Welcome to a new way of looking at the seasons!
Everyone has to adapt to the weather every single day. Choosing what you wear and what ou eat are based on the weather. It comes down to what every baby knows.
If you’re too hot, find a way to cool off. If you’re too cold, find a way to warm up.
Everyone is born with a preference of what kind of temperature they like best for a bath. Some like it really hot, even as babies. Some babies like their bath water uncomfortably cold for the mother, but even newborns let their preference be known. Loudly.
That preference for liking the heat or the cold doesn’t change. Its part of who you are, like your eye color. The same is true for how busy or calm you like your life to be. Some like their lives very busy, spontaneous and competitive. Others prefer the quieter, routine pleasures of a simple life. Its not right or wrong, its just a preference…just like your bathwater.
If you are living a life within your natural comfort zone, you feel happy and content. Your body, mind and spirit are getting everything they need from your life to be healthy in every way. When life causes stress of any kind, symptoms happen. Symptoms are clues to what needs to be fixed in your life.
When your body, mind and/or spirit are too hot or too busy, you develop symptoms that include high blood pressure, dehydration and migraine headaches. These are called hot disease symptoms in Asian Medicine. You need to calm part of your life. When you’re too calm, symptoms include low blood pressure, water retention and pneumonia. These are cold disease symptoms. You need to motivate part of your life into movement.
Side effects from medications or treatments, like chemo, are symptoms that your body can use a bit more help. If the symptoms are making your body feel stressed, like chemo, help your body calm down. If the symptoms are making you feel sluggish or depressed, help your body, mind and/or spirit get moving again.
All it takes is a few tweaks here and there to get back to your natural comfort zone. Nothing special to buy. All of my food suggestions can be found in grocery stores in northern Vermont. The trick is choosing wisely from what’s normal for you.
There are five kinds of normal. Each is dominated by one your Common Senses of Touch, Sight, Taste, Smell and Hearing. Each of the five categories include personality traits that you are born with. Each of the categories include symptoms that happen when your life is using that Common Sense too much.
Every symptom is a clue to what is too much for your body to handle. Knowing which category of symptoms you have is the first step in getting back to normal. Each category has it’s own set of remedies, too.
Remedies aren’t always about what you eat or drink. There is more to life than food. Activities, hobbies, your social life, clothing choices, even your choice of air freshener all make a difference.
You can, and should, use all five of your Common Senses to either warm up or calm down. Each of the five are responsible for 20% of your health. Thats why everyone has some of the traits in all five categories. If you are having a symptom in a particular category, use remedies in that category until the symptom is gone.
Once you are well, stay well! Change your focus back to lifestyle choices in your natural comfort zone. Not too hot, not too cold…just right keeps you happy in body, mind and spirit.
Knowing what is normal for you is important. Look at the descriptions of all five at the end of this introduction. The personality traits are a big clue. You will recognize yourself in one of them. Symptoms come and go, but your personality is who you really are.
Most people are a blend of all five Common Senses. You need all five categories to be healthy. It’s your built-in lifestyle balancing system. If you were born a very active person, you were also born with a few calming traits. If you aren’t using the calming traits, your body, mind and spirit begin to feel stressed.
If you were born a quieter person, you were born with some stimulating traits to keep you moving through your life. If you slow down too far, you begin to withdraw from the joy in your life.
This site is a self-care guide for staying your kind of normal throughout the year. Weather effects your body. More sunlight hours, heat and dryness in a day stimulate your body. Less sunlight, cold and dampness calm your body. Adapt your lifestyle accordingly to prevent, or get rid of, symptoms.
Food is usually the culprit for seasonal symptoms. Many chronic symptoms disappear when a type of food is eliminated. Some foods stimulate your body, some calm it down. Not everyone can eat spicy hot food. Not everyone can eat ice cream without getting a brain freeze.
Your body lets you know when you’ve crossed a comfort zone line with a symptom. Like a baby in the wrong bath temperature, symptoms get louder when ignored.
The first step is knowing who you really are. Read the descriptions of the five kinds of normal to see which kind of body you were born with. Then learn more about your dominant Common Sense for detailed seasonal advice. This site is updated every six weeks The eight seasons of changing sunlight and temperature changes effect your body in different ways. You need to adapt your lifestyle accordingly.
Touch is the most motivating of your Common Senses. Called Pitta in Ayurveda, The Element of Fire in Traditional Chinese Medicine. This kind of normal includes being passionate, communicative, charismatic, natural leader, athletic, competitive, physically active, mind is always working, strong digestion, fast metabolism, strong libido.
Symptoms of too much motivation in your life include heart disease, irregular heartbeat, migraine, rash, fever, burning eyes, insomnia, controlling others, anger, nosebleeds and infections.
Sight is the most enthusiastic of your Common Senses. Called Pitta-Vata in Ayurveda, The Element of Wood in Traditional Chinese Medicine. This kind of normal includes being creative, can talk to anyone…of any age, physically active but not aggressive, team player, impulsive, athletic but not competitive, loves puzzles and games, inventive, thinks out of the box, sexually secure, flirtatious, committed to fairness and volunteering to help others, multitasking is easy for them.
Symptoms of too much enthusiasm in your life include jaundice, hot flashes, distractibility, obsessiveness, sexual addiction, substance abuse, migraine, infrequent rashes, fever, burning eyes, insomnia, inability to handle criticism and controlling behavior.
Taste is the most adaptable of your Common Senses. Called Vata in Ayurveda, The Element of Earth in Traditional Chinese Medicine. This kind of normal includes being energetic, intuitive, talkative, team player, compassionate, creative, enjoys helping others, nurturing, adaptable, enchanted by music and dance.
Symptoms of too much adapting in your life include digestion problems, sleep problems, unhappy, but not depressed, sudden fatigue, cravings, twitching, joint pain, weight management, anxiety and unable to finish anything.
Smell is the most alert to change of your Common Senses. Called Vata-Kapha in Ayurveda, The Element of Metal in Traditional Chinese Medicine. This kind of normal includes being methodical, disciplined, gentle, reserved, wry sense of humor, logical to a fault, self-controlled, deep love of nature, appreciates routine and is physically strong.
Symptoms of being too wary of change in your life include being spacey, sighing, judgmental, compulsive, respiratory illness, coughs, dehydration, skin problems that aren’t just a rash, pins and needles feeling in hands or feet, and general unhappiness but not depressed.
Hearing is the most calming of your Common Senses. Called Kapha in Ayurveda, The Element of Water in Traditional Chinese Medicine. This kind of normal includes being peaceful, tolerant, traditional, introspective, watchful, thrifty, philosophical, curious, long memory, lots of stamina, and slow metabolism.
Symptoms of too much calmness in your life include depression, sluggishness, lots of colds and flu, sinus congestion, bronchitis/ pneumonia, water retention, eye problems, eating disorders, skin outbreaks, self-isolation, judgmental
Which are you?
