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10 years ago
I recently watched a fascinating documentary programme about the longevity of life in different cultures.
It featured societies where people tend to live much longer than the average. And there was a lot of interesting stuff to come out of it, but what the researchers have found in Japan in particular, has much wider implications than for just health and longevity.
In the Japanese Okinawa islands, the population routinely expect to live… and be healthy… well into their nineties and beyond. The reasons for this aren’t all totally clear, but it’s collectively thought to be something to do with the traditional Soya protein based diet, and the fact that the people there tend to eat very little food prepared by western standards.
Now here’s what’s interesting…
The simple fact that the people thrive on that kind of diet and lifestyle is nine times out of ten, down to their heredity… due to what their ancestors have experienced and endured throughout the past centuries. Just like in evolution, their bodies have geared up, and adapted, to thrive on that kind of thing. But at the same time, if you or I were to take up the same diet or regime, we wouldn’t necessarily get the same results through.
This is borne out and further illustrated by what happens when the young Okinawa leave the islands and go to live in the city. You see, when they move to a more western based lifestyle, not only do they lose all the benefits of their heredity, but they actually fare much worse than their contemporaries, who have been brought up and lived all their lives in that environment. Their life expectancy actually falls well below the average by as much as twenty percent even.
They have evolved to thrive in a completely different environment. And so their heredity offers no given benefits in the new environment, but massive ones in their natural one.
Now I’m sure this is a phenomenon which stretches way beyond the health and longevity arena. For example, we all have skills, attributes and pre-dispositions, and if we’re not getting the results and outcomes we want, it could because we’re trying to apply them in the wrong environment.
Look at it all this way...
A formula one car is pretty awe inspiring and unbeatable in its natural environment of a race track, but it wouldn’t even manage to get you out of your own street in the real world. And whereas the average family saloon is built to be good for an average 150,000 miles you will be lucky to see 250 miles from one of theses brutes.
And likewise, a humble 50cc scooter would also be totally useless on a motorway, but would quite happily get you around the centre of London much better than anything else.
What I’m trying to point out here is that anyone with average natural abilities, when applied in the right environment is far better adapted, and much more effective, than somebody with outstanding abilities applied in the wrong one.
A brain surgeon would be lost on a building site for instance, whereas a jobbing builder would be conversant with many of the disciplines required of that environment.
So maybe it’s time to ask yourself, are you applying your innate and acquired strengths in the right environment, or are you the proverbial fish out of water… or even the Okinawan living on fast foods?
Because if you’ve ever felt you’ve not achieved as much as you feel you deserve, the answer could lay right here. Perhaps it’s time to change direction, or maybe even move.
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