School is so ubiquitous in our world that we all tend to set our clocks by it. That is, in the fall (or should I say the near-fall, when the school year starts), we tend to reset our life routines whether or not we have school-age children. We hunker down, adopting a new attitude of seriousness and renewing our push to make our goals. We readjust our mental frame of reference to one of getting back to work or back on schedule. And just like when we were schoolkids, many of us are secretly a little giddy with excitement about reverting to our regular routines. Whether that means our offices or projects run more smoothly and efficiently or we can finally to get the appointments we need or we're dealing with less-crowded airports and planes, the fact that everyone's back in the saddle after a summer of endless, rolling vacations is a welcome reset. In fact, the school year has been adopted by many other institutions. I know my church isn't the only one that's now resuming the various classes, small groups and other regular activities that were put on hold for the summer. Even our instruction manual, the Bible, in Ecclesiastes verses one through eight, discusses seasons, the purposes of those seasons and their importance in our lives.

Fall also means less-expensive accommodations in our national parks, where the animals are more active after hiding out from the summer crowds. Congress breaks for August, and thus much of our government apparatus comes to a slow grind until September. Even the stock market seems to get the memo that summertime is no time for business as usual. Hence the old adage in finance: "Sell in May and go away." In other words, sell your stocks before the summer months and then buy them back in the fall.

The challenge has been that the first day of school seems to come earlier and earlier each year, knocking us off our school-year circadian rhythm. But not to worry: some state legislatures are leading the way back to reason by enacting laws about how early the school year can start and ensuring that all those formative young minds get a decent summer break to reset.

So this month, as our culture turns to back to school, ably led by the retail sector, we're looking at another opportunity to reset, review and rethink something that affects us all and that has risen in importance and people's consciousness since the pandemic began: our health care and self-care. In our feature article, "Why You Need Holistic, Integrative and Functional Medicine Professionals on Any Healthcare Team," Sheila Julson sets the record straight on what each of these professionals does and does not do, and the difference in their practices. Also, some of our local healthcare professionals weigh in on the benefits of these modalities and how they complement allopathic (traditional) medicine. As we've learned over the past two-and-a-half years, nobody writes a prescription for a strong and healthy immune system that will make you more resilient against COVID and other diseases. What these modalities have in common, and the reason more and more people are learning about and subscribing to them, is that they look at whole-body health. They're forensic in nature in that a lot of their work is investigatory; they find out the root causes for health issues rather than just treating the symptoms and allowing the underlying problem to fester and grow.

And because back-to-school is always a great time to spotlight things that help children lead their best lives, this month we look at a few North Texas nature institutions that offer our kids an opportunity to enjoy nature's bounty while learning about our precious environment at the same time.

As always, this issue is chock-full of information to help you live a healthier life on a healthy planet. We hope you will find much that inspires you and catalyzes you to action.

Blessings until next month.