 One of the most interesting and practical aspects of diagnosis in traditional Chinese medicine is this concept of observing or of listening. Now one of my mentors actually said something really wise and I want to share that in today's video and share with you how it can be used to understand health, healing, and the current state of disease in someone's life and in their body. Hey, I'm Alex Hine, author of the book Master of the Day. Now I've included the first link in the description as for a free PDF on five daily rituals that can potentially add 10 years to your life with traditional Chinese medicine. So you can check it out right there, the link in the description. So what one of my mentors recently said to me was that sometimes you're going to have a patient that comes in and there's going to be a lot of story around their illness. It might have been insomnia, it might have been trauma, it might just be digestive problems. And there's this long story for some patients and not such a long story for others. You know, some people come in with abdominal bloating and digestive stuff and they're like, yeah, I just eat the wrong foods or I don't know why I have this. And others go into some long, very far out explanation about like astrology and their birth trauma and the food they eat and like some genetic stuff and Monsanto. And you're like, this is a big difference. You both have the same symptoms, but one has a very elaborate story not to devalue that and one has a very concise story. So what gives? And what he said was the lower the base level of vitality and the worst the patients doing the greater the story. So have you ever bumped into someone at the coffee shop or at a local restaurant and you're like, oh, how's life been Kelly? And she's like, well, let me tell you how life's been. So I got a divorce and then this happened to my gym trainer and then all these things were happening with my kids and my mom and my mother-in-law. My God, this woman is crazy. And it's just like, whoa, that was really over the top. She must not be doing well. It's the same kind of manifestation. The more well rested, the more healthy, the more fulfilled a person is, generally the better they can be at being present and being calm and giving concise answers that are not kind of rambling. So understanding this concept of the base state of vitality is really, really useful. So when our base state of vitality is lower, it makes it harder to concentrate, to sleep, to fight off infection, to be in a good mood, to be in a good state of mind, and positivity versus being a pessimist, all of these things come out of this current state of vitality. You compare it to, let's say you've had five donuts today and six cups of coffee and you were working at a job you hated all day. And then compare that to, you're on vacation for two weeks, no alarm, every day's fun, you're eating healthy, prepared food for you, and you feel so well rested and you're so excited for the day. Compare all the physical changes and the psycho-emotional changes that happen on those two days, the Costa Rica Day versus the Work Hustle Day in New York City. And how you feel, but not just internally. What's your mood? How do you treat people? How well do you sleep? Do you feel positive and inspired regarding your future? All those things come out of this base state of higher vitality versus lower vitality. And so this video is really just kind of a brief observational lesson. When someone is having this long story, so to speak, maybe they're really just not doing so well medically or in other parts of their life. And maybe what they need is not to go to a shrink or a therapist or maybe they do, but maybe what they need is those aspects of health that result in rest, in relaxation, in better diet, and the things that really help someone feel good in terms of the state of the spirit every single day. So I hope this lesson helps you that the lower the state of vitality, the longer the story. And maybe it can help you in terms of healing yourself or recognizing this in somebody else. Now, of course, you can grab the free link below. The first link is for that free PDF, five daily rituals that can possibly add 10 years to your life for traditional Chinese medicine. And then check out my last related videos on the topic right there and there.