'Stillness is what creates love. Movement is what creates life. To be still and still moving - this is everything!'
~Do Hyun Choe
this morning i was running on the trails in the dark (with a headlamp). i was reflecting on all of the spiderwebs i was destroying and how if spiders have their webs destroyed too many times, they die of starvation...and that's when a snake fell out of a tree right next to me. it landed on the ground and slithered quickly across the trail away from the light. it took a bit for my heart to be still after that but i was definitely able to keep moving. peace is returning to my life despite everything that's going on around me. i woke up a few minutes after 5a this morning and felt rested and just lied in bed until my alarm went off at 5:30a. i have been trying to ease my body into waking up early again and evidently something seems to be working.
i have begun reflecting more lately on what i want to do when i'm done with my phd. i've been realizing that the theme that seems to be running through my life (literally and figuratively) has to do with well being as a whole person. how can people recover after injuries? what can we do to prevent illness and injury? how does one find (and treat) the problem and not just the symptoms? how can positive thinking help? how can diet help? how can good old fashioned exercise help? how does obesity affect one's ability to move? i feel like i can't get information into my head fast enough and i'm excited to see where all of this information takes me and my career. i'm thinking that i might want to do a post-doc in something very different, though complimentary to, what i do now.
and i am beginning to wonder if there's some way to combine all my different interests. i realize that it may not happen immediately, but that idea of health is intertwined, at least in my head, with environmental health. maybe that's because of spending so many years in environmental engineering and oceanography, but i still spend quite a bit of time reading nature writing. i really enjoy rachel carson's work. she was WAY ahead of her time in seeing the link between environmental and human health, particularly with regards to cancer.
~Do Hyun Choe
this morning i was running on the trails in the dark (with a headlamp). i was reflecting on all of the spiderwebs i was destroying and how if spiders have their webs destroyed too many times, they die of starvation...and that's when a snake fell out of a tree right next to me. it landed on the ground and slithered quickly across the trail away from the light. it took a bit for my heart to be still after that but i was definitely able to keep moving. peace is returning to my life despite everything that's going on around me. i woke up a few minutes after 5a this morning and felt rested and just lied in bed until my alarm went off at 5:30a. i have been trying to ease my body into waking up early again and evidently something seems to be working.
i have begun reflecting more lately on what i want to do when i'm done with my phd. i've been realizing that the theme that seems to be running through my life (literally and figuratively) has to do with well being as a whole person. how can people recover after injuries? what can we do to prevent illness and injury? how does one find (and treat) the problem and not just the symptoms? how can positive thinking help? how can diet help? how can good old fashioned exercise help? how does obesity affect one's ability to move? i feel like i can't get information into my head fast enough and i'm excited to see where all of this information takes me and my career. i'm thinking that i might want to do a post-doc in something very different, though complimentary to, what i do now.
and i am beginning to wonder if there's some way to combine all my different interests. i realize that it may not happen immediately, but that idea of health is intertwined, at least in my head, with environmental health. maybe that's because of spending so many years in environmental engineering and oceanography, but i still spend quite a bit of time reading nature writing. i really enjoy rachel carson's work. she was WAY ahead of her time in seeing the link between environmental and human health, particularly with regards to cancer.
"Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts. There is symbolic as well as actual beauty in the migration of the birds, the ebb and flow of the tides, the folded bud ready for the spring. There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature - the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after the winter."
~Rachel Carson
~Rachel Carson
4 comments:
This is one of my favorite quotes, and Rachel is one of my favorite people. Have you read her essay, "The Sense of Wonder"? It's beautiful. I went searching for crickets in the dark with a flashlight after reading it, and it was exquisite. You are an inspiring Chica! Cami
(old friend of your dearly beloved)
I like that quote too! I haven't read that essay, but it has just been added to my To Read list. There are definitely a lot of crickets here so I am intrigued!
Hey Trish, how are you? I have to share something that may or may not relate to your post. A week ago I got stung really badly by Portuguese man-of-war while I was snorkeling. My entire forearm was covered in welts and tentacle lines. The epicenter of the man-of-war injected so much poison in my arm it's a wonder I didn't go into anaphylactic (sp?) shock. My boyfriend wanted to take me to the emergency room, but I got stung on the exact same arm 10 years ago so I told him that I was fine, that it just looked real bad. 10 years ago, I used a combination of meat tenderizer (the papain in there breaks down the protein in the toxin) and hydrocortisone. It took over a month for the sting to heal. This time, the sting was way worse and truthfully I was well aware that I was probably due for another 2-3 months of dealing with crazy itchiness and a bad scar.
So on facebook I posted something about the sting and Carrie Leonard wrote back about using bentonite clay, a 100% calcium bentonite for drawing out the poison. I briefly looked it up on the web and saw that people have used it for a long time, on rashes, insect bites, as facial masks, even injesting it for stomach flu and food poisoning. I was like, why not. I got a tub of it from Down to Earth and made a paste with it.
After the 1st day, I was amazed. the inflammation was noticeably gone and it was much less itchy. It has now been a week with me using the stuff morning and night - and it's gone. Well, you can still see discoloring, but it's not itchy, and the welts are gone and my arm is tender again, not puffed out with poison.
Anyways, long story short, this made me realize that cures for our ailments and injuries caused by this world are found also on this Earth. I've had bad sinus allergies lately, so I started flushing out my sinuses with the Neti pot, and I feel so much better too. I think that in the old days, people died due to childbirth or bad hygiene, but there were no such things as cancer and lupus and anti-immune diseases, that are caused by modern agents created by humans. Our bodies ache because of the invention of computers and desk jobs. With a good balance in our lives, and an awareness of our bodies, nature is our biggest clue to a healthy lifestyle.
Sorry this came out super long...just wanted to share that with you. If you see me online let's chat and catch up soon. Congrats again on your marriage and good luck!
Shimi
I'm glad you're doing better now Shimi! I think your story is exactly the kind of thing that I find amazing. Connecting all the bodies of knowledge that know how to make/keep people well is fascinating. I wonder how Carrie came across that remedy--definitely useful to know living there!
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