The CURE is in the Earth; in Nature!

As parts of the world tentatively thinks about going back to a more open state of being, I can't help but think about my life, and the whole quarantine and "shelter in place" thing we've recently experienced.

Now, I'll be the first to admit that a deadly virus makes me nervous.

I'm just putting that out there, as a blanket statement, independently of what I might/might not think about government and political inflation/deflation and/or misinformation about the Covid-19 numbers.

Mint in bloom, in our back yard...

Eating Dirt, Snails and Drinking Pond Water...

I'm going to be 60 years old, later this year.

When I was little kid, we pretty much only played outside.

We'd be in the street, in the yard, in the nearby fields and woods. Along the way, we'd encounter all sorts of things... and we'd eat random berries that "looked good" and fresh leaves off the roadside trees (undoubtedly heavily polluted by fumes from cars that predated EPA emissions limits), we'd ride out bikes without padding or helmets; if we were thirsty, we'd drink from streams and sometimes even puddles "if they looked clean."

Maybe you are thinking "GROSS!!!" but my point here is that we were pretty much healthy all the time!

Aside from the occasional "standard childhood illness" I was hardly ever sick. When the flu was "going around," we tended to be aware that "the flu was going around," and otherwise went about life. Some kids (and adults) got the flu; some did not.

Sometimes we'd hear of "an old person" having died from the flu... and it was sad and terrifying, and a reminder that life is — indeed — quite fragile.

Of course, Covid-19 is probably not like the regular flu virus, and that's NOT the point I'm trying to make.

My point is about the fact that in the course of the last 50 years we have grown fearful and isolated and increasingly live inside our little protective bubbles of perceived safety. My point is that we have potentially coddled ourselves to such an extent that... well... let's just say that I believe the average person living in 1970 would have been more readily able to cope with and survive Covid-19 than the average person in 2020.

Of course, I don't have a time machine; I can't set back the clock to "how things were," back then.

I do happen to be personal friends with a couple of biochemists and one epidemiologist and they have all three offered up variations of the fact that *all we need to stay healthy is in the earth; in the soil and nature around us.

It is actually the constant onslaught of dirt and microbes and bacteria and minor viruses/infections we encounter as part of engaging with our surroundings that fuel our amazing immune systems. The current trend of "hypercleaning" ourselves may offer some momentary safety, but it also serves to further weaken our immune systems, since we're now truly living in sterilized bubbles...

The WORLD... is not a sterile place! And that's regardless of whether or not there's a Pandemic on the loose.

Finding peace, within our lives...

Hence, my personal choice has been to be out in the world as much as possible, during these past few months. I don't mean among people, so much as just outside, doing things like actively working to improve our garden, cleaning out the filthy attic in the garage, even cleaning up what was once our chicken coop (before the neighborhood association banned poultry keeping).

Within the limitations imposed on us, we do have choices, as well. And I'm choosing to exercise those...

Thanks for reading!

Comments, feedback and other interaction is invited and welcomed! Because — after all — SOCIAL content is about interacting, right? Leave a comment-- share your experiences-- be part of the conversation!

(As usual, all text and images by the author, unless otherwise credited. This is original content, created expressly for this platform.)
Created at 20200506 09:35 PDT
x016