Exploring Acupuncture

A calm lake with mountains and blue sky

At the suggestion of a friend, I recently tried acupuncture for the first time.  My friend is a long-time acupuncture patient and enthusiast.  She’s used acupuncture to treat various injuries and ailments and has seen results from it.  I’m undergoing treatment for a medical condition, and she suggested that acupuncture could help.  After doing a little research, I decided it was worth a try.

I tend to be skeptical of alternative medicine.  The world is full of snake-oil salesmen who want to sell us pseudoscientific treatments that seem too good to be true.  Though Western medicine has its flaws, I generally trust doctors and research scientists.  When someone starts talking about things like adjusting the energy flowing through the body, I raise an eyebrow.

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8 Good Reasons to Take a Hike

Lush scene from a hike in the Pacific Northwest

I’m lucky to live in a beautiful place that offers many opportunities for outdoor recreation.  This year, my husband and I made a New Year’s resolution to go hiking at least once a month.  We felt like we hadn’t been taking full advantage of the landscape around us, and we thought the resolution would be a good incentive to spend more time together and work our way through our guidebooks to local trails and waterfalls.  We’ve really enjoyed our hikes so far and are looking forward to exploring a new spot this weekend.  If you need some inspiration to hit the trails, here are eight good reasons to get outside.

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Listen to the Music

A pair of wireless ear buds

I’m on year two of my One Line a Day journal, so for the past two and a half months, I’ve received a daily reminder of what I was doing and thinking on that day a year ago.  My March 21, 2016 entry mentioned exchanging favorite Dolly Parton songs with a couple of friends (we were planning a trip to Dollywood) and closed with this line:

“I think listening to music makes me more thoughtful – I should do it more often.”

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Learn How to Meditate: An Introductory Meditation Class Recap

A rocky beach with blue water and a clear blue sky

Yesterday, I attended an introductory meditation class at the Appalachian Dharma & Meditation Center in Johnson City, Tennessee. It was a lovely way to spend a Saturday afternoon. I’ve participated in group meditation sessions before, and I’ve picked up meditation tips from various books, YouTube videos, podcasts, and yoga teachers, but I had never taken a class like this. It offered a nice overview of different meditation methods. The teacher, Jody Palm, identified herself as a Tibetan Buddhist, but I appreciated that the class material was secular in nature and free from the religious and pseudo-scientific claims I’ve sometimes encountered in yoga classes.

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My AncestryDNA Experience

Many people put a lot of stock in their bloodlines. They like to tell tales of famous ancestors and are excited to learn that their great-great-great-uncle performed a heroic deed. I find this tendency rather curious. Why do we care so much about the lives of long-deceased people we’ve never met, simply because we inherited some of their genes? Do we believe their greatness has been passed down to us? What about the ancestors with less admirable stories — do we believe we inherited the shame of their misdeeds? (And if we go back far enough, aren’t we all part of the same family tree?)  Whatever the reasons, there’s no question that our biological and genetic descendancies form key parts of our identities.

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