How wonderful it was to get to know you folks a little better! We have a lot of 'get to know you' activities and challenges on HIVE, but the focus on health and wellness made this one a little different. Rest assured I loved ALL your entries - and though I wished I could reward you all, I had to find the three post passionate, that were also engaging with the community. I mean, it is a community challenge, after all!
Week 1 saw some fabulous entries - you can read them all here. Thanks @zydane, @corinnaskills, @pavanjr, @dizzybee, @trucklife-family, @mamrita @alchemage, @a1shroomspores, and @ganjafarmer for your entries.
Week 2 was no different - and some people entered more than once! Credit to the people who came up with the prompts, I think - thanks @ganjafarmer, @lafe, @pavanjr, @drrune, @vicvperezdelara and @minismallholding for your incisive questions!
WEEK 2 RESPONSES
@kyleana chose to focus on teaching natural medicine. Despite people's doubts and scepticism, she believe it's important:
I will keep doing it and improving more and more, now incorporating part of the sustainability and other environmental issues, finally, everything has the same purpose: Improve the world we live in and leave a planet to our children
I couldn't agree more!
@porters wrote about finding dhamma, and the teachings she learnt via her husband and vipassana meditation. It's really been a saving grace for her during many difficult times in her life. If you've met the lovely @porters, you can just feel her peace and beautiful energy.
We spent hours discussing the Dhamma and he would share different books with me from his Dhamma library. This helped my understanding of the Dhamma to grow and because he had a strong meditation practice I started picking up my meditation again. It was Vipassana meditation he had taught and practiced and with his encouragement I went and took a ten day Vipassana course at the US International Meditation Center. After that I really bloomed and felt I was on the path, the path of awakening. We were both on that same path and would do ten day self courses, which strengthened me in meditation. That I am forever grateful for, for this strong practice has kept me from falling into the abyss. At times being on the edge of insanity it pulled me back for I know it's truths. It gives me clarity, purpose and direction.
One of the things I already knew about @porters is she never, ever gets angry or has a bad word to say about anyone. This might explain why:
'Turn your anger into love and if you can not do that then just move away from it, the person or situation.' That worked wonders for I no longer spent sleepless nights going over incidents that happened or conversations that were had, thinking of all the should haves.If my anger was with someone I cared about I would come at it in a more loving manner or loving perspective and this removed the anger. If it was with others that I didn't know so well or care about I was alright just walking away or staying away and leaving it along with my anger behind.
@benavides54 talks about meditation and finding the divine through a spiritual teacher, giving him great peace in troubled times:
He taught me that the love of God is infinite, and that many things happen in our life just to make us wake up and so that we realize the true being that we are, because we are One with God Light and God Light is One with us. That we are One with everything. That we are part of the Universe and that the Universe is within us and that we deserve all the best because we are fractals of that magnificent being we call God. And that everything is governed by a divine order. And that a leaf does not fall from a tree if He does not allow it.
Like @kyleana, @pavanjr believes the teaching of natural medicine should be fundamental. In his second (or was it third) response to the questions (go you!) @pavanjr wrote about perseverance and gratitude:
**The most important learning in this process was to know better people and places, was to find myself, before I was afraid to be myself and now I feel very good being that I always was. I learned to value more the little I have in life, no matter how small. I learned to value even more those moments of pleasure and joy that are very ephemeral but leave memories for life. I learned to value life. I learned to value myself, above all things. When you do what you like and when you perceive support and learning in the process of what you are doing, it feels inexplicably good and is a comfort, a well-being that stops the mind and heart. Are there bad moments? Of course I have had them, but I have hope and learned to have faith in things, and those bad moments do not take away my desire to continue. I have fallen many times, I have even spent very bad days, but I still have very strong faith and I get up, keep walking and continue with this journey that has served me so much for my spiritual peace.
@tarot911's story mirrors that of many who started their natural medicine journey young. Except - his takes a strange turn, which you ABSOLUTELY HAVE TO READ. Here's a snippet - but let's just say the paranormal is involved!
When we went to sleep, we heard how the dining room chairs moved, the gas stove was lit with an automatic lighter that it had built in, we heard the movement of pots, pans, plates, cutlery, cups, glasses; We could even smell like they were cooking, (fried banana, meat, beans, cheese ...) When we got to the kitchen everything was exactly the same as we had left it, everything was collected and stored. They also touched, opened and closed the doors of the rooms and cabinets, we heard footsteps, voices, conversations and various smells (cigarettes, coffee, cologne, flowers, liquor ...), without any explanation. Some neighbors passed by the front of the house and asked us about which old man lived with us, since they saw an old man sitting in a wooden chair in the garden, or who was a very tall man over two meters tall who He always dressed in black and stood facing the street and leaning his elbows on the top of the fence; or they also asked whose child it was who used to play ball in the garden but very late at night ... I really don't know yet how we didn't lose our sanity and ran out of there.
Not only that, but he writes about childhood memories and turtles and all kinds of things - what a read!
If I missed your entry, I couldn't find it pasted on the original challenge entry here as requested. It's really difficult to keep up with all the things going on in the community, hence why posting the link was super important. If I did miss it, I apologise - but do make sure you post the link under the challenge post next time. Entries simply can't be considered if the rules aren't followed!
As this was a community challenge, we were looking to reward people who actually did engage with community posts, not just write and kinda forget about it. That was really the decider in picking the winners, because all the answers were just fabulous!!
Thus, this time we are awarding 20 HIVE each for the following entries:
@trucklife-family
@pavanjr
@tarot911
All wrote very detailed, interesting posts but also engaged with others! And that's what the HIVE community is all about, don't you think? Their posts were also very detailed and passionate. Some also wrote more than one entry! Thanks so much for your responses!
I've also set a part beneficiary for the following entries: @a1shroomspores, @dizzybee and @mamrita. Thanks so much for joining in!
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Thank you very much friends, it is a blessing to have shared part of my life with you and to be part of this NaturalMedicine family. I really liked this challenge, it is very good and I hope we continue to do more similar challenges, it is a wonderful trip and I enjoy it very much. And thank you for the support I receive here, the positive energies I receive from the community. Blessings always!
My participation in the challenge, in addition to allowing all of you to know part of my story, made it easier for me to be in perspective of the path that I have traveled. I believe it is necessary to ask key questions to be able to order, rank and appreciate the experiences we have lived and what each one of them has contributed to us. Opening my heart and pouring it into this writing was a beautiful catharsis, which showed me how strong we can be in complex and incredible situations, and helped me to reconnect certain important aspects of my life. For me it is an honor to have been one of the winners, without a doubt I am happy about it; but I also want to congratulate and acknowledge the rest of the fellow participants, because I know that they put the best in each publication. A big hug and many blessings to all.
Mi participación en el reto, además de permitir el que todos ustedes conocieran parte de mi historia, facilitó que pudiera estar en perspectiva del camino que he recorrido. Creo necesario, el hacer preguntas clave para poder ordenar, jerarquizar y apreciar las experiencias que hemos vivido y qué nos ha aportado cada una de ellas. Abrir mi corazón y volcarlo en este escrito fue una hermosa catarsis, que me demostró cuán fuerte podemos ser ante situaciones complejas e increíbles, y me ayudó a reconectar ciertos aspectos importantes de mi vida. Para mí es un honor haber sido uno de los ganadores, sin duda alguna estoy feliz por ello; pero también quiero felicitar y reconocer al resto de los compañeros participantes, pues sé que pusieron lo mejor en cada publicación. Un gran abrazo y muchas bendiciones para todos.
Congratulation for the winners. And the NaturalMedicine can be a good trybe for people to share all about the natural.
I am really happy to see the positive progress in this community. wish you all the best @naturalmedicine. And congrat for all the winners
Hello @naturalmedicine community.
I greatly appreciate having commented on my publication. I congratulate all the winners of the contest. And well for me, it was all a learning experience, which I value a lot, I can only say, Thank you.
Ohhh no, I did participate but missed putting up the links. Will ensure next time.
All the entries have some very good knowledge being shared. So much of Love, Compassion, Gratitude flows into all of them.
Awesome responses. I dropped the bar, for I have been meaning to take part in this for far too long. If there is a week 3, count me in!
I loved this challenge to get to know some of the other members better! I still have some reading to do with this last weeks entries. Thank-you for the lovely write up on my post!