As I continue to follow my path, take steps toward becoming president, the world evolves around me. What was once impossible (social media) is now a regular communication habit. Deep inadequacies are confronted and healed. As I work internally on becoming, our country continues to show symptoms of disease. As a scientist and a healer, I see our state of being as a collection of symptoms. Gun violence is a symptom of instability, mentally and physically. When our lives are threatened, many react by threatening the lives of others. The division among us is also a symptom of instability. When we do not have our basic human needs being met and our leaders are telling us to blame a particular group, we do. Politicians are like parents in this instance, where their direction is heeded regardless of the outcome. The lack of clean water, clean air and the degradation of our planet is a symptom that we are unattached and unaware of the needs of the planet. We don’t see the value in our planet, which means that we don’t know our own value. We cannot survive without it. These are just a few symptoms, but the point is that when we see the symptoms, we can begin to search out the roots and address them holistically.
When I took a course to learn Ayurveda, the oldest holistic healing system known to man, the teacher broke down disease. We often think of it as something uncurable, a disorder of structure or function according to the dictionary. This teacher made it super simple: dis-ease. Disease is simply dis ease within the body, mind or spirit. The goal of Ayurveda and of the individual then is to find ease, evenness, balance. When we approach disease with this simplicity, we can more clearly see the necessary actions needed to support finding balance.
When I decided to heal my acid reflux disease, I approached it with this method of finding balance. The pills never felt right for me, and honestly I find it an assault when I watch the commercials that show someone popping a heartburn pill and then eating a chili cheese dog. The Chili Cheese dog is the problem, not your body! Anyway, I began to do research on what causes acid reflux and found that red meat was a big cause. So I did an experiment: I cut red meat out of my diet and observed the results. Holy shit it worked! It wasn’t me, it was the meat. Well, it wasn’t just the meat. After cutting meat and feeling much better, I happened upon another cause. In addressing my PTSD, I found a lot of anger and rage stored away which caused many physical responses in my body. As I began to systematically address each of these issues, my digestion improved and I was feeling lighter, more balanced and freer. Of course, there is always balance to be found in an unstable world, so my work continues.
I am a rare bird who loves to learn, grow, heal and lead. I’ve found that by healing my own stuff I can teach others to do the same. And it just so happens that I’ve also studied our systems and their roots. Our country needs healing right now. It needs stability. But until we the people are educated on these systems and how they affect us, we will never start addressing the dis-ease in our country. As long as we can conveniently blame someone else for our problems, it stops us from addressing our contributions. And let’s face it, as humans, we are communal beings. We are meant to live together and learn from one another. If we weren’t, we’d develop in a shell, without the need of shelter, food, or security and come out as full grown warriors.
We need one another. We need one another. We need one another. We are all Americans and we have to solve our toughest issues together. If our leadership is not willing to set aside party politics for the greater good, women (and men) like myself will step forward. Leaders, healers, researchers, humanitarians, teachers, we all just want to help.
I am using my unique experiences and skill set to do everything I can from an Ayurvedic approach, because I want to. I have experienced so many things in my young life and at this point in history, nothing seems more important than addressing our collective good. We have hit a fork in the road. We can face our problems head on and use teamwork to solve them, or we can turn our backs and pretend to be surprised when the world no longer supports our life or the lives of our future generations. It’s a choice we all have to make together.
Now, since I’m all about balance and systematic approaches, I’ve created a curriculum that I’m excited to share with you all! I will be launching it next week. Remember, I’m a teacher, a healer, a scientist. I have taken hundreds of courses on our society, our government, the human body and mind, and everything in between. I am offering my teachings, all of my knowledge and wisdom to my American sisters and brothers for free. I see the urgency. I recognize how important it is for us to 1st see the symptoms before we can address the roots and solve problems. I’m excited to share with you all and cannot wait for the journey to unfold. If you didn’t go to college, if you didn’t have economics or civics class, if you didn’t give a shit before now, join me! Come learn, share and grow. I promise that if we all show up and learn, we can swiftly eradicate the bullshit swirling around in our country and create foundations that are just, equitable and responsible. Knowledge is power my friends and my heart’s greatest desire (besides serving) is to share my power with you all!
Let’s do this!
P.S. I’m thinking about creating a Justice League to join with those other superheroes who are among us, ready to lead. What do you think?