Richard Pierce

Richard Pierce – author, poet, painter

Life

Day 103

I had my first Five Elements acupuncture treatment in about three years yesterday. Meeting a new practitioner for the first time is always a bit nerve-wracking, especially because 5E acupuncture involves almost talking therapy, so this was a very intense experience. Put simply, 5E looks at the causes of an illness rather than just the symptoms, so there was a lot of talking before the needles went in. I did get quite emotional in places, talking about the past, my childhood, recent events, and that’s really good. It’s always someone out of the circle who brings out things we possibly don’t even think of talking about with those who share our lives. And at the end of a 5E treatment there are some needles which go in for a second or so only – tonic needles I think they are called – and which create additional energy for you to carry away with you. My needles yesterday were small fire, because my energy is really low. The secret is to not use up all that energy at once, which I’m not very good at. I hardly slept all night because I felt so hot and my mind was racing. I just hope I haven’t used up all the small fire already.

On the way home, I was thinking about what I’d written in the morning, and, oddly enough (and appropriately enough), one of the comments on my instagram about those thoughts reflects in part what I was thinking – that happiness may well be acceptance of our current state of being. And that this doesn’t mean accepting injustices and discomfort and pain, but accepting that there are some things about our immediate lives that we can’t change, that we have no influence on. Such as raging at people driving too quickly, raging at dog shit on pavements, raging at anything trivial – it’s all such a waste of energy, and only makes us feel worse about ourselves rather than actually changing anything about our lives or other people’s lives. Acceptance doesn’t mean complacency either; it still gives us the room to protest for justice, to strive to help people in need, to look at the bigger picture and to ask ourselves how we can practically contribute towards changing the world. That’s not striving for more without knowing what more is; that’s just being good.

Life intervenes. It’s a couple of hours since I wrote the above. Maybe contentedness is the best word, however maligned it is.

I started this at just after 8. It is now 6 hours later. As I said, life intervenes.

 

AGGIE’S ART OF HAPPINESS – CHAPTER 60

 

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2 Comments

  1. Ren Powell

    13th April 2022 at 20:11

    Sending hope for little fires. We seem to be in the same place again. So happy you’re writing. It means a lot to me.

    1. Richard Pierce

      14th April 2022 at 07:22

      Thank you. Perhaps you should search out some small fires. I’m happy you’re happy I’m writing 🙂 <3

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