If I’m Not Helping, Do I Still Have Worth?
Unraveling the Trauma of Constantly Needing to Be Useful. Most of my life, I’ve felt as though I had to earn my place in the world. Not in any grand manner. Just in that subtle, tiring way that says, Be helpful. Be of use. Avoid occupying space. Don’t make it about you. I discovered early […]
Could Your Overeating Be a Way to Soothe Childhood Pain?
If you’ve battled overeating—or food in general—you’ve likely chastised yourself more often than you can count. Perhaps you’ve referred to yourself as undisciplined, weak, out of control.Maybe you’ve attempted to remedy it with calorie counting, meal plans, and diets… or shame.Perhaps none of it has had long-term effectiveness. There’s a reason for that. For many, […]
What Is Qi in Daoist Healing?
A Living Force That Connects, Animates, and Moves Through Everything When things are functioning well, you get into a sort of flow. You’re present, clear, and motivated. You’re not “trying” to do anything — you’re just doing it. Movement comes naturally. Ideas are flowing. Breath is simple. You’re in sync with yourself and the surrounding […]
Losing Touch with Your Inner World: The Silent Impact of Relational Trauma
Growing up with childhood complex trauma can be particularly unsettling as it’s so simple to lose connection with your inner world and not even recognize that it happened. You may spend years feeling unclear about what you want, or feeling engulfed in haziness or numbness. You might struggle to identify your feelings, trust your instincts, […]
What Blood Means in Daoist and Chinese Medicine
A Vital Substance That Nourishes More Than Just the Body When your body’s well-nourished, you experience a unique type of fullness. A fullness rooted not only on food, but on life itself. A feeling of being at ease with your body. Clear in your head. Emotionally grounded. Present. In Daoist and Chinese medicine, this grounded, […]
Maybe Depression Isn’t a Disease — It’s the Weight of What You Survived
Living with the aftershocks of childhood complex trauma (CCT) makes it simple to believe you’re depressed. You feel trapped. Unmotivated. Heavy. Sometimes hopeless. When you consider the usual lists of “depression symptoms,” they seem painfully familiar: One is tempted to accept the narrative we’ve all been told: that these symptoms indicate a chemical imbalance. That […]
How Daoist Medicine Identifies Patterns of Illness
Symptoms are only the surface. The actual narrative is deeper. Imagine two people entering a clinic, both reporting headaches. “It’s worse when I’m cold,” claims the first, “It feels like a tight band pinching my head.” The other says, “It feels like pounding heat behind my eyes, worse when I’m irritated or agitated. An identical […]
Bridging Two Worlds: How Daoist Healing Complements Trauma Theory
When I started working on this project, I didn’t realize I’d be establishing a bridge between two very distinct systems of thought. I believed I was only organizing what I had acquired—what had benefited me, what I’d observed that seemed to benefit others. But at some point it became obvious:This is not only a trauma […]
What Causes Disease? A Daoist Perspective
It’s not random. And you’re not to blame. We’re taught to view disease like bad weather—something that simply appears and spoils the day. You’re okay one minute. The next, you have a headache. Your digestion could suffer. Or perhaps you’re unexpectedly worn out, anxious, hurting, breathless, whatever. What about the explanation? “It just happens.”“Genetics explains […]
When Being Yourself Wasn’t Safe: How Relational Trauma Teaches Self-Rejection
One of the most agonizing and ignored effects of childhood complex trauma is the quiet, insidious way it teaches you to reject your identity, to reject who you are. Not by violence or explosive outbursts but by little, consistent messages that who you are is somehow wrong. Overly sensitive. Overly emotional. Overly needy. Excessive. Or […]