Natural Living Tips

After a while certian phrases are repeated so often that they tend to lose their original intent.  Natural living could be one of these as the phrase begins to be used in political arguments or in existencial conversations.

In the first case it reflects a stand, an ideological stand, where many times anything and everything that doesn’t fit into the speaker’s view is categorized as unnatural.  Everything, and many times illogically, that is used as an argument from this point of view, will be presented as Natural Living.

In the second case, revolving around our existence, it is adds a touch of glamour to our conversations.  When taken to extremes the fine line between conviction and fanatiscm gets lost.

The risk in both cases is that it devalues the concept and limits any type of real dialogue - the type that allows the participants to learn and grow.

As I say in the title, “Natural Living is Healthy Living” is a statement that this morning made sense to me. It implies balancing our actions, our emotions, our food and the environment. The important word being “balance”.

We cannot stop progress nor should we want to. But we can administer and manage our resources so that quality of life includes health and nature.

In our typical Western view of life we tend to equate “health” with not feeling bad, while in fact it should be more than that. It should include all aspects of being human, the psychological, the spiritual, the physical, our relationships, our mission and everything that makes up our life and balanced in such a way that “health” is feeling good so we can pursue our own personal mission.

Natural living means living in concert with others, even if we cannot see them and do not know them.  If we waste resources, somewhere, sometime, somebody  will have to go without. And it could easily be you or me, or him or her.

Little by little the “them” and “us” mentality is changing.

Them can easily be us as well, so do onto others as you would have them do unto you.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

If you ask a hundred people what natural living is you will probably get a hundred variations on what it is. My point here is simpler and not necessarily living next to nature or just eating fresh food or even applying eco-friendly energy savings. It can be all of these but for this post the point is:
- Natural versus normal.

Natural come from nature and normal comes from norm. Many things can be both normal and natural but not everything that becomes normal practice is natural.

So natural living would be relating to life style and quality of life (versus quantity of life), from the point of vies of that which allows you to reach the end of your days and be able to state “I have done my best and it was good”.

Another way of looking at this is if you wrote your own obituary and looked at what your family could say, what your children, your spouse, your work collegues and anyone who with whom you had contact at any time could say about you.

And the best answer would be that you touched their lives and that left them being better for it.

This has certain implications such as making you a better person, thinking of others but finding and living for your mission in life.

It would mean natural relationships, making a practice of respecting and taking care of the little things in life - all the resources that are available, balancing your life.

This balancing would have to include the spiritual, the physical and the psicological. Your emotions, your actions, your work ethic.

In the final analysis leaving the world, and this definately includes nature and the ecology, other people, better for having passed through this life.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Natural living has a nice ring to it. There are many organizations, businesses, web sites, articles and people that are into natural living or natural health in one way or another.

There are also many ways of practicing it.

1. Nutrition: Consuming it; Producing it
2. Health: Alternative medicine; Herbs; Antioxidants; in natural form or supplements
3. Environment: Eco- consciousness; Active participation; Recycling; Reducing waste
4. Energy sources: Solar; Wind
5. Lifestyle: Family; Consumer
6. Sharing, writing, working, filming, talking.

There are many ways of looking at natural living depending on the degree of involvement, participation and even creativity.

The interesting thing is that it is a fact of life today because people are aware of it; there is a positive attitude towards nature and our relationship with it; it is an emotionally charged subject; there is fear of “nature’s revenge” if we continue the way we do.

At the same time we have to accept that synthetic development (to coin a phrase) has brought material quality of life and is an economic consideration in our society.

Having said all that, what do we mean by “natural” and by “living”?

• Natural: “free from artificiality;” “in accordance with nature;” “relating to or concerning nature;” “functioning or occurring in a normal way;” “existing in or produced by nature;” “not artificial or imitation”; “being unprocessed or manufactured using only simple or minimal processes;”
• Living: “pursue a positive and satisfying existence;” “the experience of being alive;” “the course of human events and activities;” “condition of living or staying alive;” “inhabit or live in;” “be an inhabitant of;” “lead a certain kind of life;” “live in a certain style;” “in its natural state and place (not mined or quarried);” “still in existence;”

Natural living would have to take into account these definitions, but above all it must come under the umbrella of “Harmony” and “Balance”.

So after all that, how does natural living sound with this definition?

“Pursuing a positive and satisfying existence, in a style that respects and seeks to achieve harmony and balance with nature, ourselves, and the future”.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

The term Eco-conscious has become quite popular now. And so there is a growing risk that it will be misused and become another marketing success.

There should be no problem with an ethical use of the term “Eco-conscious” but the probabilities are that many non-green products will try to benefit from it. In other words it can be used to manipulate people into buying things under false pretenses.

There is a growing awareness that we have to start changing the way we treat ourselves and the environment.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with material things, at the end of the day they are developed, produced and used to make our lives better. The point is that they are all tools to be used for something, and not an end in itself.

Some natural resources are non-renewable, but we keep on wasting them as if tomorrow never comes. The waste and disposal attitude of our society complicates matters and is usually based on cost, profit and comfort levels.

Attitudes are difficult thing to change, but they do. Sometimes what is needed is a crisis to force the change. But the best way of changing attitudes is to open our minds and break away from reacting in the form of habits.

A natural life is possible once we change our attitudes.

If you look back forty or fifty years ago, the ordinary household did not have all the conveniences we have today, and the idea is not to turn back the clock, but perhaps we can learn form them.

Fifty years ago the term Eco-conscious, or green, hadn’t been coined, but in general terms (there are always exceptions to every rule) life was lived in greater balance with nature, basically because there weren’t as many options as today.

Old clothes were reused as cleaning cloths instead of paper towels. When cold, people put on another layer of clothing. The house was lit at night with the right amount of light, and bulbs were turned off when not needed.

The food was fresh and varied. Cooking was an event in itself and mealtimes were family times with less stress and more bonding opportunities. This had the added benefit of strengthening the family and providing a healthy environment - which has now been shown to reduce health issues, such as heart disease and so on.

If you look at some of the benefits of eating healthy and varied food, companionship, family relations and community spirit, you may notice that the levels of diabetes, heart disease and stress, was much lower than today.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!