Whenever I go to the western doctor, the nurse asks "what medications do you take?" They always seem very surprised when I answer "none" as if they have never heard that from a 60 something before.
At 64 we should be healthy. At 54 we should be healthy. At 34, at 24, at 14 and at 4, health should be the norm, not the exception. Yet here we are, nearly all of us sick. Sick with SOMETHING.
Conditions we are told are "normal" include: acid reflux, headaches, indigestion, bowel movement irregularities, frequent injuries, sinus congestion, cavities, bad breath, acne, and chronic pain of many types. For these, most of us head to the drug store, choose some expensive toxin for ourselves and hope it relieves the symptom. At this earliest stage of illness, we often mistake symptoms for causes.
Conditions the western doctors admit are more worrisome but still nothing unusual include: a broad range of auto-immune diseases, asthma, ADD, autism, mood disorders, arthritis, osteoporosis, blood pressure irregularities, heart rate irregularities, high cholesterol, sleep disorders, dementia, fibromyalgia, Lyme disease, Epstein Barr etc. For these the doctors say "tut tut take this" and many of us just do so and hope it helps.
And then of course there are the horrible diseases, some of which we are told are rare even though we all know more than one person who has suffered from them or their like: MS, Parkinson's, cancer, and ALS. To treat these illnesses doctors prescribe either their most toxic drugs or nothing at all, and we just hope.
So why am I one of the rare 60-something humans with no medical conditions of any kind?
There are many reasons for this. One is my diet, which the doctors think is voodoo, but you and I know it's not. There is no best diet. Find the one that best suits you.
Another is my lifestyle. I get outside for extended periods everyday. I sing, dance and fool around with a couple of instruments. I write, I learn and I find things to be joyful about regularly. There is always something to be joyful about.
Whenever I do find myself uncomfortable in any way, I treat my symptoms by natural means, which can include homeopathy, diet changes, herbal tinctures and salves, rest if indicated, and careful use of essential oils. Sometimes I just need more sun. If something more serious comes up, such as the flu, I rest, take natural remedies as indicated, drink salted chicken broth, and let my body do the rest. I do not take pharmaceutical medications of any kind, except for aspirin if I am in extreme unrelieved pain, which is very rare.
I avoid toxins as much as possible in my food, my water, my cleaning supplies, my fabrics, my every move.
But then, I've known people who do all of these things, along with their vision boards and self-help books, and still contract some horrible disease. What sets me apart from them?
This is the question I have been mulling over for nearly two weeks now. I think the answer came to me just yesterday, and all I had to do to have my little epiphany was to step outside my back door.
I have a pot of swamp milkweed on my deck. I found five monarch caterpillars on it, ravenously eating the milkweed. The next day they were gone. Interestingly, the milkweed, while nearly defoliated, would surely live to flower. Those ravenous caterpillars were careful not to destroy their ecosystem.
On this day I understood that the earth and all her creatures have the power to heal themselves.
Yes, positive thinking, exercise, good food, and natural remedies as necessary (less is more!), are all part of health. But I think listening to the earth turn and the caterpillars eat and the trees talk is even more important. This leads me to the simplest of understandings.
I consider the body to be healthy even when it is sick. I trust my body to make its best effort to heal itself. I know that it will send me messages in the form of symptoms if it needs my help, and guide me to what that help should be.
The Earth does the same.
This is my entry to 
For more on the milkweed: https://steempeak.com/wednesdaywalk/@owasco/wednesday-walk-without-butterflies
Thanks for reading! See you on the flip side!
