Brodie Welch, Licensed Acupuncturist

A colleague showed up at my office yesterday and asked “what are you doing tonight at 7:30?”  For the first time in weeks, the answer was “I don’t have any plans, actually.” She smiled, presented me with a free ticket to the Aviv String Quartet’s performance that her husband wasn’t able to use, and left.

As I sat in the concert hall, listening, the music worked its magic.  It felt as though the sound waves were massaging my brain into a dreamy, peaceful, yet creative and inspiring state.  I came out of it feeling deeply rejuvenated, like an especially deep meditation or trip to “acu-land.”  While feeling deeply grateful that I was there having this experience,  I was reminded of this passage from the Tao Te Ching:

We join spokes together in a wheel,
but it is the center hole
that makes the wagon move.

We shape clay into a pot,
but it is the emptiness inside
that holds whatever we want.

We hammer wood for a house,
but it is the inner space
that makes it livable.

We work with being,
but non-being is what we use.

-Tao Te Ching interpreted by Stephen Mitchell

If there’s no space, nothing happens. We need yin to engender yang.

It’s so easy for me to see space as simply something that needs to be filled up.  This keeps me very busy (usually with things I love!)  but doesn’t allow for a whole lot of spontaneity. What would happen if I left a little more space ?

Right now, the abundance of the Earth is being harvested. In Chinese Medicine, this time of year gets its own label “Late Summer,” and corresponds with the Earth element, the Spleen and Stomach, the digestive system. It’s distinct from the fullness of intense heat and activity of the summer, and yet it’s not quite autumn. This is harvest time. Here a few questions for reflection inspired by the season of the Earth element:

1) Digesting your life. A primary job of the Earth element (the Spleen and Stomach) is to produce qi by transforming food into nutrition, to convert input into something useful to the body. There are two aspects to this equation: 1) the quality of the input itself and 2) how you are processing it .What have you been filling your life with? What have you put your energy into that is nourishing you? And what are you having a hard time “digesting” and integrating into your life?

2) Enjoying the fruits of your labor. What have you put your energy into this year, this month, this week, or this day that you can appreciate? After climbing up a mountain, it’s worthwhile to stop, stand back and take in the view.

3) What goes onto your plate? Are you living solely on one dish over and over again, expecting it to provide you with all that you need? Are you sampling from everything that the life’s bounty has to offer? Are you piling your plate too full with “good stuff” that nonetheless is far too much for one person to attempt to consume? Are you happy with the portion sizes? Is what’s on your plate providing a balance of nutrients for your physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual dimensions?

May you feast on your life!