Can you believe that this turnover is going to keep happening EVERY day for the next 19th years? This timed acceptance into one of our government’s most generous clubs would seemingly have me filled with the hard facts of old age. But, alas, I am absolutely delighted to give up my medical savings plan with it’s $2500 deductible and payments of approximately $400/month, for a $99 a month payment to Medicare and $39/month to Kaiser, which, in case you didn’t know, received the ONLY 5 stare rating from Social Security.

So, what does all this have to do with Touchstones of the Sacred? Turning 65, which actually doesn’t happen for me until June 1st, feels like a cultural initiation into the last third of life. Last time I wrote about taking this marker of time as preparation for death. Inspired by our interview with Margueritte, I have started taking Qigong and have increased my meditation practice. I am committed to a life of ease, grace, laughter and joy and plan to write this commitment along our hallway in large sprawling letters. The older I get, the more I know this is a choice.

The wise women we interview with Aging With Grace and Glory live this choice through the foundation of their spirituality. The many Tibetan Lamas I’ve met though the last 20 years live this choice through the foundation of their spirituality. My mother lived it through the choice of her spirituality. All different, all the same. Right now, I am deeply grateful for my health, my strong body (which just ran 12 miles with my daughter in preparation for the Rock N Roll Half Marathon) and all the immense love I have in my life. Oh, and FINALLY not being ashamed of my age!

In Chinese medicine spring is the wood element and the color associated with it is green. Any wonder? The liver and gallbladder are the organ systems related to this element that embodies the rebirth time of the year.

Have you ever noticed when you walk or drive into a green area in nature how the temperature immediately cools down? Do you think it is a coincidence that these new fresh green plants that are bursting forth in the spring support the liver and gallbladder?

If they have a cooling affect in the natural world does it not make sense they would have a cooling affect on your liver? It is very common for our liver to heat up, especially during stressful times.

Your liver needs the support to “stay cool” in these stressful times. Think green. Think newly fresh, young greens. There are a multitude of fresh green plants popping up everywhere both in the garden and in the wild to support your liver.

Here are a couple pesto recipes that I designed specifically for this purpose. Not only are they good medicine for your liver, but they are delicious. For those of you that live in an area that nettles and chickweed grow you couldn’t have better allies. I have shared with many gardeners who thought they were plagued with chickweed taking over their gardens in the spring that is the best crop you could have right now. Not only does it support you greatly in the spring, but as it dies off it feeds the soil. Simply turn it under.

Enjoy these spring recipes. They are from my book, Divine Nourishment. If you already have my book this is a friendly reminder to pull it out and receive the benefits of the spring chapter.

If you are in a cleansing mode leave out the parmesan and walnuts.

Enjoy!

Read more »

In June, 2006, the World Health Organization reported that nearly one-quarter of global disease is caused by environmental exposures and that well-targeted interventions can prevent much of this environmental risk, “saving what could amount to millions of lives every year.”

In addition to the external toxins that assault the body daily, our own bodies produce toxins, called metabolic waste products as a result of digestion and respiration. Although many mainstream doctors feel that the body is capable of detoxifying itself without “intervention,” we are impacted by many more pollutants than ever before.

In 2000, the Environmental Working Group and Commenweal began the Human Toxome Project to analyze human tissues for chemicals that enter the body. Utilizing the latest technology, the project thus far has shown that all 75 participants ranging in age from newborn to the elderly tested positive for a combined total of 455 out of 528 chemicals.

As the skin is the largest organ of the body, it is imperative that we are conscious of what we put on it. That includes some of the more “technologically advanced” ingredients touted by many skin care lines. It is tempting to grab a bottle of the “latest, greatest” product with the “latest, greatest” ingredient(s), but “buyer beware.”

Read more »

Spring is a time for rebirth. Bursting through the obstacles that hold us back is necessary for growth. We are at a time in history that we are doing this on a collective level to the degree some say is unprecedented. Why not use the force of the natural world to support us? It is the time of year the Earth’s energy is rising and she is giving birth to her next generation of seedlings. They are very vulnerable and tender at this stage of their new life. But within that vulnerability they never lose sight of who they were designed to become. They use a force to burst through the encapsulating seed, and the crust of the earth. They dare to be seen in the light of day and risk everything to become their true self, never wavering. Something to aspire to. We are going through the same journey of transformation as the Earth. If we follow her lead, utilize her energy, and live in sync, our journey becomes much easier.

The force the plant kingdom uses in the spring to birth itself is similar to the energy of anger in our human world. Not anger that is destructive to self and others, but the anger that refuses to be held down and stuck in a prison of old limiting beliefs. The anger that says, “No, I will not put up with this any longer, I want something better for myself.” The anger that says, “ I will not live under the thumb of fear and control.” The anger that refuses to be held back and condemned to a life unlived. This is a healthy anger and supports you to burst through the obstacles that hold you back and keep you imprisoned by your own beliefs that you can not do anything about it.

Read more »

I excel at multitasking; I am currently training for a half marathon; I have multiple degrees and feel great satisfaction from the sense of accomplishment. Does this sound familiar to you? I think it’s the’American’ disease. Problem is, I’m turning 65 in June and have decided to take the next thirty years to prepare for my death. So, given that multitasking seems to be in direct opposition of cultivating my meditation practice and slowing down, I am faced with a dilemma: If my value has been self-determined by the speed and efficiency of my accomplishments, what will be my value (either self-determined or determined by our society) as a 65 year old woman who opts out of the rat race? Clearly, I have some work to do on myself.

The epiphany about taking the next 30 years to prepare for my death is a great gift that I recently received from two different sources. The first was the very heart-breaking occurrence of a young and beautiful man’s death and the prayer his father posted on Facebook in a letter. It is a poem by the Buddha:

 I am of the nature to grow old.

There is no way to escape growing old.

I am of the nature to have ill-health.

There is no way to escape having ill-health

I am of the nature to die.

There is no way to escape death.

All that is dear to me and everyone I love

are of the nature to change.

There is no way to escape being separated from them.

My actions are my only true belongings.

I cannot escape the consequences of my actions.

My actions are the ground upon which I stand.

The second gift came from an 81 year old wise woman who I interviewed for our Aging With Grace and Glory series. She said that when she turned 50, she made the decision to take the next 30 years to prepare for a strong mind, body and spirit during her 80′s. She succeeded! She is bright and clear and vital. Everyday she practices Qigong. She has a strong spiritual practice that has brought her to a place of peace and a deep presence of awareness. She is prepared for her death.

Today I signed up for Qigong. And so this journey begins. What are your struggles and joys on this path of consciousness? We are, after all, all in this together. Love to hear from you.

“Ye say, ye believe in Zarathustra? But of what account is Zarathustra! Ye are my believers: but of what account are all believers! Ye had not yet sought yourselves: then did ye find me. So do all believers; therefore all belief is of so little account. Now do I bid you lose me and find yourselves…”

~ The character of Zarathustra in Thus Spake Zarathustra,
by Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900),
German philosopher

Currently about 300,000 persons die each day, the vast majority having built their lives on beliefs which never were personally verified. Some believed in reincarnation; others believed in life eternal in heaven or hell. Still others believed that death brings extinction. Hundreds of millions believe in the teachings of Christ, Buddha, Lao Tze, Krishna, Muhammad, Zoroaster, etc….

Most believers take to their graves beliefs which simply resulted from the accidents of their births. They took on the beliefs taught them by the families and societies into which they were born. Were you born to Hindu parents? Then most likely, you were taught to believe in Krishna. If you had left the womb in Saudi Arabia, then most likely you would have been raised a Muslim. But is an accident of birth a rationale upon which to develop an authentic life? Read more »

“If you cannot find the truth right where you are, where else do you expect to find it?”

~ Dogen (1200-1253)
Japanese Zen patriarch

I don’t presume to know what “The Truth” is, for I agree with the postmodernist view that there is no such thing as objective truth, a truth independent of the observer. As quantum physics demonstrates, the very act of observing something, alters it, and so you cannot objectively experience or know anything. Moreover in the unity of the quantum soup of existence, nothing exists separate from me or objective to me.

Yet elsewhere I have written of the love of truth as one of the skills which enable personal authenticity (see Some Psychological Skills Which Enable Authentic Living) So seemingly I am suggesting that there is a truth with which our authenticity comports. And I am. But where might we find it?

Perhaps we can agree that nothing exists, except the present moment, the now, this instant which seemingly persists eternally. The past does not exist, except in thought. Tell me about your past, and you speak nothing but a string of thoughts being spun instant by instant in the present. The future too is nothing but fantasy experienced now. There never has been a time that you did not experience yourself other than in the now. So if we are to search for the truth, seemingly it must be found as Dogen suggests, ‘right where I am’ – here, Now.

And the Now, what is it? It is our experiencing as it is in the present moment. Interestingly, the dictionary defines truth “as the true or actual state of a matter” and “conformity with fact or reality”. Yes! our truth is the actual state of our thoughts, feelings, sensations – the reality of our experience as it is in the Now.

If presently I feel joyous, sad, fearful, angry, surprised, anxious, trusting, etc., that is my experience, my truth. If presently I think this or that, agree or disagree, doubt or believe, accept or judge, am willing or not, that is my experience, my truth. If presently I am bouncing with energy, tired, ill, comfortable, uncomfortable, etc., that is my truth, experience. My truth may change or not, from moment to moment. It is a revelation unfolding instant by instant, not a fixed state.

Of course, my truth and your truth will be different, for we experience the present differently. Authenticity asks that I live in accord with my truth and you live in accord with yours; that neither of us be burdened by the presumed obligation to live in accord with the dictates of supposed truths experienced by or asserted by others.

The American existential psychologist, James Bugental, defined authenticity in this manner: “A person is authentic in that degree to which his being in the world is unqualifiedly in accord with the givenness of his own nature and of the world.” Given that our natures and the world can only be experienced presently, authenticity then is living in unqualified accord with the truth of our own experience as it is in the present moment.

That’s my experience, my truth, what’s yours?

Michael Nagel  LLC MA CI CHT

Whole Person Counseling

(:  503.226.2771

*:  michael@whole-person-counseling.com

Website: Whole Person Counseling

Blog: The Personal Authenticity Project

Schedule Your Appointment Here: Online Appointment Booking

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The receptive inward feminine, and active outward masculine principles have been estranged for a millennium. It is common knowledge the imbalance of these natural aspects of humanity has created a mess. It plays out in a multitude of ways.

The receptive feminine aspect of ourselves receives Divine guidance by getting quiet and going within. The active masculine aspect takes action, brings this guidance into form and moves it out into the world.

The mind, properly used is in service to the heart to bring it’s passions into form. When we can honor both the heart and mind for their equally valuable gifts to one another we will enjoy a delicious, nurturing love affair within ourselves. This love affair will reverberate out and we will experience harmony in our world.

As well as experiencing dryer skin in this “Vata” time of year, do you find yourself more anxious, flighty and spacey?  It is probably more than “the Holidays.”  Your Vata dosha is more than likely out of balance, which merely means nature is delivering an abundance of vata like qualities in the form of cooler temperatures, and blustery winds.  This can tip us a bit over the edge emotionally and physically.

You don’t need to feel blown away by vata’s high season.  Choose nurturing lifestyle choices which will help keep you grounded. Read more »

Remain true to the earth, my brethren, with the power of your virtue! Let your bestowing love and your knowledge be devoted to be the meaning of the earth! Thus do I pray and conjure you.

Let it not fly away from the earthly and beat against eternal walls with its wings! Ah, there hath always been so much flown-away virtue!

Lead, like me, the flown-away virtue back to the earth- yea, back to body and life: that it may give to the earth its meaning, a human meaning!

~ The character of Zarathustra in Thus Spake Zarathustra

by Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900), German philosopher

For far too many spiritual seekers, their spiritual aspiration is like an iron maiden of virtue whose inner critic spikes ceaselessly stab our all-too-human souls. We envision becoming “spiritual” as transcending our humanity rather than becoming more fully human.

Modeling their behavior according to ideas of spirituality that they have read in books, many seekers I meet are genuinely upset with their humanity. Read more »