Chinese Wisdom - Tending the Rice Pot

I have a book called "Dancing with the Ten Thousand Things" written by Tom Balles, who is a practicing acupuncturist and lecturer at the Tai Sophia Institute for the Healing Arts in Maryland (one of my favorite places.) This information comes from his book.

The Chinese character for chi has been loosely translated as breath, life force, vitality, and energy. The ideogram/character depicts the vapors or steam rising from cooking rice, moving the lid of the pot up and down. The character portrays movement as synonymous with life, transformation and change as ongoing realities.

To keep the lid of the rice pot moving smoothly up and down takes tending. Fuel must be supplied, water when needed, and heat adjusted when needed. Not enough heat, nothing happens, things stagnate. Too much heat and you might blow the top off!

In life, this is reflected in tending to many rice pots, our families, friendships, communities, jobs, and ourselves. It is about balance to allow the different aspects of your life and your health to flourish. It's about paying attention and doing the little things, making the little changes consistently over time, to create the results you desire.

Take time today to think about how to tend to your rice pot (or rice pots). Ask yourself, what is needed here? What will allow your life (your health) to flourish here? How can you create healthy movement?

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I love how what we talk about in AHL reflects this ancient wisdom.