Use Less

It’s that time of year when it is most important to build your “righteous chi.” Jefferson County kids are going back to school soon and that means that the germs will be flying. We have seen the benefits over and over again of beginning this season just as strong as you can be.

Righteous chi is an extremely interesting Oriental medical concept and a very valuable commodity. Without it, you are left vulnerable, weak, and unable to cope with the multitude of invasions that lurk virtually everywhere. If an invading force is strong and the chi is weak, the Chinese say that an “unwanted guest” may enter the house. Why is it that the unwanted guest constantly disrupts the lives of some and goes unnoticed by others? Strong righteous chi prevents the unwanted guest from draining energy and causing chaos in the body, mind, or spirit.

The back-to-school season starts early in our mountain community. You may not have kids but you’re standing in line next to people who do. We all begin to move indoors and encounter many demands on our systems. The natural cycle of things would dictate that fall is a time of harvest and consolidation, yet for many, this time becomes one of extreme activity.

Besides the school calendar, there is an onslaught of holidays. Though often enjoyable, the harvest/consolidation time becomes filled with cooking, shopping, driving, doing, and on and on. The righteous chi can be weakened as the vicious chi becomes stronger. There are increased stress and an increased number of viral and bacterial invasions. Chinese medical philosophy is highly tuned to seasonal shifts and it would benefit us to pay attention and anticipate their effect.

Building righteous chi supports the idea that you can be in charge of your life and not live in a prison of expectations and stress. Obligations can give way to creativity and then become endeavors that are more fulfilling. With health and strong chi, there is greater potential for movement, change, and growth. Oriental medicine focuses on nourishing a functional and well-designed system. It trusts the innate health resident in our bodies and attempts to maximize it. Cast away the pattern of chasing the symptoms that are the result of a failure of the general system.

Although our daughter would probably not choose to be an example of restoring righteous chi, she’s the only kid we have to pick on. When she was a student it was easy to give her four Cold Snap caps a day for about five days before school started. She began the school year strong and that boost carried her right up to the holiday season.

This worked well until the teenage years when she became smarter than her parents and wouldn’t go for the herbs. Instant Karma. That was the only year we can remember her being sick. As a young adult, she has now seen the value over and over again to jumping on an invasion quickly and forcefully. Visiting friends who are coughing and sick is a cue to begin to dose up on Cold Snap. This method usually puts the unwanted guest in its place.

You will use much less of the herbs if you enter the autumn season with strong chi. Strengthening while you are strong carries the body’s natural momentum and takes it one step further. If things begin to break down, more herbs, sometimes a lot more herbs, are required to get health moving in the right direction. Vow to use fewer Cold Snap capsules this year by using them wisely.