Being healthy is our natural state. When we’re not healthy, it means something has gotten out of balance. In order to keep the body in harmony with that natural state we must align with — wait for it — Nature. That’s not always easy to do considering how modern society has assaulted and insulted the planet. But with only a modicum of effort, we can modulate the damage by adjusting behavior. This Top Ten List is loaded with seemingly simplistic suggestions, in no particular order. When you try them, you’ll see the discipline required.
Drink Water. The planet and our bodies are both about 75 percent H2O so it makes sense to keep it that way. Here’s the rub: most of the liquid we call “water” on this planet isn’t water. It’s a slurry of drugs, pesticides, chemicals, toxins and anthropogenic waste. We pollute the planet’s water supply so intensely that Nature’s own purification system can’t keep up. So we’re left with unsuitable water with which to drink, cook and bathe. And no, treatment plants do not remove the kind of stuff we’re trying to avoid. But drink we must. And substitutes like milk, coffee, poisonous sodas (diet and sugared), juices or such don’t cut it. We need water. In order to get clean water, the minimum would be a reverse osmosis system for drinking water at your kitchen tap and it’s easier than you think. Futuramic Systems in Omaha will provide an RO system for as little as $19 monthly and it’s great for even apartment living. Then you can fill up a carry bottle when you leave the house and stop buying that expensive bottled crap. Drink!
Drive past the drive thru. No excuses. None. Don’t do it, period. ‘Nuff said.
“Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” Subtitle to a Michael Pollan book says it all. Eat real food, not processed. My rule of thumb: If it doesn’t come in its own skin, don’t buy it. Cardboard, plastic wrap, cans, boxes are the first sign of “This is not food. It’s food-ish.” Not too much: A fact is the less we eat while keeping nourished, the longer we live. Go for nutrient-dense and calorie thin. Mostly plants? Treat meat as a garnish served occasionally. (This just in: fast for five days a month and improve health. (1)
Move. Don’t be a barnacle. The sessile won’t survive. Get up and move. Over and over.
Breathe. Sounds simple, eh? You’d be surprised. Take a good yoga class from a good yoga teacher. And yes, yoga is linked to Hinduism. That’s a good thing.
De-stress. This may be the number one worldly thing to do for continued health. And since all stress originates in the mind, that’s where to place the solution. Learn a valid meditation technique to put the mind in its natural state: abstraction. As Wordsworth wrote, “The world is too much with us, late and soon, Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers;”. The only way out of that trap is to devote time to withdrawing the mind from worldly thoughts and after all, it’s the world we blame for our troubles. Stress kills. Dump it.
Avoid hospitals. The place where most people die. It’s telling that during the second-worst economic crash in our nation’s history, the industry that kept building, had booming business, expanded its workforce was hospitals. Examine every option before succumbing to what has become a societal norm. Elective surgery? Whew! Taking your life in your hands. Maybe physical therapy or losing a few pounds or even acupuncture might be better than that knee replacement, eh? In 2000, Heartland Healing reported on an Institute of Medicine report that 98,000 Americans die from medical errors in hospital each year. We also reported on a deeper study called Death by Medicine that put the number closer to 800,000 across the board. Now the establishment itself admits the number may be around 450,000 yearly. These are people who are killed by preventable medical mistakes, not disease or injury. Avoid hospitals whenever possible. Tip: Find the Oscar-winning movie The Hospital. Paddy Chayefsky’s screenplay pointed the problem out as long ago as 1970. It’s on Amazon Prime.
Stay out of supermarkets. Aisles filled mostly with poisons and chemicals should naturally be a place to shun. If you stay in the produce department, you stand a chance of getting out without severe damage to your health. Venture into the maelstrom of the middle aisles and you’re on your own.
Don’t do drugs. We’re not touting teetotaling. The drugs to stay off of are prescription drugs. Prescription drugs in the United States kill far more people than heroin, cocaine, crack and meth combined. Even if they don’t kill you, good chance they maim or make you sicker according to the disclaimers on the TV ads. And by the way, most people have forgotten that America is one of only two countries in the entire world that allow advertising drugs direct to consumer. Drugging you up is big business for Big Pharma and the docs who take the perks from the drug companies. Wise up. Just say, “No.”
Love. Most people believe there are different kinds of love. Nope. Only one, expressed in different ways. As so many quote: Love casts out fear. Living a life of love is the healthiest life to live.
Be well.
Heartland Healing is a metaphysically based polemic describing alternatives to conventional methods of healing the body, mind and planet. It is provided as information and entertainment, certainly not medical advice. Important to remember and pass on to others: for a weekly dose of Heartland Healing, visit HeartlandHealing.com.