I am a learner. Learning fuels me, keeps me going. I’d be dead if I wasn’t always learning. While I’m most interested in health topics, I also care about world affairs and cultures, animals, nature, physics, chemistry, and more. But I’m not interested in knowledge for knowing’s sake. I want to seek information that I can apply to help myself, my family, or others.
Over the years, I’ve come to realize that while I’m driven to seek the wisdom set forth by others before me, that I, and each of us, has an inner wisdom that should not be discounted or overlooked. However, I’m not saying that my inner wisdom is like having an Albert Einstein or know-it-all at my disposal. The wisdom I refer to is the heart of Chinese Medicine – the way that we fit into nature and the universe, and that somewhere inside me I know the best choices and that it’s my mind that bars the truth from being manifested.
Instead, I believe we must mine our inner selves for the buried knowings we carry with us as part of our divine nature. Quiet introspection, whether in formal meditation or through mindfulness, allows our inner wisdom to bubble up to the surface of consciousness, where we can harvest it with our minds. I find this to be a daily exercise, the process of getting to know myself. I have been kind of amazed at how I feel like I’m just really getting to know myself now, in my late 30’s! But with that realization came the understanding that it will take my lifetime to really get to know myself fully, if I’m lucky enough to live that long!
I am happy that in my field, I can tap my intuition, that inner wisdom, when I interact with my patients. I can use my inner eye to see my patient more wholly, and go beyond the facts to catch underlying aspects and really get deeper with healing. A big part of what I love about holistic medicine is how intimate it is. I believe that connection forged between myself and my patient becomes part of the healing.
