Mother Knows Best

The other day I was day dreaming out of the window over my desk. It was a rainy and very damp day and I was sipping a hot cup of my favorite turmeric and ginger tea. The dampness was aggravating my arthritis and sciatica and this herbal blend always helped to ease the inflammation in my joints. As I felt the warmth start to work it's magic, I was struck by this thought: Not only is Mother Nature our #1 food provider, she is also the very first doctor - Mother Nature, MD!"

Everyone I know has an old, homemade remedy for what ails us, be it a cold, sore joints, a sore throat, or a banged-up knee. It's the one that's been passed down from grandmother, to mother, to child back to the beginning of time. Growing up the one I remember most is a concoction of honey, lemon, and a teaspoon of whisky for a cough. I've often wondered how these remedies originated. My research told me that every country around the world had indigenous people who passed their natural healing knowledge to those that came after. In our own country, the Europeans who migrated here got much of this knowledge that made use of local, native plants from the First Nations people they met. Years ago when I asked a Native American woman I met at a pow wow about where their people learned how to use herbs for healing, she said, "we watched the animals." For some reason, most animals in the wild knew which plants were beneficial and which weren't. I guess survival of the fittest included learning what not to eat which we humans could certainly do a better job of!

These days I've been giving more of my attention to herbal and natural choices when it comes to healing. Especially after my hip surgery and the long and sometimes painful recovery process, I've come to realize that I let myself fall into that "pop a pill" mindset whenever I'm in pain or discomfort. So I've decided to try and wean myself off the man-made stuff and increase the naturally made alternatives. I truly believe that our overuse of antibiotics for every little thing has made this pandemic and other illnesses possible to thrive. Did indigenous people have cancer, high blood pressure, diabetes, and the flu? Not until Europeans brought it to them. So if our tolerance for pharmaceuticals is so high that they no longer work, might it not be time to give natural remedies a chance? I'm willing to bet that we'd be surprised at the positive outcomes we'd get.

So I'll keep drinking my herbal teas, and eating organic, and get more exercise, and if I pop anything in my mouth it will be some nice, dark blueberries which I'm told have all kinds of healing properties. What's the worst that could happen? I might just get healthy!

And so it is.