Life’s Principles in Biomimicry 1: Evolve to Survive
After defining biomimicry and Nature in the last post, we now look at some of biomimicry’s life’s principles. But first, what is a life’s principle? According to the Biomimicry Institute:
The Life’s Principles of biomimicry reveal the deep patterns in Nature that lead to successful and sustainable existence on this planet. They are a distillation of the consistently repeated principles within just about every organism and ecosystem on Earth.
by Rebecca MacKinnon | Jul 29, 2021 | Blog, Biomimicry Resources
The first life’s principle is: evolve to survive. The saying goes that ‘if something is too rigid, it breaks under pressure’, so evolving to survive helps us to adjust to the changing situations around and within us. As always, we can learn from Nature and here are some examples from Nature, from our working lives, and from personal relationships too.
Three strategies to help us evolve to survive and these are:
- Replicate strategies that work.
In Nature, ants use a particular route to carry food to their nests. If it works well, they will reuse that route repeatedly and also bring other ants to use the same passage to carry food to their nests.
In a work situation for humans, we may have a Monday morning team meeting routine to set the tone and direction for the week. If it works, then we can practice that every week.
In a personal capacity, if meditation, journaling, exercising or listening to soothing music helps with stress reduction then we may do this regularly.
2. Integrate the unexpected
In Nature, looking at the ants again, they work around obstacles. If there is a drop or pool of water, they will go around it. They may even drink from it. They embrace the unexpected.
For humans especially at work, if there is a natural disaster, then the action plan to deal with it can be integrated into next year’s strategic plan. This prepares workers to deal with a similar situation in future, so that the organizations suffer least disruption. The unexpected is integrated into future planning and contingencies are created.
In a personal situation, if there is an unplanned day off, instead of fretting about work, a person can go hiking, to the movies or do something else which is exciting. This will also help with clearing the mind and improving performance the next day.
3. Reshuffle information.
In Nature, the results of reshuffling information can be seen in the genetic modification of offspring, which may improve chances for survival. If there is only one genetic sequence, then a bacteria or disease may kill all of them and wipe out that species because they all have identical genetic vulnerability. A different genetic makeup may provide some resistance to the bacteria for the species.
A human example of this method is when employees change jobs and cross-pollinate information across organizations, or cross-train within the organization and help carry the workload with overlapping skills when one or more team members is ill or away.
Personally, try rearranging furniture in your living room to optimize use of space, and see how refreshing it is to reshuffle spatial information and physical items.
Some of these techniques we may be using without realizing that it’s learnt from Nature. The pandemic was a very good example of how we all had to evolve to survive using the above strategies – replicating mask wearing, social distancing and sanitizing; integrating the unexpected pandemic to evolve by working from home; and reshuffling information each time a new variant was discovered.
Share with us your experiences with using these life’s principles.
Written by the inimitable Dr. Margaret Cornelius, wellness advisor to Alchemus Prime.