Welcome to the Big Tree Blog
Mental focus happens! As a card carrying member of the busy mind club, I can say that mental focus is possible! There are many different theories and approaches that promise to improve your focus. There are drugs, supplements, vitamins, and exercises! With so many choices, how do you find that one technique that will work…
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Wondering how to meditate? I love this clarifying passage from J. Krishnamurti: Meditation is not words, a mantra, or self-hypnosis, the drug of illusions. It must happen without your volition. It must take place in the quiet stillness of night, when you see that you are suddenly awake and the brain is quiet and there…
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Meditation – let’s have some fun! It doesn’t look very fun from the outside – the closed eyes and expressionless faces. You’re sitting in an uncomfortable position, wondering what to do, and hoping not to break the silence with a fart. Add in the somber direction to let go of who you think you are, in order…
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Fall is the season of the Metal Element. Letting go, turning inward and self-reflection mark the time of the Metal element within the cycle of the 5 Elements. As trees let go of their leaves, we are reminded of the bare essentials hidden beneath our exterior. The Metal Element fosters our ability to sort out…
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The function of self healing is often overlooked and under appreciated. How did that cut on your knee heal without you paying any attention to it? What happened while you slept allowing you to wake up the next morning “feeling all better?” We all have a self healing mechanism. It is this mechanism that works…
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Internal awareness takes effort. It is a strange kind of effort. It does not require muscular strength and endurance. Awareness requires persistent attempts to quiet the mind, to “shush” the internal chatter, to let go of trying so hard to mentally attend to external responsibilities. It seems as if an invisible chat button is flipped…
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The plants are making their way up through the soil, reaching for the sun. It is spring, and time for the sprouts of winter’s seeds to push up and out, expanding back to life. We might notice a similar energy within ourselves, a desire to get going, start new things, turn over a new leaf,…
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How to See Yourself As You Really Are By His Holiness the Dalai Lama, translated by Jeffrey Hopkins, PhD. I first read this book a few years ago, knowing that I would have to read it a few more times in order to really understand it. Just last week, I picked it up again. How…
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Acupuncture is just one of the many modalities of Chinese Medicine. Other methods of Chinese Medical treatment include herbs, massage, exercise, diet, and meditation. Depending on the concern of the patient, any one or a combination of these methods may be recommended by a Doctor of Chinese Medicine. The West now recognizes the multiple health…
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Snow Lion Publications offers an email subscription service for a quote of the week from the Dalai Lama. I love getting these every week, so I’m sharing the inspiration. Below is today’s example. You can subscribe to this service at Snow Lion. “…we all have a feeling of closeness to ourselves. Even in cases of…
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