When we
think of nutrition, we narrowly assume that all the nourishment we need comes
from food. Beyond fruits and vegetables,
carbs and proteins, vitamins and omega 3 fatty acids, proper maintenance of our
corporeal shell must also address emotional and spiritual sustenance.
We place
too much importance on finding the right combination of groceries and not
enough on the other factors affecting our health. Our body has all the elements
necessary to heal itself, no matter what we eat. How else could the placebo
effect be a reality?
I’ve heard of people who live to a ripe old age on the most bizarre diets; Sarah Knauss
lived to 119 years on a diet of chocolate, cashews and potato chips. Her daughter, who lived to 101, said her mother never let anything upset her and that was her key to longevity.
Plants are dependent not just upon the most
obviously tangible elements, water and dirt, but also upon something that is
not so easily measured: sunshine. In fact, the rays of the sun are of utmost
important. Variations in daylight are signals to begin
growing, to flower and to wither.
People
are like plants. We need food and water…and love. Love is sunshine for humans and
it comes in many forms, just like the plethora of food sources from which we
have to choose. Love is an emotional and spiritual nutrient.
Dancing
tango is like going to a high-end grocery store that sells love in all its many
forms: organic and pesticide-free. At the milonga, the place where tango is
danced, we find music to feed our brains and much 'fresh produce' to sample. Here
we can connect with another soul and move as one to the music.
In the
course of one night, we can sprout, flower and wither in imitation of the
natural circle of life. We part unwillingly with a shopping cart brimming with warm emotions and a heart full of love.
For more of the Kayak Hombre, read my book Fear of Intimacy and the Tango Cure or River Tango. Available on Amazon.com in paperback or Kindle.
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