Paleo Perspective

In our culture, we rarely view things in their entirety. What I mean is that we only take things at face value and fail to see the deep value of concepts that could benefit our society. Due to technology, social media, and programming of how we should be living now in today’s world. I believe that our culture has gotten far away from the priceless core values of our ancient ancestors. Just because we have become technologically advanced does not mean we abandon these core values which are the basis of what I call the paleo perspective.

Now, I am sure you have heard of the paleo diet. I am going to refer to food in some instances, since the food we eat is what connects us to the natural world or our environment. The paleolithic period is a time discovered and studied by anthropologists where our ancestors were beginning to learn how to make new tools, sculptures, and paintings. Although, that is the scientific basis of the paleolithic period which is a snapshot in ancient times based on discovery and gathering of artifacts. My paleo perspective is that within the circumstances these people were living in that there were specific ways they had to function to survive. These practices should hold value still today.

So, what are these paleo ideas of living that could benefit our current population?  Rising with the sun and going down with the sun. They were always in the sun. These people did not have electricity as we have. They would honor their natural biological clocks and circadian rhythms.

They had to walk everywhere they went. There were no cars or bikes. This means no matter what they had to perform exercise just to get the resources they needed to survive. They would hunt wild animals and gather wild fruits, nuts, and herbs for their families. Pull water from fresh springs. There was no such thing as processed food or drinks.

All the tools they used for any process had to be handmade first before they could do anything. They had to figure stuff out without plans or directions. They were constantly engaging using their hands and minds to figure out the best way to carry out a project. There was no YouTube.

Spent a large part of their day in the parasympathetic nervous system. Our society is constantly overstimulated and has an abundance of sensory input that overwhelms our systems. This keeps us in a sympathetic state which very draining. Their encounters of fight or flight were normally regarding an animal that could be a predator. Life was simple.

These are 5 basic concepts that in our society we would not think much about, giving our circumstances and the environment we have created. Yes, we have advanced as a society and in our narcissistic minds, we think that this way of living is foolish and/or of no value. I think the ideal way to live right now in these times is honoring the way people lived in these times and use these concepts in relation to the way we currently live.

I 100 percent believe integrating just the basics of these ideas such as being in the sun more, eating real food, walking when you can instead of driving, creating a consistent sleep schedule that honors the rising and falling of the sun. Also, trying to figure things out on your own at first before jumping to a YouTube video. Finding a time of day where you can turn off that sympathetic nervous system and relax. Finally, do not be too arrogant to believe that these simple concepts that our ancestors practiced daily mostly because this is what they had to do to survive isn’t what we need now to survive!