When this disfunction, sometimes called disharmony, becomes to much to bear people find me.  However since an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, and since any day can can turn into an emotional marathon,  it is wise to have at-home techniques up your sleeve.

Breathing exercises, light exercise or walking can help break the stagnation in the body caused by traffic, stress, disappointment or emotional shock.  But sometimes your Mind will just insist on eating you alive and then what.

Start a Gratitude practice: start small maybe 15 minutes a day. You can do it anywhere but if you can do it while taking a walk great!  Take control of where you focus your attention and willfully focus on the people and things for which you are GRATEFUL. If you can’t think of anything consider the eyes that you are using to read this and think of the beautiful things they allow you to behold.

As you recall the beauty of a sunset,  a mountain view, the face of a loved one, even a loved one no longer with you, you can be grateful for those moments in time and that you have the mental capacity to recall and celebrate them.

As you continue to reflect get smaller and closer to home – gratitude for the fuchsia colored flowers that grow in the garden  brightening the landscape.

Give thanks for that musician who wrote that song; you know the one that makes you want to do cartwheels every time you hear it.

And think of the people, mother, brother, or friend, who always knows the right thing to say.  Remember the times you were funny or clever enough to get out of trouble and be thankful for your good qualities. Be grateful for pizza and fireflies and warm summer nights with a slight breeze.

When your Mind tries to drag you back down your miserable list of woes and wrong-doings.  And it will. Take a stand.  Even in the midst of your despair you can make a choice – You Can Choose Joy! 

Because when you choose to focus on gratitude even when you have every good reason to be miserable – it is a soul affirming powerful intent.  That powerful choice is epic because Gratitude is the Gateway to Joy.

Try it.  Once you have a handle on a Gratitude Practice push the envelope – Choose Joy.

Choose Joy? How?   Say it out loud right now,  “I choose Joy” notice if it is difficult to say.  Then say it again.

Watch if it comes easier – something deep within you will respond to your honest intent.  Say it a few more times and see if it begins to sound a little defiant, nobel, or courageous.  Say it and pay close attention to  what happens in your chest when you do.

Sincerely focusing on the people, events,or things for which you are grateful opens and expands the energy around the heart.  Activity choosing Joy lifts your heart and fills it with Spirit or some would say Grace.

Gratitude is an emotion it has a basis in reality but Joy like Courage exists at times and places when it should not logically be present.  Joy connects you to Grace and to your Highest Self.

You can feel it . . .and this movement of Qi and Spirit in your chest.  We all can.   When you feel this you very well may cry.  But tears of Gratitude and Joy are the most healing type of water.

If you are moved to tears when practicing gratitude to not analysis or judge them just remember the old saying, “April showers bring May flowers”

There simply is no good way to “fake” an acupuncture treatment.  And even if sham acupuncture could be devised it would be impossible for the person administering the treatment to be “blind” to the knowledge of whether they were giving real acupuncture or sham acupuncture.

However the tide is turning and different ways of approaching the need to scientifically prove the effectiveness of acupuncture are being found.  In a Georgetown University study, neuropeptide y ( NPY) a protein associated with stress,  was measured before and after acupuncture treatment and an immediate and long lasting reduction in the protein was measured.

The study is significant because once duplicated acupuncture will be “scientifically” proven as a treatment for stress.  Since stress is a recognized precursor for so many more serious ailments there is hope that this scientific finding will open the door for a wider acceptance and use of this valuable therapy.

In the meantime, the US Military after performing it’s own vigorous studies has recognized publicly the value of acupuncture and  introduced the therapy into both Veteran’s Hospitals and combat settings.

About ten years ago, “Ba Humbug!!” lost steam as an argument against alternative traditional medicine when statistics showed that people were spending billions of dollars for this kind of care. Now, Western medicine has begun to admit that there are things they don’t treat well, such as chronic pain, chronic diseases and disease prevention.

For some M.D.’s pharmaceutical grade supplements became the way to address these areas of shortcoming, however, the docs and others who recommend supplements still use a western approach. They still treat symptoms, not the root cause, and they still use a one size fits all approach. The result is people often take fists-full of expensive supplements with mediocre results.

A custom herbal formula is a customized supplement designed to treat both the symptoms and the root. It is designed specifically for the individual, and because of this, people should expect to feel an improvement within a week. One formula to treat your personal laundry list of issues.

Chinese herbs are safe, effective and have no side-effects.

Western doctors who warn against Chinese herbs do so because they do not understand how a medical system based on sticks and twigs, and roots and berries can work so well without side effects.