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16 Ways to Treat Migraines Naturally

About 25 years ago I worked for a company that made high end sports goggles. Though the front of the building was covered with posters of pro swimmers and skiers… Read More

Look and listen for good signs, positive news, beauty, and fascinating things, and then latch onto them, talk about them, share them, savor them, amplify them, run with them. Imagine you just tapped into a vein of gold in the earth, and now you want to follow that vein. Jump from one good thing to the next. Make a game out of it.
Create more positivity in the world. This is especially important if you find it hard to arouse your own optimism. Instigate positivity in people around you, even if you feel dark inside. Create the vein of gold that you can then follow, by asking people about their lives, their kids, their dreams. You will ignite a light in someone else that will lead you in the right direction. Then keep doing it. Deliver genuine compliments. Help others to see the positive side of whatever they’re grappling with. It’s often easier to do for others than for yourself.
Get out of the dirt. Following the gold vein is as much a matter of not choosing to veer into the dirt as it is a choice to follow the gold. Catch yourself choosing to indulge in negativity and be disciplined about shifting your attention to something else. It’s like breaking an addiction. Notice which of your acquaintances have a “this sucks” mentality and (a) hang out with them less (b) laugh internally at everything negative they say – lightly, not disparagingly (c) don’t let them throw you off your gold vein. Also, stop watching Breaking Bad. Choose your media consumption consciously.
Tweet/post/comment responsibly. The stories and opinions you choose to share shape who you are in the world – plus who and what you attract. Are you a positive influence on your environment or a negative one? Before you click “Post,” look at what you’ve written. If it’s snarky or amounts to “Doesn’t this suck?” just delete it. You won’t feel any regret.
Respond with humor to situations that would otherwise make you angry, irritated, or anxious. I know it’s hard, but if your habit is to relinquish the whole gold vein just because of some stupid situation, you simply cannot engage with it in an adversarial way. Be imperturbable. Go on a drama fast. Stay committed to your positivity.
Lose the belief that finding problems and errors makes you smart or likeable. People who enjoy finding what’s wrong with everything rarely care as much about looking for solutions.
Know what you want. Most of us spend so much time thinking about our current problems and the undesired future situations we hope to avoid that we have a clearer sense of what we don’t want than what we do want. Know with laser-like precision what kind of life you want and replace the habit of dwelling on what you don’t want with savoring the anticipation of getting what you do want.

Once you’re in the zone, let’s go have some tea together. Positive people are fun to be around. I wonder what cool thing you’ll do next. Be well, Peter [post_title] => The Truth is Simple. Start Feeling Better. [post_excerpt] => [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => open [ping_status] => open [post_password] => [post_name] => the-truth-is-simple-start-feeling-better [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2022-02-03 22:51:35 [post_modified_gmt] => 2022-02-03 22:51:35 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => https://thedragontree.com/?p=8493 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 7 [filter] => raw [webinar_id] => 0 ) [1] => WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 8656 [post_author] => 3 [post_date] => 2022-05-05 20:14:03 [post_date_gmt] => 2022-05-05 20:14:03 [post_content] => There’s a well-known spiritual quote from philosopher and teacher Jiddhu Krishnamurti. The story goes that he was speaking to a group of students (who saw him as an enlightened master), and he whispered, “Do you want to know my secret?” At this, the room fell silent and everyone leaned forward. Then he continued, “I don’t mind what happens.” What I like about this idea is that it’s simple; it speaks of a state of transcendence of the ego and unshakable peace. But as an expression of absolute spiritual truth, it also lends itself to spiritual bypassing and illusions about spirituality. The tricky thing about Krishnamurti’s statement is that he was presumably speaking not from his ego but from an expanded state of consciousness, his higher Self. Thus, while not minding what happens was his outlook from this state, it’s not necessarily the path that got him there. In Krishnamurti’s case, he went through a series of spontaneous, often painful experiences over many years that caused an opening of his consciousness. That’s not something we can replicate at will. So what can we garner from this “secret”? It’s a good opening to a discussion on how we relate to absolute spiritual truths while existing in a world of relativity. Even among non-dual spiritual traditions (meaning, all the world is considered to be an expression of one great Being, and separation is an illusion), there is often a distinction made between the Source in an absolute sense (which is formless) and the many forms it takes in the relative world. In the realm of the relative, which is where the majority of human minds dwell, relativity directs nearly every aspect of our lives. For instance, when we say something is good, we’re usually not coming from the experience that the universe is fundamentally Good, and therefore all of its expressions are imbued with that same essence of goodness. What we mean is that things are good relative to some other way they could be. Thus, we’re directed toward things that we perceive as better than our other options and away from things that seem worse. And absolute spiritual truths – like “the universe is fundamentally good” – are simply lofty concepts to most people. We do get glimpses of them though (as I’ve written about in my articles on “gaps” in the dominant egocentric state), and these often fuel a drive for spiritual awakening. People who have gone through a certain form of spiritual awakening (what’s sometimes referred to as enlightenment, liberation, or moksha) often describe it as an experience of becoming perpetually conscious of the absolute. This doesn’t make the relative disappear, but the awareness of the undying oneness that unifies all apparent differences enables them to play in relativity without the “high stakes” feeling – and the anxiousness and drama that go with it – that most humans experience. This is why it’s referred to as liberation, which can be a very appealing notion to anyone who wants to be happy. So, apparently from this state, Krishnamurti said, “I don’t mind what happens” because, in an absolute sense, nothing is ever wrong. Nor is there such a thing as tragedy or victory. To win a race just means one part of the Source crossed the finish line before another part of the same Source (or God beat God, if you prefer that name). Likewise, the death of any given expression of the Source is akin to a red blood cell dying and being recycled into a new blood cell; the Whole has lost nothing in the process. It's important to recognize that an absolute spiritual truth is different from an uplifting life principle or a good piece of advice. If someone told you their “secret” is “Focus on the good” or “Don’t sweat the small stuff” or “Practice gratitude” or “Don’t take anything personally” you could immediately adopt it and start living it. But to a person who hasn’t realized and directly experienced it, an absolute truth isn’t actionable in the same way. And in relative terms, the absolute may make no sense at all. Imagine that a dog is biting your leg and you think to yourself, “I’m going to be spiritual about this. What did Krishnamurti say? Oh yeah, I don’t mind what happens. I guess I’d better breathe through this. Whew, that’s a lot of blood. Do I just let him keep gnawing? I don’t mind. I don’t mind. I don’t mind. If I call 9-1-1, does that constitute “minding”?” I doubt many people would take an unrealized spiritual truth to this extent, but as you can imagine, it’s possible to get into some trouble this way. Next week we’ll try to find the usefulness in statements of absolute truth and we’ll talk about what to do if you do mind what happens. Meanwhile, I always love to hear what readers think of these philosophical explorations. Be well, Peter [post_title] => Can We be Misguided by Spiritual Truths? [post_excerpt] => [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => open [ping_status] => open [post_password] => [post_name] => can-we-be-misguided-by-spiritual-truths [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2022-05-05 20:14:03 [post_modified_gmt] => 2022-05-05 20:14:03 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => https://thedragontree.com/?p=8656 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw [webinar_id] => 0 ) [2] => WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 8306 [post_author] => 3 [post_date] => 2021-07-22 17:43:53 [post_date_gmt] => 2021-07-22 17:43:53 [post_content] => In summer I like to explore and teach about the Fire Element. Summers are dominated by that big fireball in the sky, which has recently been bringing us some extreme temperatures and, sadly, droughts and major wildfires. I recently wrote an article on the summer solstice – the day of maximum sun – and it occurred to me that I tend to celebrate the light (fire) on both the winter and summer solstices. On the darkest day of the year our family focuses on honoring the light and remembering that even during dark times it never completely disappears. Then on summer solstice we revel in the light’s fullest return. Less often do we stop to appreciate what’s healthy and balancing about darkness. And if there’s anything worth calling forth in summer (especially in the western part of the country) it’s not more fire but water. Perhaps our fixation on the fire of life is symptomatic of a broader cultural imbalance – to value yang qualities over yin ones. If you’re not familiar with yin-yang theory, the nutshell explanation is that these terms are adjectives describing two opposing and complementary sets of qualities. Some yin characteristics are: soft, receptive, dark, cool, passive, internal, solid, still, hidden, moist, grounded, shadowy, supple, yielding, and tending to descend. Some yang characteristics are: hot, assertive, bright, active, sharp, rising, expanding, transforming, external, hard. We need both yin and yang in ourselves and our lives, but if we’re wired to regard survival, hoarding, and conquering as most important, it’s difficult to see the virtue in yin qualities. A yang-orientation seems preferable. Thus, we like to be active all the time. We feel we should always be doing something, always productive in some way. We believe it’s best to be extroverted and we esteem people who are driven, even dominating. We’re attracted to parties and passion, and our movies tend to portray love as intense, fervent, and insatiable – like an out of control fire. We treat the planet in a similar way – consuming, controlling, ravaging, and desiccating it. We often live “up high” – in our heads – rather than in the depths of our feeling and intuition. The many illuminated things that now fill our world – electric lights and screens especially – have taken the place of the fires we used to gaze into. And the perpetual data stream these electronics connect us to – news, tweets, texts, emails, videos – ensure that there’s rarely any total darkness or stillness (i.e., yin) in our waking lives. There’s nothing intrinsically wrong with these yang qualities, of course. It’s only when they aren’t balanced by yin ones that we run into trouble. Climate change, media overload, unsustainable growth and consumption are symptoms of this imbalance. While there are plenty of material changes that are worth making – reducing our carbon footprint, buying less virgin plastic, limiting screen time, and supporting sustainable agriculture to name a few – a cultural change will be instrumental in turning the tide, and that change is about honoring the yin. It’s a tall order, I know. We tend to think we’ve done this work already, but the fire has grown more quickly than our measures to balance it. For instance, many people believe that women have had equality with men for decades. It’s true that things get better over the years, but much of this “equality” has looked like men (and women) accepting female empowerment only to the extent that women flex their yang qualities. More revolutionary is the idea of cherishing women (and men) who embody the yin, and recognizing that all that is yang in the world needs an equally monumental anchor of yin in order to be in balance. This means (to give just a few examples) accepting and cultivating stillness, appreciating healthy darkness, saving water, listening, being receptive, being humble, being moderate, living simply, being self-reflective, and being truly adaptable. It amounts to reverence for what sets humans apart from other animals. It’s the biggest work our species will ever face. Love, Peter [post_title] => The Biggest Change in the World [post_excerpt] => [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => open [ping_status] => open [post_password] => [post_name] => the-biggest-change-in-the-world [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2021-07-22 20:37:00 [post_modified_gmt] => 2021-07-22 20:37:00 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => https://thedragontree.com/?p=8306 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 11 [filter] => raw [webinar_id] => 0 ) ) [post_count] => 3 [current_post] => -1 [in_the_loop] => [post] => WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 8493 [post_author] => 3 [post_date] => 2022-02-03 22:51:35 [post_date_gmt] => 2022-02-03 22:51:35 [post_content] => When a patient comes in to see me, I get a brief opportunity to facilitate a shift toward the positive. I might overhaul their diet, give them exercises, insert acupuncture needles, or prescribe some medicine. It’s clear that these interventions help. But when I look back at the treatments that were major turning points for people, about half the time what made the difference was something I said. Most of what I say is pretty simple stuff. The more simple, the bigger the potential impact. All the essential truths of the great spiritual traditions are simple. But they’re underappreciated and easily forgotten. There’s so much other stuff vying for priority real estate in our minds. And in a time when we put so much value on complexity – science, for instance – simple concepts don’t get taken seriously. Someone once said, The truth is simple. If it were complicated, everyone would get it. The nice part about profound truths being simple is that you don’t have to work so hard. Stop trying to have all the answers; just listen and remember what you already know. The simple truth I want to share with you today is one you are undoubtedly familiar with: positive thinking makes good things happen. If someone said to you, “I have the solution to most of your problems: think positive,” you might say, “I have the solution to why nobody likes you: unsolicited, crappy advice.” But I urge you to reconsider. If you consistently had positive thoughts about your life, do you know what would happen? You would feel consistently positive about your life. And that pretty much constitutes a good life, doesn’t it? Regardless of whether or not your life is exactly the way you want it to be, if you cultivate positive thoughts, your consciousness – your experience of life – will be more positive. Isn’t that what really matters? Your perspective is more important than your circumstances. Wouldn’t you rather be poor and happy than rich and miserable? If you’re happy, you’re happy. But it’s not just a mind trick where you fool yourself into being thrilled by a pathetic life. As you make a habit of forging positive thoughts, you become a more positive person, and then the objective circumstances of your life change. Have you ever met someone who was really successful and also super positive? Which do you think came first? I would venture to guess it was the positive part. The tricky aspect – or so it seems to a mind that loves complication– is actually remembering to think positively. Many people feel it’s not their innate nature to be positive, or that life circumstances have made it difficult to be an optimist. But they have just made a habit of focusing on and emphasizing negative viewpoints. It’s true that the glass is both half empty and half full. Both perspectives are valid, but they are not equally meaningful observations. The optimist focuses on what is and the pessimist on what isn’t. Like the song goes, accentuate the positive. Here’s how:

Look and listen for good signs, positive news, beauty, and fascinating things, and then latch onto them, talk about them, share them, savor them, amplify them, run with them. Imagine you just tapped into a vein of gold in the earth, and now you want to follow that vein. Jump from one good thing to the next. Make a game out of it.
Create more positivity in the world. This is especially important if you find it hard to arouse your own optimism. Instigate positivity in people around you, even if you feel dark inside. Create the vein of gold that you can then follow, by asking people about their lives, their kids, their dreams. You will ignite a light in someone else that will lead you in the right direction. Then keep doing it. Deliver genuine compliments. Help others to see the positive side of whatever they’re grappling with. It’s often easier to do for others than for yourself.
Get out of the dirt. Following the gold vein is as much a matter of not choosing to veer into the dirt as it is a choice to follow the gold. Catch yourself choosing to indulge in negativity and be disciplined about shifting your attention to something else. It’s like breaking an addiction. Notice which of your acquaintances have a “this sucks” mentality and (a) hang out with them less (b) laugh internally at everything negative they say – lightly, not disparagingly (c) don’t let them throw you off your gold vein. Also, stop watching Breaking Bad. Choose your media consumption consciously.
Tweet/post/comment responsibly. The stories and opinions you choose to share shape who you are in the world – plus who and what you attract. Are you a positive influence on your environment or a negative one? Before you click “Post,” look at what you’ve written. If it’s snarky or amounts to “Doesn’t this suck?” just delete it. You won’t feel any regret.
Respond with humor to situations that would otherwise make you angry, irritated, or anxious. I know it’s hard, but if your habit is to relinquish the whole gold vein just because of some stupid situation, you simply cannot engage with it in an adversarial way. Be imperturbable. Go on a drama fast. Stay committed to your positivity.
Lose the belief that finding problems and errors makes you smart or likeable. People who enjoy finding what’s wrong with everything rarely care as much about looking for solutions.
Know what you want. Most of us spend so much time thinking about our current problems and the undesired future situations we hope to avoid that we have a clearer sense of what we don’t want than what we do want. Know with laser-like precision what kind of life you want and replace the habit of dwelling on what you don’t want with savoring the anticipation of getting what you do want.

You may also be interested in:

The Truth is Simple. Start Feeling Better.

Can We be Misguided by Spiritual Truths?

The Biggest Change in the World

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reactive hypoglycemia

16 Ways to Treat Migraines Naturally

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