Ginger, Oh Snap!

Ten years ago, I went to the doctor for something. I forgot what.

Now, I must first tell you that the regard I held for doctors then was above that of car mechanics and lawyers…but not much. I couldn't help but wonder how often they prescribed sugar pills that fool our pill poppin’ society into thinking that it’s getting a miracle cure.

Meanwhile the body heals itself, like it does every day we are “healthy”.

Now while I was there I mentioned that I was starting to come down with a cold, but just the very beginning of it. 

You know the feeling; when your nose is breathing air that is just a little too dry. Then there is that small patch in the back of your throat that you want to cough to get rid of, but coughing makes it grow and spread. And the slight headache that you can ignore today, but you know will be there stronger tomorrow along with achy muscles. 

I mentioned this to the doctor asking if I could get something to chase this away so I could continue with my busy life.

He looked at me and said I had to wait for it to get worse before they could give me any medicine.

I was so annoyed. It took a week to get fully sick, return to the doctor, get something,  and a whole month to get fully well. Meanwhile, life did not slow for me and my dribbly nose, red eyed self.

Funny how our thoughts change.

I am happy to say that in 2010 I had a similar experience at the same clinic. 

This time the PA looked at me and said “Hmm, just let it run it’s course”. And I was ecstatic. She wasn’t giving me any drugs because she knew that my body could handle it. And it did! After about two weeks. And no, the world didn't stop for me and the Kleenex box attached to my hip that time either. 

They said similar things, yet it held two completely different meanings, whether they meant it to or not. The first I interpreted as not caring and being unable to do anything until the illness was as bad as it could be.

The second I interpreted it as her knowing my body was innately intelligent enough to kick it on its own. So she didn’t interfere.

Ironic that how we say something can mean as much as what we say. 

Last summer I got sick again.

I felt the ucky feeling descend upon me. But this time instead of a doctor staring down my throat, I was lucky and my friend make me ginger tea. I trust friends waaaaay more than lawyers and car mechanics. 

(RECIPIE WARNING)

He sliced and diced the ginger root into little chunks, cooked it over a low boil for about 10-15 minutes, and served it to me while I was sitting in bed, staking out the battlegrounds between me and this virus. I think he may have put a nip of honey in it too.

The next day I felt better, totally fine actually. And very happy!

This was my first introduction to the herb of ginger. I was intrigued.

I learned that two thousand years ago the Chinese claimed that it was an herb that “warmed the stomach and dispelled chills”

“Dang!” I thought, “that’s exactly what it did for me.”

I learned that ginger tea is good for colds, coughs, sinus congestion, chills, phlemy colds (especially when a pinch of cinnamon is added to the tea)

It stimulates the circulatory system, which in turn gets nutrients, oxygen, and blood moving easier to the places it needs to go.

It can be used for queasy stomachs caused by anything from motion sickness (take that Dramamine!) to nausea from chemotherapy. I had a great friend who used it during his radiation. He said that it helped calm his stomach and keep food down.

The slacker way to make ginger tea is like what I did this winter. I got into the habit of slicing up some disks of the root, chopping them into chucks as I heat my morning tea water, dumping them in, and letting them steep on my commute to work.Then I'd fish them out, or usually just drink it with them floating in the water, like little life preservers. 

The most important thing about that healing ginger tea wasn’t the smell, although the scent of fresh ginger is tangy and full, and just generally wonderful.

It wasn’t how warm and comforting hot tea was, although it is able to encircle you in a hug of warmth just by being cupped in between your two hands.

It wasn’t that the ginger was fresh or that the water was purified or not.

To me, it was that someone else made it. The kind, simple gesture. That’s where most of my healing came from.

We poor grown-ups are supposed to be responsible, self-sufficient, and capable people, even if we don’t want to sometimes.

And because of that, it’s a bit of a relief when someone else does a kind turn in our lives by making us a nice cup of tea.

So while you go about your day.

Make an extra sandwich and give it to your spouse…or the hobo you pass on your way to work. Who knows, if you do that long enough they may just become your spouse!

Smile at a stranger, for no reason what so ever.

Smile at yourself in the mirror, wink and say “Hey Stranger!”

Pick up trash on the ground.

Or think of some other kind thing to help be a source of healing to the people and the world around you.

What would you appreciate?

So while you add the knowledge that Ginger tea can help an ailing tummy (and it tastes kinda like ginger snaps without the sugar!). Also know that the healing properties of some pill, or plant is only one part of it. The other is the intention, the caring, the community.

It is just as much how you do it, as what you do.

May you take care of yourself happily.