Ebbs & Flows

"And the wisdom to know the difference..."

Dopamine World

We are all seeking that magical state of inspiration, motivation, and exuberance.

We all chase excitement.

Pleasure.

Satiety.

Comfort.

Bliss.

Biological life — not just humans, but everything that we understand to living in a similar fashion as ourselves — is seeking-out stimulation. Dopamine. Serotonin. Oxytocin.

We are incentivized to move, to achieve, to struggle, to relax, and to rest.

What many forget (often) is that we are not just designed to push-push-push and go-go-go. We are also incentivized to recover.

We have to heal and recover. If we do not, if we continue to drive-on and red-line, risk grows of something breaking — in some form or fashion. Whether this involves an injury (from poor decision making or not being present), an illness, or simply a crash and passing out from fatigue. We will be forced into taking a break at some point, regardless of whether we want to or not.

Life has a reason for rest. As does every other aspect of our mortal experience. Rest allows us to adapt to a higher, or newer, level of performance. By not resting, we prevent our bodies from locking in the newly acquired capabilities — our adaptations. Whether that is by growing a fresh amount of muscle following a workout, or giving our central nervous system a rest to myelinate. Or simply to allow our hormones and neurotransmitters to return to baseline. Or our time to process events or emotions experienced. Rest is not just an opportunity to get comfortable. Rest is a requirement for development and improvement.

This concept applies to everything else we experience.

Balance From Chaos, Chaos From Balance

What we call rest when referring to our bodily health, we call “consolidation” when referring to healthy market functions. Consolidation also occurs in technological innovation; a renaissance is a concentrated period of widespread explosions in rapid progression across a number of fields following many years or decades of little-to-no progress. Like a civilization taking a rest period in the macrocycle.

We also see consolidation in ecosystems. When there is a balance in the predator:prey ratio, things are relatively calm and predictable. But once a variable causes a shift in the balance, momentum can carry one side of the population to an extreme. Where that extreme causes the ecosystem itself to bind-up, or sometimes break, and a reconsolidation is forced upon the ecology. This is what we call a “bubble” in financial markets.

Another example is in weather. Variables such as temperature, humidity, cloud cover, and exposure to sunlight can all influence and shift balances that lead to changes in the saturation levels of compounds present. Which can push ratios out of balance, and lead to a shifting of the environment. Like an abundance of humidity and precipitation leading to a landslide reshaping the entire face of a mountain or valley. Or a freak cold front swooping down through an area that was warm and humid yielding a breeding ground for tornadic activity.

We also see these ebbs and flows within our bodies’ digestive system and resource distribution mechanism(s). We absorb nutrients based on saturation ratios. When our need (what we have present in our body) is at a lower saturation than what we ingest, or what is present in our gastrointestinal tract, we absorb the difference. When we’ve taken in everything that we can (which is often a max of 50% of what is available), we expel the rest. This is why drinking distilled water is extremely unhealthy — it will pull important minerals from your body to balance out both sides of the equation between body:intake.

Conclusion

The moral of the story here, and why I wanted to share these insights with all of you, is that I hope I can inspire more of you to appreciate all sides of the equation. Enjoy the explosions in progress but also value the crash and the recovery after. Even more importantly: appreciate the hard times, the times of struggle and of stress.

These are the times that signal we are in a consolidation period. These are times where growth can occur, as long as we have the wisdom to identify the opportunity and the fortitude to persevere and persist through the trials and tribulations. These times often require a bit more rest than we may want, or a little more push — it is up to us to listen to our bodies and deduce what is needed for our success. This requires introspection and awareness, something our current society lacks dearly. These are perishable skills just like any other, and often times we will need more rest than push when we are first developing our introspectiveness and being aware.

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
Forever in the next.
Amen.

I hope this can serve you in the times ahead.

Chaotic times, they are a comin’.

Upheavals are around the corner.