The Chinese zodiac has come full circle for me. It's sixty year track, also known as the Stems-and-Branches or ghanzi, begins again for me as I celebrate the return of the stars (give or take) to their positions in the sky on the day I was born sixty years ago. I love the Chinese names for things. Stems-and-Branches sings to me where sexagenary cycle does not.

I am a metal ox. I love to work, especially outside, and usually with others on my team. Retirement always seemed silly to me.  What would I do if I couldn't work?  But I stray...

What does this turning of the Wheel mean to me?

It reminds me that time is shorter than I think and longer than I think.

I see the start of my new Stems-and-Branches tour through the sky as an opening, an invitation. I can live another life with the next sixty. Bolder, unafraid to use my voice for the causes that matter to me. It's the end and the beginning. I have moved past caring what people think, except the ones I hope to reach.  You, dear reader, will guide my next cycle. We can move through time together for a while.

What do you dream of?

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Parables teach through story. They give insights into principles through easily accessible stories. Stories easily shared. "The Jewel in the Robe" is one of my favorites. A gem hidden in the robes of a poor friend by a wealthy merchant. The poor man wanders and suffers from having no money never realizing the jewel was hidden in his robe the whole time. The gem is the potential for enlightenment. Or the example of the lotus growing out of the mud and muck. Delicate white floating far above the mud but dies without it.

It's easier to remember the principle with the story.

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Alone, yet not alone.

Surrounded by aid.

Solo, but not afraid.

Battered by the storm. 

What is the norm?

Help springs like blades of grass.

If only you will ask.

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Hitting the pause button.

Sleep. Rest.

llness forces a reset of our expectations.

Body needs make their way to center stage and refuse to be ignored.

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Reduce. Reuse, Recycle.
There is a reason the famous Earth Day slogan goes in that order.
Reducing is the best way to save the Earth.
Our privileged nations consume Earth's resources per capita  at a rate many times that of less fortunate nations.

Reducing our over-consumption. Why do we need two? Two cars, two homes. Turn your thermostat up in the summer and down in the winter.  Our ancestors found ways to stay cool in the summer by adapting to the heat.  Taking siestas.  Wearing loose linen type clothing. Covering their heads with a broad straw hat.

After reducing, you can work to reuse.  I reuse glass containers. I store all kinds of things in them. Leftovers, kombucha, sauces I made.  I asked for clothing this Christmas from Goodwill.  Happy to reuse beautiful sweaters and shirts that someone didn't need. The clothing over-consumption in the US has created a problem for people trying to get rid of clothing, as the buyers of used clothing in less developed nations work to create their own clothing industries.

Recycling is last.  It uses the most energy of the three, so is your lowest priority. Still important. Every bit helps.

Let's celebrate the Earth today and every day!

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Just as you choose your clothes, you clothe yourself with hope or despair. The rain clouds surrounding you can be viewed as a precious gift or confirmation that the deck is stacked against you.

The presence or absence of hope seems tied to what happens to you. Yet looking at great leaders, I see they believed in something greater than themselves. They lifted others up.  They shined a light to guide their own way and that of others. Nelson Mandela, my hero, was one such great leader.  Martin Luther King another. Mahatma Ghandi. Greta Thunberg. Daiskau Ikeda. These simple people had dreams. They chose to believe they could make their dreams come true. This power of belief is called hope.  It's a choice.

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When is it good enough to share?

Sharing a sandwich.  Sharing a good book.  Sharing your life.
These are generous acts.
Why hold your work back? Why keep your ideas about how to make things better to yourself?

Once out there, others can suggest ways to make these ideas even better.
Just raise your hand. Offer to go first. Put your ideas out there in the wild. I know you can.

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Sometimes we aren't even aware of the tension we hold in our bodies.
We wonder why our wrist hurts. Or our thumb.

If muscles are habitually engaged and the brain has no awareness of that fact, our only course to stop the destruction is to create body awareness. Body awareness can be trained like anything else. It's a matter of intention and attention. Getting quiet.  Breathing deeply. Checking in with each part of your body one at a time. Where is my right hand? Does it hurt? Can I let go of it and completely relax it?

My favorite trick is to visualize myself in a relaxing place, usually around water.  I help myself hear the waves and smell the salt-air.  I can feel the sun on my face. Often I imagine myself floating.  These are cues to my brain to help it go in-between.  To relax.

What cues do you use?  Is it a daily practice?  Please share in the comments.

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"You've got to make a mess to clean a mess."  My words to my children when we started a big cleaning project.

Last week I started Spring Cleaning.  I created a spring cleaning video challenge on my YouTube channel inviting others to join me. My goal? Cleaning out a room for bodywork in my home. A clinic room. The room had become a junk room for clutter from the rest of the house.

I worked in chunks of 15 minutes. To sort through years-old stuff requires laying it all out and looking at each one.  Now the rest of my house has piles everywhere.  I had to make a mess to clean a mess.  It reminds me of home construction projects where the house is partly torn apart for a year or more.  The project has to be done on weekends.  It has to fit into the schedule of regular work.

It can be discouraging to go from a functional household to an under-construction household. I start to forget why I am doing this as I can no longer find anything in my home. Yet the room is nearly cleared.  Almost ready to be painted.  And I have started to buy decorations and supplies.  Excitement starts to grow.  Maybe I can spend some time working on my living room to clean the mess I made there to clean the mess in the clinic room.

Injuries happen. Aging and illness take their toll on our body.

In our fast-paced world, cultivating our health is a side note, not the focus.

Yet our body is gold. If we allow it to be damaged or neglected, we have to live with the damage.

The internal gongfu masters understood this and cultivated their bodies through rigorous training until training deeply permeated mind and body. Trained stances just become "natural" to one who trains for 10 years. Then our practice becomes 24/7. We consider our alignment in the early years of training, then it just becomes part of us. Our muscles, tendons, joints and bones become stronger. Our bodies gold.

And we start to see misalignment of those around us as if we had an x-ray. I can often tell you what is off just from hearing about a pain.

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