Laughter the Best Medicine... Yes!

I definitely agree that laughter is the best medicine. And let me add my feelings towards the simplicity of life's greatest prescriptions, laughter and breathing. We are constantly searching for that magic pill to take life's woes away, when we embody it completely and totally. It is so simple it almost feels like a joke (so start laughing... it will greatly reduce your risk of dis-ease!). We have been so trained to look outside ourselves for the solution, when in all actuality we embody the true elixir to life... our own fountain of youth.

It brings to mind the story of the journalist Norman Cousins'. On his path through life he learned the Qigong of positive emotions which he believed 'was the key to human beings' success in fighting illness'. His struggle with this illness is detailed in the book and movie Anatomy of an Illness.

"Told that he had little chance of surviving, Cousins developed a recovery program incorporating megadoses of Vitamin C, along with a positive attitude, love, faith, hope, and laughter induced by Marx Brothers films. "I made the joyous discovery that ten minutes of genuine belly laughter had an anesthetic effect and would give me at least two hours of pain-free sleep," he reported. "When the pain-killing effect of the laughter wore off, we would
switch on the motion picture projector again and not infrequently, it would lead to another pain-free interval."

For us 'left-brainers' that need a detailed explanation, it has been proven that laughter can raise the levels of immune-boosting hormones in the blood and the benefits can last for up to 24 hours. Laughter and positive emotions were also proven to diminish the secretion of the body's stress hormones, cortisol and epinephrine, which have been shown to weaken the immune system's response to viruses and tumors.

I will end with a simple yet profound Qigong exercise I learned in my Chi Nei Tsang studies:

Take 20 minutes (yes, even you can find the time). Shut off your phone and any other
distractions (you are worth it). Find the most comfortable position for yourself, sitting, lying or standing. Start by feeling your entire breath, all the way down to your toes. With each exhale see the stress leaving through your body. Now, picture someone's face in front of you (eyes closed). Someone or something that brings a great big smile to your face. Feel that smile penetrate every part of your body, down to your DNA. And now, start to laugh, like you are sharing the most funny moment together. Keep laughing... I know, it sounds corny, so just laugh out of the corniness of it if you must! Keep it up as long as possible, just keep laughing and smiling into your entire being. I even make the bubble larger than myself and embody the Earth into it as well, we all know she needs it too! Laugh your way back to health! Hai!

Can 'Carbon Offsets' Work Effectively?

As with everything there are many levels to consider. It is a beneficial gesture to contribute to organizations which are dealing with climate issues, but overall, if you look at the larger picture the climate is still being affected. I feel there needs to be more extreme measures to curb airline travel. With modern technology, there are many of these meetings which can be done with a conference call and with live visual recordings if necessary. These representatives should be setting an example instead of adopting nicknames like 'air miles Margaret'. We need to elect representatives that are moving on the path of solution to this very serious issue. Each individual needs to start seeing what changes they can make to help save this planet and acting effectively to make these differences. Every living being plays a role.

How Would I Deal With the 'Global Crisis in Diet?'

I feel that first and foremost people should take responsibility for their own choices. They should inform themselves about their diet. Know where their food comes from, how far a distance it has to travel before arriving in their mouth, and learn about the 'extra' ingredients added. Restaurants should have to post all dietary information and make it available to the consumer, including any foods which are genetically modified. All preservatives should be required on the list as well. It should also be noted if any of these food products caused any devastation environmentally. Any advertisement should have to list the ingredients and dietary information as well as health warnings, like they have to advertise for cigarettes. They should not be allowed to target children in their advertisements or be allowed to include a free toy or game upon purchase. This is a set-up. Children under 18 years of age should not be allowed to consume these ingredients until they are old enough to make mature decisions on what they are consuming. I would also make it unlawful to have a playground inside your establishment, another decoy. This may all sound a bit extreme but these fast food chains need to be held accountable. They are not here to provide any of us with a healthy nourishing meal, they are here to just make a buck. The times need to be a changin'.

'New Pill' Promises to Reduce Breast Cancer?

Whoaaa! Hold on, not so fast. That is my impression. To say that this pill may reduce breast cancer bypasses a lot of other information that isn't so promising for this 'new pill'. Mifepristone is based on the pill RU-486, designed by the Roussel Uclaf company, which has been used to terminate pregnancies. The side-effects are alarming as well. Abdominal pain, uterine cramping, and abnormal bleeding are just a few to name. It has also been said to stop periods which should be another red flag. In extreme cases, in much larger doses, it has lead to the deaths of eight women in the U.S. The FDA's prescribing information also states that there is 'no data on the safety and efficacy of mifepristone in women with chronic medical conditions'. I would encourage them to develop a more natural approach to contraceptives. An approach that would not have these dangerous side-effects. Once again, if more awareness is brought to our natural rhythms and knowledge of our monthly cycles, a solution can be re-discovered that would be more in-tune with our bodies. One that wouldn't cause these abnormal conditions. There are many other natural approaches to birth control as well as ways to reduce your risk of getting breast cancer without having to take pharmaceutical drugs.

Bring Back the Bison

I feel that the most important issue to be addressed is the current slaughter of Bison when they leave the boundaries of Yellowstone National Park. I spent six years up in the Yellowstone area enjoying the vastness and beauty of this preserved area. It was truly amazing to get the chance to be so close to Bison, Moose, Elk, Wolves and the occasional bear. During the first three years of my stay, if the Bison wandered outside the park boundaries they were herded up and taken back into the park. That changed. Montana ranchers did not feel the same appreciation towards the Bison. They claimed, although it has never been documented, that the Bison were spreading brucellosis to their cattle. From that moment on, if Bison wandered outside the park boundaries, they were shot. At that time I was working for a news station as their Chief Editor. I still remember seeing all of the raw footage of this brutal slaughter. They shot approximately two dozen. The producer asked me to edit a short 60-second loop for the story, but asked me to not show the 'gory' footage. I didn't listen to her. I showed the footage exactly as it was given to me. I thought the truth needed to be seen. It was one of the saddest stories I ever showed. I still remember driving around West Yellowstone and seeing the carcasses, all ages, lying motionless on the trailers being shipped away. How were they supposed to know when they are leaving the park's boundaries? There are no fences, nothing to protect them.

It is very hopeful to hear the plans of 'Buffalo Commons' to reintroduce the Bison to the Northern and Southern Plains. This will lead to restoration of the entire ecosystem and re-establish the balance that existed before they were nearly shot to extinction. Another group, the Inter-Tribal Bison Cooperative hopes to restore the bison population on their tribal land. To hear that in the past 'U.S. government officials actively destroyed bison to defeat their Native American enemies' is a very difficult part of history to swallow. This would help to restore hope and tradition for these people that have had so much taken from them. If it were left up to me I would say, first and foremost, that the killing of Bison should be illegal. Secondly, I would propose that these lands be opened up and made available (once again) as a free roaming area to help restore what has been lost, both environmentally as well as spiritually.

"One of the beauties of biology is that its facts become our metaphors."

Kenny Ausubel, Nature's Operating Instructions

The 'End Goals' of Social Ecology?

“The modern conservative… is engaged in one of man’s oldest exercise in moral philosophy. That is the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.” John Kenneth Galbraith

This quote was one that stood out for me. Our entire mode of operandi must be restructured from the egotistical rhythm it currently resides. Social construction varies over time and is constantly changing. ‘The assumptions accepted by its practitioners are value-laden and reflect their places in history and society, as well as the research priorities and funding sources of those in power.’ A large amount of funding does come from large corporations and for the most part the research is geared towards monetary abundance for the few with no consideration to the majority or the environmental impact.

“The Earth is not dying- it is being killed. And the people who are killing it have names and addresses.” Utah Phillips

‘Reality is a totality of internally related parts.’ This statement feels very Taoist to me. Once again, if we return to the ancient ways and truly consider our actions and their effects for many generations to come we will restructure society’s momentum into one which is sustainable and can be enjoyed by the majority and hopefully, eventually, all of creation. ‘All relationships are fundamental and continually shape the totality’ following the natural rhythms of existence.

‘Ecology is likewise a socially constructed science whose basic assumptions and conclusions change in accordance with social priorities and socially accepted metaphors.’ There appears to be a major contradiction currently. The social priorities that have been active for the last few decades are coming to a grinding halt. The Earth can no longer sustain such practices. The climate is affected by these past ‘priorities’, the food we eat is affected, the lack of food available to such a large population, the corporate control of our basic necessities and the laws that are changing to protect their practices and not the people their narrow mindscape is affecting. These social priorities need to change, on a global level, to consider all life forms involved. This brings me to November 30, 1999, the longest day in Seattle’s history. More than seven hundred groups, and between forty thousand and sixty thousand individuals, took part in protests against WTO’s Third Ministerial in Seattle, constituting one of the most disruptive demonstrations in modern history and, at that time, the most prominent expression of a global citizens’ movement resisting what protesters saw as a corporate-driven trade agreement. The demonstrators and activists who took part were not against trade per se. They wanted proof, rather, that trade- at least as WTO envisions it- benefits the poor, the workers, and then environment in developing nations, as well as at home. That proof had yet to be offered, because it could not be offered. Because it does not exist, protesters came to Seattle to hold WTO accountable. Their frustration arose because one side held most of the cards; that side comprised heads of corporations, trade associations, government ministries, most media, stockholders, and WTO... Specifically, the shared activity of hundreds of thousands of nonprofit organizations can be seen as humanity's immune response to toxins like political corruption, economic disease, and ecological degradation (Paul Hawken, Unblessed Rest). There is a great need for social and ecological re-education. A commitment, that if made, will allow us to share our stories with our children, and their children, and their children… Wake up, the time is now.

How Can 'Ecosystems be Both Strong and Fragile?'

One quadrillion cells make up a human being, and 90 percent of them are bacteria, fungi, yeasts, and other microbes, without which we could not survive. Therein lies a paradox: what makes us fully human is, well, not human. Within our body is the back-story of the earth four billion years ago, the molecular chains, elemental compounds, simple bacteria, and salty fluids that wash our eyes and surround our cells, forming a compendium of life that has preceded us. We have always been a work in progress, a cumulative animal, a chimeric fusion of different organisms from the beginning of life “bound together by the elastic string of time”.

Paul Hawken, Blessed Unrest

There is no separation. Ecosystems are both strong and fragile. 'They' can endure a great deal, but when there is an imbalance change will take place. The only constant in life is change.

Thoughts on the 'Eight-Point Ecology Platform'

1) The well-being and flourishing of human and nonhuman life on Earth have value in themselves. These values are independent of the usefulness of the nonhuman world for human purposes.

I definitely agree with this statement. The need to try to control nature has been an act that has shifted the planet’s energy way out of balance, and as the yin-yang symbol shows, there is always the seed within, and no pure static state of excess. This is why we are seeing more frequent devastating weather patterns. Why fields that have been planted as a mono-crops and constantly sprayed with chemicals are unable to produce. The soil is depleted. The natural balance has been disturbed.

2) Richness and diversity of life forms contribute to the realization of these values and are also values in themselves.

The inherent energy of all life forms, down to the cellular level, should be respected and honored. The energetic value given to life is not one that should be set by multinational corporations. It follows a natural flow and when that is disrupted and becomes one based on greed for few and not the common-good for all it will be followed by disturbances until the common rhythms of nature are honored and considered.

3) Humans have no right to reduce this richness and diversity except to satisfy vital needs.

‘Vital needs’ is not a relative statement. It is not dependent on the value system set by a few corporations. All actions should be considered as to the effects and their consequences. This brings me to the current standards of the food presented to us as ‘safe’ on our supermarket shelves. There is no labeling to let the public know what they are ingesting, and this was decided by a corporation that manipulated their power to make sure that we are not made aware of any of the GMO foods we are consuming.

4) Present human interference with the nonhuman world is excessive, and the situation is rapidly worsening.

There needs to be significant shifts towards localization and a stop put towards interfering with nature’s rhythms. A large vortex revolves around food. How it’s grown, where it’s grown, how it’s manipulated genetically, the list goes on. Those responsible need to be held accountable for their actions and disregard for the environment. It is not a separate entity. Our environment is a reflection of us and we of it, it is even difficult to explain with language that feels so ‘Cartesian’ at times. There is no separation. ‘We’ are our environment and we are a direct reflection of what is currently happening in our environment.

5) The flourishing of human life and cultures is compatible with a substantial decrease of the human population. The flourishing of nonhuman life requires such a decrease.

This is a difficult one for us to chew on, but it is happening naturally with all of the current ‘catastrophes’. Mass floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, droughts, earthquakes, reflect just a few of the current shifts that are showing us that our actions are out of balance. Change needs to happen; whether it’s by our own choices or those of natural environmental reactions.

6) Policies must therefore be changed. The changes in policies affect basic economic, technological structures. The resulting state of affairs will be deeply different from the present.

Corporations need to be held accountable for any environmental pollution and any effects their business may have on the local inhabitants and ecology. In fact, instead of just assigning a monetary value to their punishment they should have to make sure that nothing they do effects the environment negatively or they should not be allowed to operate.

7) The ideological change is mainly that of appreciating life quality (dwelling in situation of inherent worth) rather than adhering to an increasingly higher standard of living. There will be a profound awareness of the difference between big and great.

I feel that when life is truly honored and appreciated it shifts much in the way of dis-ease and brings it more towards a point of balance. The illusionary goals that are set by societies give false impressions as to what is ‘big’ versus what is great. If the majority of folks really questioned their actions and shifted their goals, it would bring about the necessary alterations towards a more sustainable future. It is mentioned in the Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight by Thom Hartmann, that with enough people engaging their energies towards a more balanced state it will have an effect on the world as we know it.

8) Those who subscribe to the foregoing points have an obligation directly or indirectly to participate in the attempt to implement the necessary changes.

A quote that I cannot state verbatim, but along these lines… ‘If you think you are too small to make a difference consider that pesky mosquito”… There are differences you can make, and if the fluttering of a butterfly’s wings can have an effect across the globe so can a choice you make to fall back into nature’s rhythms.