Nature’s Lessons: Safe Boundaries.
Doesn't it sometimes feel like we're constantly running on a treadmill that just won't stop? And our homes often feel like mere extensions of our demanding workplaces?
Recently, I was in a gathering where stress at work emerged as a point of discussion. While some dismissed it as an excuse of some to shirk responsibilities and the belief that actual burnout is just a myth, others pointed that we are a world living in constant stress and it is difficult to catch up, it is important to see stress as a reality and understand better our health needs.
Our Health Needs
Remember the times when work and home were two separate worlds defined by a proper distance? With digital tendrils now reaching every corner of our lives, the boundaries blur, and the demands on our attention pop up exponentially. The ramifications? chronic stress that stretches beyond mere fatigue, often spilling into our physical and mental well-being. It has big repercussions, from weakened immune systems and cognitive impairment to severe ailments like cancer, depression, cardiovascular diseases and death.
Safe Boundaries
Now, here's where it gets crucial: the real threats of stress aren't just about long hours or demanding tasks. It's about the environment and our perception of safety.
Safety is multifaceted. It's not just about physical protection from danger but also about consistent and clear signals that you are, indeed, in a safe space. Our environments, both at work and home, must genuinely echo these safe boundaries, and it's high time we demand it.
An hyperactive mind, battered by relentless demands, working in a toxic - inestable culture, could misinterpret a totally safe home environment as hostile, leading to chronic stress. Therefore, a conducive environment and healthy boundaries are essential to recalibrate that missinterpretation and to recover the nervous system from chronic stress. And while workplace and own wellness initiatives are commendable, they need to transcend temporal gestures - band aid’s -, and prioritize genuine human well-being over financial gains (or savings), consistently.
Safety in Nature
Nature offers incredible and lessons about safety and boundaries. For example the bees have an intricate dynamic to read honest signals from flowers so they can pollinate with safety, imagine we could discover such a system to read the right signals around us?, or did you know the hummingbirds go into to the top of trees to enter a torpor state (a state of physical or mental inactivity; lethargy) to regenerate from a literally “non-stop” day, which let me wonder, what is that “top of the tree” for us so we can go into deep relaxation to recover fully and safely from the day?.
These natural role models paint a picture of evolved adaptability to changing environments, the importance of perceiving the right signals safely in one's surroundings, and solid social structures for protection. With inspiration from nature we can hope for spaces that not only signal safety but are genuinely protective boundaries.
The priority is to create that space where all aligns and our biology can signal our body, spirit and mind, “we are safe, now it is time to start the healing journey, to regain our life and our balance, to thrive again”.