we are star stuff
a new perspective
variety is the spice of life. as we age, it’s easy to let certain constants fall to the back-burner as we face the onslaught of uncertainty that life offers us. some of these constants are as simple as having awareness of the way you sit down or carry your groceries. others of these may be a bit more complex, like our approach to new political ideas. somewhere in between these poles, we get use to our perspectives on wellness and we go on autopilot as we travel our avenues for health care. there is room for both reactive and preventative medicines, eastern and western disciplines— you just have to be willing to find the space, and offer yourself the grace to explore something slightly outside of your typical path.
we are elemental
in ayurveda, the whole of the cosmos is made up of just five elements. in an alternative story of creation, space began to move and created air, that air moved so much that it combusted into fire, the fire cooled and thawed into water, and the water solidified into the earth and planets. these elements can be found in all matter (organic and not) and are qualities in all things tangible (or not).
this perspective offers us an opportunity to simplify the way we see the world and our interactions with it. imbalances can be viewed through this elemental lens and the steps that we take to resolve them can be pared down based on simple understandings of ether, air, water, fire, and earth.
if you’re dealing with insomnia, you could notice the etheric/airy quality disturbing your sleep— so something that invigorates these elements in your body will probably not be of much help. as the saying goes— like increases like, opposites balance. on the contrary, if you’re sleeping a ton and having a hard time getting up in the morning, looking for comfort in more earthy-quality behaviors will most likely exacerbate the issue.
what does this mean
before we get big sick, or body sends little warning signals towards us. unexpected freak accidents aside, it’s uncommon to wake up one day with cancer having had no other red flags (such as systemic dysfunction, lethargy, pain, constipation, inflammatory responses). it’s in these small memos that we can begin to take preventative steps in our wellness and longevity— allopathic medicine reacts to the instance of disease, ayurveda (and similar disciplines) acts as “quality control” daily to keep your human system in balance in order to keep any progression of disease from happening.
i circle back to my earlier statement about there being space for both. you can’t make a painting if you don’t have paint or you don’t have a canvas— when you are ill you see the proper medical professional, but how episodic is that. the point i’d like to wrap up with is this: when you’re not urgently seeking care for an unavoidable ailment, what are you doing to keep yourself healthy and through what lens are you looking through.
