Get Your Hands Dirty

Go get dirty, your mother isn’t watching. Though, that being said, clean up after yourself anyway, she shouldn’t have to be there to make you do so.

But seriously, we need to stop with this sterile idea of what it means to be healthy, it’s killing us. We’ve totally disconnected from nature, separating the wild outdoors from the clean indoors, and somehow believed our own bullshit that the indoors are healthier.

Not by a country mile. It’s not even particularly debatable once you look into the science of it. The microbiome is starting to get its fair shake, and get duly recognized for it’s rightful place at the helm of your immune system.

The food we eat is finally getting enough credit for it’s impact on our gut health, and thus overall health. An often overlooked and underappreciated aspect of building your microbiome is direct contact with your environment. Get your hands dirty, dig in the soil, walk around barefoot, get muddy, just go have fun. Ever wonder why spending time in nature’s cathedrals; whether they be beach, forest, mountains, waterfalls or lakes, is regarded as healing the soul?!

Well, we are finally getting to a point in science that we can show the positive impact of these marvels… and it’s nothing short of that… a natural marvel. It would seem that the earth has the ability to heal, both itself and us (as a part of it).

Of course we’ve always known this, we’ve just somehow forgotten it, taught and learnt that it’s not the case. Thankfully it’s coming back around. Nature can be your healer, in fact it can’t really be anything else.

Now, take that information that you have and bring it home. Make your own little healing center right outside your door. It really isn’t that hard. You don’t have to worry about geometric shapes or sacred buildings, though those have their place. No, you can start small, simple, pragmatic and practical. Just go get your hands dirty. If you care about your food, grow some. Grow something fun, grow something expensive. You’ll find that you get more value just by being part of the growing cycle, but also… that the damn food tastes better. And, by growing something that costs a fortune in the supermarket, you’ll get a sense of empowerment, a sense of accomplishment. Start small. You’ll be amazed how a few strawberries, a salad of funky heirloom tomatoes, or a bunch of rainbow carrots can inspire you and motivate your hands to get just a little dirtier.

Once you get going, you just won’t stop. It’s in your genes. 10,000 years of growing food. That’s what you’ve inherited. The epigenetics of one generation has not caused a total amnesia in those cells. That information is there, and it’s dying to be expressed.

So go, your mom ain’t watching, go get dirty.