You know the debate, the one about nature versus nurture¹, which is more powerful? It’s usually a conversation about the environment a child grows up in. What about now, as adults, what’s the impact of nature versus nurture and what is nurture for grown folks? Here’s the deal, researchers have pretty much agreed, the nature versus nurture thing is intertwined. You have gens that predisposition you, but, environment plays a lot in to it. Here you are, your genes determine some things, but now, as an adult ave you put yourself in an environment that will nurture? What does that look like?
A few years back, a friend, Brett Gadja spoke about how we are the average of the 5 people we spend the most time with. His take, you want to be a millionaire, hang out with people who are millionaires and you’ll be the next one. You want to write a book, hang out with people who have written books. It made sense, you are in that environment, having conversations, going to events, having discussions, it’s dare I say, nurturing.
I completed my 200 hour yoga teacher training in January and taught my first official yoga class today. I recalled, every Wednesday after yoga class, I’d have coffee with 3 friends One was a yoga teacher. Within a year, two were yoga teachers. Within 3 years, three were yoga teachers. When I moved, somehow, I ended up in another community of yoga teachers. There is definitely something to this.
Checking on the source and quote for this post, I found a blog post and based on the title, I thought my nurture this idea would not make it to print. However, it proved to be a stronger affirmation.
You’re not the average of the FIVE people you surround with. It’s way bigger than that. You’re the average of all the people who surround you. So take a look around and make sure you’re in the right surroundings.²
What do you want to do? What are your aspirations? This week, consider, is your environment nurturing
¹ Nature vs. … nurture debate, “nature” refers to biological/genetic predispositions’ impact on human traits, and nurture describes the influence of learning and other influences from one’s environment.
² https://medium.com/the-mission/youre-not-the-average-of-the-five-people-you-surround-yourself-with-f21b817f6e69
Balancing on Unstable Surfaces 