How You Can Help the Human Species Survive AND Feel Great

Evolution is not just for the insects: Humans are also capable of a revolutionary change for species survival!

We as individuals of the human race need to take some responsibility for our own personal health.

For some, this task seems daunting, however, with these handy-dandy illustrations, each reader will have the tools necessary to rectify personal suffering and instate a clean bill of health in today’s distracted world. Give yourself a quick ten minutes to change your life.

Results guaranteed.

Let’s begin: what do butterflies and humans have in common? In this particular case, the relationship between the two is too good to flutter by! The blue moon butterflies (Hypolimnas bolina) from the Samoan island of Savaii captured a few headlines during the month of July for its ability to adapt to the Wolbachia bacteria. Wolbachia threatened the reproductive livelihood of the blue moon butterflies, and these winged insects were facing extinction. However, according to scientific sources, the butterfly community was able to combat the ill-effects of the Wolbachia bacteria through genetic modifications, and, in the short span of five years, prevent its population from dire consequences. What is there to learn from this?

Well, whether or not this was a conscious decision on the part of the butterflies is anyone’s guess. However, a wealth of research indicates that humans can think for themselves. Despite this widely publicized fact, health information that seems obvious for some humans may not fall upon the conscious radar for all. This article is an opportunity for humans from all walks of life to reexamine what we each can do within the neat confines of our daily routine. The fuels of best intentions easily power this seemingly formidable task.

The human organism is facing a similar set of circumstances as our blue moon butterfly friends. Our nemesis is not the Wolbachia bacteria, au contraire my friends, our adversary is ourselves. Allow me explain: an entourage of opportunistic pathogenic factors can take advantage of our bodies when our immune defenses are down; the best indicating agents are: Staphylococcus and Streptococcus. Staphylococcus causes skin eruptions, like acne and festering wounds; streptococcus causes the infamous sore throat. What you might find surprising is that these bacteria normally coexist with us and inhabit the surfaces of our skin and mucus membranes, and only act in disparaging ways when our immunity is weakened. Our immunity can be weakened by a number of factors, however the number one reason is personal neglect. Yes, the true culprit for our health misfortunes is directly linked to poor decision-making skills as a human population! We must exercise our brains: common sense lies at the root of this small, but revolutionary movement in health care.

What can you do, you ask?

Make a commitment to reprioritize your day, where your needs and health are what is most important, and the pesky “need-to-do” items come next. It’s simple and it’s effective, and not only that, you will find that you have more than enough time to get the other things done, and save a little cash in the process. Compassion and patience for yourself is the key to success, small steps are best, and most significantly, don’t be hard o yourself as you begin the process of change. Always remember that there is no timeline, rather this is a process, an evolution of who you are and what you wish to become.

Here is the basic run-downon how to achieve optimum health:

If you have a total of 24 hours in a day, you can subdivide it accordingly, where the most important item occurs first, followed by the next important, and so on…. The first priority is sleep, then mealtimes averaging about an hour per meal for preparation and eating. Next comes “self time” and this is defined as anything that makes you feel whole. This could include reading, exercising, artwork, or chatting with friends. In essence, this period of time is what restores you as an individual human being, not a human doing. Lastly, the category “responsibilities” appears, and this includes job oriented items, the “need to-dos” to make ends meet financially and to meet your basic needs.

1. Unsure of how you actually spend your day? Take mental note; even write what you do throughout your day down into a journal, you will be surprised even after just one day! Despite that fact that we seem to be organized around time, we tend to be a very unproductive with allocating time for ourselves in order to truly take care of our bodies.
2. Slow down. Imagine a sloth doing Tai Chi, silly isn’t it. Now picture yourself moving throughout your day, do you find yourself unable to take a few minutes to simply sit and enjoy being human? Do you take the time to fully chew your food? Your breath is a great way to monitor this, where holding your breath denotes stress, and breathing deeply indicates relaxation. A higher awareness means less room for stress, more room for rest. The ability to move slowly means an awareness of self in your environment.
3. Eat well. Practice basic nutrition. Balanced eating is key, and doesn’t take rocket science to figure out, however adapting to a basic dietary regime may be difficult if you come from the boxed food generation. Start small and try to incorporate one vegetable and one fruit a day into your mealtimes. Your progress will start small but the ripple effect over time is extraordinary.
4. Sleep restfully. Sleeping is the time when the body repairs itself. Having trouble falling asleep? Try counting sheep. Or, for better results, practice taking 100 deep mindful belly breaths when you lie down for bed. This goes back to slowing down, refer to numero two.
5. Responsibilities? Yes, these details must be attended to, however, you can keep these in perspective. Remember, and there’s no need to be pushy, your health and wellbeing take priority. If this area does not allow room for numbers 2-4 listed above, an assessment of your life may need to take place.
6. Your quality of life is entirely up to you, and as you begin to reorganize, and maybe even encourage others to do the same, you’ll recognize a difference in your overall health.

Imagine what our world would be like if we all became mindful of these four basic areas in our life, and truly begin the process of reprioritizing. The obvious becomes most apparent: less stress, more patience and compassion for ourselves, and this in turn, means a healthy community at large. By assuming responsibility for our health, we can all help to alleviate personal suffering, reduce the economic hardships of health care costs, and harness a true potential for humans to coexist with even the most pesky of pathogenic agents. However, in order to successfully harness this uprising in health care, we each need to understand how we can easily ride the waves of change: by changing ourselves.

Be honest with yourself: what can you do to change your health?