Taking care of oneself, as a youth of the industrial age, is a complexing matter to be dealt with. When my dead grandfather was my age, he would have been outside every day as much as possible, in times long before the internet distractions, climbing trees, chasing his brothers through the sticks where a herd of deer or caribou may share in pace, swimming in pristine lakes not yet polluted by petro-chemicals, foraging for blueberries, drinking from the springs, and getting the diry not only under his nails but his entire body. In summa, just two generations ago, we did not nourish this fear of the natural world, of everything being dangerous, or harboring a sedentary life indoors with controlled climates, appliances, and satellite tvs to theive us of our precious life. Only two generations ago, we did not distinguish between ‘outside’ as if it were some vacational experience only for special occasions, the pinelands were our church where we went to pay respect, the birds and the animals were our entertainment as we observed their behaviors and our mutual sameness, the brooks and rivers were our baths, and we took them as often or as little as we wished. Now it seems, we must make appointments to ‘go to nature’, or take a walk in the mountain, as humans are living vicariously through tv personalities doing what we only wished we could do, but instead placate ourselves to be spectators, or observe the wilderness only through nature documentaries, and find our adrenaline boosts in extreme sport matches at the bar.
I am happy to have put my roots in the North of Kanada, and almost half of my life has been spent there, the first imprinting 7 years being especially important. I grew up in mining towns, hunting and fishing villages, small indiginous settlements, and far in the remote bush in populations of 10 families, where there were more bears than humans. Then by no virtue, I was indoctrinate into the ‘good system’ like everyone else, forced to go to institutional schools, church, and the like, and when I became a stubborn teenager learned to question authority and think for myself. I think this is when I looked back on my tracks, and decided I did take that wrong turn at Albuquerque, and ended up somewhere between enslavement city, and depression ally, because I lost my touch. I
have spent the last decade ‘learning’ the ways of my ancestors, indeed, but I don’t think we truly learn these things, instead and with more perspicacity, I can say I have spent this last decade, and especially the last 6 years living on my own, unlearning, and rewilding of the self that I forgot somewhere on the trail. We have been conditioned, domesticated, endoctrined, governed, controlled, regimented, subjugated, dictated, branded, misdirected, and disillusioned that we have forgotten so much the way of our species. The way I think of this process of revitalizing our primal self is beautifully articulated by an elder who I close to my heart.
“I’m just a human being trying to make it in a world that is very rapidly losing its understanding of being human.” John Trudell
We all are looking for answers, the scientists are looking for what’s inside their smashed atoms, the botanists are looking for new species of orchids, spiritualists are looking for new methods of healing and enlightenment, and junkies are looking for a new fix, but hardly anyone is taking a look at the scenery we have traversed and saying ‘what if our elders actually had something going here, and maybe we should try to honor the life they kept for years of tradition to pass on to us’, and not feed our beings with these filtered down replacements of reality. Gmo foods ruin our health, social media waters down authentic relationships, office buildings and apartment flats block us from natural sunlight and environmental change 24 hours a day, universities teach us conform and delimit the endless range of knowledge we can have towards gruellingly pursuing a degree to earn a pretentious piece of paper, factories give us our cages, and repress the movements of our bodies to the same repetive tasks, and now we can go anywhere without effort, on trains, planes or emission burning cars. Yet we don’t even visit our neighbour, because we do not have ‘time’.
Some of the ways I personally have re:wilded my self, gone ‘back to the primitive’ and fused with an even more natural lifestyle beyond my nomadic travels and something anyone reading this could take to heart would be;
reading the ingredients list: what you put in your body is going to govern how you live and function, I see this as just plain obvious, and usually if there is an ingredient I can barely pronounce or if a can of beets or a carton of cream contains more than just that, one ingredient, there is something wrong, preservatives, gums, and thickeners have been added, vitamins have been taken away add replaced, flavors and colors have been mixed in, and massive amounts of monsanto sugar and modified corn has replaced the natural tastes, textures, and properties of the food.
sleeping with the window open: even in winter, this is important. many people crank up their heat in the winter or run the central air in the summer and then complain about high bills. If you have insulated your house properly, without that fiberglass toxic garbage, your house will regulate it’s own temperature and you should learn to live in the fluctuation of temperatures. having the window open gets ventilation and airflow. sleep nude under heavy covers instead of having several layers on and keep the window open, don’t sufficate yourself with shallow breathing during your sleep cycles, the ideal temp. would be 58, that’s F. for the Americans.
be naked: whether you need to drive out of your city cage or confine it to being in your own home, take your clothes off once in a while, let you skin breathe, and the natural airs clean and bathe you. If there is a special trail you can go to far from the public, then give yourself permission to go there and hike naked, you will see how much more mobility, vitality, wakefulness and vigor you will have, than being bogged down by clothing. Being nude in the house or outside will also have profound affects on the way you experience your surroundings, and the libidinal energy of your body.
spend more time around young people: I have a brother, and I am 15 years his elder. I see his behavioral traits unfolding in ways not observed in common domestic and civilized society. Youth at this age, I would say 12 and under are so influential, innocent, and relatively unbiased and unconditioned. They still have those pure instincts and feral mindsets inherit from birth, unless they have been rigidly controlled by some other authority. One can really bring their mood up by spending more time around them and going along with their inspired ideas. Let yourself be moved by them, and just play with life for awhile.
music therapy: give yourself time to really choose your music, this is something I have always done, but I see it being ignored, as music becomes a background for multitasking and working. Spend more time truly involving yourself with music, or playing your own, singing (not to the radio), and truly immersing yourself in this universal language.
stop planning ahead so much: just let life live you. I picked this up profoundly while travelling through scandinavia and mexico, when you stop the monkey mind of always having constant control over the future, your fate will be able to be lived in a more organic way. this is the realm of instant manifestation, because what you think is what becomes, let your intuition be your guide.
meet real people: meaning stop spending so much time on social media, dating sites, forums, and networking sites, and actually meet the living breathing people. Since I cut out facebook, though I never had the others, I meet people in much more authentic ways, around the fire, in communities, on farms, or in nature as initial contact. So many people hide behind screens and devote their innermost selves to others they will never truly interact with and breed this inner loneliness.
adopt a mythology: so this one has been close to my heart for a decade, but it is important for every man, every woman to adopt their mythology towards life. normal is boring, start seeing the magic in every landscape, implore the depths of mysticism in the creations of art, seek the lineage of your ancestors, learn from the stories of the gods and deities of your locality, and find your footing there.
These are only minimal ways to tune in to your natural self. I have been listening to a podcast entitled Re:wild Your Self by Daniel Vitalis, and it is a true mine of information. Anyone reading this, should go there next.
Do not buy into these myths of advancement, careers, retirement, dating services, progress, domestic comforts, and technologies. The only things that these do to us, is make us lazier, more apathetic, more unhealthy, less willing, less creative, less intelligent, and afraid. Instead, unlearn, rewild, become who you are. Stop letting taboos, and political correctness, and doubt harbour your movements and power in the world. Stop being another cog in the wheel, and connect yourself to the greater chain of being that keeps us evolving, loving, being.
Turn on your true genetic potential, confide in the moment of the felt presence of the immediate experience, find the others, get outside and unlearn, Re:Wild!
:aferalspirit: 