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I have a short but sweet flowing water meditation for you this week. Don’t overlook trying this one because it’s so simple.

My experience in life is that simple usually turns out much better than complicated.

Anyway, we start with this wonderfully wise Chinese proverb…

Flowing water never goes bad.

Now, let’s put the proverb to use.

Here’s what you do…

Whenever your life gets crazy, stop for a moment, take several deep breaths until you feel yourself slowing down.

As soon as you’re consciously aware of having slowed down, visualize flowing water in your mind.

Perhaps you visualize a favorite stream from your childhood…

• or the sound of rain hitting a favorite roof while you’re resting on the couch on a Sunday afternoon…
• or just some flowing water that you make up in your imagination.

Once you have a good visual image of flowing water, then you become that flowing water.

Pause with everything right now and work this exercise:

Stop for a moment and take a few deep breaths and first visualize flowing water…

… and then feel yourself, your very being, as that flowing water.

Ah, that’s it.

Now you have it.

The cool thing about this flowing water meditation is that you can stop and do it multiple times a day, any day, whenever you wish.

You can even do it at work, especially when somebody’s messing with your inner peace and harmony.

Indeed, when you become flowing water, the BS of life flows right past you!

Chet

P.S. As usual, if you like this meditation, you should subscribe to my free EarthRain meditation newsletter. And if you have a favorite meditation you’d like to share, I hope you’ll comment below and tell us all about it.

Tags: Meditation

Sunday afternoon my son Chris put me onto a new group that I’d not heard of before… Old Crow Medicine Show… and, frankly, they’re terrific!

Rather than raving about them with words, let me turn you on to their music.

If this song doesn’t make you want to grab your baby and dance up a storm, then I hope there’s someone up there to open the Pearly Gates because you’re deader than a flattened frog on the Interstate.

Turn up the volume on your speakers (if you’re at work, put in your earbuds and then turn up the volume) and get ready to feel great because you’re about to listen to Old Crow Medicine Show’s wonderful Wagon Wheel!

How’s that for great?

Seriously, that’s just about the dancingest tune I’ve heard since Grandpappy Wyeth won the gold ribbon at the 1963 Pink Beds fiddling contest.

You can learn more about Old Crow Medicine Show on their website.

Chet

Tags: Old Crow Medicine Show, Wagon Wheel

Just a quick tip today regarding the problems with staying focused that ail not only aging boomers but also just about everyone else.

Today I’d like to share a simple method that has helped me a great deal in terms of steady productivity:

• Every night before I shut down my computer, I enter three tasks that have to be completed the next day into a little To Do software program I have.
• I also jot those three tasks down (sometimes in abbreviated form if necessary) on a sticky note that I then place on my nightstand clock next to our bed.
• Before going to sleep, I mentally review the three tasks and then right after turning out the light I visualize completing them.
• First thing the next morning I boot up my computer and my To Do software. Then, as I complete the three tasks, I check them off in the program. It sounds silly, but I get great satisfaction each time I check as completed one of the three jobs that have been scheduled for that day.
• Finally, and I feel this point is important so I’ll bold it: I do not shut down my computer UNTIL I’ve completed those three tasks.

Interestingly enough, the three jobs are easy to do because in my head I’ve already visualized completing them.

Indeed, the power of my subconscious mind seems to etch paths during sleep that allow me to just flow the work out the next day.

Neat, eh?

If you have a tip for staying focused, I hope you tell us about it by leaving a reply to this blog post.

Oh, one more thing…

If you work in an environment full of distractions, I’d bet a dime to a donut that you’d find my Crystal Focus Learning CD extremely useful.

I work in a relatively quiet environment (except for three active dogs who bark more than they should), but I still listen to this CD when I need to stay focused on each of my three must do tasks. Click here to learn more about Crystal Focus Learning.

That’s it for this time.

Chet

Tags: Staying Focused

For this week’s meditation, we turn to a wonderful Zen saying…

No snowflake ever falls in the wrong place.

Meditate on this observation during the coming week whenever something feels wrong in your life.

Here’s how to do it.

When something seems awry, breathe deeply, pause for a second, and start centering your focus.

Repeat three times or until you’re deeply aware and intensely in the moment.

Now focus on the issue or person or whatever that seems wrong in your life right now.

Ah, there!

You see, it’s not wrong at all.

It’s the thinking about it that makes it wrong.

So let go of the thinking and focus on the feeling of the issue or person or whatever as it exists right now, in this moment.

Once you feel the feeling — be it annoyance, anger, fear, whatever — be with it for a few breaths. Let it exist as it is.

Then, and here’s the wonderful part, then exhale and just let it go.

You see now?

No snowflake ever falls in the wrong place.

Chet

P.S. This meditation is one in a series that I send to interested people in more than forty countries around the world (whoa!) in my free EarthRain meditation newsletter.

Tags: Meditation

I sent this great relaxation method out to some of my newsletter subscribers earlier today, but I like it so much I thought I’d post it here on the blog, too.

This is one of my favorite techniques for dealing with stress.

I promise after you try it that it’s going to be one of yours, too!

Here we go. Try it right now…

• Close your eyes, take several deep breaths, and relax.
• Now, touch your thumb to your index finger. As you do, think of a time when you felt an exhilarated, healthy physical or mental fatigue such as from jogging or skiing or from successfully completing an important project.
• Next, touch your thumb to your middle finger. As you do, think of a time when you had a loving experience.
• Now, touch your thumb to your ring finger. As you do, think about one of your successes in life or valued praise that you received.
• Finally, touch your thumb to your little finger. As you do, visualize the most beautiful and relaxing place that you have ever been (or make up such a place if you want). Allow yourself to stay in that place for awhile.

If this exercise doesn’t significantly relax you, then you’ve probably stopped breathing and gone to heaven!

If you have a great relaxation method, take a few minutes and post it in the “Leave a Reply” section below, please.

Chet

Tags: relaxation method

On a very regular basis, I hear from ex-vegans whose health has deteriorated from remaining too long on a diet that contains no animal fats or proteins.

My experience since 1993 is that vegan nutrition isn’t all it’s cracked up to be by its proponents.

Here’s the latest email on this important topic of vegan nutrition deficiencies:

Hi Chet,

I just wanted to write and let you know that I think your vegan diet dangers article is right on track.

My husband and I have been on a quite strict vegan diet for 6 years.

I got my first b12 deficiency either that summer or the following. I was taking a b-complex pill and the b12 did not absorb. I switched to sublingual and have been pretty much ok since then. Occasionally my husband and I would feel a little tingling in our fingertips, take some extra b12 and continue.

I’ve had trouble with digestion and thought going raw would be the answer. I love raw food and credit raw food with my overcoming some serious health challenges. I haven’t been able to do totally raw for any length of time, though, because I either get light headed and weak from too much fruit, hung over and sluggish from too much nuts, or constipated from too much greens.

Recently I started feeling like I wasn’t breathing in as much air as I should be. Very subtle, but it felt like the b12 deficiency I had several years ago. I added more b12 but the symptoms progressed. I started rotating 4 types with still no luck.

My husband and I discussed what we believe have been these periodic b12 issues. We also have felt a subtle lack of vitality.

We decided to try adding fish and eggs to our diet. Last night I ate some salmon. It was my first meal with any substantial animal ingredients in these 6 years. I don’t know what that salmon had in it, but I felt my breathing improve before I had finished the meal. Today my digestion is better and I have more energy than I’ve had in 6 weeks or so. My husbands sex drive increased overnight. It is remarkable.

We hope to get away with whole, healthy animal foods about twice a week. We like the vegan diet but it definitely has it’s limitations. Our primary objective is health. I would like to help the animals but not at the price of my own health.

I don’t know if you follow Gabriel Cousens at all, but you could probably add him to your page of gurus who are not vegans. I have read a couple of his books cover to cover, and in at least one of them he says he eats kefir. If I remember correctly, it’s some sort of a raw goat milk fermented thing. I never tried it.

Thanks for your honesty.

Sincerely,

No Longer Vegan

Well, that’s the latest from health conscious people who have had veganism fail them, and I like to share these emails on occasion to help current vegans who are wondering why their health and energy aren’t optimal when so many of the vegan gurus claim it should be.

As usual, listen to your body.

Don’t listen to the gurus… or, at least, take a lot of what they have to say with a questioning attitude. And keep in mind that many (if not all of them) are eating “occasional” animal fats and proteins in private but not admitting it publicly.

Chet

Tags: vegan diet dangers, vegan nutrition, Veganism

Since it’s been pouring down rain all night and most of this wet Friday morning, I thought I’d take a few minutes to share some interesting water facts that baby boomers (and everyone else for that matter) should keep in mind:

Did you know that 75% of Americans, and most of the world population, are chronically dehydrated?

In 37% of Americans, the thirst mechanism is so weak that it is often mistaken for hunger.

Even MILD dehydration will slow down one’s metabolism as much as 3%.

One glass of water shuts down midnight hunger pangs for almost 100% of dieters

Lack of water is the #1 trigger of daytime fatigue.

Preliminary research indicates that 8-10 glasses of water a day could significantly ease back and joint pain for up to 80% of sufferers.

A mere 2% drop in body water can trigger fuzzy short-term memory, trouble with basic math, and difficulty focusing on the computer screen or on a printed page.

Drinking 5 glasses of water daily decreases the risk of breast cancer by 79%, and one is 50% less likely to develop bladder cancer.

For more good reading about pure water and how important it is to your body, check out my large collection of water articles.

Chet

Tags: drinking water, pure water

Just a quick note today to say I’m closing down my old Natural Health Circus blog and from this point on will be doing all blogging here at the Aging Boomers hangout.

This isn’t a particularly big deal, I guess, since that blog never did capture much of an audience — which was my fault because I didn’t put enough time and energy into it.

Before shutting up, I should add that there are more than 350 natural health tips and recipes on the old Natural Health Circus that are worth looking at if you find yourself with time on your hands and nothing better to do.

Chet

Tags: natural health circus

I’ve been meaning to post this video link for quite a while, but repeated aging boomer brain farts somehow interrupted the synaptic connections that allowed me to complete the task.

Enough with the excuses.

If, like me, you are continuously held captive by the music of Leonard Cohen, then you are in for a real treat when you listen to Over the Rhine’s moving and powerful interpretation of Hallelujah:

If you don’t have goosebumps after listening to what you just watched, your blood circulation is in serious trouble.

In fact, you may well be dead!

Learn more about Over the Rhine on their website and in the interesting entry at Wikipedia.

Tags: Hallelujah, Leonard Cohen, Over the Rhine

I have an interesting meditation for you today that also effectively relieves stress. I based this meditation on a point made by Richard Albert, also known as Ram Dass, who wrote…

The quieter you become, the more you can hear.

Ram Dass’s insight works great as a stress reducer.

How so?

Keep reading.

Take a long, slow deep breath, hold for a second, and then exhale slowly. Repeat several times until you feel your consciousness shift into the quiet moment.

Now listen. Become aware of the multitude of sounds in your life in this moment.

Focus on one sound and let it reverberate through you.

And for the final step, let go of that one sound and now listen only to the deep silence that is your true nature.

Ah, peace and bliss.

The sound of silence.

And where there’s silence, there is no stress.

If you like this meditation, you’ll love my meditation newsletter.

Tags: Stress tip