BALANCE: THE BASIS OF SUCCESS 

Photo by: allanlau2000 from pixabay (via Canva)

“Nature teaches more than she preaches. There are no sermons in stones. It is easier to get a spark out of a stone than a moral.” —John Burroughs

SAME FACTORS, DIFFERENT APPLICATIONS FOR PROSPERING 

Fortunately, it was cold the day my beekeeper friend Sanja and I ventured to the community bee yard near her home in Maryland. Since we were already bundled up and the bees were “wintering,” we didn’t have to don protective gear to visit Sanja’s hives. Among the many fascinating facts I learned that day, the most memorable was that honeybees don’t turn aggressive and sting until after their honey has been robbed. 

As I learned about the bees, I was struck by how the factors for keeping bees healthy and productive are similar to the elements that yield vibrant success in other ecosystems, such as growing healthy orchid plants or ensuring that streams are clean enough for trout to flourish. All of these ecosystems need a dynamic balance of sunlight, food, hydration, motion, and rest to flourish. Suddenly, I was struck by how important these factors also are to our personal health and well-being, and I started thinking about how we can apply this idea in our own lives.

BALANCE AS THE BASIS OF SUCCESS

In my mind’s eye, I began to see various percentages of these factors combining to create the harmonic balance each ecosystem needs to prosper. I imagined what the best balance of factors for attaining bountiful honey, beautiful orchid blooms, and pristine trout streams might be and I wondered how those combinations would look in a pie chart.

Although my observations were approximate, translating the balancing factors for success into graphic form was revealing. I was surprised by the extent to which the most prominent factor—food for bees, sunlight for orchids, and motion for streams—was unique to each ecosystem. I realized that context often plays a larger role than we may appreciate, as the images below illustrate.

The Balancing Basis for Bounteous Honey: Food   

The Balancing Basis for Floral Beauty: Sunlight 

The Balancing Basis for Vibrant Streams: Motion

LEARNING NATURE’S LESSONS  

Although nature provides many lessons about the importance of balance for successful ecosystems, we continue to struggle with the environmental imbalances our lifestyles create. Pesticides decimate bees; rainforest deforestation make native orchids vulnerable to extinction; and industrial growth degrades rivers and streams. As many environmental and conservation groups work to combat these threats, we are learning that supporting nature’s ability to rebalance and regenerate is highly effective for achieving long-term success.

REMEDIES IN REBALANCING

How might these findings apply to us? For starters, I think identifying the physical and non-physical factors that enable humans to prosper helps us incorporate them more consistently and in a balanced way. With practice, many people find that they have less need for commercial treatments for indigestion, muscle aches, and other common ailments since these problems are often resolved by addressing the imbalances that tend to cause them. As these practices become second nature, we may discover—as the conservationists have—that maintaining balance also helps us maintain life-long well-being.

As John Burroughs reminds us, “Nature teaches more than she preaches.” Fortunately, since nature surrounds us, we have many opportunities to enrich our lives by putting nature’s lessons to good use. 

Helping people learn and take advantage of nature’s lessons to prosper in life is one of Advanced Wellness Systems priorities. If you or your company want a robust and radical approach for solving modern, health-related challenges, contact us and find out more.

Joyce M. Young, MD, MPH 
Managing Director, Advanced Wellness Systems
Lead Expert for the High Health Network

Photo by: Inho Lee Getty Images (via Canva) 

“I would feel more optimistic about a bright future for man if he spent less time proving that he can outwit Nature and more time tasting her sweetness and respecting her seniority.” —E. B. White

Balancing Basis series photo credits  Honey Bees in Flight: Orhan Namli from Pexels (via Canva), Lady's-slipper Orchids: Hemera Technologies (via Canva), Serene Stream: Emilio Sanchez Hernandez from Pexels (via Canva)