I was having dinner with my partner yesterday and we were discussing a recent podcast that he had heard from Gordon White. In it, there was a discourse about the quality of our soil and how there are many people that are attempting to heal the land. He stated in the podcast that true healing takes place "at the speed of nature" and that we simply can't force the processes to fit our construct of time.
In the conversation, my partner stated, "If your computer can't run 24/7 without shutting down, why does the human race think they can?"
I spoke in my previous blog about how the industrial revolution changed how we live, and I firmly believe that it has also changed how we heal. Indigenous cultures are used to seasons of life -- a season for planting, growing and harvesting. And then after the harvest, a season for the ground to be fallow and for us to rest, hibernate and rejuvenate. Our bodies were built to be guided by the sunrise and the sunset and our diets were dictated by that which was available to us. Greens, shoots and sprouts in the spring to give us energy. A bounty of cool, watery fruits in the summertime to keep us hydrated. Root vegetables, onions, and garlic in the fall to keep us grounded, full, and our immunity high. And then a long winter's rest to prepare for it all over again.
However, once the Industrial Revolution began, no longer were the seasons important. Artificial lights could keep us going longer, indoor heaters could keep us warm and fans could keep us cool. A series of bells and schedules were created to keep production on time and the trains moving. Everything began to be built around products, quotas, and profits. And our bodies were expected to conform.
So essentially, what we have done as a western culture is we have taken these expectations that our bodies are machines and we have incorporated that into our health. If the machine gets sick, we need to get it up and running as soon as possible. Can I get a pill for that? No results in a few days? Let's see another doctor for another pill. Or maybe I need to take more pills? What we have neglected to realize is that the manufacturers of those pills are just more factories that need to feed a series of bells, schedules, quotas and profits. And they can't continue to grow without feeding us their products.
Healing has become something that must work on the schedule that our culture has created, versus the timeframe nature has intended.
What if we approached healing from a different perspective? What if we approached healing by eating what we need during each season? What if we woke up without alarm clocks and allowed our bodies to get the exact amount of sleep it needed each night? What if instead of pushing ourselves to exhaustion, that we recognized when it was time to pause? What would happen if when we felt fear or pain or sadness, if we just sat with it and allowed our bodies to process it? What would healing look like if you got more sunlight and less lamplight? More open windows and less air condition?
Symptoms are a cry for help from our bodies. Symptoms tell us that something is not quite right. I challenge you today to sit in the quiet and start to listen to what your symptoms are telling you.
I challenge you to allow your body to start to heal at the speed of nature.