Cold

So I managed to pick up an upper respiratory infection while in NYC. I started getting horse while we were there and by Monday it had gone all phlegmy on me to the degree that it was clear I wasn’t going to skirt the issue. In spite of my best efforts to keep it at bay naturally (without drugs, unless of course you count the one hot toddy), by Friday it was clear that I was losing that battle. Of course it probably didn’t help that I decided to try to drown it at Shannon’s company Christmas Party on Thursday night- which I should probably not have been at in the first place- but I really, really, really wanted to go!

I somehow managed to conceal my cough while at the party, which must have given me just a wee bit too much confidence because that is when the experiment began. I had just finished a glass of wine when I spotted a bottle of what I thought to be whisky appear on the self-serve table. Keep in mind that I don’t drink all that much, and when I do it’s a lot for me to finish just one drink. Yet there I was thinking to myself, that’s exactly what I need! Even if it’s not hot, surely it will do the trick!! So I merrily made my way over and poured myself a shot (to sip). I didn’t bother to read what it actually was, nor am I versed enough in hard alcohol to know the difference between one thing and another.

So I happily sipped on that for the remainder of the party. It was when Shannon went to pour herself a shot that she noticed it was actually tequila! Who knew?! Clearly not me. Just for the record, it was actually brown, not clear. So, I am sure you are all wondering if tequila is a good replacement for a hot toddy. If my little unintentional experiment is any indication, I’ll have to report out that no, no it is not. Not that it gave me a hangover or anything, but let’s just say that on Friday I only got out of bed long enough to check to see where the closest walk-in clinic is in our area.

There is nothing like being sick to remind us of how dependent we are on the world, and in every way. For starters, our bodies carry us miraculously through this life. It is only when it breaks down in some way that we tend to notice. By Friday, my body had my full attention. I had worked through it the four previous days, but that was simply not an option by Friday. I’ve basically been in bed the last three days and am writing from bed now. I hear you body. I can’t do this without you. You need some rest. O.K.

Then there are the people who support us. Sure, I could have made the freshly squeezed orange juice myself, but I doubt I would have. Sure, I might have slept in a bit every day of my own accord, but I might not have without the reminder to take care of myself. Sure, I could have looked up the recipe for homemade cough syrup made of honey and essential oils and it would have been easy enough to mix it up, but I doubt that I would have. Sure, I could have changed the sheets on the bed, put eucalyptus in the diffuser, and trapped the dogs downstairs so that I could take a nap, but it is highly unlikely that I would have. Yes, I would have had to drive myself to the clinic and gone in to the drugstore to pick up my prescription, but I was super thankful that I didn’t have to. So huge thank you to Shannon for being such a nurturing, patient caretaker. She hasn’t gotten much sleep either.

Then there is medicine, be it natural or pharmaceutical, be it homeopathic or Western. I steer hard away from the latter, and could have rode this one out without it, but I didn’t quite have it in me. By Friday night I succumbed and took over the counter drugs. By Saturday I asked the nurse at the clinic for antibiotics. The interesting thing is that I had to ask for them. She indicated to me that “they” (the powers that be) are trying to limit the use of antibiotics. The new rule is that your phlegm has to have been every color of the rainbow for at least ten days in order for them to prescribe it. I didn’t qualify based on the fact that it had only been five days and it had just barely started to turn yellow. While I greatly value this newfound discretion, I knew that this thing was continuing to head south and I wasn’t willing to wait another five days to come back for the prescription, which she ultimately did prescribe.

This is one simple case in point of how rough our world transition is likely to be. On the one hand, I feel that we need to get better at homeopathic or natural solutions. I made the mistake of not drinking near enough water and didn’t get near enough rest. Yet that aside, the truth is that we have to be more patient. We have to be willing to ride it out longer to let our bodies do their thing. I, and we, mostly don’t have the time and the patience for that. Some shifting is going to need to occur on that front. It isn’t that I don’t think that there is a place for Western medicine and technology in general, but I am saying that we have gotten a bit too dependent and a bit too lazy on this front. I, clearly, am as guilty as the next. So it is important to keep experimenting and trying more natural ways of handling ourselves and our lives. Tequila, apparently, isn’t the answer.

Sickness aside, there are a couple of things that crossed my path during my time out that are more than worth sharing and which may shed some light on the larger context to which I am always referring. The first is a movie called “The Twelve” by the LeCiel Foundation, in which twelve indigenous Elders directly address the disconnect between our Western knowledge/technology/culture and what indigenous cultures know about the human connection to nature and what is needed to heal that connection. The movie is an hour and fifteen minutes. you can watch it at this link (scroll down to either download or stream): The Twelve.

The second is an article called “Embracing the Immaterial Universe” by Bruce Lipton, which in a fairly short read explains the disconnect between what science knows now versus the science that we continue to cling to. This, to me, is critical understanding to the shift in worldview that we are currently in need of. This article is a great primer.

Happy Path to Wellness!