Surround yourself with what you want to be

Who knew that a single human cell could teach so much about life and happiness.

Before becoming the person we are today, we started out as a lump of undefined cells awaiting the chance to take shape. Embedded within the uterine wall of your mother, this collection grew as the cells divided and differentiated into functioning parts of the body such as the skin, bones, nervous system, etc.

But at the beginning, each single cell held the capacity to become a part of any organ depending on the cues it received from its surroundings. These original cells are called pluripotent stem cells and act like a blank canvas until the artist of life begins his work building the body.

With a mix of outside signals from other embryonic cells and mom and from cues within itself, these stem cells slowly morphed into form on their way to reaching full potential. As more of the specialized cells took shape and congregated with other alike cell types, their function became more nuanced and capable of performing their essential function. For instance, a cell can divide into a muscle cell very early on, but only with the connection and cooperation from many other muscle cells can they fulfill their destiny to become a working skeletal muscle.

Interestingly, in laboratory cell cultures when separated from each other, the cells don’t differentiate. Only in the group setting when provided stimulus and communication from other cells do they transform.

As intriguing as it is to understand that embryonic cells can become any tissue, scientists recently discovered for the first time that even fully differentiated cells can revert back to an embryonic-like state with the ability to grow back into any cell, just like a real pluripotent stem cell. So if one scraped some living skin cells say from an arm, science allows us to bring it back to a blank slate to become any type of cell, (heart, bone, anything) just by coaxing it with the right stimuli.

Feed these cells the right signals and watch them become something with amazing function. Hit the proper switches from here and even the fully formed cells go back to a state of wide-open potential.

And I believe this example of the happenings at the very beginning of our existence applies to our larger human nature and growth in life.

What a pluripotent stem cell can teach us

As children, what friends we had or what activities we were involved in made us the person of today. There’s a reason why parents engage us in educational opportunities and tell us not to hang out with the wrong crowd. They knew the importance of being surrounded with positive influences.

Adulthood is no different.  The people we surround ourselves with and activities we participate in determine whether we intellectually grow and stagnate, whether we become who we want to be or regretfully mourn all that we’re not.

My experiences have taught me that to cultivate the things you want in life, you need to be around everything that supports the pursuant efforts.

Placing yourself in such a setting requires a deep understanding what of life you truly want. When this is understood, choosing the positive influences becomes easier, as well as seeing what people or things are pulling your down. It’s best to operate quickly to remove things from your life that hold you back, as a cancerous environment can breed more malignancy.

But there are also instances where you need a complete reset from the already trekked path to an undesired direction. Luckily as conscious adults, we possess the ability to come to grips with our feelings and needs and can act to change our surroundings, behaviors, and outlook on life. While easier said than done, understanding your emotions and acting on them requires deep introspection, much needed patience, and extraordinary summoning of courage. With time, I believe the course correction will outweigh itself with greater lasting happiness than the temporary sorrow and hardship it may have caused.

Just like the induced pluripotent stem cell, we too can revert back to a near blank slate (at least mentally), even when there seems to be no hope of a change, and actively redirect our life.

At the most fundamental level, we continue to teach ourselves how to live. Basic biology shows us the importance of surrounding yourself with everything that brings you closer to your full potential.

You have the ability to change into what you want by bringing aligned and uplifting things and people into your life.