Dear Reader,
Recently I read a book The
Biology of Belief by Dr. Bruce Lipton. He presented an interesting concept
on Growth Mode and Protection Mode. There
is an excerpt from the book is at the end of this
mail.
He found that when human cells are exposed
to toxins, the cell wall becomes impermeable (Protection Mode). When the cells
are exposed to nutrition, their cell walls become semi-permeable and exchange
actively with the environment (Growth Mode). He also found that cells can
either be in Growth Mode or Protection Mode at a given point of time.
We human beings follow the same style. If
we perceive danger, we close our shutter and get into protection mode. When we
perceive love, care, safety around, we open our shutter and get into growth
mode.
It was interesting to note modern man
rarely faces life and death situations which require protection mode. Instead,
we get into protection mode when we see danger to our ego, ideology, turf, job,
reputation. Our scanner is on most of the time, as if we are walking in a dark
alley infamous for mugging incidents.
Consider: in whose presence, in what kind
of situations, we get into protection mode & why. Conversely, who gets into
protection mode in your presence? Is it your family members, peers, juniors?
Have you heard the story of the talented
sculptor whose statues looked alive? The king assigned him to make a life size
statue for a price equal to his own weight in gold. But there was a catch: if
he made a single mistake, his head would be chopped off!! Would the sculptor be
in full self-expression or in Protection Mode? How would the assignment turn
out?
We cannot grow in protection mode. So being
overly cautious, skeptical all the time has a big cost.
I think a deer in the jungle gets in to
protection mode only when it is in real danger. It has to run to save its life.
The moment the danger is over, it gets back into growth mode. During a given
day, may be it is in protection mode less than 5% of the time.
May you stay in growth mode more often in
2017 and may your presence inspire people around you to stay in growth mode!!
Warm
regards,
Rohan 
Growth v/s
Protection mode: (an excerpt)
…When I was cloning human endothelial
cells, they retreated from toxins that I introduced into the culture dish, just
as humans retreat from mountain lions and muggers in dark alleys. They also
gravitated to nutrients, just as humans gravitate to breakfast, lunch, dinner,
and love. These opposing movements define the two basic cellular responses to
environmental stimuli. Gravitating to a life-sustaining signal, such as
nutrients, characterizes a growth response; moving away from threatening
signals, such as toxins, characterizes a protection response. It must also be
noted that some environmental stimuli are neutral; they provoke neither a
growth nor a protection response.
My research at Stanford showed that
these growth/protection behaviors are also essential for the survival of
multicellular organisms such as humans. But there is a catch to these opposing
survival mechanisms that have evolved over billions of years. It turns out that
the mechanisms that support growth and protection cannot operate optimally at
the same time. In other words, cells cannot simultaneously move forward and
backward. The human blood vessel cells I studied at Stanford exhibited one
microscopic anatomy for providing nutrition and a completely different
microscopic anatomy for providing a protection response. What they couldn’t do
was exhibit both configurations at the same time. (Lipton, et al, 1991)
In a response similar to that displayed
by cells, humans unavoidably restrict their growth behaviors when they shift
into a protective mode. If you’re running from a mountain lion, it’s not a good
idea to expend energy on growth. In order to survive—that is, escape the
lion—you summon all your energy for your fight-or-flight response.
Redistributing energy reserves to fuel the protection response inevitably
results in a curtailment of growth.
In addition to diverting energy to
support the tissues and organs needed for the protection response, there is an
additional reason why growth is inhibited. Growth processes require an open
exchange between an organism and its environment. For example, food is taken in
and waste products are excreted. However, protection requires a closing down of
the system to wall the organism off from the perceived threat.
Inhibiting growth processes is also
debilitating in that growth is a process that not only expends energy but is
also required to produce energy. Consequently, a sustained protection response
inhibits the creation of life-sustaining energy. The longer you stay in
protection, the more you consume your energy reserves, which in turn,
compromises your growth.
Unlike single cells, the
growth/protection response in multicellular organisms is not an either/or
proposition—not all of our 50 trillion cells have to be in growth or protection
mode at the same time. The proportion of cells in a protection response depends
on the severity of the perceived threats. You can survive while under stress
from these threats, but chronic inhibition of growth mechanisms severely
compromises your vitality. It is also important to note that to fully
experience your vitality it takes more than just getting rid of life’s
stressors. In a growth-protection continuum, eliminating the stressors only
puts you at the neutral point in the range. To fully thrive, we must not only
eliminate the stressors but also actively seek joyful, loving, fulfilling lives
that stimulate growth processes.
