THE FORCED-AIR ELECTRIC FURNACE in the basement of the Civil War-era farmhouse I lived in during grad school was a giant toaster that made the meter nearly spin off the side of the house, so I decided to spend a hot August Saturday putting up enough wood for the coming winter. Still in my twenties, I enjoyed prolonged hard work and profuse sweating. But by day’s end I was feeling lousy. I had been careful to drink several quarts of water throughout the day, but what I didn’t appreciate back then is that no amount of water can make up for the loss of electrolytes. Hyponatremia, low salt levels caused by too much water or too much salt loss, is a potentially severe condition. Whether I had a touch of that or heat exhaustion, I was grateful to come out of it okay.
Thinking back on this incident recently, I wondered about how many other realities of human existence mirror this “No amount of water can make up for a lack of salt” pattern. It’s easy to think of other examples for our bodies: No amount of vitamin C can compensate for a vitamin B12 deficiency, just as no amount of B12 will cure scurvy. But can we suffer from “spiritual hyponatremia” in our pursuit of happiness, success, love, or truth? Looking back on three decades of listening to human struggles, I have come up with 20 related therapy questions to ponder:
1. How many self-esteem books or techniques can make up for a lack of sacred self-awareness?
2. Is there enough money in the world to make up for not savoring life’s simple joys?
This story is from the Sep/Oct 2023 edition of Spirituality & Health.
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This story is from the Sep/Oct 2023 edition of Spirituality & Health.
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ONE WORD TO BEAT WINTER BLUES: BIOMIMICRY
CREATURELY REFLECTIONS
THINKING ABOUT RESTITUTION
THE HEART OF HAPPINESS
WAITING IN LINE
OUR WALK IN THE WORLD
ENTER THE SAUNA
Journalist Emily O’Kelly shares some uplifting research on the benefits of sweat bathing, a global healing practice not just limited to Northern climes.
the trail of ATONEMENT
One Ashkenazi Jewish family escaped pogroms in Russia and then flourished in South Dakota, but the “free land” of their new homestead had been unfairly taken from the Lakota by the United States. Generations later, a celebrated investigative journalist set out to tell the truth of the Lakota and her family, calculate The Cost of Free Land—and pay it back.
STALKING YOUR Mind
Stalking the Mind is part of an ancient Indigenous American Medicine Way to tame your guilt, fears, and shame. What we’re “stalking” are our thought patterns and beliefs that seem to create the opposite of happiness and wellbeing. It’s a powerful psychotherapeutic journey of healing without the diagnosis or labels.
LEAVING MESA VERDE
After 21 years of service at Mesa Verde National Park, RANGER DAVID FRANKS recently guided his last tour of the pueblos and cliff dwellings. He says he was fortunate to assist the archeologists with a variety of work and never lost his amazement with their ability to figure out how and when things happened. The question he still wrestles with is much deeper: Why they left?
BECOMING YOUR OWN LEAD RESEARCHER IN HEALTHCARE
PEGGY LA CERRA, PHD, downloaded a health app to aggregate her medical records and was stunned to see the phrase \"aortic atherosclerosis.\" What she did next is a helpful model for all of us.
ARCHETYPAL ASTROLOGY
\"Is astrology true?\" is the wrong question, writes RABBI RAMI SHAPIRO. He suggests that the truth is out there, but out there is really in here.
WELLNESS IN THE WILD
Spa aficionado MARY BEMIS takes the [cold] plunge at Mohonk Mountain House.
