With Thoughts We Create The World

I am still quite the restless soul when it comes to wondering what on earth I really want to do with my life . . .Naturopathy is turning out to be somewhat full of contradictions and is more complicated than I expected, for the simple reason that to avoid all toxins in today's world, one should turn primitive, grow their own produce, raise and kill their own meat, breathe a completely different air and drink an entirely different water.

That’s today's world for you. Is there hope?

I have always been a lover of nature, but the past 5 years or more have represented an eye-opener to today's world in the way of where we are heading. Last year was awesome. I have delved into so much knowledge, and now feel as though I know everything to take on the wrongs of the world, although this, however, cannot be done, considering so many wrongs are brought about by the most powerful people on the planet, also representing but 5% of the entire world’s population. Shocker.

My passion lately, particularly the past year (probably due to being introduced to so much more evidence) is the environment. I am extremely keen to take on a career role that involves working with the environment in some way, whether it be civil construction or land management, much as the sales area I am now involved in, or even simple administration or campaigning/volunteering duties for an ethical organisation, such as the WWF, or The Wilderness Society (for those in Australia). There are so many of them out there.

Which also makes me wonder . . . with the internet at our fingertips, numerous organisations out there putting their efforts in to make change and spread the word, and even the media now throwing the threat of climate change and hidden dangers around us in our faces . . . why are there still so many ignorant, careless people?

I have almost finished an amazing book by David Suzuki . . . simply a collection of his “lifetime of ideas” consisting of numerous small essays published into the one book, summing up a lot of the problems we are facing, and will face, into the one copy. It’s a brilliant read, and I feel so proud to have picked it up from a second-hand market stall for $1. Bless the lady that sold me that book (she also sold me the dalai lamas Key To Happiness, but somehow, that is not on the top of my list of books to read!) In one of the later chapters, he speaks about how our children, and our youth, are part of the power that needs to be – they are to be in control of this world, and they haven’t got the time to waste. They need to be educated properly, but unfortunately, our education systems aren’t all that knowledgeable. Full of gaps and silences, they don’t provide enough detail. And  the kids get bored.
They aren’t feeling threatened  . .. well they should be!

David talks of an amazing Japanese teacher who travels to schools around the country for a programme where she shows the kids that everything in nature is sacred and connected. Once we start diminishing these connections, the power wheel that is known as nature begins to fail, and we will go with it. She taught children to close their eyes and kind of put themselves into an act of visual meditiation, where she gets the children to imagine they are an egg about to hatch, a newborn animal running form predators, scouring for food, flying free through the air or swimming in the chilly waters of a stream.

A lot of it all makes me think . . .hmm, what the shit do I want to do with my life, how can I incorporate my love of nature and dedication to making a difference on this earth, whilst still spreading the word and educating others? Something that will take me somewhere ... . could teaching be the way?

I have always considered being an English/History teacher. I am just that kind of person – yes, you are usually either a “Maths” brain or an “English” brain, and I , being the latter of the two, decided to embark on the challenge of the science-based course of  Natural Medicine a few years ago now. I’m still only halfway through it, and probably get no further due to my doubts, my financial insecurity with it all, and my guilty feeling of hypocrisy, when I am studying a field that recommends organic foods and all things healthy, when I am trying to live frugally on a tight budget and am going for grains and dairy, with the additions of tinned foods here and there to bulk up my meals. Tomorrow night I intend on having baked potatoes filled with fresh tomatoes, tinned beans and probably some diced fried bacon on top. Healthy, but not healthy. It’s like a cross reference. Beans are full of protein and nutrients, but they are canned. Potatoes are a vegetable, but a starchy one full of carbs. Fresh tomatoes are good in each adn every way, except they are acidic, and one’s blood should be alkaline to be of ideal health. Bacon . . . there isn’t much positive about fried bacon bits. Not at all. But it is a cheap meal. And filing.

And makes me feel guilty to think that I am supposed to be on the track of a health lifestyle and promoting it to others  . . . when I struggle to do so myself. How am I supposed to tell people, who are stuggling to keep a roof over their heads, feed their families, work full time then come home to cook and clean and look after the kids, that to live a healthy lifestyle, they need to take drastic actions such as fresh fruit and vegies, often requiring more preparation and therefore time for meals, a decen filter on their tap, which can cost $800 if you don’t wnat fluoride in your water, cut down on your personal care products due to the chemicals present in them, when so many on the market are there they are so hard to find and escape from, and the healthier alternatives are often triple the price . . .all these little things people just find too hard. People don’t want to bother spending more time cooking a meal just because it will bebetter for then. They don’t ahve the money to buy that organic lipstick as opposed to that $10 one from the chemist up the road. All these factors I see in everyday people around me, and it makes me wonder if I am talking to brick walls.

As with the environmental matters. Brick walls.

Children, on the other hand, are more open minded. Their minds are like sponges. And teaching would be a great way to get in there. The issue being, I couldn’t just sit and force feed it down their throats, ignoring all other learning techniques. Even with high school students, you woulnd’t get away with that.

But it could be a start. It could be that little nudge in the door, to spreading the word about what matters most in this world. IT could make a difference.

Do I want to embark on this career?

Maybe. It would me much more convenient then taking on Environmental Science, which holds that nasty science word again. It’s not a generic science, either, something that I could teach to high school students. No ,it’s 3 years of very in-depth, biological, chemistry-related, jargon. IT would be a challenge, as my science-related subjects already have been with this Naturopathy thing happening here, but a positive challenge. And once I’m out of it, wow, the things I know. And the proof I could shove in people’s faces. And when they turn around and say “Bullshit, you just read that on the internet” I can say “No actually I studied it indepth for 3 years at university .  . .” For the time being, I can access basic case studies online. And my “old friend” Dan has been a great source of comfort and knowledge in this regard, proving many things to me that he himself has learned through his studying. It’s getting to be “No, but I have learnt this from a god friend of mine who studied it intensely at university and  has passed on much evidence and knowledge to me for my own use . . .”

For the present time, however, I will continue to work at a challenging, yet stressful job, that is at least in the field I want to be in, that can still get me somewhere now I have the experience and the big words to put on my resume, with some decent references. It’s like a foot in the door.
And then when I get my foot in that door to open it wider, I can embark on a more fulfilling career, that would nicely earn me soem more comfortable money, so I can then get myself out of debt and not have to play a role in the GFC, and start saving aside for some travel time.

My early next year, I do hope, fingers crossed, that I will at least have enough money to get myself out of this country and travelling into Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. There is also Thailand as a possibility, but everyone has been there, which bores me. I know 2 people, both very beautiful, who have done Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. Their climate and landscapes, their history and their temples, all intrigue me. It is a nice start, anyway, into the world of travel which I have so dearly wanted to embark for some time now. When I had the funds, I never had the thoughts in the right place, and now that my thoughts are there, the funds are not. And they dwindle more and more as inconveniences pop up, like my laptop dying right before Christmas, my blender dying just then so no more green smoothies for a while. My amplifier to play my music is still sitting gathering dust, unable to turn on for some reason, wanting to be replaced or repaired, and to help reimburse my sanity with the sound of music. My car needs new brakes, and my rear tyres are hardened. My rego is due next week, and my electricity bill next month. My credit card is out of my wallet in hope that I will refrain from spending it on bits and pieces, mainly food, sadly, and I can get it paid off in a few months, with my lousy $80 a week put towards it.

But then, if I didn;t ahve a credit card, that $80 a week could go toward flights out of here.