Life!

Our heart is a central element, both energetically and physically, that must be kept healthy and functioning in order for all the other systems to operate.

Within western society today, heart disease is the major cause of death, however, this is fast being challenged by diabetes. Both these illness’s have a common basis in the foods that we consume and the stress of our lifestyle on our body systems.

In order to maintain a healthy heart we need to exercise regularly, eat wholefoods and reduce stress levels. Sounds easy however with the availability of processed and packaged foods, sedentary and stressful work environments and lack of connection to nature and the outdoors the western world is struggling with ill health. Time poor people, food saturated with trans fats and indoor entertainment are the accepted way of existing. This combination is killing us and separating us from our life source.

Energetically the heart is how we express love, it lets us feel the joy of our existence and connection to the greater power and gifts of the universe and takes us on the fulfilling life journey that we are meant to experience. “Follow your heart” is a popular saying but how can someone do this if their heart is energetically closed or physically clogged with fats, nicotine and chemicals.

We have a generation who think that a home cooked meal is a pre-packaged frozen meal that is microwaved. City children have little connection between the milk in the carton in the fridge and the pictures they see of cows in the paddock! The separation between humans and nature is palpable.

This is the heart of the matter, as we separate from the natural elements and food source we become energetically and physically sicker.

We have people and organisations that are committed to teaching about organic foods, farmers markets are growing in numbers, cooking schools that teach both children and adults about making food from raw ingredients. It’s a bit like David and Goliath — alternate medicine advocates facing the medical associations, farmers markets facing the supermarkets who in Australia control 80% of our food! and advocates like Jamie Oliver and the boutique cooking schools facing the fast food chains such as McDonalds and KFC.

I believe that there is room for change and that the western world will come back from the abyss and open their hearts to health and the joy of life. The easy path is making a personal choice for both physical and environmental sustainability, the hard way is by having the choice forced on us by ignoring what we are creating in our bodies, environment and economy.

We are living in interesting and changing times and we are being forced to look at what we are creating in our environment. Whilst the scientist STILL debate global warming, here in Australia parts of the country are experiencing yet another year of “once in 100 year” floods (they happened last year too!). These events, whilst devastating on a humanitarian basis, create changes in peoples value systems and a chance to re-evaluate what is important in life. They open the hearts of the nation as people express compassion and become involved in community.

It’s a shame that it takes adversity in health and environmental issues to open our hearts and create the opportunity for “reality checks” like changing our diets to include more unprocessed foods or re-evaluating what our real needs are, as opposed to an endless list of “wants”.

The heart of the matter is that we need to respect and connect to all that the Earth has to offer.