Hello, all! Hope your week has been stellar! Mine has been pretty good, although not what I’d planned.
I took the picture above out my front window this morning. It really doesn’t look like much but that ice is about half an inch think and super slick. Not thrilled about it. And am getting tired of winter.
Regardless, that’s just one thing about winter of which I’m not a fan. One thing I am a fan of, however, is reading. I used to read over 20 books a year. Everything from novels to science to biographies. The last year I’ve slacked off on that because of the A&P and bio classes and my Medical Qigong studies. This last week I fell off the Qigong wagon, so to speak, and tumbled onto the reading one. Five novels in the last six days. Clearly, very little qigong practiced. Sleep compromised.
With that context in mind, here’s my update.
Breathing
Breathing went ok. Mostly occurred when I’d finished a book and before starting another. Usually accompanied by the thought ‘What are you doing?’ Going to give this a C for the week.
Cultivating my Qi
Severely impacted by my reading. I only did my Daoist 5 once. Started it a second time but got a phone call. Definite D.
Definitely need to refocus here. Can’t do my job without it!
Doing for others
I only went out to classes on Tuesday and to the store once, so limited opportunity for the face-to-face variety.
That said, I did talk to one of my classmates in the pottery class. She was asking me about meditating a few weeks back and was having a time of it. With some gentle probing (how are you doing it?) and some not-so-gentle probing (what’s your purpose?), I taught her a different way to do it. She thanked me and I told her to come back to me after a week to discuss and refine. She didn’t. So I asked her this week how it was going and she (possibly blowing smoke) told me it was going better than it ever had before. I gave her a verbal thumbs up, but didn’t press, as she was literally coated up and walking out to her next class.
I do like to help people. Not sure if you’re familiar with The 5 Love Languages, but mine is Acts of Service. I’m not getting anything from this link, just wanted to share. If for no other reason, this is a good quiz to learn a little bit about yourself and your partners. It also helps immensely in communication. Knowing how to talk to someone based on their love language can really smooth out discussions. 🙂
Kind of a win-win on this one. Going to give myself an A.
Learn something new
Lab was cool this week. Got a lot of the tissues removed from the neck and throat area to really get a good look at some of the muscles and glands there. Also got down under a couple of other layers of muscle on the chest and abdomen. I really enjoy the cadaver lab. Thank you to Colleen for her life and donation. I giver her and me an A.
That concludes this week’s update. As a parting shot, the top picture: meh. Directly above? Much more of what I’m really looking forward to. Spring: growth and transition. Exciting times!
As always, my best to you as you continue your spiritual journey and realizing your greatest potential!