What's Your Social Ecosystem Like?
Recently, I have been reading about the Blue Zone Vitality Project, Sponsored by United Health Foundation and led by Dan Buettner.
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It is a fascinating look at what are the factors which create human longevity, after all we all what to live long HEALTHY lives, right?
Here in my Fairfax City office, I try and espouse the wellness model when I work with my clients in my counseling practice. In my view, eliminating symptoms is simply not enough for most of us. I feel we are all born to strive towards what Abraham Maslow called “Self-Actualization” or searching for what he called “peak experiences.”
It is this struggle towards self-perfection which classifies us in the category of ‘human.’ However, things get in the way of this path, ‘roadblocks’ if you will, sometimes these are external, often times they are internal.
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So you may be wondering how can a project studying the longevity of various homogeneous groups spread all over the world help us on our road to self-actualization? Plenty is my reply. Many of these groups of people live very similar lifestyles, once you strip away the cultural idiosyncrasies.
For instance, many of them do not smoke nicotine, eat more of a plant-based diet and most importantly do moderate exercise throughout their day. Now many of these people aren’t going to the gym or putting on running shoes, they are simply doing very physical tasks, such as gardening and walking to their destinations, rather than driving a car or taking a bus.
In other words, their environment forces them to exercise without them really thinking about it. The social ecosystem of these people reinforces their positive lifestyle activities.
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Most of us HAVE to force ourselves to exercise because we spend our days sitting at a desk in an office. We DELIBERATELY choose to go outside for an exercise run. People living in blue zones have a social ecosystem that naturally structures moderate exercise throughout the day.
If one wants a garden, with cheap fresh vegetables, one has to physically create and maintain that garden. If one wants to go into town or visit a neighbor and does not have access to a vehicle, then one has to walk or hike there. Do you see how important your social ecosystem is??
If your social ecosystem consists of isolating yourself in your office/cubicle for hours on end, while sitting and your only social interactions are with your co-workers, when you all drive to a fast food restaurant to eat, then that is your social ecosystem.
