Many are now waking up to the realisation that there might not be anything more important than our mental & physical health.
No matter how nice things we have bought – houses, cars, toys – there will never be a replacement for having a healthy mind & body.
And the strategy of achieving a healthy mind and body might not be as complicated as we’ve been taught my mainstream culture.
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Can we agree that we have some basic needs which… need to be met?
* Oxygen
* Water
* Food
* Nice temperature
* Some sleep
Anything more?
Could you be in a room with a steady stream of oxygen, food, water & nice temperature?
Maybe some light.
So you get a lightbulb.
Ok, so you’re okay here right?
Nice and comfy.
But after some time you might feel a bit lonely… and bored.
Ok, let’s throw in another person. That could be interesting.
Nice, now you can talk, relate, connect and… make an escape plan maybe?
What?
Escape?
You want to escape?
Ok.
***
So, we might need some more things.
More relationships.
Some trees, flowers, a lake, an ocean & some animals.
A little walk perhaps?
Something to do, create.
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May I suggest that the quality of our mental & physical health stands in direct relation to the quality of:
* The air we breathe
* The water we drink
* The food we eat
* The sleep we get
* Our relationships
* Our movement
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We seem to have different strategies of acquiring these needs.
Strategies which are more or less harmful to the planet, which gives us everything we need.
So, what do you think happens with our mental & physical health when things like these start showing up:
* Air pollution
* Water pollution
* Malnutrition
* Insomnia
* Social isolation & social media addiction
* Sedentary lifestyle
* Obesity
* Depression
* Plastic oceans
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The thing is… weather you believe it or not, these things are on the rise.
But it’s not your fault ok…
We thought that we where doing something great for humanity when we started industrialising. Finally humanity was doing something great. We made it easier to meet these basic needs. Easier & easier… and easier…
Yes in one sense great, but in another sense, we might have done something very harmful and we seem to be waking up to this fact more and more.
We got machines doing things for us. Moving us, creating for us… thinking… for us…
Yes it’s a pretty awesome achievement of the human mind.
But we also created a mess for ourselves.
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One positive thing is that, with the possibilities of internet, we are waking up quicker, so the global shift in this essential insight can spread more easily.
***
I believe we are getting back to the awareness that little matters more in comparison to a healthy mind & body.
And perhaps its more simple than we tend to think.
There are so many trends and movements of people who are starting to take action on this key insight. They understand that to live a more locally engaged life, closer to nature and self-sufficient in their most basic needs, we call ALL thrive.
* Ecotherapy
* Rewilding
* Mindfulness
* Craftfulness
* DIY
* Backyard gardening
* Community gardening
* Forest Foraging
* Biotecture
* The New Village (Village 3.0)
Its not a classical hippie/green movement, but its a very reasonable awakening which is based on the basic but impactful insight that:
A. Nothing matters more than mental & physical health
B. Being more self-reliant & self/community-sufficient in acquiring our basic needs is a more resilient & engaged strategy, that simply working for money & consuming what we need from large corporations.
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And safeguarding the quality of these needs we have mentioned is much more predictable & reliable that giving away the responsibility to larger corporations. They just seem to like money a little bit too much.
Yes, you can be healthy by working, becoming an influencer, investing or whatever, so you get loads of cash and can buy all the gym memberships, spa, health food optimised stuff, but…
These companies do not always have a net positive on the world. Some do, but its very hard if you are shipping worldwide, using plastic & want to keep the price reasonable.
I would look more to your most local option and learn how you can get your food, clothes & social life in your local environment.
In this way we can secure quality of air, water & soil; which we depend on for our health.
Here is what I believe the future of money lies: Causes Worthy of Support
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With love,
Daniel
ps. What do you think about all this?
DANIEL GALOVAN 