Not a day passes me by where I don’t think about my life, my spirituality and how to find greater inner peace. Each time I attain a new level of awakening and understanding I think to myself, “Ah, I’m here, I’ve finally made it.” As I sit and rest and look around, I find I’ve only removed part of my blindfold. Being able to see more clearly, I see new opportunities and new clarities.
I can stop if I want. So, as you go on your journey to your own inner peace, remember you can stop at any time. Each step forward brings a more beautiful environment than the previous one. Stopping in a more beautiful place seems o.k. to do.
What is the trinity of heaven-body-earth in Chinese Medicine? The trinity of heaven-body-earth is a Taoism principle and gives guidance on how to interact with the world. It is a roadmap to the city of inner peace. You don’t have to try and figure out how to get to inner peace or what it means. Instead, you can look at the roadmap, determine where you stand on the map and where to make your adjustments in your journey
I focus on the emotional and spiritual aspect of our lives in my practice…how to get to that inner buddha. So, I’m going to talk about a very narrow aspect of this trinity as it relates to our internal chatter and internal emotional environment. And I’m going to share with you some checks you can use on yourself to start identifying more informed choices for yourself.
In Chinese Medicine, the trinity helps define three realms of being a spiritual human. Heaven is your relationship to your identity, the body is your interaction with the world, and earth is your physical body. The three realms mark your existence and are not separate from each other. They are intertwined and happen simultaneously.
Heaven is your identity or the inherent qualities of mind and character. The qualities change through interaction with other people, especially through your childhood interactions.
To get more information on how Chinese Medicine sees this check out my Youtube video “Forgetting What We Were Taught” or “Using Chinese Medicine to Feel Normal Again” or my blog “Changing your life isn’t as mysterious as it sounds.”
The body is your interaction with the world. Your choices to interact in one way or another.
Earth is how your decisions impact your body.
In Chinese Medicine, there is always a yin and yang. You want to be at the point of balance between the two polar opposites. Let’s look at the point of balance for each of the three realms.
For heaven, balance is compassion. You can change your character with compassion. Without compassion, your personal faults are unforgivable. With compassion, anger and greed don’t take over.
For the body, balance is wisdom. Wisdom is the ability to choose a course of action with the best positive impact. With wisdom, grudges don’t rule your activities.
For earth, the point of balance is reason. Reason is the ability to use your mind to think and understand rationally what is happening. To see the situation clearly without resentments.
Each of these three realms happens simultaneously and without any effort on your part. I was at dinner the other night and in a conversation when I noticed my internal dialogue was going off the charts. I realized it happens all the time. I was just quiet enough to hear it that time.
But, we usually are not quiet. So, how can you become more aware of how your realms are doing? Ask yourself some simple questions.
- Heaven asks the question, “Is there any anger? How do I feel when people go against me?”
- The body asks, “Am I content? Do I show favoritism?”
- Earth asks, “How was my conduct and can I change something?”
Finding inner peace is about getting to know yourself in ways you haven’t previously discovered. It is a road that you must walk on your own. You will find guideposts to help you choose your direction. Guideposts are any resource you use to help you navigate through your journey. They can be gurus, practitioners, books, videos, conferences. Guideposts help your journey go faster because you don’t have to reinvent the wheel.
At any time, you can sit down and say, “I’m o.k. with here.”