OAP: What have you been doing that has kept you calm and happy?
Beth: Going outside! I have a little creek a 10-15 minute walk from my house and I try to go there almost every day to sit by the water. I also get up into the parks in the hills at least a couple times a week to walk through the trees and ground in the dirt. It really changes my mood. And I have a garden that I have been helping to tend. Instead of checking on my patients I do the rounds in the garden and make sure the peas, beets, tomatoes, peppers, lettuce, and everyone else is happy. But not the slugs – I don’t particularly want them to be happy. I also do qigong every day, meditate, and listen to dharma talks on the regular. And I dance! With myself. Or my roommates, or online with others (it’s better than you’d think).
OAP: Do you have any good shows or movies that you have been watching?
Beth: I have not been able to watch tv during this time. Every time I think I’ll watch a show my mind rebels. I guess I have more of the attention span of TikTok videos.
OAP: Have you cooked anything tasty lately?
Beth: I love to cook and I’ve been cooking so much because I have lots of time. I have a cookbook called Six Seasons: A New Way With Vegetables and I’ve been making a lot of his recipes like this carrot salad and this celery salad. It’s fun to figure out which ingredients to substitute based on what I actually have, because there is no way I’m “running to the store” right now. Also, my roommates and I have been eating a lot of lentils and green salads. And tomorrow I’m making pork meatballs. Yum!! I could talk about food for a long time, but I will stop there.
OAP: What do you miss about doing acupuncture in the clinic?
Beth: Everything!! I really miss seeing all of the patients. And I miss the feeling of walking through the clinic and seeing a room full of resting, healing people. There is a special energy in a room full of people getting acupuncture together – a gathering of calm, healing, and gratitude that envelopes all of us. I also miss having a very tangible and direct way to help people.