420 Celebration, Quarantine and Wellbeing
By Susan Boskey
Happy 420!
What does wellbeing have to do with celebrating 420 this year? My curiosity got the best of me wanting to know how “420” as a code term for cannabis got started in the first place. As the story goes, “A group of five San Rafael (California) High School friends known as the Waldos – by virtue of their chosen hang-out spot, a wall outside the school – coined the term in 1971.”[1]
Somewhat of a national holiday, this April 20, 2020 celebration is unique if only due to everyone being in quarantine at home. As far as I can tell the Covid-19 message confirms the degree to which our planet is ailing.
This year’s 420 celebration can be a clarion call in honor of the cannabis plant and its amazing contributions to personal wellbeing. In my view, a healthy planet reflects a healthy people, one human being at a time in body, mind and soul.
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Old Thought Habits Die Hard
Due to the over 80 years of prohibition and intense propaganda, cannabis is still not out of the woods. Fortunately, misinformation and some of its more subtle benefits are becoming well-known. For example, one of its unexpected benefits can be an expanded experience and sense of self.
A holdover belief reminds us that ‘getting high’ is useless, irresponsible, foolish and ultimately harmful to living in ‘reality’. This belief lurks deep within ourselves, our families and society-at-large. Meanwhile 33 states and Washington DC have legal medical marijuana laws on the books. In fact, anxiety is often cited as a qualifying condition. [2] During this current crisis pharmaceutical prescriptions for antidepressants and benzodiazepines are seeing a huge bump.
Recent findings from the Axios/Ipsos Coronavirus Index also revealed that some 35% of Americans said their mental health had worsened during the pandemic, and 43% said their emotional well-being had also gotten worse.
The number of prescriptions for antidepressant, anti-anxiety and anti-insomnia medications filled per week increased 21% between Feb. 16 and March 15, 2020, according to a new report by Express Scripts, a Cigna-owned CI, -0.62% pharmacy benefit manager. [3]
Fear Caused By Too Much News?
If “fear makes the wolf bigger than he is” (German proverb) then a bodily-felt sense of relief triggered by a medicinal dose of cannabis is a perfect, non-toxic antidote; it can move you away from fear and towards a sense of wellbeing.
What many of us have learned is that cannabis is not an end in itself but rather a tool, a gift, useful in an amazing number of ways from medical to industrial. Its implications for mental health are exceptional but largely unexplored and untapped.
From my personal experience, the truth about the psychoactive parts of the cannabis plant is both 180 degrees opposite historical propaganda, and far-reaching. Medicinal use for mental health and wellbeing engenders multiple long-term benefits based on an individual finding their most effective dose.
All things are poison, for there is nothing without poisonous qualities. It is only the dose which makes a thing poison. ~Theophrastus von Hohenheim (AKAÂ Paracelsus) 16th century Swiss physician
Here’s my personal testimony about what a cannabis tincture (CBD and THC together) does for my mental health and wellbeing.
Personally I:
- gain new perspective and awareness regarding my life and circumstances.
- am able to let go of troubling thoughts in my mind and places in my body where I am “holding” on.
- feel a comforting quality of love and connectedness to what many call God, others call source or All That Is, etc.
- find that anxiety seems to melt away leaving a warm sense of “all is well” in my body/mind.
- receive insights about roadblocks in my life with less feelings of guilt or shame.
- am able to consider other ways of being and take action to implement them.
- sense a quality of peace deep within and with others.
- get insights into how to improve relating to myself and others.
- have come to understand that real solutions are spiritual and practical.
- am content with my life as is and can intuit how I would like it to unfold.
- recognize both the physical and nonphysical aspects of life as a human being, not a human doing.
- worry less and care more about current circumstances and my loved ones while ready to help.
All of the above and more gives me faith and courage to walk ahead, even at 70 years of age. Wellbeing is our birthright. Tap-in and happy 420! With awareness we can take new action and also find wisdom. We can live life from a deeper, more satisfying place, soothing the human heart.
April 20, 2020
Susan Boskey is a Certified Cannabis Educator and Practitioner, and graduate of the Holistic Cannabis Academy, Longmont, Colorado. She is the former owner/operator of a private practice dedicated to detoxification and re-establishment of gut health with over 45 years of personal and professional experience in the health and wellness industry. Her mission today is to intervene in the noise of modern life to help people transform the pain of stress, anxiety and depression into a welcomed, felt-sense of wellbeing. Visit her website: LifestyleWellnessRx.com and online course, The CannaWisdom Process™, a self-care program for how to safely use medicinal cannabis to recover from mood disorders and gain a new perspective on life without pharmaceuticals. https://cannawisdom.podia.com
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