing shuai ruo, literally "weakness of the nerves."" This can include anxi-ety, depression, and hysteria. David Eisenberg, M.D., notes that between one-third and one-half of all patients he saw at Beijing's Dong Zhi Men Clinic complained of "suffering from neurasthenia.  Thus most problems a Westerner would consider psychological are defined as physical, requiring exclusively physical interventions.

There are historical and philosophical reasons why emotional individu-als may not receive adequate attention in Chinese society. They are difficult to predict and control and care little for convention; thus they are perceived as threats to government stability." In Confucianism, the state religion through much of China's history, emotional expression was disdained in fa-vor of decorum, orderliness, and the performance of one's social obligations. Social roles took precedence over personal experience and fulfillment.

   In present-day P.R.C., as in the past, emotional difficulties are first ad-dressed within the family. If no resolution is found, the problem is brought to the attention of the local political leader, who oversees both political and so-cial aspects of his community. As a last resort, the truly disturbed individual might be referred to a physician. If the physician practices Western medi-cine, the course of treatment is generally medication and/or electroconvul-sive shock therapy. Practitioners of Traditional Chinese Medicine will use acupuncture, herbs, massage, and qigong. Still, the personal thoughts and feelings of the individual, so valued in the West, have not been discussed or considered.

   Arthur Kleinman, M.D., notes that during research conducted in 1980 at the Hunan Medical College Department of Psychiatry, most depressive pa-tients "did not improve their perceived disability, and few experienced sub-stantial improvement in family, school, or work problems." In a follow-up study of chronic pain patients, conducted in 1983, Kleinman found that none of the patients had experienced a cure due to medical treatment and none of the psychiatric diagnoses had predicted a positive treatment outcome."

    Fortunately, there are indications of improvement and broader treat-ment options. Bogged down by an immense population and complex bureaucracy, changes are occurring at a tortoise's pace. Individual and group talk therapy have made some inroads.' Standard diagnostic labels of Western psychiatry are being adopted in research and, gradually, in clinical practice.

   Perhaps both China and the West can begin to harvest the best of both worlds. We can combine the energy medicine technology of qigong with the insights and methodology of psychotherapy to create a new and truly effec-tive system of mind-body healing.

from The Way of Qigong : The Art and Science of Chinese Energy Healing

by Ken Cohen

 Note: The Yogic concept of Prana and the East Asian concept of Chi or Qi are identical.

Article Source : http://www.sahej.com/organ-emotion_printready.html