writing – Elemental Energies

Holiday Elemental Emotions – Naughty or Nice?

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Ah, the holiday season is upon us and with it comes all the joys, or rather, challenges of the grumpier side of the Five Elements.

One of the most useful parts of my studies in Nine Star Ki, has been being able to navigate the holidays and those sometimes (let’s be real – most of the time) challenging personalities of family. It has been such a great tool for me in learning how not to take things too personally.

Because there is always that sibling who has a blowup every year, the critical aunt who nitpicks every detail or the nosy brother in-law who asks too many questions. And none of us are the best version of ourselves under stress and the season’s festivities can sometimes wake up the peppery side of our emotional patterns.

So, I thought I would make a list of the “naughty and nice” attributes of each of the Five Element during the holiday season. Feel free to use this as a guide at your own holiday gatherings with friends and family. Maybe even having a little fun with it, to see if you can tell which Element is being nice or naughty!

Wood Element folks are the creative, optimistic go getter people. “Beginning, middle, end, move on,” is their motto. They definitely get things done. But under pressure or feeling blocked, the emotional nature of Wood can snap and become easily frustrated, impatient or at the extreme, angry. However, like a loud clap of thunder, their outbursts usually pass quickly. And while the rest of us non Wood Element people try and settle our nerves, they can easily bounce back to their optimistic selves, and wonder why everyone else is so upset.

Fire Element people are lovable, warm and charming. They are animated and humorous, always cracking little jokes to lighten the mood. Truly the life of the party. But on the emotional side, when they get overexcited, anxious or feel rejected there can be big drama! Usually resulting in tears but at the extreme a dramatic explosion of emotion!

Such as a display of dinner roll fireworks flying through the air. This is what happened to a very Fire Element colleague of mine and her Wood Element husband, at an Easter dinner hosted at their house. As tensions got “hot” in the kitchen, she and her husband started pelting each other with fresh out of the oven dinner rolls, as their startled guests and her horrified mother looked on. Though, their guests took it in stride, even laughing about it later, her mother was not amused. Needless to say, future gathering were moved to her more grounded brother’s house.

And that brings us to Earth Element people. These folks are nurturing, calm and grounding. They are the givers, the incredibly kind, caring and reliable people. They have a strong sense of connection to others and community and you will often find them at the center of activity with family and friends. But this same quality can cause them to drain themselves by over giving and not ask for help when they need it, which can cause them to feel like a victim, or at the extreme, become resentful. When this happens, they can stop giving. They ofter to bring the casserole or shop for the gifts, but then they turn up empty handed.

My friend Margaret’s brother is a very Earthy guy, and he had stared to become drained from over extending himself. But as usual, he generously offered to pick her family up from the airport, when they returned from vacation. However, on the day of their flight home, as they were in route to the airport, he called to say he was tired and couldn’t make it, and told her to rent a car instead.

Metal Element folks are the visionaries. They are highly sensitive and adept at creating beauty and value out of the simplicity of the mundane. They have impeccable manners, notice every detail, and graciously adjust their energy to those around them. However, because they are so attuned to others energy and their surroundings, they can become moody and anxious. When this happens, they become overly sensitive to criticism, sharp with their words, or slip into denial. As in, “if we just don’t look at the elephant in the room, it isn’t there.”

My best friend from college had a very metal nature, and one night when we were on our way to meet up with friends, the muffler fell of her car. We heard a loud noise and saw sparks flying in the rearview mirror, and passerby’s were honking their horns trying to alert us to the dragging muffler. When I advised her that we should probably pull off to the side of the road, she just look at me and replied, “it’s fine, just turn up the radio and we won’t hear it anymore.”

And last but not least, we wind our way down to Water Element people. These are the innovators and adventurers. Powerful, deep, mysterious and intuitive. They carry a deep sense of wisdom. And although they appear easy going, Water Element people have strong independent natures and don’t easily share their thoughts or emotions with the outside world. In fact, under stress, they can become fearful or loose their voices. At the extreme, they can become paranoid or have the tendency to be quite secretive. Only telling you what they think you need to know.

The business manager at my husband’s former company had a lot of Water Element personality traits. He once cleverly opened some of his colleagues greeting cards at the annual holiday party, and used the gift cards inside to pay for a few rounds of drinks. He then secretly put the used gift cards back! Imagine the shock when those employees opened their greeting cards only to find a spent holiday bonus inside! (My husband was one of those employees.) Though he eventually, and quietly, left replacement cards on each of their desks a few weeks later… without any explanation.

So now, when I gather with my family and friends to celebrate the holidays, I find a nice comfortable chair and settle in to enjoy the season’s festivities. As I sip my glass of chardonnay and munch on a few hors d’oeuvres, I watch to see which of the Five Elements are going to be naughty or nice!

Wishing you all a joyful Holiday Season and a Happy New Year! See you in January!

The “Five Senses” Of Feng Shui

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Whenever someone asks me about Feng Shui, I am always met with some version of, “Isn’t that the thing that tells you where to put your couch?” Or “I don’t believe in that stuff, it’s to woo woo!” Or “I don’t want to show you my house, it is filled with clutter and I am sure I have bad Feng Shui!” And one of my favorites, “Feng Shui is too complicated and “I don’t want to put a bunch of silly trinkets all over my house!”

My answer is straightforward, “yes, it can be all that, and it doesn’t have to be any of that.” To which I am always met with a bunch of blank stares. But the truth is, it doesn’t have to be overly complicated. One can simply start with the basics, using the Five Senses.

So often, we make things more complicated than they need to be. Usually there is the urge to do too much or “fix” a perceived problem, while at the same time, not being clear about our intentions. I felt the same way when I first came across Feng Shui more than two decades ago. I started to install all sorts of “cures” to make my life more balanced. I wanted a better job, to have more money and find a good partner. But instead, all that happened was I got frustrated, disillusioned, and ended up throwing my new book in the garbage.

Of course, we still have to do the mundane work, but it’s best to start simple. Feng Shui is all about our relationship to our home and surroundings. What we see, hear, smell, touch and taste in our environment can have a greater impact on us than we might think. And simply adjusting one thing, such as the first thing we see when we enter our home or the smells that greet us as soon as we walk through the door, can make us relax with pleasure or zap the energy right out of us.

My friend Michael was a very “woodsy” kind of guy. He loved the outdoors, but had to relocate from the suburbs into the city for a new job. Though he loved his job, the bustle of the streets and his cramped new apartment, not so much. He was not a fan of Feng Shui, but he did agree to make some very minor adjustments to bring in more harmony. A few artfully placed fishing poles hung on the wall and a new plug-in diffuser that filled the air with the sent of fresh pine, was all it took. Instantly, his home gave him a warm welcome as he stepped through the door.

Which of the five senses would you like to invite into your home?

Sight – Use the door as a portal to draw you eye forward toward a beautiful piece of art or sculpture or the soft light of a lamp on a side table in the entry.

Smell – Have a diffuser with your favorite scent to fragrantly greet you as you step through the threshold.

Touch – Rest tired feet on a soft plush rug as you step through the door, or a cushioned bench to sit down on.

Hearing – The calming sound of a gentle wind chime or the relaxing trickle of a water fountain near the door.

Taste – Display a basket of fresh fruit on a table or fresh herbs on a kitchen windowsill to inspire a healthy snack after a long day of activities.

It can be as simple as that. Using a little Feng Shui and our five senses, we can make a ho-hum transition from the outside world into a transformation of a home that immediately gives us a welcoming hug.

The Art Of Curiosity

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Completely uninspired, I stood in the center of my kitchen gazing out into the great room. It’s all so… boring. Sure, it looks good, it is definitely functional, but it is rather dull from an exhilarating point of view, I mused. Nothing screams out curiosity, fun or excitement. Instead, it just whispers of grounded, steady and quiet elegance.

In Feng Shui, it is said that a home is a reflection of the self. Though, I love the way it looks, and it has taken me years to get it exactly the way I envisioned it, still, is it exactly the way I wanted it? Now that the aesthetic is mostly done, I can truly see how it is a reflection of my life. I am grounded and steady, with an appreciation for beauty. But there definitely no fun lately. Creative, yes. Able to create beauty, yes. A sense of or order, yes. But fun… Not so much.

And that seems to be just what my life is missing. Fun, curiosity and a sense of purpose. I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about purpose, so much so, that lately it has become like a full-time job. But finding purpose shouldn’t be a full-time job. Instead it should be more like a scavenger hunt, filled with curiosity, excitement and fun.

According to the Oxford dictionary curiosity is; 1 – a strong desire to know or learn something, 2 – a strong or unusual object or fact.

I am constantly on the lookout for learning new things, but predictably, it always seems to be much of the same subject matter. Psychology, Feng Shui and Nine Star Ki. Though, I have recently started to develop a genuine interest in Art History. However, art is not necessarily a new theme for me. When I was younger, I loved art, in fact, I eventually pursued a degree in graphic arts. Though I never really did much with it, or any kind of art for that matter.

My husband and daughter have no problem with curiosity. It just seems to flow out of their veins, especially when they have a desire to learn something new. They will happily dive in to whatever strikes their interest. In fact, just last weekend my husband wanted to go visits a local museum in Manchester, simply because he had never heard about it before, and just wanted to go check it out. However, I was not particularly interested in going, but to humor him, I went along.

But I did have a good time. I might even say it bordered on, dare I say it, “fun!” Walking around looking at all of the painting and sculptures while making connections to the art history podcast I’ve been listening to, was surprisingly enjoyable. As we concluded our visit in the gift shop of the museum, I found myself attracted by all the art supplies lining the shelves in the back of the shop. “Do you want to buy something,” my husband asked? “No,” I replied, “I don’t need anything, I have all this stuff at home in the basement.”

As we made our way to the car, I couldn’t stop thinking about all those paints, canvases and brushes, because secretly I did want to buy something. And after we got home, it stayed with me. I kept thinking about it all week. I journaled about it, “where has the fun in my life gone,” I thought? Where is the the curiosity? I wrote on the blank pages, seeking some inspirational answers.

But then as I stood there in the kitchen, it suddenly hit me. Exactly. Where IS the curiosity, the fun in my life. I don’t see it anywhere in this house! It is all so orderly and functional and predictable. I needed to do something different.

Just as with the second definition of curiosity, perhaps what I needed was “a strong or unusual object.” A reminder, a focal point of Curiosity. Something that would inspire me to get creative, to have fun, and to stop the endless predictability.

Knowing that something needed to shift, I cleared out a tiny corner in a cabinet next to the kitchen table and descended the steps to the basement to find the art supplies that had been hidden away in a dusty, cobweb filled corner. I returned with a few water color paints, some paper and a couple of brushes and gently tucked them into the cabinet with the aim to inspire more curiosity.

In Feng Shui terms, I set the intention to gently lean into finding new purpose and having some fun. Though, I can’t predict what will happen, and I’ve certainly not started painting like crazy, every afternoon at 2:00pm (that would be a little too predictable), that is just how the beauty and mystery of Feng Shui and spacial alchemy works. You set the intention, you change or add something new and then you wait and see what happens. Of course, I don’t mean to suggests that I wont “do” something too, like paint, or try to be more fun and creative. But simply that I have set the intention, given myself a nudge and now I’ll wait to see what the universe has to say about it. Stay tuned!

The Power Of Being Seen

“I don’t want to go,” I bluntly responded to my husband as I climbed into the car. “Why not? It could be fun,” he cheerfully replied, as he backed the car out of the driveway. “There will probably be some good food, and who knows, we might even meet some interesting new people. “You only think with your stomach,” I retorted. “If there is food, game over. You’re in! Besides, we barely know the hosts and it feels awkward to be included in a friend group we aren’t even part of.”

I stared out the window as we wove through the neighborhood streets, just wishing the whole night to be over. All I wanted in that moment, was to be curled up in front of the fire with a good book and a glass of wine. “You could at least try to be a little more adventurous,” my husband encouraged. I had tried, for many years, but after more than a decade of little success chipping away at the sometimes frosty New England welcome, I just didn’t feel like making an effort anymore. “Friends are overrated,” I replied, “And anyway, I’ve got you and my books.” “Yeah, but my ears get tired,” he teased.

As usual, we were the first to arrive. “Can’t we just drive around the block a few times to see who else pulls up?” I pleaded. But after indulging me only one circle, we parked the car and made our way up the long driveway to the front door. Warmly greeted by the hosts, we exchanged hugs, and I presented them with the pretty pink tulip plant that we had purchased, as a thank you gift for inviting us. After offering us some drinks, we were ushered into the family room where we made polite conversation, while waiting for their other guests to arrive.

Slowly, couple by couple, in what seemed like an order of seniority, they began to arrive. We were graciously introduced, and it was all very pleasant, but it seemed slightly awkward. We were not part of this close-knit group, and though the conversation was interesting and cordial, it felt a bit forced. We were intruding on a long standing friendship and everyone in the room felt it. Ages ago, when we lived in New Jersey, we had our own group of friends with years of shared memories, so we knew what it was like when someone new was brought in. Now we were those people.

After a couple of hours of drinks, hors d’oeuvres and socially polite conversation, I was ready to leave. Much to my husbands disappoint, I made my way to the kitchen to thank our hosts for a lovely evening and say our farewells. Just as I was about to offer my appreciation for having been invited, the doorbell rang, and our host excused herself to welcome the newcomers.

But then something unexpected happened. And that changed everything!

I quietly waited in the kitchen as our host went to greet the latest arrivals. When she returned to the kitchen, she introduced us, and as I reached out to shake hands, Jen suddenly exclaimed, “I know you!” “You know me?” I said, looking intently at her face, while frantically searching my memory for any sign of recognition. “Yes, It’s Jen from tennis, remember?” “Rory and Audi took lessons together at Stony Brook,” she replied, looking slightly surprised at my lack of recollection.

Fortunately, as Jen recounted the details, the memory of our encounters years earlier over our kiddos tennis lessons, flooded back. I felt a wave of relief and immediately started to relax. Maybe this night won’t be so bad after all, I thought. Because a few hours earlier, I had not been so sure. Surprisingly, the other guests began to feel more comfortable too, because suddenly, we were not such strangers anymore.

The party became an uplifting moment for me. I ended up meeting some new potential friends, deepening my relationship with the hosts and reconnecting with my old acquaintance. Better yet, my husband got to stay longer and eat more food, which is always his favorite part. Of course, all the way home he could not resist reminding me that he was right, and that I did end up having fun after all.

Then he asked me an odd question, “What did you and Jen talk about durning those tennis lessons?” “I don’t know, it was a long time ago” I said.” She was from Hong Kong and her husband was from India. We talked about what it was like to move to a new country, be married to a person from another country and how it can sometime be difficult, especially, when you are raising children. Things like that,” I reflected. “Because we have a similar situation and it can be very challenging at times.” “That’s interesting,” he said. “When we first moved here, and you really needed a friend to talk to, maybe she did also. Perhaps Jen felt seen by you, and all these years later, she returned the favor. Tonight, she saw you.”

Well, I don’t know about that, as my mother always said whenever she heard something questionable, but it sure did feel nice to be seen.

Sometimes it takes years to realize the impact that we’ve had on another person. Both positive and negative. This story continues to remind me of how important it is to stay fully present when I am engaged with others. Because we all have the need to be seen.

Uncovering The “Covering”

“Covering,” a word forged by the work of Sociologist Ervin Goffman and later refined by Kenji Yoshino, a Legal Scholar at New York University. It means in essence: “to downplay or hide one’s true identity, beliefs or characteristics to conform to the norms of society.”

I first heard this term when I was listening to a recent episode of the Hidden Brain podcast in which, the guest Kenji Yoshino, spoke about what happens when we try to pretend to be someone that we are not, in order to fit in. This topic is interesting to me, because the work that I have done for the last sixteen years is about uncovering one’s hidden strengths and challenges in order to step more fully into our authentic selves.

Ironically, my work primarily centers around the principles of The Nine Star Ki, a Japanese system of understanding our personal Ki or energy. A concept of energy that is imprinted on us the day we are born, and continues to influence us throughout our lives. Interestingly, Kenji is an American of Japanese decent, and I could not help but wonder if he was familiar with this system.

As Kenji explains, most of us hide an aspect of ourselves that we don’t think other people would understand or accept, so we cover in order to fit in. I can certainly relate to this. I have been happily married for over twenty years, and no one has every suspected that there is an age difference between me and my husband, but there is. At times, I have felt the need to hide the fact that I married later in life, I’m older than my husband and had my daughter in my mid forties. Mostly out of a fear that I would not be accepted, or worse, that it would affect the acceptance of my daughter or husband.

I am often asked why I am so passionate about the ancient art of Nine Star Ki (astrology), and it is specifically because I find it to be such a valuable and amazing tool that we can use throughout our lives to help us “uncover” and rebalance our sometimes forgotten inner energetic patters. Like a roadmap that has been imprinted with our unique energetic signature. And one that we can turn to, all through our lives to help navigate our path, better understand our gifts and challenges, achieve goals, or give us the potential for more harmonious relationships.

I have spent many years studying and practicing the Nine Star Ki, precisely because I have had struggles around showing up authentically more than once in my life. This ancient, simplistically refined and profoundly accurate system of understanding one’s personality is, in my opinion, sometimes more accurate than many of the personality assessment that I have taken over the years. Myers-Briggs and Strong included. Of course, I have a lot of regard for those assessments. They are very detailed and valid too, but Nine Star Ki is definitely my go to, over and over again. And it never disappoints.

Often, when I am listening to a podcast or reading an article where someone is discussing a topic I resonate with, such as with Kenji’s interview on Hidden Brain, I make a point of trying to discover their energetic patterns and the cycle of time they happen to be moving through. What I usually find is that their pattern almost always match with their life circumstance and/or purpose. Which to me is fascinating, because most, if not all, have no knowledge of the Nine Star Ki and are quite organically aligned with their inner design. This is encouraging, because it suggests that most of us are never really as far off course as we sometimes believe we are.

Kenji is no exception. As I listened to him tell his story, I began see his inner patterns weaving together. How his fear of judgement initially blocked him from being able to step into his own authenticity, and why it became so important for him to be a leading force in helping others recognize the ways in which they may be consciously or unconsciously covering too. Kenji has the potential to be very influential in his field of work and the ability to be a strong champion in guiding others to align with their own inner truths.

Because it’s not about covering what’s wrong with our stories, but instead uncovering what is right.

If you are interested in learning more about “covering” and Kenji Yoshino’s story I am including the link to the Hidden Brain podcast – Dropping The Mask – https://hiddenbrain.org/podcast/dropping-the-mask/

And

For more information about the Nine Star Ki, I highly recommend the book “Your Hidden Symmetry,” by Jean Haner.

Finding Meaning In The Meaningless

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Every morning, as I pour my morning coffee, I reach up and grab a small notecard that I keep hidden within my coffee mugs. On it, I’ve scribbled six important questions to ask myself before going about my daily tasks. One of those questions is, “Did I do my best to find meaning in my work, or in my life?” I had learned about these daily queries from one of the many inspirational podcasts that I listen to. But today, for whatever reason, it occurred to me that I have been doing it backwards.

I realized the questions are supposed to be asked before going to bed at night, not in the morning. They are meant to call attention to how we have moved throughout our day. Did I do my best to be fully present, achieve my goals (to be honest, did I even set goals), to be happy (happy, what’s that), and to be fully engaged (definitely a challenge)?

But when I ask those same questions in the morning, a funny thing happens. Rather than reflecting back on my day, I am sort of chasing after the answers. Because instead of finding meaning in the work I do, I spend my days looking for meaningful work to do.

Although there is nothing wrong with looking for something worthwhile to do, the problem is, I don’t think the work I am doing has much relevance. And nothing brought this point into sharper focus, than during my French conversation class.

We had been learning how to pronounce different professions in French, and our instructor asked us each to practice saying what our occupations were. As soon as she said it, I panicked. Oh no, I thought. She is going to ask me what I do for a living and I don’t have anything to say. I’m just a stat-at-home mom, and I’m not even that anymore because my daughter is now in college.

One by one, I listened as my classmates answered: an accountant, a computer programer a retired lawyer. When she got to me, I felt the slow flush of redness on my cheeks. “I guess you could say I’m a retired say-at-home mom,” I murmured, “because my daughter is away in college.” “It’s okay, you can say you’re a housewife,” my instructor cheerfully replied. Une femme au foyer, she announced to the class. And although the French do seem to have a way of making even the most mundane sound impressive, my heart just sank into my stomach.

I have trouble finding meaning in the ordinary stuff I do all day. Yes, it helps people, mainly my family, but it doesn’t feel like it is important enough of a contribution. I remember decades ago having lunch with a friend when our daughters were still in strollers, and I was rambling on and on about how I wanted to do something more with my life. She sternly looked over at me and flatly replied “why can’t you just accept that you’re a stay-at-home mom.”

Because the truth is, I am always trying to find meaning two stories up from where I am standing right now. But I am never going to find it there. Until I can learn to embrace the purpose in my everyday life, in the cooking, the cleaning, the grocery shopping, not the lofty goals and glamorous life I dream about, but the everyday life of an ordinary housewife, “une femme au foyer,” nothing else will matter. There is always a starting point, and maybe that starting point is accepting that what I am doing now is enough.

And maybe what I do is in fact more meaningful than I give myself credit for: keeping a household running smoothly, cooking good meals to keep my family and myself healthy, making sure bills get paid in time, making our home a peaceful and inspiring heaven…Maybe I enable good things to happen and that is good enough for us.

So instead of looking two stories up I’ll try to ground myself where I am standing right now. And rather than searching for that one meaningful role, I’ll remind myself to place value on the little choices and actions I make throughout the day, no matter how ordinary or mundane they sometimes feel.

And in the meantime, I’ll focus on energize the Knowledge and Self Cultivation area of the bagua, and while I’m at it, I might just place a couple pieces of rose quartz in theRelationship section too (aka the symbolic “Mother” domain in Feng Shui), after all, she is the Divine “Femme au foyer,” of the bagua map!

Stuck In The Muddy Mess Of Transformation

As I unpacked my new hairdryer and removed it from the box, I excitedly said to my husband, “oh my gosh, I love it! It’s teal.” I hadn’t paid much attention to the color when I ordered it, I just wanted that particular model. It is fascinating how this color keeps showing up in my life though, because it also happens to be one of the accent colors we chose for the refresh design in our bedroom and bathroom.

Interestingly, teal, green and light blue are the colors associated with the Wood Element in Feng Shui. Wood energy is symbolic of spring and new beginnings. It is also pretty good at breaking up the sometimes stuck energy of Earth. Curiously, those are precisely the colors that I seem to be drawing in. The synchronicity is spot on, because lately, I have been feeling completely stuck and rudderless, hopelessly in need of a change.

Somedays, it feels like the only meaningful work I do is making sure everyone has their laundry in the hamper by Friday, or having dinner on the table by six. Necessary, but not exactly groundbreaking work. Even getting out of the house to go to the mailbox can seem like a chore.

I happen to be going through a cycle of time the ancient Chinese referred to as, a year of transformation. In a year like this things can really become unclear, like staring down into a puddle of muddy water. And as if that is not difficult enough, it also happens to be colliding with that fact that I have just become an empty nester.

Though I have been studying this system for many years, and I know these cycles well, this one feels particularly challenging. It is like being in the middle of the ocean with no new land on the horizon. We have all been through it, those moments in life when we reach the end of something, a job, a relationship, kids going off to college, retirement, a milestone birthday. But those periods in the middle of uncertainty can seem quite expansive, between the end of one goal or phase in life, and the beginning of the next.

As much as I want to breakout of this stuck place I find myself in, I also know there is no way around it. Even though I would like nothing better than to sit down at the kitchen table on a Sunday afternoon with a cup of coffee, and just figure it all out, that is not going to happen.

So how do we keep moving when we find ourselves stuck, floating in the sea of uncertainty, unable to see where we are going? One way is to bring a little Wood Element in to break up the stuckness and get moving again.

We can introduce Wood’s energy into our spaces symbolically with color, plants or shapes, but we can also usher it in with action. Wood Element is all about action – beginning, middle, end – move on. And as is the case with Wood energy, continually seeking out new goals to pursue, we also may not just have one destination to follow. Instead of asking ourselves how to figure out what that one best solution or way out of stuckness is, maybe we should try coming up with three different scenarios (which coincidently, is also the number that represents Wood Element).

Although trying different things may seem obvious, when we can’t see where we are going and nothing is very clear, we need something to work on to bring us closer to that end goal. Breaking things down to create tiny little goal helps lift our spirits and brings us one step closer, and even just one step closer to that final goal, is an achievement when we are lingering in the middle.

But what if we have no idea where we want to go, or there is no final direction on the horizon, as is the case with me? That’s okay, it’s a call to action. Sometimes we are meant to slow down and reevaluate our life’s path. There always comes a point in time when we plateau, just as with an athlete or an artist, our muscles get used to the way we are performing. We get into a rut and we lose a little bit of our creativity in the process. At those moments in time, it can be good to just set it down, walk away and try something completely unrelated and different. And slowly, as the land starts to surface on the horizon again, we gain renewed enthusiasm and momentum.

But for now, I’ve just got to sit with my thoughts and let this transformation of life take root. And as my Chinese acupuncturist wisely says when I ruminate on a problem for too long, “no new Information is coming in, work on something else for a while.”