Oh, hello there! Ok. Welp, see ya later.

[bbdoll]

Hello! Thanks for reading this post. I'm never sure how to introduce myself, so I'll go right into things I do and look at, and relate to. I'm a unique individual and I tend to stay positive. I struggle with anxiety, though, and still haven't found a place to call home, or spiritual home. Taoism is the closest thing I've found, and I look forward to deepening my understanding. My life doesn't align completely with my beliefs so, here I am!!  Help!! Lol... I'm nice and give until I'm exhausted. I eat too much. I work out 5-6 times a week, when my bad back allows me to. I'm a workaholic and I'm not sure my boyfriend and I will last.  I pride myself on strength and strive to be like water. Yielding but persistent. I like dragons, yoga, coffee and I miss having cigarettes with my coffee.  I like to write too. 

Favorite movie, Dumb and Dumber. 

Favorite song, Girl from the North Country.

Favorite band, Cage the Elephant.

 

Oh and here's my face. Go Reds.

[Marblehead]

Hello bbdoll, and welcome.

 

Your membership is approved and we're happy you found your way to us. We look forward to accompanying you on some of the way that you still have to go.

 

Please take the time to read the two posts pinned at the top of this Welcome page and take a look at the forum terms and rules. This covers all you need to know when getting started.

 

For the first week you will be restricted to ten posts per day but after that you can post as much as you like. Also, until you’ve posted fifteen times in the forums, you’ll be a “Junior Bum” with somewhat restricted access and will be allowed only two private messages per day.

 

Good luck in your pursuits and best wishes to you,

 

Marblehead and the TDB team

 

 

Hi bbdoll,

 

Yep.  You are unique, but then, we all are.

 

And yes, seems you have some inner work to do starting with the mind and working until you get down to your toes.

 

Our beliefs are important to us.  They should be equal to who we "really" are, naturally. 

 

You are welcome to jump right in ongoing discussions, revive an older thread, or start a discussion in the "Newcomer Corner" sub-forms to expand on your introduction or ask general questions to help you get started.

 

May you enjoy your time here.

 

Marblehead

[Brian]

<snip>

Yep.  You are unique, but then, we all are.

<snip>

I'm not.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Welcome, bbdoll.

[Michael Sternbach]

I'm not.

 

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QereR0CViMY

 

 

 

Welcome, bbdoll.

 

Sorry to hear that Brian. If it helps, consider that you are the only one who isn't unique.

 

Welcome, bbdoll.

[bbdoll]

Thanks for the welcomes! Is there a place on this forum for recommended reading? Or an online search somewhere to find the nearest meetings, etc?

[Jeff]

Welcome!  On recommended readings, I am sure you will find a widely divergent view with the members here.  Personally, I would suggest the Tao Te Ching and see if it resonates with you.  But, depending on your specific tradition leanings, I am sure that you will find something that fits.

 

No real organized meetings with this group... 

 

Best,

Jeff

[Brian]

Some of us are allergic to groups and organized meetings and such.

Edited March 15, 2016 by Brian

[Songtsan]

I like the Secret of the Golden Flower...

[Wu Ming Jen]

bbdoll, You sound like a Taoist. Secret of the golden flower is a great suggestion as well as the Tao Te Ching for reading.

 

Physical traditions like yoga or Tai Chi Chuan can have benefits for anxiety that's a tough one and can pass in time. maintain hydration, electrolytes rock for anxiety and remember you are always home even in a distant land.

 

let the sky be your roof and the earth be your floor and you will never need walls.

[bbdoll]

Thank you, Songtsan and Wu Ming Jen. What a great quote! I will certainly take that one to heart. As for the anxiety, I do yoga, meditate, etc. But will try more electrolytes as well. Sometimes it comes out of nowhere, crippling my mental state if I'm at work or out and about. Not sure I will ever change that part of me, but learning to reduce my recovery time when the anxiety strikes. Anyway, I am beginning to ramble here. Thanks again.

[Songtsan]

Magnesium has shown some promise for anxiety. Also you can take GABA, L-theanine...

[gendao]

Hello! Thanks for reading this post. I'm never sure how to introduce myself, so I'll go right into things I do and look at, and relate to. I'm a unique individual and I tend to stay positive. I struggle with anxiety, though, and still haven't found a place to call home, or spiritual home. Taoism is the closest thing I've found, and I look forward to deepening my understanding. My life doesn't align completely with my beliefs so, here I am!! Help!! Lol... I'm nice and give until I'm exhausted. I eat too much. I work out 5-6 times a week, when my bad back allows me to. I'm a workaholic and I'm not sure my boyfriend and I will last. I pride myself on strength and strive to be like water. Yielding but persistent. I like dragons, yoga, coffee and I miss having cigarettes with my coffee. I like to write too.

Favorite movie, Dumb and Dumber.

Favorite song, Girl from the North Country.

Favorite band, Cage the Elephant.

 

Oh and here's my face. Go Reds.

Quick drive-by analysis:

 

You may have kidneys (jing life force) blocked by your (cultural/religious/societal/mother/etc?) beliefs and root chakra (home) blockages - and be slowly heading towards adrenal fatigue with the inability of "Shao Yin" fire to descend down into your "kidney water" (“dragon resting in the water”) and steam it up... This can result in feeling fearful, burnt out of energy (thus craving caffeine), bone problems (like misaligned back bones around your lumbar/mingmen/kidneys?), and subconsciously striving for the "water" (kidney element) that you lack/need, etc.

 

Just a shorthand guess here and the full situation likely grows more complicated with the whole rest of your interrelated system involved, but for starters I would likely recommend healing your kidneys/meridians while getting some chiropractic treatments to help realign your back (and xing 性 with ming 命).

 

And there's also some herbs (aside from the obvious serotonin-boosters) you can take for anxiety in the short-term, like holy basil (tulsi) and vetiver essential oil...

 

Well, welcome, good luck, and keep us updated on your progress!

Edited March 18, 2016 by gendao

[Liberius Ultorus]

Youre hot.

[bbdoll]

Quick drive-by analysis:

 

You may have kidneys (jing life force) blocked by your (cultural/religious/societal/mother/etc?) beliefs and root chakra (home) blockages - and be slowly heading towards adrenal fatigue with the inability of "Shao Yin" fire to descend down into your "kidney water" (“dragon resting in the water”) and steam it up... This can result in feeling fearful, burnt out of energy (thus craving caffeine), bone problems (like misaligned back bones around your lumbar/mingmen/kidneys?), and subconsciously striving for the "water" (kidney element) that you lack/need, etc.

 

Just a shorthand guess here and the full situation likely grows more complicated with the whole rest of your interrelated system involved, but for starters I would likely recommend healing your kidneys/meridians while getting some chiropractic treatments to help realign your back (and xing 性 with ming 命).

 

And there's also some herbs (aside from the obvious serotonin-boosters) you can take for anxiety in the short-term, like holy basil (tulsi) and vetiver essential oil...

 

Well, welcome, good luck, and keep us updated on your progress!

[bbdoll]

Gendao, I'm understanding some of that and appreciate the recommendations. Where did you learn about that and where can I get cliff notes? ;p I'll need to learn the basic elements of your approach at healing and go from there.

[gendao]

Gendao, I'm understanding some of that and appreciate the recommendations. Where did you learn about that and where can I get cliff notes? ;p I'll need to learn the basic elements of your approach at healing and go from there.

Well, it was just a quick cold read using TCM and psychoanalysis with subconscious tells. Because I believe most of our problems, and therefore solutions, lie buried within our subconscious.

 

For example, even here - your subconscious made a clever Freudian pun with needing to learn the basic "elements." Well, TCM in fact revolves around all the numerous relationships surrounding the 5 basic elements:

 

And fortunately for you, information on the 5 TCM elements/phases (wuxing) is freely-available all over the internet, so that could be an easy place to start. And then you can take my mere educated guess with a shaker of salt and come up with your own determinations.

 

 

 

Anxiety is an interesting emotion, though. Thinking out loud, it seems like a type of "old" fear. Whereas "standard" fear might be a spontaneous reaction to some unexpected "threat" actually happening in real time...I think anxiety might be the anticipatory fear of something happening - that hasn't actually happened yet? This may often be a conditioned fear of some past trauma repeating itself?

 

So maybe some more people can chime in on this and where exactly "anxiety" specifically falls within the TCM system (as it sometimes vaguely gets slotted into different areas - like spleen, triple warmer, adrenals, kidneys, etc)?

Edited March 25, 2016 by gendao

[Songtsan]

Sometimes anxiety can also just be physiological, with accompanying sensations such as feelings in the chest (probably overactive vagus nerve? not sure though), and although you might start thinking fearful, negative thoughts surrounding the feeling, in actuality they are just associated feelings with negative mind constructs. As in, what came first, the chicken or the egg? Did the physiological correlates begin first and lead to anxious thoughts, or did anxious thoughts lead to the physiological sensations? In my therapy groups, we learned to not focus on what we were thinking, and instead focus on what we were feeling in our energy bodies. Then we start to work on diffusing and relaxing them by noting where the sensations lie, not attaching any meaning to them, and maybe using the breath and awareness of tension and then going for even the slightest relaxation of the nervous tension....