You Are Enough

You are amazing!

Stars are giant fusion reactors that transform hydrogen atoms into all the other elements in the universe. Millions of years ago, when stars went supernova, they spewed those elements throughout the universe. That’s where the oxygen in our lungs, the iron in our blood, and so much more that makes up our bodies come from. You are made of stardust.

I am here today partially because the descendants of the Maya moved north from Central Mexico and then east into what is now the southeastern U.S. around 800 AD. I’m also here partially because a Serbian nationalist assassinated Archduke Ferdinand to precipitate the First World War. You are here, with your bodies of stardust, as the result of your own very amazing stories.

Accept All of You.

Most of our experiences, good and bad, are incorporated into our unconscious in what is called implicit memory. Implicit memory shapes our inner world and determines what it feels like to be ourselves. It gives us expectations, models for relationships, emotional tendencies, and our general world outlook.

Being mindful of your inner world—what you feel and sense and interpret about your outer experiences—helps to heal the damage of past injustices, even those that occurred so long ago you may have forgotten them. 

Mindful attention to your own daily experience activates many of the same emotional circuits that are stimulated when a child receives caring attention from parents.

Treat Yourself Kindly

It soothes anxiety and improves the immune system to deliberately bring kindness into your actions, your speech, and, most of all, your thoughts. Try to notice and interrupt negative, anxious thoughts and replace them with themes of kindness and well-being. 

It's not new-age philosophy; it's measurable, proven fact.

Those default thoughts in your mind are similar to a computer simulation--the longer the simulation is active, the more support your mind gives to the themes that fill your thoughts. Negative, anxiety-building thoughts create negative, anxious behaviors. Kind, supportive thoughts result in more kindness and support in the real world.

Qigong is Not T'ai Chi

Qigong is often confused with T'ai Chi, and the reason for the confusion is understandable. The two practices do have an intimate relationship. Both cultivate and balance Qi--the vital life energy--both are mindful of body mechanics, they align the breath with body movements, and they use meditation techniques to produce fluid motion. 

 

The mental outlook when performing either of those arts is similar: a quiet, focused mind is essential to gain the maximum benefit. T'ai Chi practice usually involves performing a series of movements one after the other until the entire series is complete. Qigong practice involves repeating a specific movement several times before moving on to a different one.

T'ai Chi is fundamentally a martial art. We usually see T'ai Chi practiced in slow motion for the same benefits that Qigong provides. However, when the movements are executed rapidly, it becomes a superior martial art. T'ai Chi is called "the mother of Kung Fu" in China.

Legend tells us that in the 4th Century B.C., a Buddhist monk named Bodhidharma came to China from India. He found the monks of the Shaolin Temple in a wretched physical and spiritual condition. He taught them Buddhism and the exercises we know as Qigong. 

This new healing practice evolved through the centuries. Then in the 14th Century, a Taoist priest named Chang San-Feng was awakened from an afternoon nap by a loud screeching made by a crane in mortal combat with a snake. 

The snake could coil and uncoil in smooth, fluid movements and strike at the crane with speed too quick to follow with the eye. The crane brushed aside each strike with a deft movement of its wing. The crane would then strike at the snake with its beak. The snake nimbly avoided each of the crane's attacks and their combat continued.

Eventually, the two combatants gave up and ended their struggle, but Chang, who had been locked in rapt attention, decided to develop a fighting style based on the movements of the animals. T'ai Chi was born.

(There are many different versions of this story.)