HARVESTING AND

PLANT MEDICINE SECTION

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Harvesting and Empowering Health

by J. Garnet

Across the country, millions of people planting, cultivating and harvesting produce are involved in harvesting crops this is one of the best ways to remain healthy in month. Whether the crops are combody, mind and spirit. It is perhaps the best ing from acres of land, a backyard garden or self-help activity that can be done. small pots of herbs on a windowsill, there’s There are countless self-help books, something about harvesting that nurtures classes, seminars, videos and conferences the soul. It’s the reward after weeks and available for people to turn to when the months of nurturing nature. Also, there is desire for change is strong. Over the last nothing much better than eating something six months, millions of people have had freshly picked or right off a tree, vine or hours, days, weeks and months of idle time. pulled from the earth. Losing a job, or being limited as to where

Autumn brings cooler temperatures, one can go, can lead some people to a state a new season and lots of fresh fruits and of extreme boredom, stagnation or lack of vegetables. Living in the Sonoran Desert has motivation to do much of anything. With numerous benefits. One of the biggest advanstay-at-home orders still in effect in many tages of living in the southwest is that there places, being quarantined in one’s house can are multiple growing seasons. Fruits and veglead to some positive things, rather than just etables can be planted and harvested a couple free time not knowing what to do. of times per year. Becoming involved in SA lot of people have found themselves doing some soul searching and evaluation of beliefs, actions and even the meaning of life. Change has taken place for millions of people as they come to realize that there is more to life than just following the same routine for years without any real gain, growth or enlightenment. Perhaps in the future, people will view 2020 as the year of self-empowerment—a time in history when people took stock of what’s really impor tant—and in this worldwide pandemic, health is on the forefront of our mind.

As one of the themes for this month’s issue, self-empowerment is an important topic, vital even, for a healthy lifestyle. Selfempowerment is a process that someone goes through where greater exertion is taken to make positive changes. Sometimes a new skill set will be learned, other times a change in ideology may occur. No matter the means, the end result usually brings about new perspectives, a greater sense of self and focused direction in life. Health, whether it be spiritual, mental or physical, or all three, is usually always improved after a self-help process has been worked through.

There is a difference in feeling selfempowered, however, and actually being self-empowered. Anyone can feel empow ered after attending a high energy lecture or workshop, but unfortunately after the experience, a lot of people slide back into the same old routine and the excitement fizzles. Being self-empowered takes action, it takes making a choice to take charge of one’s life. It’s a difficult process, but one that has countless benefits. Perhaps the first step in taking control of one’s life is to become selfaware. Taking an honest inventory of one’s actions, goals and desires is a necessary step in order to bring about positive change.

People’s stream of consciousness has changed over these weeks and months. The 40 million people out of work don’t have