ALKALINE WATER BOTTLES

A few weeks ago, I shot down to Nashville for a conference and was fortunate enough to have some family members join me beforehand. We bounced around the city with the smell of NHL hockey abound. My Grandmother gifted me a portable alkaline water bottle and continued explaining to me her belief that cancer cannot survive in alkaline conditions. This led to me revisit 8th grade chemistry and re-acclimate myself with the pH scale which is essentially a metric used to determine how acidic/basic water is. Numbers below 7 are acidic and numbers above 7 are considered basic. What’s fascinating is that no matter the acidity of our various digestive organs, our body typically finds a way to regulate our overall pH to 7. Which got me thinking about balance and how vital it is to ensuring positivity.

My cousin Andrew went through a couple of rough spells and we’d talk frequently. In my attempts to help him, I kept preaching the importance of “mind, body and spirit.” I was encouraging him to take care of his body through physical exercise, stimulate his mind and invigorate his spirit. After my time in Nashville and thinking critically about my portable alkaline water bottle, it began making more sense why I was lending this advice. I believe in it; I believe in balance.

But where did this “mind, body, spirit” triangle of health come from? Digging deeper, I searched for moments in my life which helped construct my moral compass. My father put me in Boy Scouts at a young age which later fizzled out due to a growing interest in hockey. Nonetheless, we had a Scout Law: A Scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent. While I still try to be all 12 of these traits, the true revelation and deepest introspective breakthrough came when revisiting the Scout Oath.

On my honour I will do my best to do my duty to God and my country and to obey the Scout Law; to help other people at all times; to keep myself physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight.

I couldn’t have asked for better grandparents on both sides of my family. This trip with Grandma and Grandpa Turner was especially memorable because of the water bottle and what it symbolized. I recalled all the hockey trips and the annual summer Scout camp that my Grandfather religiously attended with me. He’s been diagnosed with prostate cancer, they caught it early and he’s in good spirits. Ultimately, this is the reason Grandma is so adamant about the powers of alkaline water. Is Grandma right about cancer not being able to grow in an alkaline body? Can negativity grow in a body absent of balance?

We must ask ourselves, “have we built the best ecosystem to allow us to radiate positivity?”

Mind, body and spirit. I know that personally, I'm the best version of myself when I've been reading/writing, attending the gym regularly and going to church. This formula works for me. For you, it might be writing poetry (mind), doing pilates (body) and walks in the woods (spirit). Find your formula and stick to it.

Balance.