The Stuff of Which We are Made

My Granny used to say, "If you have your health, you have everything." As a youngster, I thought that was just absurd. I certainly did not have everything...not everything I wanted and thought I desperately needed. I didn't have the latest Beatle album. I didn't have the dress I had been admiring for two months in the McRae's showroom. I didn't have my own backyard swimming pool. I had quite a list.

As the years passed and I matured, her saying took on more meaning little by little. Of course, I was also able to start applying it philosophically. And then one bright, sunshiny adult morning I woke in a very dark place with extreme full body symptoms of discomfort, dis-ease, what I've come to understand as inflammation, brought on by poor choices, poor nutrition, self-imposed stress and ignorance. I knew enough to know that I was in trouble and that it hadn't happened overnight. Aching joints, little energy, blinding headaches, stomach issues, dizziness, and a pretty severe state of depression.

As I lay there that bright, sunshiny morning, (and I only know it was sunshiny because the light through the bedroom curtain hurt my eyes)...as I lay there crying, hurting, and confused, I was too tired to do little more than whisper a prayer for help. Two things happened at that point. 1 - I understood why people took their lives. It wasn't that they

wanted to die. They just wanted to stop the pain. and 2) my grandmother was right. "If you have your health, you have everything." Of course the unspoken flip side was, "If you don't have your health, you don't have anything." Because without health, it's impossible to lifv a full, intentional, active, joyful life. And that realization prompted me to start looking for ways and means to do whatever necessary to regain my health. My body was dis-eased. I wanted health.

As I was able, I started researching everything I could find. My grandmother has turned out to be my muse in so many ways. Though long deceased, her wisdom and inspiration meet me somewhere almost every day and lead me in directions I hadn't considered. Just like with her statement about health. She lived close to the land and was a big proponent of all things natural. She was a brilliant woman, though most of us missed this because of her simplicity.

Her one go-to, second only to her Bible, was the Progressive Farmer magazine. It was a large, full size magazine with all the latest and age-old farming and gardening practices, as well as warnings about products and practices to avoid. For instance, when my mom was an older teen, corporations began to process chickens and market them in grocery stores as convenient meat birds. Most families raised their own vegetables and meat on the homestead. When someone commented to Granny that this should make life easier, she would have none of it and told anyone who'd listen, "They are putting things in those birds that are going to hurt people and make us sick. You better watch out." Thank you, Progressive Farmer. Thank you, Granny. Time has proven her correct. Over the years we have come to learn that much of the meat sold commercially is filled with chemicals and synthetics that are compromising out health and and, , contributing to dis-ease. My gran was before her time.

All of her wisdom and ways started flooding my mind. As I looked for answers, the one glaring crimson thread through it all was the word 'natural.' Nature. I wanted to get back to the simplicity I’d known at Granny’s farm and in Granny’s presence.

I started practicing mindfulness, a purposeful time to be quiet, read my Bible, pray, meditate, and draw closer to God. I began to implement consistent exercise routines and paid more attention to sleep and sleep patterns. And I really drilled in on nutrition, removing processed foods to the best of my ability, trying to purchase local, farm-raised produce and eggs, as well as farm-raised meat sources. Eventually, I began growing some of my own herbs, medicinals, and food. And over time I began to come out of the depression, the severe joint aches, and the general malaise. The severe headaches became less and less frequent until they disappeared. The things I was doing were working. This made me even more determined to press in, study, and keep going until, finally, I felt whole again.

None of this was quick or easy like this little synopsis makes it sound. This took many years of discovery, implementation, and tweaking. It still does. It was mixed with some wrong moves and decisions, also. But it brought me to the point where I am today. I became an herbalist and a naturalist. I've moved further away from pharmaceuticals and traditional medicine to the most natural means available. I observe nature, patterns, people, dis-ease, cycles, and whole-health. I ask questions, and I try to get others to ask questions in search of answers instead of just telling you what to think or believe. Here are some things I've learned along the way:

·        We are what we eat or ingest. Organic things need organic things. Our bodies can't process synthetics, and when ingested, these lead to side effects.

·        Life has a rhythm. It's called the Circle of Life. Every organic creation has its own cycle, from the microscopic organisms beneath our feet to the largest whale or redwood or giant sequoia, we all have a beginning, an end, and a story in the middle.

·        All of natural life is intertwined and interdependent, one thing upon another, and is rooted in creation. Ask me, if you want to know more.

·        Life is sustained and perfected by life. It's like the computer term - GIGO. Garbage in/Garbage out. The same applies to organic beings.

·        Our thought life is probably more important than our physical life. It is the foundation of our physical and spiritual reality. Thoughts create worlds.

·        When we drift away from the natural rhythm of Creation, nature, physical bodies, psyches, spirits, health begins to break down.

·        People need other people. As the saying goes, 'No man is an island.' We were designed for relationship and relationship or lack of has a direct bearing on our mental and emotional well-being. Of course, I'm talking about healthy relatioships. Families used to be really tight knit groups & community was a priority throughout the countryside. Not so much any more. We have to work at it.

I've many more observations, but this is already a long post, so we'll save some for another time. Because of all I've been through, as well as loved ones, because of all of my discoveries, defeats, and victories, and because of all the wisdom my granny tried to pour into me, my life has come full circle. My passion is whole body health by natural means. In all my studies, I have come to understand that all of nature, including our bodies, are amazing. Eradicating dis-ease and returning to whole-body health is entirely possible because we were designed to do just that - heal...constantly. But we are so conditioned to easy, fast, symptomatic quick fixes and so far removed from natural ways that we have become skeptical and disbelieving. That's sad. Health has always been free and at our fingertips, because. you see, from the beginning, food has always been for health's sake, natural food, the food of creation. In Genesis 1:29, God says, "Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed, to you it shall be for meat (food)." Through scientific research, we now know all the nutrients, vitamins, and minerals contained in these age-old plants. -  not the lab-grown, not the GMOs, but plants from the goodness of the earth.

If you or someone you know is working desperately to find a way to restore health and return to life, I'd love to connect. There are ways back to a full life! I have several tools on my website, both free and paid, and I’m frantically working to provide even more in-depth tools for those searching. We were designed to live in health, not dis-ease. Culture has tried to do it better than the Creator and seems to have made a mess of things. It seems we’re living longer, but not always better or optimum. :It’s just old age” is a cop out by the medical industry because they don’t have the answers… and it sells pills and procedures.

I believe creation is full of teachable moments for those curious enough to inquire and pay attention. Thank you for sharing this one with me. If you'd like to walk this journey together, you're always welcome here. Let's work to find answers that help you both. Let’s take our God-given health back. Let's get back to the nature that's at our doorstep Rooted in Creation waiting for us out there Somewhere Between the Wildflowers & the Weeds.

Jenny

I am an herbalist and naturalist who teaches herbalism, herb-scaping & whole-body health. If you enjoyed this blog, please like it, leave a comment, and share it with others. And I'd love for you to follow me on

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