On February 1st, 2023, I celebrated 15 years of enjoying my Chinese medicine practice. I took a moment to reflect and chose 15 of the most important things I’ve learned over the last 15 years of paying attention to my patients and what they had to teach me. I’m sharing them with you here.
1.Sometimes the best thing to do for one’s health is quit the job or end the toxic relationship. No amount of acupuncture can solve those problems.
2. Negative self talk is being in an abusive relationship with oneself. Self-compassion creates inner healing. No one can do that for us.
3. Sleep is the foundation of optimum health. Those willing to give up things that *don’t* contribute to wellness in favor of more sleep are way ahead of the game.
4. Those who come in expecting me to “fix” them may get good results but it may feel superficial and transactional when it could have the potential to be transformative.
5. If taking care of one’s physical and mental health feels like a part-time job, then it’s being done well.
6. Having a supportive and loving friend determines whether one feels simply challenged or feels full-on depression.
7. When someone gives up alcohol, even if they don’t drink much, their health improves on multiple levels, especially sleep quality and mood (i.e. anxiety, depression, irritability, foggy head).
8. People who have made an effort to exercise and move their bodies for most of their lives spend their elderly years with more function and grace.
9. Over-working and over-stressing destroys health faster than anything else.
10. Regularly seeing a good therapist is vital to both physical and emotional well-being.
11. It’s hard to think of a physical symptom that doesn’t have its root in a mental or emotional roadblock.
12. People who set healthy boundaries have fewer physical symptoms.
13. Some western meds are an absolute godsend for the right patients (antibiotics, thyroid, ADHD meds, and Lexapro to highlight a few).
14. My patients who are mothers to small children really suffer. They have the hardest time maintaining health and finding balance in their lives.
15. What you eat (and don’t eat) determines how you feel on a day-to-day and even moment-to-moment basis.
Is there something important that you've learned from receiving acupuncture as a patient?
