No Seriously, What's Growing On?
What's Up With All The Lost Sensations, Cancer and Amputations?
Dear Ones,
Hi transient mortals! Happy whatever ceremonies you observe. Happy winter resting. Happy endings. Time to rejoice! The blobby blur years are coming to a close. Alas!
This is not a turmeric tea kind of post but more of a bourbon read. If you want light and fluffy, stop reading and go to Nature of My Spirit and 5 Biohacks Lifelines. Consider this a disclaimer.
Winter solstice was peace, rain, and fire. Fire and lightning to illuminate dark steps. Dark stormy seas. Heavy rain welcomed us into the kindness of winter. Rain snuck into earth’s soil deep and dark. Every winter, I scatter wild native Clarkia flower seeds from last year’s crop. My fairy flowers. I can’t wait until spring! Some random soul sent me seeds in the mail and now they continue. Seed sharing makes me happy. For the bees. For the birds. For all.
Some gifts heal parts of us that we did not even know were broken. They come in human and nonhuman form. At the hospital the other day, I ran into a human form of such a gift. She healed us in 120 seconds because she shared a raw sincere memory lesson about her mother’s final moments. Genuine connection heals us. It takes courage to communicate authentically. It is counterculture to feel. Too many lost sensations.
The act of sharing painful stories (even with perfect strangers though she was not that) is instantaneously healing because it is connecting. It permits vulnerability. It makes us feel human. Alive. It bridges us as a species. We need bridging. Bigtime bridging. Where are all the soul engineers at? Visionary minds?
Earth to people.
*Nessa Tip* This holiday season, get up close and personal. If you dare. Without a reactive judge mind. Talk about the good, the bad, and the ugly. Understand the impact listening without reaction has on family dynamics. Ask grandparents to share stories or memory lessons. Have the family record it in some form or not.
THE CLOUDS RAIN PLASTIC NOW
I study natural and unnatural cycles of living growth. Growth of flowers, bacteria, viruses, diseases, and thoughts even. Overgrowth of modern human plagues.
Now we have plastic cycles to contend with. We humans pollute Earth so much that clouds contain microplastic. Did you catch that? It is raining plastic. I bet it is running through the water of our bloodstreams. My heart cracks like a walnut.
We are sick. She is sick. By she I mean Mother Earth. The biggest superorganism around. Respect. Human-constructed plastic pollutants are harmful to all. No one needs a peer-reviewed study to prove that. Just use human sense- not common sense. Human sense.
SIX THINGS TO LEAVE BEHIND IN 2023
(although personal brain health restoration projects are *in process* forever)
Unhealthy Fear - What are we really afraid of and why? I am not afraid of death, are you? I am not afraid of solitude, are you? Healthy fear is adaptive. Unhealthy fear is crippling. Know the effin difference, I say to myself.
Attachments- No more absurdity of unfettered consumerism. Such gluttony. What an omnipresent human addiction. All-around harmful behavior to fill empty rooms, landfills and voids. No more clinging to life outcomes of how I think things should go. Flow through life as it is. Not as I want it to be.
Unworthiness - Delusions of unworthiness live in our shadows. They lurk waiting for inopportune times to show up. Make appointments with your shadows. Fewer surprises that way. Shadows are like Russian nesting dolls. Call off your engagement with self-shame this holiday season.
Blind obedience - Many U.S. norms are harmful. Sorry folks, this statement is not up for debate. I will not follow ways of harmful systems anymore like a hypnotized drone. That approach to human existence is not my jam.
Shrinking - Gone are the days of hiding my true essence and snuffing my own light to fit in a stupid box. Take me as I am. Am I too much? If so, I’m not at the right table. I am not even at the table in the healthcare “industry.”
Settling - Follow your hearts. Be a rebel. Be sincere in a world of insincere distracted minds. Do not follow external validation. Go on now, dears. Find new maps and compasses.
CANCER, CANCER, EVERYWHERE CANCER
I share observations of this wretched condition. Nowadays, cancer springs up in every nook and cranny. Environment matters. Like wildfires. Sometimes it blasts in and snatches life acutely. RIP G.K. Sometimes it festers towards slower deterioration. So many more are suffering from it right now. 20-something-year-olds are dying of metastatic colon cancers. Makes you wonder about powerful forces, eh?
What is this human cell outlaw we call cancer anyway? Cancer is like an invasive species of disturbed human cells. Like parasitic cell takeover of landscape that used to be symbiotic.
In simple terms, it occurs when human cells of our body grow and divide in an uncontrolled manner (as opposed to microbial cells in infections). At the root of cancer is a malfunction in the human cell's DNA. Human cell dysregulation can form tumors that damage healthy tissue and spread vastly. Damaged human tissue breeds infection. Late-stage cancer and infection go hand in hand. I get roped into sad cases.
This cell malfunction principle is similar in autoimmune conditions. Human cells mistake one another for invaders and attack each other. Cell misbehavior in cancer and autoimmune diseases reminds me of human to human attacks. Misconduct on micro and macro scales. Sickness and war everywhere.
STRESS, TRAUMA, AND DYSREGULATION
According to Dr. Gabot Maté, stress and disease are intimately linked. People who repress emotions or who have experienced significant trauma in their lives may be at a higher risk of developing cancer and autoimmune diseases. At this point, that means all humans.
Stress and trauma cause high inflammatory body states making diseases worse. High inflammation is a breeding ground for cell disruption. For Riffraff. Chronic stress and trauma often lead to body disassociation. We abandon our bodies making ripe territory for takeover of a variety of illnesses. Our bodies become shock and stress absorbers.
The upswing of cancer and autoimmune disease is undeniable. We are also in the eye of a limb amputation storm. United States is the world leader in toe, foot, and leg amputations of human bodies. It is hard not to picture hospitals as butcher shops.
I HAVE NIGHTMARES OF FLOATING AMPUTATED FEET
Disfiguring char of American feet in our sugar-doped world. Horror movie worthy. Macabre. Piranha like. I wonder what hospital waste control staff tell their families at the dinner table now? Sorry I’m late, honey, there are hundreds more amputated feet piles for me to dispose of nowadays.
Many Americans are plagued with adult onset Diabetes Mellitus Type II. A high-sugar body ambience. Bacteria love sugar just like humans do. Remember we are more bacteria than human.
If blood is too sugary, bacterial cells take over and devour human tissues with predilections for human feet. If blood is too sugary, then our kidneys, eyes, nerves, gut, circulation, skin, and soft tissues rot and decay. If blood is too sugary, nerve sensation is lost. Infected wounds develop mostly on insensate human feet. A target region.
Bacteria grow deeper and more resistant to antibiotics over time. In Diabetic foot infections, bacterial cells eventually outsmart human cells. Infected wounds lead to amputations and death.
I wish not to smell rotted human flesh ever again, dear readers. I prefer my irises and roses. Come back to your body. Come back to Earth, people.
MODERN SICKNESS
Can we give rise to a healthy society from the throes of our sickness? Public health is in jeopardy. There is much rot. I smell decay in all spaces. The U.S. food industry is poison. We need poison control. Processed food worsens human health outcomes across the board. Wholesome, fresh, natural food is the way to my heart. Click for healthy snack ideas. Why do you think I grow it, eat it, and share it widely? Why do you think I am obsessed with Japan? Time for revolution. Time to protect the holy kingdom of our gut microbiomes.
We are severely malnourished here in the U.S, not just foodwise. Our consumption and attention habits which include social media, substances, and experiences dysregulate us too.
People think there is a miracle pill for absolutely everything. That way of thinking needs repair. There is so much more to health and well-being than a pill. I know many people are addicted to pills. I know many doctors are drug dealers. Something has to give, sapiens. Something has to give now.
It feels like a dystopian nightmare.
To be human is to suffer. We all suffer. Poor brain health has many downstream consequences. As a healer, I seek to find relief for our suffering. The quest had to start with dissections of my own suffering. Dissections reminiscent of anatomy lab.
My search naturally led me to the neuroscience of Buddhist principles. Mindfulness practice itself is a way of life.
Zen Buddism practice aims to help alleviate human suffering. The more I studied the teachings, the more I realized how effective the tools were. The more I practiced dharma, the less I suffered. Mercy!
When we practice mindfulness, we have more insight and clear minds. When we have clear minds, we make healthier choices. This is by human design.
To adapt to our environment, we must attune to it with all our senses.
*Nessa Tip* Any activity can be mindfulness practice. Learn to explore different ways to engage with the physical world around you. For example, when doing dishes or going for a walk, stay in contact with your environment using 5 senses. Try to practice one action a day with awareness of senses during the entire action and then increase over time.
“THROUGH OUR HEARTS”
Thank you Nessa for writing this piece!
This is a moment in dire straits -food, medicine, technology, society....there is so much work to be done and I'm in it with you dear soul sister!
Wow, your writing is a delight to read. There's so much beauty and insight here.