speaking the light

This Thanksgiving, I'm overwhelmed with gratitude for plants. For all the bright green leaves that teach me to gather the light, and now the gold and red ones dancing to the ground, teaching me the ways of graceful surrender. I'm grateful for Young Living, and the opportunity to recieve nourishment from so many plants from all around the world. I'm grateful for this business, too, with its organic growth structure that invests us all in one another's success.

And I'm also grateful for the FDA regulations that govern the things I'm allowed to say about these products.

Which is surprising, since those regulations are the main reason I didn't start selling essential oils years ago. Using plants to take charge of my own health has drastically improved my life, and I wanted the freedom to tell my story with honesty and integrity.

But freedom of speech doesn't do much good if you never get around to writing out your story. So I decided to take the plunge, carve out a space to say the things that I can legally say, and let go of the rest. After all, I wasn't saying them anyway! Besides, if we had to play convoluted word games, as a poet I ought to welcome the challenge, right?

As it turns out, though, it's much more than just words. (Words always are, aren't they?)

The FDA guidelines are pushing me to think in terms of maintaining health rather than avoiding sickness. By keeping the focus on wellness and nutritional support rather than disease, I am learning to bless the light when I might otherwise be inclined to curse the darkness.

It's kinda sorta changing my life.

Sometimes sickness calls for drastic measures, and at those times, there is no substitute for a personal relationship with a qualified professional.

But just as self-care makes a poor substitute when professional medical care is needed, even the best medical care cannot replace intelligent self-care. All day, every day, we are taking things into our bodies: through our mouths, yes, but also through our lungs and our skin. Doctors can advise and prescribe, but they can't possibly take responsibility for managing all the things that we are constantly putting into our bodies. Nor do they want to. The better we do our job of self-care, the better they can do their job of specialized medical care.

Self-care isn't about fixing disease. It's about pursuing, supporting, and maintaining health. It isn't about fear, but about gratitude and nourishment.

So I'm grateful that these rules are teaching me to seek and speak the light.