(January 25, 2022 — A reflection on well-being within the ongoing challenges of our times.)
We have forgotten.
We once seemed to know the importance of social determinants of health (food security, shelter security, loving human connections and community, access to quality education and quality healthcare). At one point we recognized that poverty and ACEs (Adverse Childhood Events) were directly related to poorer health outcomes. Intuitively we knew that polluted air, soil, and water were unhealthy. Even if we were unable to articulate it, many of us have sensed a reverence for all of life — appreciating the intricately complex, intertwined, and dynamic web of living relationships. With love and awe, we have celebrated, cared for, and grieved with each other throughout the distinctive developmental stages across our lifespans.
We were moved by the sheer beauty of life — the miracle and amazement of it all! In both a mystical and very real sense, each of us is a unique constellation of molecules and energy flow that grows and changes throughout our lifespan. We do so in dynamic relationship with our environment and with other “unique-constellations-of-life-flow.”
But now it seems we have forgotten….
We have forgotten that babies need to see responsive caring faces, need to hear, touch, smell, and taste their environment for normal development and growth. We have forgotten that we all need these things in different ways throughout of our lifespans — even though our accumulated learning, abilities, and how we engage varies at different stages of life.
We have forgotten that our amazing immune systems are dynamically and intricately interwoven with our inner and outer environments to keep us alive and in healthy relationship with our worlds. We have forgotten that a baby’s immune system is qualitatively different from a toddler’s, which is different from an adolescent’s, which is different from a young adult’s, which is different in pregnancy, which is different from other stages of adulthood. We have forgotten that sunshine, moving our bodies, eating together (with gratitude and awareness), laughing, singing, longing, and storytelling together all directly support our health.
We have forgotten that the many assaults on our immune systems include not only mutated viruses, antibiotic-resistant bacteria, parasites and other organisms, but also toxins, pollutants, fear, hatred, suspicion, and social isolation. We have forgotten our emotions affect our immune systems. We have forgotten that depression, despair, isolation, and loneliness are deadening or even deadly.
We have forgotten what history and research teaches us on a social level: that de-individuation, de-humanization, diffusion of responsibility, anonymity, and uncritical compliance with group think or authority not only tear at social cohesion but also lead to fundamental betrayal of our values and have justified unspeakable atrocities in our collective human history.
We have forgotten the fundamental importance of connection – to our senses (below the anxiety and exhaustion), to our deep heart, to what we hold sacred, to the people and places we love (and maybe even those we don’t!), and to the worlds around and within us.
It is time to remember.
Here and now.
One breath at a time.
One step at a time.
One tentative connection at a time.
Present.
Now.