A few days ago,
I walked into my office at Columbia University.
It was a typical New York City spring morning,
And I'd gotten to work on Riverside Drive by the Hudson,
Wheezing through the fresh air on my bike.
After taking the elevator to the 15th floor,
I slid open the frosted glass door of my office.
There was a dead leaf on my desk.
As I looked up,
Just above eye level,
I found a delicate branch with healthy leaves.
It shot out from the green burgundy coleus plant living atop my bookshelf.
It was something funny about that branch.
It wasn't straight.
About a foot and a half long,
It curved 90 degrees to the left.
That's peculiar for two reasons.
First,
Every living expression is unique and therefore peculiar in its own right.
But second and more meaningfully,
Bending like this just isn't the most thermodynamically favorable trajectory for anything to grow.
If a plant was conscious and wanted to optimize resources to get the most length,
It wouldn't waste precious plant cells and processes bending in any direction.
It would grow straight.
And that's where the lesson is precisely.
Right in the bend of life,
Where lessons typically are.
Behind the coleus was a tall window.
Through it,
Morning sunlight,
After an 8-minute galactic journey from the sun's surface,
Penetrated the otherwise dark hospital office space.
The sun,
The plant's very raison d'être,
Illuminating everything,
Glaring at me,
Glaring at the coleus.
What had happened is that the plant had grown,
Transformed its default linear trajectory in direction of sunlight,
Of course.
Seeking light as its energy source,
The plant's very anatomy had adapted,
Bending towards the light source.
If I had tried to bend a straight branch into a 90-degree angle,
It would have cracked and broken.
For its biological structure isn't quite bendable or malleable unless you approach it lightly,
With the brightness of light's photons.
If given enough time,
Energy can seemingly bend and transform anything.
And not just plants.
Your body,
Too,
Is constantly formed and transformed by energy.
It's grown all the way from a single egg into a full-bodied person,
Fueled by the flow of energy.
Your adult muscles grow and shrink,
Too,
In response to increased and decreased energy flow,
Hypertrophy and atrophy,
Or movement of energy.
The human brain,
Too,
Bends,
Grows,
And remodels.
Hold a certain energy pattern for long enough,
Like practicing a new musical instrument,
For example,
Or spend enough time watching short-form social media content,
And your brain's structure and function remodel.
That's called neuroplasticity.
And it works just like the plant.
Slowly,
Progressively,
Energy bends your brain,
Out of its default shape,
To help life thrive.
The bending potential of energy applies not just to office plants,
To your body's muscles and brain,
And to human psychology,
But to all realms of life.
If you want to change something in your life,
Brute force generally isn't the way.
Think of the plant.
Nature shows us how it's done.
Progressively,
As we grow,
We are infused and moved by patterns of energy.
We can help ourselves grow by seeking out the right kind of energy,
By putting energy into things that move us,
And into projects and actions that excite and inspire us.
We are energy,
Moved by energy.
Following the same principle through which the sun attracts the living,
Growing plant,
It's by keeping your energy flowing that you attract the right things in your life.
When we shine and radiate energy,
Life naturally grows towards us.
If we love,
A powerful energy pattern,
We attract more love.
And if we hate,
A different kind of energy pattern,
We attract negativity.
By broadcasting energy through your voice and actions,
You have the subtle yet meaningful power to attract,
Inspire,
And bend the lives of those around you.
Your words and actions have the same kind of power as the touch of light.
Traveling invisibly through the air,
Energy patterned as words has the underestimated power to bend human lives.
The deepest life lessons are not found in the straight parts of life,
But in the bends of life.
That morning,
The collier's plant on my shelf showed me how energy bends the fabric of life,
Just like Einstein showed us how gravity bends space and time.
And every waking moment,
Your own energy bends the fabric of the universe around you.
The sun's energy can bend life,
And so can the energy flowing through your body.
