7 Ways to Keep Focused on a Lifelong Journey
Today, I truly start my experience as a practitioner of Classical Chinese Medicine. It’s my first shift at Pettygrove Classical Chinese Medicine clinic in Portland. I have the honor of learning from David Berkshire, LAc - a local practitioner who specializes in a variation of Worsley style five element acupuncture. I have been excited about this for a long time. At the same time, I’ve been anxious about my abilities and worried that I’ll do something horribly wrong! :) Also, as I enter Year 4 of this medical training, I am beginning to feel a little fatigued.
My situation is familiar to many of you. Anything worth doing takes time. This medicine is complex and worth working on for a while. Nonetheless, I have a family and a life and hopes and aspirations and sometimes I’d like to just get on with it. :) Regardless of your profession or stage in life, I think you can appreciate this sentiment and the situation that inspired it. Consider this got me thinking about how to keep energized when the road before one is long and potentially bumpy. I figured I’d share my thoughts with you. Please share your reactions and your own words of wisdom in the comments.
1. Inspiring literature : One of the easiest ways I have found to stay focused is to maintain a small library of books that easily inspire me. For my part, I choose writing that is closely related to Classical Chinese Medicine. A partial list of my “inspiration library” reveals:
- Dao De Jing
(Star Version)
- Huangdi Neijing
- Learning to be a Sage
- Notes from classes taught by Arnaud Versluys, Heiner Fruehauf and others
- The Web of Life
- Wholeness of Nature
2. Old journals/writing : I’m not super reliable in my journal writing, but it is consistent enough that I can read back through and get a sense for where I was in the recent and distant past. It is helpful for two reasons. First, I can see how far I’ve come and become energized by my progress. Second, I can sample my youthful (!) enthusiasm and use that to propel me through.
3. Go back to the source : Everyone came to their profession/topic for a different reason. When I get a little distant from my passion, I just think back to what motivated me in the first place. For me, the essence is twofold. First, I love the Classical Chinese way of thinking about human beings and the natural environment we live in. Also, a deep desire to be part of a profession that demands of me total integrity and closeness to nature has always been part of my driving force. To revisit these, I need to simply sit in a beautiful place (Portland abounds with them) and consider those things. I might spend 20 minutes considering the interplay of Yin and Yang in everything around me. Alternatively, I might vision the kind of practitioner I see myself being.
4. Talk to people further along on the path : Talking to experienced Chinese medicine physicians goes a long way in keeping me energized. When I am privileged to hear someone like Heiner Fruehauf talk about his method of treating patients and the beauty of those interactions, I feel renewed. When I make time to talk with my friend Abdallah B. Stickley about his prolific and inspired practice, I am buoyed. It’s also been helpful shadowing with some of the recently graduated interns during their rotations - watching the effortless way they interact with patients and wield the needles helps calm my fears and excite me about my future.
5. Talk to people further back on the path : Nothing gets me going quicker than talking to folks new to the field of Classical Chinese Medicine. It’s one of the reasons I love being associated with an institution of higher education. Every year, new students come in - full of enthusiasm and wonder. It lightens the heart and makes me forget my worries about my future or my irritation with the present. At NCNM, we have a mentoring program where older students take on the responsibility for helping out new students. That has certainly been a good experience.
6. Brainstorming : Sometimes none of the above seems to work. So, I start mindmapping. I’ll put my central concern or question in the center of the page and just start working from there. For instance, I might put the question, “Why become a physician?” in the center of my page. From there I let the ideas flow. “To have the privilege of accompanying fellow human beings on their path through life,” “To alleviate suffering in those who need it,” “To get paid to consciously work with my own energy,” and the list goes on. From there I often get sparked to think of my chosen profession in new ways. In fact, many of my blog articles come from brainstorming sessions like that one.
7. Spiritual practice : Certainly there is nothing better to align me with my purpose as a student of Classical Chinese Medicine than my spiritual practice. Whatever tradition (or no-tradition) you come from, simply dwelling in that place of spirit can deeply nourish every part of your life. I find that when I am doing meditation, prayer, Qigong and reading sacred texts, peacefulness about my path comes without my forcing it. If I sat down to meditate with worries on my mind or heaviness in my heart, I scarcely remember it when I stand back up.
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Tags: clinic, Learning, ncnmRelated posts
Learning acupuncture : Master points of the Extraordinary vessels
Early in the life of this blog, I wrote a lot of basic “what is this” posts about Chinese medicine. I did that because I saw that there was a need for basic information, and since I was learning it, it seemed like a natural progression. I realize that there are a lot of readers who don’t “need” this basic information, but other folks new to the medicine might. I hope everyone can enjoy this basic article.
For what seems like the hundredth time, we were taught about the master points of the extraordinary vessels recently. It’s interesting how much you can learn about something if the lesson is just repeated again and again. I have struggled to find my way with regards to acupuncture. The road to a Classical Chinese herbal practice has been clear ever since I came to NCNM. On the acupuncture side, things have been much less clear. We have learned a lot of Jing Luo theory, which has helped us to understand the complexity and interconnectedness of the Qi pathways in our body. We have learned all the standard categories, and have focused a lot on point prescriptions laid out in various Classical texts. Continue Reading…
Tags: Acupuncture, Classical Texts (general), classical-chinese-medicine, education, Learning
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Compassion as the driving force of Classical Chinese Medicine practice
A while ago, I began a series of posts designed to describe my experiences with Dr. Liu Lihong, renown Classical Chinese Medicine clinician and scholar. He visited NCNM in Portland just about a month ago, delivering powerful lectures and teaching us all with grace and simplicity. Many folks have asked me to share what he had to say about the Fire Spirit school of Chinese herbalism, a school that takes the use of Fu Zi (aconite) and Gui Zhi (cinnamon) to be its guiding methods. Unfortunately, I didn’t take written notes - only a recording - and it is taking me some time to transcribe. It may have to wait until school is out in a couple of weeks, when I have time between clinic shifts.
The truth of the matter is that the most powerful information that Dr. Liu gave us really had nothing to do with the practicalities of herbal formulations. I would like to share what I learned about a lecture he gave in our Medical ethics class about compassion in Classical Chinese Medical practice. I will soon share more of what I learned from this contemporary master of our medicine.
Medicine Continue Reading…
Tags: buddhism, Classical Texts (general), Personal Development, professional-development, study, studying.-confucianismRelated posts
Using the imagination in Classical Chinese medicine
The importance of the role of pattern differentiation in Chinese medicine cannot be overstated. Some go so far as to say that Classical Chinese Medicine is “pattern medicine.” What on Earth can that mean? I think about it in a few ways. First, Chinese medicine takes patterns very seriously. I don’t think most Chinese medicine physicians have theoretical discussions about what constitutes causality. Nor do they seem to be interested in carrying out complex calculations about the distribution of particular disease states across space or time. Despite this apparent failure, Chinese medicine practitioners through history have been interested in the correlation between disease states and other features of the human environment. They have taken a keen interest in the rise and fall of particular conditions in particular places at particular times. Second, a strong feature of our medicine is the perception of subtle patterns in a seemingly hopelessly complex tangle of symptoms and subjective feelings. Where other medical systems throw out the pieces that don’t fit, good Chinese medicine practitioners are always mindful of the “stray” symptoms. They always seem to come into play at some point. Finally, Continue Reading…
Tags: imagination, Learning, patterns
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Blogger’s Choice Awards - Vote for Deepesthealth.com
Well, it’s time for the Blogger’s Choice Awards again. My friend Yael over at Chinesemedicinenotes.com helped remind me that Deepest Health is in the running. So, vote for Yael - vote for me - vote for any one of the other fine Health related blogs out there, but do vote! It only takes a minute or two to sign up and the winners get a pretty good traffic boost for their troubles.
What do you have to lose? Click it!
Eric
Tags: awards, Blogging
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