We are sick.
We are disconnected.
We are stressed, burned out, anxious, addicted and tired.
An increasing number of lives seem to feel meaningless.
We are sick.
Mentally, spiritually, physically.
Chronic diseases are on the rise. Diabetes, Auto-immune conditions, Cancer, Obesity, PCOD, Heart Disease, Degenerative Disc Disease - you name it!
Why is this happening?
Think about it - what are the basic building blocks of a healthy life?
We are creatures of the sun. We need sun. We don't get it. We are increasingly spending our days (indeed, our years!) in rooms.
We are innately wired to move - wander about - run, climb, throw things, move things, swim - when we were children, this is all we wanted to do - move - In adulthood though, we strap ourselves with fitness trackers and make a chore of it.
A 5 year old could probably tell you that good nutrition is a prerequisite - a non-negotiable prerequisite for health - that we need to nourish ourselves with fresh, nutritious and uncontaminated food if we want our bodies to function at their best.
And yet, we've created a culture where we passionately defend our right to poison ourselves with all sorts of pseudo-foods and poisons - a culture where eating stale, addictive, lifeless, lab-created, sugar-laden trash is considered acceptable. A culture where purveyors of carbonated, caffeinated sugar water are trillionaires and hundreds of thousands of farmers commit suicide.
A world where we produce enough food for 1.25 times our population and yet, we let hundreds of millions of our own starve!
We are sick.
We are literally watching our home burn in front of our very eyes.
The soil that nourishes us is dying. The forests that help us breathe are shrinking. The oceans that are the basis of life on this planet are becoming mass graveyards - and somehow, we find it in ourselves, as a collective, to obsess over trivialities and fixate on an endless parade of inanities.
We are sick.
Restless. Agitated. Addicted. Frenetic. Exhausted.
Most of us can't sit down and do nothing for 5 minutes. In a way, we are constantly in a state of panic - we see threats everywhere - we are constantly on the look out for demons that could derail us - but we fail to see that it's the looking for demons that don't exist is what's derailing us.
We've turned to chemicals to help us sleep. To help us feel some measure of quiet. To help us relax.
Think about that for a second - we need external help to fall asleep - one of the few things we come to Earth fully equipped to do, even as an infant.
None of this makes any sense right? How is all this even possible? Aren't we supposed to be the most intelligent and capable of all creatures on earth? How did we manage to set ourselves up so poorly? Why?
We're disconnected.
Disconnected from the basic facts of life. The fact of our mortality. The fact of causality. The simple fact that we exist here as a part of the continuum of life - that we're not islands that can live in isolation.
We're disconnected from ourselves. From the intelligence that makes us human. The innate intelligence that sets us apart, in our minds, from the rest of animal life.
We're disconnected from what we truly want - we're sleepwalking through life in a soporific haze - a dense, thick fog, as it were, over our heads and eyes.
A world of zombies.
But hey, we're not here to make things worse - to bum you out further. God knows we don't need any more of that.
We're here to tell you healing is possible.
It is possible to heal. To not be sick.
To reconnect. To nourish ourselves, our loved ones and our planet back to full health.
We need to wake up and make changes. We need to stop sleepwalking. We need to wake up and feel the cold morning air - which is going to be uncomfortable for those of us who've been curled up in thick warm blankets for too long.
But how though? How do we heal?
By nourishing ourselves better. By rediscovering the joy of movement. By re-connecting with the innate intelligence that makes us human. By luxuriating in the deeply restful embrace of our inner silence.
Nutrition. Movement. Connection. Rest. In a word, Numocore.
That's all it takes.
It's not rocket science.
Everything we need to live full, joyful and healthy lives is already within us.
We just need to stop doing the things we're doing to impede its workings.
Healing is possible.
We need to believe this if we are to rouse ourselves from our deep slumber.
We need to repeat it to ourselves as many times as we need to. Like a mantra.
Numocore.
Nutrition. Movement. Connection. Rest.
We need nourishment in order to thrive. Quality nourishment. Not just nourishment in terms of the food we eat but in the images our eyes behold, the sounds we feed our ears with, the experiences we allow ourselves to experience, the thoughts, feelings and emotions that we feed our minds with.
We need movement.
We are built to move. To dance, to run, to sing, to travel, to climb trees, to scale the mountains and swim the oceans. Life is ceaseless movement - endlessly vibrating, shapeshifting- dancing to its own melody!
We need connection.
We are creatures that crave connection. We all come with a nagging inner voice that simply won't let up on its intense craving to find connection - wholeness. This deep inner longing finds numerous expressions - relationships, spirituality, meaningful work - but the underlying idea is connection - we become pale shadows when we deny ourselves connection with our innermost core.
On another level, we need connection with our surroundings - with the life-making ingredients around us - water, sun, air, soil!
When we lose touch with the soil - i.e. the earth - we become profoundly sick.
And we need rest. Deep rest.
rest isn't just about sleep although we need good sleep as well, in order to be healthy.
it's about going through life restfully. It's about unearthing a deep sense of peace and inner calm and wearing it as an ornament through all the things we do.
It's about developing a mind that works for us - for our well being - and not against us.
A mind that empowers our dreams and desires - not one that compulsively flagellates us with self-criticism, anxiety and fear.
None of this is meant to be hard.
These are just innate functions of life.
When we don't get in the way, they happen by themselves.
Which is not to say that we should do nothing.
Some restructuring and retooling might be in order depending on where we are, to get to the place where we live in alignment with these basic drives of life.
But one thing's for sure. Healing is possible.
Comments