Hello, my friends! Welcome to this edition of Mindful Life. I'll continue to use the format I've used in the last two curations because it feels comfortable and I think people enjoy it more anyway; in that spirit, I wanted to talk about the content that Natural Medicine promotes and that I curate in these columns, in the hope that it might offer other readers in the platform who aren't as interested in these topics, a perspective that they may find useful. I've already shared a bit of this insight in today's Daily Rune post, but in this post I'll expand it with the work of other authors to make a point.

What's Hive good for, really? Is it merely a token? A financial scheme? A social media platform? Have the people behind it, those responsible for its development and daily operation, seriously pondered that crucial question? Hard to say, I don't have access to their information nor can I speak about what motivates them. But I do encourage them and everyone to consider that, because it's the core of what we're doing here. And there's another question that immediately arises from that first one: what kind of content are we supposed to share here?

I know a lot of people see Yoga, Mindfulness, Herbalism and Spirituality with more than a fair share of skepticism, if not open disdain and rejection. Some may even think that this kind of content is useless, unhelpful and therefore a means to drain assets and the token's value. There may be many reasons for that. However, there's a considerable amount of users both interested and actively creating content about these topics. At any time, you can drop by our community or others that promote this content and you'll see no less than ten posts discussing deeply personal issues with various degrees of efficacy but often a remarkable level of honesty. These people keep sharing their intimate stories of overcoming anxiety and grief, or reflections regarding personal development and inner healing, which should make us wonder why they do it, because it's definitely not for the money. There are many other kinds of content that might be more appropriate from a payout perspective. Take this post by @kellyane, for instance, about her struggle with anxiety and how reading certain books started to help her heal, an excellent candidate for the Mental Health Awareness badge. Is she trying to get feedback from others? Is money her core motivation? It doesn't seem like it.

And what about this other post by @riverflows? This is her contribution to the Laughter Challenge currently active in the community, and it's a tremendously vulnerable, sensitive and lyrical piece where she opens up about her dad's passing and her relationship with laughter in general. If she were after the clicks, wouldn't she have so much more success talking about cryptos or politics or the virus? Why then does she choose to go so deep into her story and her emotions? It's certainly a weird choice of topic in that context, but the post's quality is undeniable.

Neither of these authors wrote their respective posts because of payouts or even seeking engagement. They wrote them because they needed the channel, they had something sitting in their chests and needed to let it out, and I believe that's what Hive offers, the very essence of its purpose and existence: a way to connect with others meaningfully and to express ourselves without restrictions or pressure. The tokens are just a bonus.

I remember when I first arrived here, the pointless frustration of not getting votes and then, the even greater frustration of getting downvoted. Although it's obviously awesome when one of my posts garners attention, I no longer care about such things like I used to. The work is sufficient for me, sharing is enough. Look at the wonderful words of encouragement and wisdom that we get to read in our community daily by the hands of authors like @pavanjr! In this post he tells us a beautiful story about a man who spent his life ignoring the simplest things around him and had to go through a true hell in order to realize their worth. Reading this is a pleasure not only because of the themes but also because of the presentation.

The way I see it, that's the value of this platform, the beauty of truthfully showing ourselves to people all over the world and the opportunity to forge strong bonds of kinship with others regardless of location, especially now that we're living through the same challenges, brought together by the same crisis. Hive is an expression of the boundless unity among us, and in that sense, meditation, alternative medicines and other mindful practices are far more important than market caps, political controversies of conspiracy theories. We have so many magnificent writers with such amazing stories to share, and among them a sizable number of teachers weighing in on the most profound aspects of reality, like @nomad-magus, who has been writing a very long series of posts about mastering relationships by recovering our heritage and ancient legacy of Divine Love. I don't think he does this because he wants money, a lot of his posts don't even get that many votes, so he's obviously being moved by something else entirely.

So I exhort everyone at all levels of access to reconsider your stances about this platform and its use. What are you looking for when you enter here? What have you obtained? I can assure you that I've enriched my life substantially with the reflections and dissertations I've read and curated here, and I'm certain that anyone can also benefit from them. Don't squander the true Gold that Hive can give you and others, embrace it, open your heart and your mind, let's actually build the networks that we need.