Q & A with Dr. B. – What do you mean by “failing to appreciate the symbiotic relationship?
The purpose of this website, my book, and the Community Education course I teach at the College of Marin, is to teach people how to live a vibrant, meaningful life through the cultivation of self-empowerment and self-efficacy. In this weekly Q&A column, I post questions from students and from people who attend my presentations along with my answers.
Here is this week’s question:
QUESTION: What do you mean by “failing to appreciate the symbiotic relationship”?
ANSWER: Although the body has evolved through the millennia of evolutionary improvements with an innate intelligence to do everything possible to maintain homeostasis, our minds commonly direct us to behave in ways that put the body in danger. It is very often a lopsided relationship where the body gives all it has and the mind selfishly chooses fast food and rich desserts, ingests carcinogens like tobacco smoke and neurotoxins like alcohol, fails to give the body enough exercise or enough sleep, ingests toxic drugs, exposes the body to dangerous amounts of chronic stress, and generally treats the body with reckless, irresponsible, and negligent care. This is not a symbiotic relationship. I’ll say more about how to cultivate a symbiotic relationship between mind and body next week.
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