What started out as a simple matter of me losing a bit of weight is turning into something else entirely. Of course, the original objective is still the framework on which everything else hangs but I am no longer sure that it is the main one anymore.
What this whole journey confirms for me is that everything is connected. The health of our bodies depends on how we take care of them; this includes what we eat and how we make the effort to get our bodies moving. Our bodies, having evolved from ancient times when we were still hunter/gatherers, are used to moving and need to move in order to stay strong. This equates to exercise.
What we eat depends on food produced by other people. The next thing we have to look at and question is 'what is in and on the food we eat?' How is the food we eat produced? How is it modified? Is it grown in such a way that does not harm the environment? In a way that is sustainable? Are chemicals used? Are poisons used?
Another aspect of health relates to the contact we have with our environment. Does our environment contain poisons or chemicals that can harm us or our children? We cannot keep ourselves healthy if we live in an environment that is polluted or we eat food grown in chemicals and poisons.
The final aspect of health is related to our relationship to all life (including fellow human beings). We, as humans have the intelligience to search out the unseen. With a little effort we are able to see the 'invisible' threads that connect privilege to suffering, economic wealth to ecological damage, greed to disaster. Without making these connections we close our hearts; if we close our hearts, we are no longer human.
Everything that happens in the world comes back to the individual. We are all responsible.
Diana Elsmere
