No matter what we plan, sometimes emotions confuse us, do not allow us to finish what we started. But what to do? Taoist doctors thought about this a long time ago — and offered a simple and understandable practice.
Our thoughts, beliefs, and aspirations are influenced by emotions. But often we do not even fully understand what caused the anger or tears.
Everyone has their own way of understanding themselves. Taoist doctors believe that emotions and experiences are directly related to the state of the body. When we are tired, we get angry. When something hurts, we feel sad and feel sorry for ourselves.
The Taoists have offered a practice that helps to separate the problems of the body from the emotional, and with its help they offer to figure out what we really feel and think.
How the moon affects our state
We are affected by hormonal changes, nutrition, and the quality of sleep. How to deal with this influence?
Draw a graph. On the horizontal line, write down the dates and mark the phases of the moon (for example, January 28 is the new moon, January 29 is the waxing moon). And on the vertical — the emotional state: from 0 to +30 up and down to -30, where +30 is “everything is fine”, and -30 is “everything is bad”.
Why mark the phases of the moon? Because, as it is believed in Taoist medicine, our energy resource depends on them. During the full moon, we have a little more strength, during the new moon, less — and this can affect our mood.
Celebrate every day:
- how many hours you slept and how deeply;
- did you eat a lot of sweets;
- how much they ate during the day, what kind of food it was;
- drank or did not drink alcohol;
- how many cups of coffee and tea did you drink during the day;
- was there physical proximity;
- whether you walked or not, how long you were in the sun;
- how many hours a day they worked, how much they were nervous at work;
- what day of the menstrual cycle (for women);
- did something new, unexpected, unusual happen;
- whether there were problems with the chair.
Emotion management
At the end of the month, you will connect the dots with lines and you will have a graph of your emotional state. But the goal is not only this: by tracking the factors that affect mood and well-being, you will learn to look at your emotional state from the outside.
Surely you have heard such words: “anxiety has covered”, “sadness has fallen”. They show how we usually perceive emotions — as something uncontrollable, spontaneous. In fact, we can control them. Adjust nutrition, sleep or physical activity — depending on which of these factors has a stronger effect on our condition according to the table.
Then you will gain the clarity that will allow you to look ahead, plan, prioritize and act for your own good.