Search
Related Links

 

 

Informative Articles

Asthma Treatments - With Relievers and Preventers?
There are two types of treatments to reduce the symptoms and effects of an asthma attack using drugs that resemble two of our natural hormones. These are adrenaline (epinephrine in the USA) and the steroid hydrocortisone and they form the...

Choosing the right treadmill.
Choosing the right treadmill. Home treadmills are becoming a common feature in many homes. Prices can be as low as $399 it is no surprise that many people decide to purchase one. It provides a great form of exercise, you don't have to pay monthly...

Don't Be A Slave To What You Crave
Positive and Negative Aspects of Chocolate and Sweets You aren’t going to be told to give up the chocolate. Chocolate can be good for you. There are, however; some things you need to know about the chocolate and sweet cravings you experience. ...

Medicines in Mental Health
You walk into a moderately business office sit down a chair in a well-dressed lobby and wait for your name to be announced. Finally, it comes and you are assessed by an intake worker, finally sent to a therapist a week later, and then...

Mesotherapy vs. Cellulite For A Knockout
In the battle to look good, there’s a cosmetic treatment that is going a few rounds with cellulite and small fatty deposits. Mesotherapy is knocking out fat and rejuvenating skin in people who give it a try. Chances are you’re doing...

 
STOP THE WORLD I WANT TO GET OFF!

Copyright Victoria Elizabeth 2004. All rights reserved.

STOP THE WORLD...I WANT TO GET OFF!
-- Or, what was the world like before brand-names & blah-blah-blah? --

Inundated with more than 10,000 messages a day, it’s not surprising that many folks prefer to go “bonkers” than see another blessed advertisement for things guaranteed to cure all manner of ills and bring us joy life ever after.

You know the ones I mean ...restore your venal vigor in just one hour (for just $49.95 plus tax), ...renovate your tinkle pantry in 7 days (based on an easy, affordable, installment payment plan), ... make you rich in less than 21 days (all credit cards accepted for this "best-selling" tips book), ...or enhance your private parts for life (using a miracle formula available at a 50% discount, if purchased within the next five minutes on the Shopping Channel).

It would be nice to think that we’re okay just the way we are. The truth is that the world goes better when we buy stuff, and I mean oodles of it, even if we don’t really need it.

With so many “brand-name” and “brand-less” products competing for shelf space and “mind share” -- it’s no wonder we’re pooped and need the occasional pick-me-up or put-me-to-sleep pill! After all, being bombarded by those ‘buy now…before it’s too late’ ads, text messages, and infomercials on TV, radio, cell phones, magazines and now embedded in emails isn't much fun. The astonishing thing is how people cope with this dilemma by calling on some familiar escape goats such as daydreaming, dawdling or simply dumping on others.

As little as a century or two ago, no one obsessed about buying “brand-name” products "to impress a boss", "bewitch a suitor" or "to keep up with the wretched Jones's".

For those who didn't like being told what to do, there were plenty of things to engage their talents besides wading through the holy scriptures, the sports page, or sharing the latest interactive electronic exploits of "Dick and Jane or Puff and Spot in the Dungeon" with friends.

In fact, far from having their head in the clouds, folks


spent a good deal of time with their feet firmly planted on the ground. For example, home gardens were practical if not pretty places designed to provide nourishment for families while medicine chests were filled with home-remedies although perhaps a tad bare by today’s standards.

And if the “humors” got you down, there were always a few tried-and-true remedies you could count on to get you back on your feet (besides bleeding or purging).

-- Cayenne pepper sprinkled on one’s socks could cure “cold feet”.

-- Thorough-wort, red raspberries and sage were said to do wonders to relieve the symptoms of flu or a cold.

-- Caraway and fennel seeds in food were used to cure a bilious body of “windy colic”.

-- Pillows stuffed with hop seeds provided an alternative to counting sheep and, more often than not, afforded owners the gift of pleasant dreams.

-- Catnip apparently kept the wee ones calm and quiet if not the cats as well; (and in my day, kids and cats were to be seen and definitely not heard).

Instead of looking to “Father Knows Best”, the “Wizard of Oz” or “Superman” to save the day, those who came before us lived simpler lives and no doubt understood the notion that perhaps “nature knows best”.

So, when your world starts to look like a hodgepodge, and you can’t find the silver lining behind your cloud…why not take a break from the 500-channel universe and the chatterbox of life. Count to ten, take a deep breath...and enjoy a walk in nature – it’s the one thing in life that isn’t created by spin doctors, has no brand-name, and doesn’t go blah, blah blah!

_________

For more information about musings on life, the Universe and everything in between...drop by and take a wee peek at "The Quipping Queen" -- www.quippingqueen.blogspot.com.


About the Author

Victoria Elizabeth, has been called by some, "a royal pain in the butt". But, most find her musings about "life, the Universe and everything" a fine way to practice chortling, giggling and laughing out loud. (Visit www.quippingqueen.blogspot.com for more tasty tidbits.)

 

National Library of Medicine - National Institutes of Health
Part of the National Institutes of Health, the National Library of Medicine offers access to health information for consumer, patient, and physicians ...
www.nlm.nih.gov
 
Health and Medical Information produced by doctors - MedicineNet.com
Doctor-produced health and medical information written for you to make informed decisions about your health concerns.
www.medicinenet.com
 
Medicine in the Yahoo! Directory
Collection of sites for health professionals, with sections on specific disciplines, organizations, continuing education, conferences, publications, ...
dir.yahoo.com
 
MedlinePlus Health Information from the National Library of Medicine
Health information from the National Library of Medicine. Easy access to Medline and Health topics, medical dictionaries, directories and publications.
medlineplus.gov
 
Medicine - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Medicine is a branch of health science and the sector of public life ... The practice of medicine combines both science as the evidence base and art in the ...
en.wikipedia.org
 
Journal Home - Nature Medicine
Nature Medicine has a vacancy for a Locum Assistant Editor for six months. The position involves working in all aspects of the editorial process, ...
www.nature.com
 
The New England Journal of Medicine: Research & Review Articles on ...
The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) is a weekly general medical journal that publishes new medical research findings, review articles, and editorial ...
content.nejm.org
 
eMedicine Clinical Knowledge Base
eMedicine features up-to-date, searchable, peer-reviewed medical journals, online physician reference textbooks, and a full-text article database in 62 ...
www.emedicine.com
 
Open Directory - Health: Medicine
the entire directory, only in Health/Medicine. Top: Health: Medicine (11429). Description · Medical Specialties (4888); Surgery (2265) ...
dmoz.org
 
the www virtual library biosciences medicine
www.ohsu.edu/cliniweb/wwwvl/ - Similar pages
 
Medicine - home
Bimonthly journal covering the latest results in clinical investigation relevant to hospital and office practice.
www.md-journal.com
 
Institute of Medicine
The Institute of Medicine serves as adviser to the nation to improve health.
www.iom.edu
 
ScienceDaily: Health & Medicine News
Medical Research News. Health news on everything from cancer to nutrition. Full-text, images, updated daily.
www.sciencedaily.com
 
Google Directory - Health > Medicine
Search only in Medicine Search the Web. Medicine. Health > Medicine, Go to Directory Home. Categories. Alternative Medicine (6308) Basic Sciences (66) ...
www.google.com
 
the world wide web virtual library biosciences medicine
www.mcb.harvard.edu/biopages/medicine.html - Similar pages
 
PLoS Medicine - A Peer-Reviewed Open-Access Journal
PLoS Medicine is a peer-reviewed, international, open-access journal published ... Every issue of PLoS Medicine contains a selection of readers' responses. ...
medicine.plosjournals.org
 
Medicine On-Line - Medicine Online -The International Medical Journal
Medicine Online - independent and peer reviewed journal published by Priory Medical Journals - priory.com.
www.priory.com
 
Entrez PubMed
PubMed is a service of the US National Library of Medicine that includes over 16 million citations from MEDLINE and other life science journals for ...
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
 
Stanford University School of Medicine
Home Page of the Stanford University School of Medicine.
med.stanford.edu
 
Medicine OnLine
Meds.com offers medical information and education on cancer (lung cancer, colon cancer, breast cancer, leukemia) and HIV / AIDS for patients, ...
www.meds.com