For aging mobility and energy, take on The 5 Tibetans (AKA The 5 Rites or The Fountain of Youth)
I'm 67 and getting ready to pop off mine for today. I say, "Each day that I do them, I am adding this day onto the end of my life". I skipped the last 3 days and I can feel my age trying to kill me already.
Start with 3 of each and do them as long as you live. When it gets to where I can't do them anymore, well, I suppose I could go to an anti-war protest and set myself on fire or something. Hate let a good death go to waste after I worked so long to get there.
Regarding the so called "Dark Ages" i watched a documentary once, where they challenged the idea that it was really "Dark" at all. The Dark Ages are supposed to have started when the Romans left Britain and all then fell into ruin, since proper civilization was gone, but the documentary showed new evidence from large-sale archeological studies, and other research, that the original people of Britain, individually, and collectively in small groups, actually flourished, and that it was in fact a wonderful time to farm and raise families and trade in small-scale markets, with all those overlording Romans gone from the scene. So the "Dark Ages" were only really "Dark" because later historians and archeologists (mainly historians though) didn't have the wealth of written accounts or physical artifacts that are common to highly organized societies, to say much about this period. Personally i find that too often, history is not just written by historians, but also created by them too. The practice of establishing what "ancient history" is to be, is done by a limited clique of individuals who are always out to prove their theory is better than that of their rival's in the field. More than any other intellectual pursuit it is open to personal opinions and whims being set out as historical fact.
But also the current society's mind-set in which the history is written or revised, is highly reflected in the views held about their historical predecessors. Another documentary i watched showed that there is a significant lack of evidence that the Anglo-Saxon invasion actually occurred as it is commonly thought to have. Based on our society's mind-set that change only happens through conquest and invasion, we then can only see the same in how cultural change happened in earlier times. It has even been suggested by a number of aware people for a long time, that there were really no Angles and Saxons, and that the Celts who were the primary residents of Britain at that time, just changed their ways to align with the change in the zeitgeist that their seers, the Druids, knew was coming, and that there was no forced invasion by anyone at all.
I'm kind of tired of what about. My father went to Israel in 1980 and as a holocaust survivor remarked that the Israelis had learned nothing from the war. Of course the Israelis have been under siege as well and Oct.7 was horrific and medieval.
Do we really have to address every grievance every single time? They dropped hundreds of 2000 lb. bombs on a dense populations of civilians - yes with criminals among them. But by any standards that's a war crime. I blame the government against whom the citizens demonstrated all of last summer.
The trauma will last for decades on BOTH sides and for what? Conceptual beliefs and revenge.
Thanks for this beautiful piece Tom. Taking time to rest has been a big focus this year. Been taking some note from Joe's teachings on nervous system work also. Been a very helpful combo for me! 🙂
i agree about the overthinking being a problem. A few months ago i went for an acupuncture treatment and the acupuncturist (actually an instructor of acupuncture since it was a school and he was teaching while working on me) found a very sensitive spot on my back and asked me if i tended to overthink things. Well that question, especially being posed when there was already a physical representation of the answer, threw me into a state of feeling my identity threatened and i found myself answering quite automatically, apparently in order to defer this ontological threat, "Let me think a bit on that."
i'm 71 and energy is a huge problem for me as well. i think a lot about the concept of energy management in order to try to deal with it. i think there could be something off about the autonomic energy management system that runs my body. i first felt this was the case when i had covid in 2022. Apparently this situation is also found in the case of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) where the energy management system of the body is impacted, whereby sufferers cant rely on there being enough energy to support the plans they've made in doing what they need to, over the course of each day. The term Chronic Fatigue Syndrome came out first in the mid 80s and was tied to the Epstein Barr virus, but this connection has shifted into something more inherent within the body but ME/CFS is still not recognized by many professionals as being a real syndrome. The professionals who disagree with it being a 'real', physical condition, see that there is a lot of cognitive involvement, as in if people don't want to do something, their energy will also not be there to support doing it. It seems like they are faking the syndrome, but the people who claim they have ME/CFS are adamant they have no control over it.
Long covid is similar since the energy management system is also impacted, but it is different in that the experience that the person has when their energy crashes, is a return of the specific covid symptoms. A few years ago i found an interesting article by a tropical disease specialist, who resolved his long covid condition by following behavioural conditioning techniques: https://blogs.bmj.com/bmj/2021/01/25/paul-garner-on-his-recovery-from-long-covid/ The author suggests that in the case of long covid the virus may first establish a physical level restriction on the patient's energy management system, but that after the effect of the virus is gone, the restriction still remains in a classical conditioning sense of now responding to external stimuli/perceptions (i.e. being faced with a situation which they perceive is 'too much' for them to do, and which they emotionally feel they can't handle) which then shuts down their energy management system. So there is first a real stimulus i.e. seeing or thinking about actual work that needs to be done, then it triggers an emotional response of being overwhelmed, and then their energy crashes.
i believe the "overthinking" issue is related to this, in that if one is not overthinking what they need to accomplish, the effect on their energy management system can be forestalled, ameliorated, or excluded altogether, since the emotional response of feeling overwhelmed will not be triggered, and then one can approach any real tasks that are at hand, with an open and free mind and their energy management system will simply enable the energy the body-mind-spirit has -- to either get it done, to revise the plans, or to do something else. The feedback loop between not being able to get something done that they set out to do and the negative emotional consequence to this, will be replaced by an optimized free-flowing relationship between the mind, the body's energy management system, and the life the person is actually living. Thus, especially when we get older, it would be well to let go of old ideas about what it is we 'should' be doing, or what we need to get done to see ourselves as having been 'productive', and instead open more and more to our free-ranging passion towards life itself and what can be accomplished within our limitations, towards that.
Thank God the mind judges though between what is safe and what is dangerous. The ego is pro physical survival and pushes for material success and those successful in life have better medical access, better lots of things. It is easy to understand why not succeeding is a survival threat and causes a loss of self-esteem. It's the loss of self-esteem that is the delusion, because our worth never changes no matter what we acquire, but the mind does what it is meant to do it judges, and then labels our worth as good or bad by identifying with the material level only. The ego is very predictable because it is mechanical. It is not evil; it can be our faithful servant, when we disidentify our sense of self from it. That is swimming upstream though, as society is invested in feeding itself by pushing conformity on us since birth. Therefore, we are pressured to take on so many false values that we 'should' follow that do not align with our individual souls. False because they do not resonate as True for us. I wonder how the ego evolved in tribes people, was there the same pressures, and chasm between the successful and not. I imagine in a tribe a person's natural abilities were mined to support the group, and the blend harmonized so that each person was not at odds with their nature. Splitting away from nature I think is destroying us at every level. We cannot go back, but we could modify, working remotely and away from a city is one possibility. I think the sardine can of cities will change, we will retain visiting these hubs of culture and food, but I think they will serve a different purpose in the future.
You nailed it: "when we disidentify our sense of self from it" -- my point is mainly an over-emphasis on intellectual knowledge and an ignorance of the full immensity of nature including thought has cost use dearly.
Lovely. I was especially moved by we are part of the “being” of this entire universe and planet. I’m 75. I have slowed down lately and not feeling guilty at all if I’m not being “busy”. Thank you.
Perxactly Janet! I'm nearly 75 and after years of guilt-ridden busyness and achievement in my chosen fields I ran out of steam to the point of mitochondrial dysfunction and near-death in 2016. Found a brilliant kinesiologist and followed all his advice and diagnoses, gradually healing the damage I'd done to my body and inner being. This was not the first time I've surrendered to the universe instead of trying to control my life! That impulse to control still is in the background but rarely intrudes these days, thank heavens. Now I greatly, quietly enjoy what energy I do have and when it's not present it's just what is, for the moment!
Oh.....I posted a video above on the mighty mitochondria before reading your post! I am happy to hear your body reached you!! The body is SO amazing!!! Just now when I think about how amazing my body is....my Heart actually expands...well not really expands but inside me is a feeling of expansiveness that occurs and the emotion of Joy kinda bursts forth in my cells. I know my body 'hears' everything I say and think....and it believes it all. So Love Thy Self with all our Hearts is a necessary antidote to our dis-eased state of Humanity. I see so many around me scurrying here and there caught up in the 'busy' and then they wonder why their body is deceiving them....which it is not...its calling out to them to slow down.https://www.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/tdc02.sci.life.cell.mitochondria/the-powerhouse-of-the-cell/
Thank you Lisa! Grateful for this. Good info on mitochondrial function is becoming a little easier to find since I first flopped but still not widespread enough.
To deal with unwanted, intruding thoughts my body doesn't benefit from I can now catch them as if in a dream catcher and announce "Stop! Cancel! Clear! Reset!" three times followed by "I know what you're doing, I refuse consent! Now (insert whatever expletive suits!) off, get out of my space, my head, my temple! Go in peace." Command it, "they" have to obey, or invite karmic retribution. It works. Every blissing Lisa!
For aging mobility and energy, take on The 5 Tibetans (AKA The 5 Rites or The Fountain of Youth)
I'm 67 and getting ready to pop off mine for today. I say, "Each day that I do them, I am adding this day onto the end of my life". I skipped the last 3 days and I can feel my age trying to kill me already.
Start with 3 of each and do them as long as you live. When it gets to where I can't do them anymore, well, I suppose I could go to an anti-war protest and set myself on fire or something. Hate let a good death go to waste after I worked so long to get there.
Regarding the so called "Dark Ages" i watched a documentary once, where they challenged the idea that it was really "Dark" at all. The Dark Ages are supposed to have started when the Romans left Britain and all then fell into ruin, since proper civilization was gone, but the documentary showed new evidence from large-sale archeological studies, and other research, that the original people of Britain, individually, and collectively in small groups, actually flourished, and that it was in fact a wonderful time to farm and raise families and trade in small-scale markets, with all those overlording Romans gone from the scene. So the "Dark Ages" were only really "Dark" because later historians and archeologists (mainly historians though) didn't have the wealth of written accounts or physical artifacts that are common to highly organized societies, to say much about this period. Personally i find that too often, history is not just written by historians, but also created by them too. The practice of establishing what "ancient history" is to be, is done by a limited clique of individuals who are always out to prove their theory is better than that of their rival's in the field. More than any other intellectual pursuit it is open to personal opinions and whims being set out as historical fact.
But also the current society's mind-set in which the history is written or revised, is highly reflected in the views held about their historical predecessors. Another documentary i watched showed that there is a significant lack of evidence that the Anglo-Saxon invasion actually occurred as it is commonly thought to have. Based on our society's mind-set that change only happens through conquest and invasion, we then can only see the same in how cultural change happened in earlier times. It has even been suggested by a number of aware people for a long time, that there were really no Angles and Saxons, and that the Celts who were the primary residents of Britain at that time, just changed their ways to align with the change in the zeitgeist that their seers, the Druids, knew was coming, and that there was no forced invasion by anyone at all.
People might not know the name of the era, but for sure they felt the meaning better by living it. Living it or naming it is not the same.
Live in Gaza? What about living in Israel? Have you neglected it in purpose? What about Iran?
I'm kind of tired of what about. My father went to Israel in 1980 and as a holocaust survivor remarked that the Israelis had learned nothing from the war. Of course the Israelis have been under siege as well and Oct.7 was horrific and medieval.
Do we really have to address every grievance every single time? They dropped hundreds of 2000 lb. bombs on a dense populations of civilians - yes with criminals among them. But by any standards that's a war crime. I blame the government against whom the citizens demonstrated all of last summer.
The trauma will last for decades on BOTH sides and for what? Conceptual beliefs and revenge.
Thanks for this beautiful piece Tom. Taking time to rest has been a big focus this year. Been taking some note from Joe's teachings on nervous system work also. Been a very helpful combo for me! 🙂
Have a great holiday season!
i agree about the overthinking being a problem. A few months ago i went for an acupuncture treatment and the acupuncturist (actually an instructor of acupuncture since it was a school and he was teaching while working on me) found a very sensitive spot on my back and asked me if i tended to overthink things. Well that question, especially being posed when there was already a physical representation of the answer, threw me into a state of feeling my identity threatened and i found myself answering quite automatically, apparently in order to defer this ontological threat, "Let me think a bit on that."
i'm 71 and energy is a huge problem for me as well. i think a lot about the concept of energy management in order to try to deal with it. i think there could be something off about the autonomic energy management system that runs my body. i first felt this was the case when i had covid in 2022. Apparently this situation is also found in the case of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) where the energy management system of the body is impacted, whereby sufferers cant rely on there being enough energy to support the plans they've made in doing what they need to, over the course of each day. The term Chronic Fatigue Syndrome came out first in the mid 80s and was tied to the Epstein Barr virus, but this connection has shifted into something more inherent within the body but ME/CFS is still not recognized by many professionals as being a real syndrome. The professionals who disagree with it being a 'real', physical condition, see that there is a lot of cognitive involvement, as in if people don't want to do something, their energy will also not be there to support doing it. It seems like they are faking the syndrome, but the people who claim they have ME/CFS are adamant they have no control over it.
Long covid is similar since the energy management system is also impacted, but it is different in that the experience that the person has when their energy crashes, is a return of the specific covid symptoms. A few years ago i found an interesting article by a tropical disease specialist, who resolved his long covid condition by following behavioural conditioning techniques: https://blogs.bmj.com/bmj/2021/01/25/paul-garner-on-his-recovery-from-long-covid/ The author suggests that in the case of long covid the virus may first establish a physical level restriction on the patient's energy management system, but that after the effect of the virus is gone, the restriction still remains in a classical conditioning sense of now responding to external stimuli/perceptions (i.e. being faced with a situation which they perceive is 'too much' for them to do, and which they emotionally feel they can't handle) which then shuts down their energy management system. So there is first a real stimulus i.e. seeing or thinking about actual work that needs to be done, then it triggers an emotional response of being overwhelmed, and then their energy crashes.
i believe the "overthinking" issue is related to this, in that if one is not overthinking what they need to accomplish, the effect on their energy management system can be forestalled, ameliorated, or excluded altogether, since the emotional response of feeling overwhelmed will not be triggered, and then one can approach any real tasks that are at hand, with an open and free mind and their energy management system will simply enable the energy the body-mind-spirit has -- to either get it done, to revise the plans, or to do something else. The feedback loop between not being able to get something done that they set out to do and the negative emotional consequence to this, will be replaced by an optimized free-flowing relationship between the mind, the body's energy management system, and the life the person is actually living. Thus, especially when we get older, it would be well to let go of old ideas about what it is we 'should' be doing, or what we need to get done to see ourselves as having been 'productive', and instead open more and more to our free-ranging passion towards life itself and what can be accomplished within our limitations, towards that.
There is also the mighty mitochondria....I do wonder if having covid...or any type of disease actually, causes the mutations in the DNA of the mitochondria? Your explanation linking emotions to dis-ease is beautifully stated!https://www.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/tdc02.sci.life.cell.mitochondria/the-powerhouse-of-the-cell/
You might be interested in this article Dr. Mercola just published titled "Top Supplements for Mitochondria Function" https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2023/12/28/mitochondria-supplements.aspx
Thank God the mind judges though between what is safe and what is dangerous. The ego is pro physical survival and pushes for material success and those successful in life have better medical access, better lots of things. It is easy to understand why not succeeding is a survival threat and causes a loss of self-esteem. It's the loss of self-esteem that is the delusion, because our worth never changes no matter what we acquire, but the mind does what it is meant to do it judges, and then labels our worth as good or bad by identifying with the material level only. The ego is very predictable because it is mechanical. It is not evil; it can be our faithful servant, when we disidentify our sense of self from it. That is swimming upstream though, as society is invested in feeding itself by pushing conformity on us since birth. Therefore, we are pressured to take on so many false values that we 'should' follow that do not align with our individual souls. False because they do not resonate as True for us. I wonder how the ego evolved in tribes people, was there the same pressures, and chasm between the successful and not. I imagine in a tribe a person's natural abilities were mined to support the group, and the blend harmonized so that each person was not at odds with their nature. Splitting away from nature I think is destroying us at every level. We cannot go back, but we could modify, working remotely and away from a city is one possibility. I think the sardine can of cities will change, we will retain visiting these hubs of culture and food, but I think they will serve a different purpose in the future.
You nailed it: "when we disidentify our sense of self from it" -- my point is mainly an over-emphasis on intellectual knowledge and an ignorance of the full immensity of nature including thought has cost use dearly.
Making the intellect king is a mistake I think.
thank you
Lovely. I was especially moved by we are part of the “being” of this entire universe and planet. I’m 75. I have slowed down lately and not feeling guilty at all if I’m not being “busy”. Thank you.
Perxactly Janet! I'm nearly 75 and after years of guilt-ridden busyness and achievement in my chosen fields I ran out of steam to the point of mitochondrial dysfunction and near-death in 2016. Found a brilliant kinesiologist and followed all his advice and diagnoses, gradually healing the damage I'd done to my body and inner being. This was not the first time I've surrendered to the universe instead of trying to control my life! That impulse to control still is in the background but rarely intrudes these days, thank heavens. Now I greatly, quietly enjoy what energy I do have and when it's not present it's just what is, for the moment!
Oh.....I posted a video above on the mighty mitochondria before reading your post! I am happy to hear your body reached you!! The body is SO amazing!!! Just now when I think about how amazing my body is....my Heart actually expands...well not really expands but inside me is a feeling of expansiveness that occurs and the emotion of Joy kinda bursts forth in my cells. I know my body 'hears' everything I say and think....and it believes it all. So Love Thy Self with all our Hearts is a necessary antidote to our dis-eased state of Humanity. I see so many around me scurrying here and there caught up in the 'busy' and then they wonder why their body is deceiving them....which it is not...its calling out to them to slow down.https://www.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/tdc02.sci.life.cell.mitochondria/the-powerhouse-of-the-cell/
Thank you Lisa! Grateful for this. Good info on mitochondrial function is becoming a little easier to find since I first flopped but still not widespread enough.
To deal with unwanted, intruding thoughts my body doesn't benefit from I can now catch them as if in a dream catcher and announce "Stop! Cancel! Clear! Reset!" three times followed by "I know what you're doing, I refuse consent! Now (insert whatever expletive suits!) off, get out of my space, my head, my temple! Go in peace." Command it, "they" have to obey, or invite karmic retribution. It works. Every blissing Lisa!