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Raw and Wild Heart

Empower Your Health during Coronavirus … and Always. (audio cast)

Check out this interview I did on The Raw and Wild Hearts Podcast! We talk about how to strengthen your immune system, keep infections mild, and manage the psychological, emotional,… Read More

Sorry to all those who have February birthdays and everyone who loves winter (for the record, I love all the seasons, I just don’t love long periods without sun). It’s a challenging time for many, as it’s often cold and dreary, the holidays are over, the lights have been taken down, you may have lost your resolution motivation, and of course, there’s COVID. A few weeks ago I wrote an article called Meeting With the Spirit of Winter, which I encourage you to check out if winter is a struggle for you. This week I want to talk about some of the physical things you can do to have an easier winter.

Reach out to friends and family.

I know it’s hard when you’re feeling melancholy or sluggish, but it’s good medicine. Get on a video chat or take a walk together. If you struggle to get it planned and then weeks or months pass before the next one, try setting it up as a weekly thing, or always schedule the next one before you say goodbye.

Take advantage of the light.

Get outside, even if the weather sucks. On a clear day, the brightness (measured in lux) is about 10,000 lux outside. On an overcast day it’s closer to 1,000 lux. Typical home and office levels are about 250-500 lux. Grocery stores are often around 750 lux. So a cloudy day is still brighter than most indoor environments. And simply being outside and connecting with nature is also therapeutic. Most people with low winter mood and energy notice a boost from exposure to bright light – whether by getting outside, working next to a window, or supplementing with a full spectrum light. It used to be that you could only approximate daylight with a fluorescent bulb and full spectrum light systems were somewhat expensive. Nowadays there are cheap, super-bright full spectrum LED lights available. It’s best to use these when the sun would normally be brightest, to help normalize your circadian rhythm.

Get enough vitamin D.

Most of us produce insufficient vitamin D in the winter, even if it’s sunny. Supplementing may help boost your immune system. I typically recommend people take about 35 units per pound of body weight per day. If you’ve been tested and have low vitamin D, you might need higher doses for a while to get yourself to an optimal level. Numerous studies have shown a correlation between low vitamin D levels and more severe cases of COVID-19. If you take high dose vitamin D over time, it’s worthwhile to supplement with a little vitamin K also.

If you live in a damp home, get it managed.

A study in the American Journal of Public Health showed a link between depression and living in a damp, moldy home. In Traditional Chinese Medicine, environmental dampness is considered to have a stagnating and congealing effect on the flow of energy through the body. This is also why many sufferers of chronic pain conditions, such as arthritis or fibromyalgia, complain that they feel stiffer and tighter in rainy weather. When I lived in Portland, I saw patients with mold exposure all the time. I thought when we moved to Colorado I wouldn’t see it in this dry climate, but it’s prevalent here, too. Besides depression and achy joints, mold can cause a host of other health problems. If you suspect there may be mold in your living space, it’s worth testing for it and getting it remediated if it’s present. A dehumidifier may help in moist spaces.

Keep moving.

Exercise is essential at all times of year, but especially in the winter when the combination of cold temperatures, dry air, shorter days, less nature exposure, and more resilient viruses all work against us. While I feel it’s important to tune in to the energy of the season – which is, after all, about dormancy – 20 to 30 minutes of some kind of movement each day is still a good idea. I hope these tips and those in Meeting with the Spirit of Winter help you enjoy this season more. And remember, the days are already getting longer (by about 2½ minutes each day)! Be well, Peter [post_title] => How to Manage the Winter Blues [post_excerpt] => [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => open [ping_status] => open [post_password] => [post_name] => how-to-manage-the-winter-blues [to_ping] => [pinged] => https://thedragontree.com/2021/01/10/meeting-with-the-spirit-of-winter/ [post_modified] => 2021-01-29 22:47:20 [post_modified_gmt] => 2021-01-29 22:47:20 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => http://thedragontree.com/?p=8165 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 2 [filter] => raw [webinar_id] => 0 ) [1] => WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 8769 [post_author] => 3 [post_date] => 2022-08-19 19:18:13 [post_date_gmt] => 2022-08-19 19:18:13 [post_content] => Last week I wrote about the many reasons we don’t ask for help, including what I think of the “Lone Ranger complex,” where we believe there’s great merit in doing everything by ourselves. Sure, there’s a sense of accomplishment, but we still get that feeling even when we accomplish something with the help of others. I brought this up because enrollment is currently open for our Sacred Expansion course, which is a group-oriented approach to personal growth. Even though the internal exploration is ultimately up to each of us, we can benefit from being guided through a tried-and-true framework, discussing the experience with people on the same path, and holding hands along the way. Why is it good to do such things with other people? I’m glad you asked. Here are a few reasons.

We see that other people have the same stuff we do. We’re not alone in our weirdness or our struggles. It’s relieving to know that there’s little that you’ve thought, felt, or gone through that someone else out there doesn’t share.
Further, we get to see that most people aren’t alienated by our challenges. While we may tend to fear that the world would disapprove and abandon us if it knew XYZ about us (that we’re insecure, we pick our nose, we aren’t that spiritual, we’re always sucking in our belly, we yell at our kids, we use the code for bulk conventional rice when we actually have a bag of organic rice, we snort bath salts, etc.), the truth is our friends and family are unlikely to be ruffled by any of it. More relief.
We get the opportunity to be seen in our light and reminded of our strengths. While we may be hyper-focused on our problems and faults, others can help remind us that we’re so much more.
We get “borrowed benefits” (to use a term coined by EFT-creator Gary Craig) from witnessing and helping others work through their problems. In the process, our own knots may begin to loosen and/or we may get insights that can be applied to our life.
We get to be of service to others. Giving is receiving. It is as much a gift to us as it is to them.
We learn from others’ reflections of us. The accuracy of self-reflection waxes and wanes, since we’re always seeing ourselves through a certain lens. Sometimes having someone tell us, kindly and truthfully, what they see in us can illuminate our blind spots. It can be difficult to receive this feedback, but may be instrumental in our development.
We get to experience true connection. When operating from our default habits, we often relate to each other through many layers of mental static. What may look like a conversation between two humans could actually be … me acting out a personality I’ve constructed based on what I think is most impressive and approval-worthy, relating not to the real you, but to the mental representation I’ve made of you, based on my stereotypes, stories, and past experience of you (acting through your own filtered self). Miraculously, my true Self and your true Self can find a way to connect through all this fog. It’s therapeutic to do so. And it serves to dismantle all the crap that gets in the way.
It helps cure us of one of the most damaging and widely held beliefs in the world: we’re all separate. The denial of our connectedness, especially combined with the belief that there isn’t enough, is a recipe for suffering. It makes us feel alone, vulnerable, judged, and in competition – rather than collaboration – with the rest of our species. But the more we let others into our life, the less we’re controlled by this belief. This is especially true when we share with others about the very issues that make us feel alone, vulnerable, judged, and in competition.

So, I heartily encourage you to find ways to grow in the company of likeminded others! Sacred Expansion is a good place to start. We created it as a preliminary course for our life coaches-in-training, but it soon became clear that it’s such an important and valuable program that we decided to make it available on its own. It’s about getting to know yourself and your place in the natural world, clearing patterns that hold you back, and reconnecting with your peaceful, trustworthy, essential Self. Love, Peter [post_title] => Get By With a Little Help From Your Friends [post_excerpt] => [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => open [ping_status] => open [post_password] => [post_name] => get-by-with-a-little-help-from-your-friends [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2022-08-19 20:36:39 [post_modified_gmt] => 2022-08-19 20:36:39 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => https://thedragontree.com/?p=8769 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw [webinar_id] => 0 ) [2] => WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 8787 [post_author] => 1 [post_date] => 2022-09-01 21:45:46 [post_date_gmt] => 2022-09-01 21:45:46 [post_content] => You are amazing. Let’s take it to the next level. I am always delighted to get unsolicited positive feedback about our books and courses. I save it all in an ever-growing document. Originally, the purpose was to have an easy way to remind myself of the value of my work if I were ever questioning my purpose or having a moment of low self-esteem. Eventually I realized that I don’t build up a tolerance to positive feedback; even if I glanced at these messages every day it wouldn’t stop having a beneficial effect on my consciousness. When I was last looking at these notes, I was struck by how amazing people are. Yes, they needed some help to get to the next level and they felt our guidance made a difference, but they were invariably awesome to begin with. While some of them went looking for assistance because of a sense that their lives were dysfunctional, many of them clearly recognized that things were already pretty great – and they also saw room to grow and improve. One woman wrote to us that she had a thriving clothing import business when she got our Dreambook. In the self-exploration section, she realized she desired an avenue for greater creative expression. She set a goal, identified all the steps involved, followed through, and within a year she was receiving the first shipment of clothes she had designed herself! Another Dreambook user told us it empowered her to move to Hawaii. She wrote, “My soul thrives there!” For decades she had visited and thought of it as a magical place … but only for vacations. It didn’t seem possible to live there full time. But, she said, “The book asked, ‘What would make life feel ridiculously fun?’ and I wrote, ‘Living in Hawaii’ and suddenly it was on the table and I started facing my excuses.” She realized the potential quality-of-life impact it could have for her, so she mapped out the logistics. She asked the thriving Dragontree community, “What do you think?” And one by one, all of her obstacles disappeared. “Someone knew of a cool place to live – on a cacao farm! Someone else connected me with a job. Another person was moving from Hawaii back to the mainland to take care of her mother and she gave me all of her furniture – and some chickens!” What are the critical factors in leveling up? Chances are, you don’t need to win the lottery or receive some other external windfall. It starts with having a vision of what “next level” would look like. The Dreambook provides the framework – all you need to do is fill in the blanks and follow through. Our 2023 edition comes out soon and it’s the best version ever. Check it out here! Also, I highly recommend keeping some sort of file like the one I described above. Whenever you receive a positive message, whether as an email, text, social media comment, or birthday card . . . copy it, screenshot it, take a picture of it, or print it and stick it in a document, onto or dreamboard, or in a folder. It’s like stocking a medicine cabinet with bottles that will never go empty (plus it won’t upset your stomach). Be well, Peter [post_title] => Level Up with the Dreambook [post_excerpt] => [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => open [ping_status] => open [post_password] => [post_name] => level-up-with-the-dreambook [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2022-09-01 21:56:08 [post_modified_gmt] => 2022-09-01 21:56:08 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => https://thedragontree.com/?p=8787 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw [webinar_id] => 0 ) ) [post_count] => 3 [current_post] => -1 [before_loop] => 1 [in_the_loop] => [post] => WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 8165 [post_author] => 3 [post_date] => 2021-01-29 22:42:03 [post_date_gmt] => 2021-01-29 22:42:03 [post_content] => When I lived in Portland I’d chuckle at announcements for an annual cycling event called The Worst Day of the Year Ride, which is held sometime around February. There’s a ride with the same name in Ann Arbor, Michigan. We’re coming up on that time of year, folks. Humorous equations have even been created to predict the worst day, such as this one, where W=weather, d=debt, D=monthly salary, T=time since Christmas, Q=time since failing our new year's resolutions, M=low motivational levels, and N_a=the feeling of a need to take action.

Reach out to friends and family.

Take advantage of the light.

Get enough vitamin D.

If you live in a damp home, get it managed.

Keep moving.

You may also be interested in:

How to Manage the Winter Blues

Get By With a Little Help From Your Friends

Level Up with the Dreambook

The Dragontree

Raw and Wild Heart

Empower Your Health during Coronavirus … and Always. (audio cast)

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