Mama's Home Remedies: Discover Time-Tested Secrets of Good Health and the Pleasures of Natural Livin, Svetlana Konnikova [classic fiction .TXT] 📗

^ Be generous. Share your rich experience with those who would like to take advantage of it.

^ Be really responsible for your life and follow your heart. Rose Hips Tea Party @ 5

^ Our life is a gift twice: once for ourselves and once for others.

^ Our life is a mirror in which we can see good and bad. Our health is a shield—physical and mental. Our physical health has an influence on our spiritual life, but our spiritual power gives us the discipline required to maintain our health.

^ Our health and our well-being rest in our hands.

^ Think only of the best and build your long and happy life, based on the laws of Nature.

^ Chase your goals and perform good deeds.

^ Be strong and have the guts to say “No” when you feel that something is not right. The world will not change to suit your preferences.

^ Be a very good sport to your family and friends. Love, inspire, amuse, and believe in them. It is mutual. You’ll get the same treatment back.

^ Consider every day as a small life and each day as full and perfect.

^ Be confident that nothing can disturb your peace of mind. Be strong against fear.

^ Be noble and mighty against jealousy and anger.

^ Help others in need of your help, and just do it!

^ To live a long, healthy, and happy life is an art— l’ art de vivre. 6 ^ Mama’s Home Remedies

Chapter 2

“Even the Badger Knows . . .”

Nature is to be found in her entirety nowhere more than in her smallest creatures.

—Pliny the Elder (A.D. 23-79), Roman scholar

FACTS:

More than one-third of U.S. citizens use natural medicine today. The government has suggested that more and more people became interested in herbs, meditation, yoga, and other forms of alternative medicine because they don’t see positive results very often with conventional care. One of the largest U.S. studies conducted on alternative medicine found that over ⅓ of American adults practiced some type of alternative medicine in 2002. The report was based on information from 31,044 interviews with adults age 18 or older.

Researchers believe that results of the study point to the fact that more people are using alternative medicine and an increasing number of people have turned to natural products like herbs, fruits, vegetables, or enzymes to help treat chronic or recurring pain.

Experts suggest that people should not neglect conventional medicine in those cases where it has been proven to help certain conditions. They also recommend consulting a doctor before practicing alternative medicine. Experts express concern about the number of people turning to alternative medicine because they felt they were no longer able to pay the costs of conventional care. Experts also caution people to be careful before they use a natural product and

“Even the Badger Knows…” @ 7

not assume that it is automatically safe to consume only because it is natural. The study cited an example that 6.6 percent of people in the study used the supplement kava kava, which has been linked to liver disease. The study found that 62 percent of the participants used some form of complimentary or alternative medicine over the past year for a specific medical condition:

^ 43 percent prayed for their own health

^ 24 percent were prayed for by others

^ 19 percent used herbs, other natural and botanical products, and enzymes

^ 12 percent practiced deep breathing exercises

^ 10 percent participated in group prayer for their own health

^ 8 percent used meditation

^ 8 percent sought chiropractic care

^ 5 percent practiced yoga

^ 5 percent used massage

^ 4 percent implemented diet-based therapies

Research showed that there was a higher tendency for women to use complementary and alternative medicine than men. Twenty-eight percent of the participants felt that conventional treatment would not help them.1

I

can stil hear Mama’s refrain whenever she administered one of her wonderful, healing herbs to me or to my sister. “Even the badger knows that Mother Nature is the best healer,” she would say with a knowing smile. Our friends and family used this phrase frequently. It was popular among “the girls,” Mama’s friends, and, in turn, their children grew fond of it and used it as wel . Thus, the saying along with an understanding of the use of healing herbs became like a fine, gold chain connecting friends and family together in pursuit of natural, herbal remedies for prevention of and the treatment of il nesses.

We first encountered the phrase in a lyrical story, “The Badger’s Nose,”

written by the Russian writer Konstantin Paustovsky in 1935. I can hardly 8 ^ Mama’s Home Remedies

believe that this brilliant writer wrote this piece during Stalin’s rule, a period filled with fear and repression. Fortunately he was not punished and sent to Stalin’s prison camps as were many other people who chose to express, rather than repress, their views. Perhaps it lies in the fact that Paustovsky focused his writings on beautiful, short stories about Nature, animals, trees,