Photo by Robert Lukeman on Unsplash
“There is a faith in loving fiercely
the one who is rightfully yours,
especially if you have
waited years and especially
if part of you never believed
you could deserve this
loved and beckoning hand
held out to you this way.”
~~ David Whyte
Greetings to all my precious people!!
We have crossed the threshold into December. The darkest month of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. We are in deep Water season now—the element of winter in Chinese Medicine, the time of maximum yin, when all of nature turns inward to rest in the fertile darkness.
This is the season of incubation. Of seeds held in the dark soil. Of potential waiting beneath the frozen ground. Of wisdom so deep and ancient that it needs the quiet of winter to be heard.
November asked us to clear the way—to release what had completed, to make space for what wants to emerge. We practiced homecoming: returning to ourselves by letting go of physical clutter, emotional weight, mental noise, and the stories that no longer fit who we are becoming.
Now, in December, we remember.
Not in the nostalgic sense—not looking backward with longing or regret. But re-membering in the deepest sense: putting ourselves back together. Reclaiming the parts of ourselves we forgot. Recognizing the wisdom that was never actually lost—only buried beneath years of conditioning, trauma, and the relentless noise of a culture that profits from our forgetting.
The Magic You’ve Carried All Along
Do you remember the moment in The Wizard of Oz when Glinda tells Dorothy that she’s always had the power to go home? That the ruby slippers, the magic she’d been seeking from the wizard, the power she thought she needed someone else to give her, had been on her feet the entire journey?
Dorothy is stunned. Angry, even. “Why didn’t you tell me?” she demands.
And Glinda replies with the wisdom of all true teachers: “Because you wouldn’t have believed me. You had to learn it for yourself.”
This is the work of midlife.
Not acquiring new wisdom. Not becoming someone you’re not. But remembering who you’ve always been beneath the roles, the expectations, the performance of “goodness” that exhausted you for decades.
You are not broken and in need of fixing.
You do not need a wizard to give you something you lack.
The magic—the wisdom, the power, the knowing—has been yours all along.
You just forgot. We all did. Because we were taught to forget.
What Science Tells Us About Encoded Wisdom
Dr. Lisa Miller, clinical psychologist and director of the Spirituality Mind Body Institute at Columbia University, has spent decades studying what she calls “the awakened brain.” Her research reveals something the ancient wisdom traditions have always known: we are universally equipped with a capacity for spirituality, and our brains become more resilient and robust as a result of it.
This isn’t metaphor. This is neuroscience.
Miller’s work shows that an engaged spiritual life—however you define that for yourself—provides insulation against depression, addiction, and trauma while enhancing grit, optimism, and resilience. She writes: “Loss, uncertainty, and even trauma are the gateways by which we are invited to move beyond merely coping with hardship to transcend into a life of renewal, healing, joy, and fulfillment.”
The struggles you’ve faced haven’t broken you. They’ve been preparing you to remember.
And there’s more: your DNA itself carries information. Not just genetic code, but the memory of every ancestor who survived long enough to pass on their wisdom. You are the living continuation of millions of years of adaptation, evolution, and survival against impossible odds.
You are literally made of stardust—this is not poetry, it’s astrophysics. The carbon in your cells, the iron in your blood, the calcium in your bones were all forged in the hearts of dying stars billions of years ago. When those stars exploded, they scattered their elements across the universe. And somehow, impossibly, those elements came together to form you.
You are the universe experiencing itself.
You are encoded with ancient wisdom that predates your birth.
You carry magic you forgot you knew.
In Daoist Philosophy: The Three Treasures
In the tradition I practice and teach—Classical Chinese Medicine rooted in Daoist philosophy—we speak of the Three Treasures:
Jing (Essence) – Your constitutional vitality, inherited at birth
Qi (Life Force) – The dynamic energy that moves through you
Shen (Spirit) – The light of consciousness that animates you
Shen is the treasure most relevant to this work of remembering. It is your spirit, your awareness, the “you” that witnesses your life unfolding. When Shen is strong and coherent, you feel clear, purposeful, alive, connected to something larger than yourself.
When Shen is scattered or weak—fragmented by trauma, depleted by decades of overgiving, dimmed by forgetting who you are—you feel lost. Numb. Going through the motions. Watching your life from outside yourself.
Midlife is when your Shen demands to be tended again.
Not for others. Not to be more productive. Not to prove your worth.
But to remember. To come home to yourself. To reignite the light that’s been flickering in the darkness, waiting for you to notice.
This Week’s Contemplation: Cellular Remembering
This is not a quick practice to check off your list. This is a ritual of return—a way of honoring the wisdom encoded in your very cells.
What you’ll need:
- A quiet space where you won’t be interrupted
- A candle (optional but recommended—fire calls to fire, light to light)
- 10-15 minutes of uninterrupted time
The Practice:
Create sacred space. Light your candle if you’re using one.
Sit or lie down in a position that allows you to be both alert and relaxed.
Place both hands on your heart center. Feel the warmth. Feel the pulse.
This is stardust, beating.
Begin with the breath.
Breathe slowly, naturally. Inhale through your nose, exhale through your mouth. Let yourself settle. Invite any scattered parts of yourself to return.
You are gathering yourself home.
Speak the invocation (aloud or internally):
My cells remember.
My bones remember.
My blood remembers.
I am made of stars.
I carry ancient wisdom.
I am encoded with knowing.
I have always had the magic.”
Rest in this knowing. Don’t try to feel anything specific. Don’t analyze or judge. Simply rest in the truth of these words. Let your body—which is wiser than your mind—receive them. Stay here for as long as feels right. Five minutes. Ten. Longer if you wish.
Notice what arises. Sometimes it’s emotion – tears of grief or relief. Sometimes it’s physical sensation – warmth, tingling, softening. Sometimes it’s a deep knowing that has no words. All of it is valid. All of it is your body remembering.
Close with gratitude. Thank your body for carrying you. Thank your ancestors for surviving. Thank the stars for creating you.
Blow out your candle with a whisper: “I remember.”
Journal afterward if you feel called. What did you notice? What did your body remember? What wisdom is trying to surface?
Re-Membering Is Not a Solo Journey
David Whyte reminds us in “The Truelove” that we often doubt what we deserve, especially love, especially our own power, especially the magic we carry. We limit ourselves with beliefs about what we’re worthy of receiving.
But here’s what I know after 19 years of clinical practice and decades of my own journey through the passages of life:
You deserve to remember who you are.
You deserve to come home to yourself.
You deserve to reclaim the wisdom that was never actually lost.
And sometimes, to do this deep work of re-membering, we need a guide. Not someone to fix us or rescue us or give us something we lack.
But someone to witness. To hold space. To remind us we’ve had the magic all along. To walk beside us as we click our heels and say: “There’s no place like home.”
This is what I do. Not just with acupuncture needles in my clinical practice, but through the deeper work I call the C.O.A.C.H. Method—a framework for the journey of Curiosity, Optimism, Awareness, Courage, and Hope + Healing that midlife demands.
I don’t fix you. I midwife your emergence. I help you remember what you forgot. I witness what’s already there.
December is a powerful time for this work. Water season. The Snake Year’s energy of shedding and transformation. The completion of Year 9 before new cycles begin. This is sacred timing.
If you feel called to this work of remembering – if something in you recognizes this as your moment – I’m here. I have a few spots available for 1:1 intensive work beginning in late December or January. We can talk about what that might look like. No pressure. Just an invitation to explore.
But for now, for this week, simply practice cellular remembering. Let your body teach you what your mind has forgotten.
You’ve always had the power.
You just had to learn it for yourself.
P.S. Next Friday, we continue the arc of REMEMBERING by exploring soul fire—the light of consciousness (Shen) that makes you uniquely YOU. We’ll talk about what it means to tend that flame, especially for women in midlife who’ve been banking their fire for everyone else.
“I encourage you to remember that you are, indeed, as the stars.
You glow with the same intensity.
The answers that you seek outside of yourself
may very well be found within the cosmic intelligence inside you.
Go ahead; show the world what you are made of …
Sparkle, shine, light the way,
and brightly blaze as you are meant to do …”
~~ Mishi McCoy
