Walking down our calm neighborhood street with our oldest dog, Rocky. It’s a beautiful February day, eighty degrees and it’s not even noon, the sun is shining and all around us birds are joyful. Some years winter seems to vanish within only a few weeks. That’s one of my favorite things about living in Texas.
I’m not sure I could ever live anywhere colder. My relationship with the cold is funny. I avoid it as much as possible but I am still cool even when other people are hot. I’ve been this way as long as I can remember.
Anything below about seventy-six degrees will have me searching for a sweater. If there is a breeze or moving air things need to be much warmer or I will put on a jacket. The sensation of air tickling across my skin gives me indescribable discomfort, especially on my arms, unless the air is hot.
I love long, quiet, walks. Hikes through nature or along a river are my favorite. Walking meditation, in the present moment, listening to the water and smelling the plants. Escaping into nature, free from the world of words and clocks, allowing everything else to melt away.
Even in Texas, I spend too much of my winter cooped up indoors. When the first hints of spring come, I find myself itching to go outside. Being away from nature and fresh air makes me uneasy. It would undoubtedly be much worse if I lived somewhere with a more intense climate.
Eventually, I could easily see myself retired cruising around the country in an RV or a tiny house on wheels, working remotely and traveling throughout the country, free to go with the seasons.
Dreams of migrating, moving north as things heat up and back south when they cool arise like smoke around the edges of my mind. I want to flow with the changes of the earth.
The way we live is out of tune with nature. Everything is artificial, fluorescent lights, recirculated air, and genetically modified foods. What happened to the sun, a fresh breeze and food made the old fashioned way.
Is anything real these days? Does anybody care?
Our ancestors used up physical energy harvesting foods and hunting, they earned every calorie they took in. Nothing was handed to them on a plate and everything was fresh. They ate real, organic, whole foods, exercised constantly and spent most of their time outdoors.
Fast forward and look around. People are unhealthy, people are getting sick, and people are dying. Cancer, heart disease, diabetes, chronic health problems that were almost unheard of even a few hundred years ago.
Pollution in our air, toxins in our homes, and chemicals in our cosmetics. Poison has become an acceptable part of our culture – it’s everywhere. We wash our hair with it and rub it all over our lips and skin, we live with it, we eat it, we breathe it, and we don’t question it.
Is this safe? How much poison is too much? Can you combine these two poisons?
There is a more relevant question that we aren’t asking often enough – should we be using poisons at all?
Our bodies can only give back what we put into them. You are what you eat. Garbage in garbage out. Why are we surprised that millions of Americans will be diagnosed with and/or die from diet and nutrition related illnesses this year?
This unfortunate truth does not shock or surprise me. However, I am greatly saddened by the fact that so many people are sick and suffering needlessly.
Did you know many of our most common health problems are preventable and/or reversible?
Food has amazing powers if we learn how to lock them. The wrong foods can kill you but the right foods can cure and heal your body. Feed your body the fuel it needs, gives your machine what it needs to work efficiently.
Nature gives us these amazing gifts. There are diets, herbs, and plants for help with almost every medical condition. Our not too distant ancestors knew this. It was not so long ago when people went back to the earth for healing.
It’s time we think about getting back to nature. Listen to your tired, worn, and ragged body. How much begging does it have to do?