One Day Without Shoes Day - May 10th, 2023

From the name of this day, you're probably able to guess what this day celebrates. It's not exactly a celebration, but more of a reminder that there are countries/cities in the world that do not have electricity, medical care, and are in poverty. This day is created and founded by the owner of Toms Shoes, as he visited Argentina in 2006 and saw many children running around without shoes.

https://happydays365.org/one-day-without-shoes-day/one-day-without-shoes-day-may-10/

For those people like ourselves, having shoes is like an essential item to life. From the moment we leave our home, we'll be putting shoes on.

Aside from the true meaning to this day, there's something else that not wearing shoes reminds me of. There is this thing called "Grounding" or "Earthing". Founded by Clint Ober. He even wrote a book explaining the health benefits of Earthing. Long story short, he explains that the Earth has a magnetic field, and that when our skin (i.e. bare feet), touches the ground (whether that be cement, grass, soil, sand, etc), that magnetic field will then be conducted to our bodies. So, how does it help us health-wise? Based on his research and true stories from those that tried this form of treatment, had obviously had improved their aches and health issues after long-term trial. You can easily find YouTube videos on these stories, families who had a sick child, but after several months of playing outside, barefoot or just laying in the yard, (as long as some part of our skin is touching the ground), that child didn't need to be in-and-out of the hospital as much. There are also videos showing that there are "grounding pads", that you plug into the wall, and the pads are stuck on the bottom of someone's foot while they sleep (or you could simply stand on top of it), that person was able to sleep better. It is also said that grounding will help with pains in the body.

To prove the truth in this, my brother had actually bought a grounding pad for my mum. Since menopause, she has had trouble sleeping every night. Always claiming that she couldn't sleep until 2-5am, or that she wakes up multiple times, or she wakes up early and can't go back to sleep. She's been drinking Chamomile Tea, an hour or two before bed, as it claims it's suppose to help with sleep. I think it's a psychological thing though. As she still says that she's unable to sleep that well even when she drank the tea. So, when we received the grounding pad, we let her try it when she slept. Since it's a pad, the size of 2 A4 sized paper placed horizontally, and has a cord attached so it could be plugged into the wall. (You know how wall plugs have the 2 vertical openings and the round one is the grounding opening). The first night, she slept with shorts and had the grounding pad touching her calves. She said, the moment she laid down, her body felt heavy and was sleepy almost instantly. The second night though, she said because she kept on being worried about whether or not her skin is touching the pad all night, that worrying kept her awake. So, on the morning of trying on the second night, she asked my brother to return it. She also said the smell of rubber became really strong in the night, maybe because it's plugged in, and she feels it gets heated a bit, and that made the rubber odour stronger. My brother suggested that he could velcro it down on her bedsheet, so that she won't have to worry about whether or not her skin is constantly touching the pad, but she said she doesn't want it anymore.

So now, we do grounding ourselves. At least 30 minutes at a time, we would be barefoot sitting at our front porch. It does takes times to get used to if we decide to walk around, as the type of ground we have are like little rocks engraved into the cement. Although these rocks are smooth surfaced, it still does get a little prickly at times. Even if we do this every day, it will probably take months to see any difference in our bodies. We don't do it every day though. My mum is very cautious with the ground, the other night, after dinner, she said she'll be at the front porch to do some grounding, she came back into the house almost instantly, saying that she saw a bunch of flies hanging around our plants and that there are ants on the ground. Then, says what if those ants crawl on her body, and she comes back into the house and brings them in? So, this grounding exercise it mostly done by my brother, and I'll probably end up doing it once a week. It'd be nice if he kept the ground pad, as we could just plug it into the wall and stand on it easily for at least 30 minutes, or my parents could easily have their feet on it while they watch TV.

This made me think, of those people who do yoga on beaches, say they feel more relaxed after meditation, makes me wonder, maybe because they are barefoot in the sand, the grounding effect is also in play. So, aside from all the stretches they do to relax their muscles, the grounding effect also helps them in the same sense.

If you're interested in this topic, do search for YouTube videos, either by the founder's name Clint Ober, then you'll see a list of search topics. We watched the Clint Ober Grounding Movie. There was another video that showed a celebrity actress who took Grounding to the next level, as she was seen barefoot arriving at an airport.

What are your thoughts on Grounding/Earthing? Are you willing to donate to charities that help those in poverty?