Growing up, I used to love the smell of freshly washed towels. Whenever the breeze would blow as they hung on the line to dry, I’d get a waft of fragrance that somehow made me think of all things lovely: a warm bath on a cold winter night or coming home after being away on vacation.
What I didn’t know back then was that comforting, fresh smell was actually nasty, toxic chemicals… chloroform, ethyl acetate and limonene (among many others)… dressed up as flowers, luring me in, to believe that I was as close to a lavender field as I could get without actually being in one.
Here are some tips inspired by my upcoming book Heal Yourself, Heal the Planet: A Little Guide to Transformation…
1. Start with you. While scientists once believed we were separate from everything else on earth, we now know that couldn’t be further from the truth. We human beings are made up of the same stuff that makes up the stars we gaze at, the grass we walk on and the very food we eat. Spiritual teacher Deepak Chopra says it best: “At some point in our lives, the realization dawns upon us that freedom does not come from external situations or circumstance. All of creation, everything that exists in the physical world, is the result of the unmanifest transforming itself into the manifest. Everything that we behold comes from the unknown. Our physical body, the physical universe — anything and everything that we can perceive through our senses — is the transformation of the unmanifest, unknown and invisible into the manifest, known and visible. The physical universe is nothing other than the self curving back within itself as spirit, mind and physical matter.”
Shannon Dunn is a writer and Reiki Master. Her passion for living simply and naturally is reflected in her creative and healing work. Her philosophy of adopting healthful habits, through the food we eat to the thoughts we think, strikes a chord with those who are seeking a natural way to optimal health and well-being. 
