In the year 2007, a total of six people in my life died. Beyond people living in war torn countries, who knows anyone for whom six loved ones departed this good green Earth in a typical year? It was intense. I realized as I walking my dog yesterday that there are few to whom I’ve talked about that experience. Three of my loved ones died from brain tumors from various cancers. Two more were utterly freak accidents. The final passing was from complications of diabetes.  My kind and compassionate business partners and close friends knew; but it became almost embarrassing. It was like: “Another one? Really? Your poor family!” I caught myself wondering if those that knew would think I was making things up like some sort of whacko attention-getting ploy.  I grew to loathe the phone ringing because all too often I would hang up with a sinking, shock-like feeling realizing, while whirling, that I still had to keep it together to move through life. Ironically, 2007 was also the year I plunged into co-ownership of Balance Restored Center for Integrative Medicine in Mill Valley, which is the site for my acupuncture practice and which I love. When it rains it pours it seems.

We are in the final few months of the Chinese Horoscope’s Metal Tiger year. As an acupuncturist in Mill Valley, the flow of energy and Qi is a pivotal focus in my life both personally and professionally. This year of the Metal Tiger held the portent of upheaval and of grand scale, sometimes-painful change. However within that forecast of some chaos, the big cat’s term held the seed of passage, which healed and expanded heretofore unresolved issues. Such instances reflect the discerning logic of the Element of Metal within the athletic boundings of the Tiger.