Today I am sitting here reflecting on yet another mass shooting in the news. According to MSN it is the 18th one in 2018. I started looking back on when I began my blog in 2014.
As I reflect on the things I wrote in 2014 and things that are happening now not much has changed. If anything our world is more chaotic.
I want to weave a story that has been on my mind. Maybe I am crazy for thinking this way, but maybe there is something to explore.
I began a holistic journey back in the late 90’s for two reasons. The first was years of playing softball and having scoliosis had left me with horrible lower back pain. The second was twofold: my son was “diagnosed” with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and is allergic to three different classes of antibiotics.
I slowly began a yoga practice which helped my back. Constant reading had me exploring aromatherapy and nutrition among other modalities. My research continuously brought me back to so many concepts about how our lives changed after the industrial revolution. Since then we are living a more isolated and sedentary life.
The fact that we can sit in our house and do just about anything from a computer is not good. In my article, Are we our own worst enemy? I talked about things like antibiotic resistance and our diabetes/obesity epidemic. Are these related to lack of fresh plants and too much sitting? I also wrote an article Global Warming, Hoping I make a difference in which I talk about having a garden. I often wonder if our current mental health crisis is related to our lack of plants in our daily life.
As I was learning about blogging everything I studied said you must have a niche. You can’t gain an audience unless you do. That is part of the reason that I began the certification programs for Aromatherapy. I already had 15+ years of self study in herbs, nutrition, essential oils and everything related to using nature to heal. But do you, John Q public, respect that?
So, now 3 years later I have well over 500 hours of paid for education in aromatherapy, acupressure, and flower essences. I am also continuing to study and attend webinars. I still wonder if you, John Q public, respect that?
Recently, while reading NAHA’s Aromatherapy Journal Autumn 2017.3 there is an article Threatened Essential Oil Species by Kathy Sadowski, LMT RYT. These had me further thinking about our ever-decreasing access to plants, their aromas and our mental health.
In 2014 I had written a few articles due to mass tragedies we were facing then. Are drugs to blame for mass tragedies? was written because of the mass shooting in Santa Barbara. At the time there was a lot of talk about various drugs used for mental health issues. I am not in the mental health field, I don’t know if much has changed in 4 years.
My other article was Celebrating in April. (I now know this is a horrible title and not related to much I share in the article.) Unfortunately, April at the time was the month many of our more publicized tragedies had occurred. I still wonder, how do we use these tragedies to grow and become better more loving people.
From 2001 to 2009 I lived in various towns around Chicago. I was always lucky to be close to green areas, nice parks or a river. Every time I had to travel into Chicago though I always felt a strange sensation. To this day I am not quite sure what to call it, but the “concrete jungle” felt wrong. Chicago has nice architecture and a rich history, but every where you turn it is concrete and metal. How can this be healthy for us? Is it smart for a population of almost 3 million people to not be experiencing the scents of nature?
I now live in north Florida. Something that shocked me shortly after moving here was how few people garden, or even do much outside. I also discovered that I started doing less outside. The humidity and biting bugs tend to limit my enjoyable activities. As I type that sentence though I realize what a horrible excuse that is. It shows how much even I have changed with the artificial comforts we have access to.
I do have a large garden though and know that when I sit with my plants I feel more relaxed. After a recent conversation with a friend about how I was feeling scattered she reminded me to connect with the earth. As a society do we take time to connect with the earth? Would you be willing to walk outside barefoot?
This all leads me to my “musings” and thoughts that may be completely wrong. Are humans having a mental health crisis because we are losing plants? Think about how you feel having your favorite fresh flower in a vase. Those aromas once were in our air all the time. We keep cutting down forests to create new buildings, but is our mental health the cost? What about the fact that we aren’t outside growing the herbs and plants that we use to eat? Is the fact that we are not exposing ourselves to the various plant material causing our mental and physical wellness to go downhill? When people were forced to grow what they ate, was it the interaction with plants that made a difference? Maybe it was the act of possibly interacting with other people outside? Having to work together to grow the food you eat?
I realize I am not speaking in my niche. I am not following any “rules” for how to write properly. Maybe you wonder why I am bothering? I wonder that too. I will say some of it comes from complete anger and frustration. The nightly news talked about the horrible shooting then moved on to the ongoing issues of the White House staff. Domestic violence is horrible and must stop, but seriously why do they focus on that. Our country needs a makeover and I don’t see a single person in government that is out for anyone but themselves.
I hope for our future and the future of my children and grandchildren we can make change. Please quit tearing each other down on social media. Please go outside in the forest, in a garden and smell some plants. Love each other and yourself.
