The Story of the Dandelion and the Orchid

Track the genes of identical twins over the years and you find that they become less and less so, especially if their life situation differs drastically. I hope you understand what this means: the nature versus nurture discussion is over. While you surely have to accept your starting point, no one can prevent you from creating your destiny.

Well, there is one caveat though. You are very much a product of your environment. It is hard to break through your perceived constraints unless you feel the love and encouragement from others. So if you have been blessed enough to discover your true nature, please repeat this feat in others to the best of your ability. We need to build each other, one by one. Love is for us is what sunshine, soil and water is to the plants. In a loving environment the sky is the limit in whatever you do.

It turns out that we also really don't have the right to criticize anyone for anything. Did you know that there are genes that make some people more aggressive, while others more calm and tolerant? We also don't know in what environment children were raised and what the interplay between nature and nurture is in every specific case. Christina Berndt presents an amazing idea in her book "Resilienz".  She says there are orchid children who do really well when nurtured and pretty much disintegrate when not, while there are are other genetic setups that allow children to be more resilient when they grow up, so they do ok even in a hostile environment, but also don't have the same upside potential when raised in a loving environment (the dandelion children).

So to cut a long story short, don't judge, be tolerant and shower your environment with love and encouragement. Raise people and discover your Self in the process. Whether you have children or not, know that you can influence the gene pool of countless generations by helping others to find their divinity. With every success story you will add another precious flower to the Garden of Eden.