The things that bring me the most pleasure are those that align me with nature: meditation (silent form), living at nature’s pace, natural medicine (Ayurveda), and serving humanity. My experience is that each path or dimension is a hologram that affects the other dimensions [eg, silent meditation brings inner peace and contentment, thereby living more automatically at nature's pace; more aware of the effect foods (healthful vs junkfood) has on your feelings, emotions, & health, and increased compassion for others].
One of the greatest miracles of the internet is that it integrates all these aspects into my life very easily. By having a home-based business (in my case an ashram-based business) on the internet, it allows for me to live a meditative life, live in nature, and help people globally. Recently, many social entrepreneurs are creating their own miracles online, and some of the newest out-of-the-box ideas have inspired this blog.
Twitter & Social Causes
One of most recent genius, cutting edge ideas is live, Twitter fund raisers for needy causes. Twitter itself is at the forefront of web social networking. The most recent example of Twitter-Philanthropy is Tweet-a-thon. Money is being raised to donate to Water is Life to help create safe drinking water.
It occurred to me that helping people can be a multi-dimensional experience as well – an integrative or holistic philanthropic endeavor by offering natural health prevention & healing education through proper nutrition and herbal use.
There have been studies, books, and movies of case studies that show when people eat fresh, whole grains, fruits & vegetables, they stay healthier and prevent many illnesses. Conversely, eating junk food, being too sedentary, and not doing what you love in life, has produced a generation rife with diabetes, obesity, and countless other diseases that automatically disappear and are preventable, just from making healthier food choices.
When illness does come, herbs can be used to heal conditions that even modern western medicine has no answer for, and usually without adverse side effects.
What makes this all an exciting vision is that it all goes to create an ideal world; it all is pennies on the dollar, & creates community and sustainability. Heres a brief glimpse of how it works.
The Problem:
A community has little or no money, poor eating education habits lead to poor food choices, or lack of food. Junk foods or poor nutrition leads to illness; people are depending on lower quality foods and western medicines that are expensive and cause side effects – if they can afford any of this. Relying on others instead of oneself and one’s community leads to low self-estee, powerlessness, fostering little or no vision of possibilities of what miracles a person can create with their life.
The Solution:
Community-Building, Cost-Saving, Health-Promoting, Life-Affirming
A community is taught natural, organic farming, that includes how to grow more food in smaller spaces, to grow even in drought conditions through proven methods like Jeavon’s biointensive farming method or biodynamics. An organic community garden brings neighbors out and into a social setting that improves community cohesiveness while the cost of eating quality food becomes virtually free.
Studies have shown whole foods improve memory, grades, health, and social skills – think Supersize Me (the movie/book) or the book Food & Behavior. When we eat fresh organic foods, we absorb nutrition that keeps us health for the long term. Conversely, eating chemical-laden, drug-fed, hormone/gmo injected foods weakens our immune system and pollutes or liver and other organs, leading to more visits to the doctor to pay for more drugs like the ones found in our food and water supply. [yes allopathic drugs have their place - but that integration is another blog]
Now we have a community, self-sufficient, empowered, creating free food, health, community, sustainable; children and adults both can see they have control over their lives and can dream their visions for the future and work themselves out of their current predicaments. This is true help, for it helps people help themselves…a hand-up, not a hand-out. See other such ideas in Banker to the Poor by Nobel Peace Prize winner, Muhammad Yunnis.
Ayurveda:
So there is great exponential value to natural health – Ayurveda health – originating in India – further tailors the healthy lifestyle (including foods) to make prevention, healing, and rejuvenation more personal and thereby more effective for individuals
Call to Action: For folks looking for more effective and quicker ways to affect positive change in the world through donation activities, it is suggested here it integrate our plans with the larger natural health systems like ayurveda, organics and biointensive gardening education. For every penny donated, it is reseeded into continually giving more food.
Help a place once by offering ayurvedic education (including nutrition & organic gardening) and it quickly becomes self-sufficient so you may move on help elsewhere. Focus – Help – Solve – Move On.
To my knowledge, there is no one who has yet developed such an integrated philanthropy model that integrates ayurveda & social activism with Twitter or the web in general. Will you be the first?
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