Outside affecting the Inside

I just finished reading an article in Discover magazine entitled, “Are we still evolving?” I love to read about evolution and how organisms change. If you asked me if we are still evolving, I would say, “Of course we are!” I was surprised to read that there are certain scientists who think evolution has halted. It appears that recent studies of human genomes reveal that not only are we still evolving but we are evolving at an accelerated rate.

It appears that the accelerated rate may be due to the increasing size of the population among other factors that largely deal with the environment we are living in. My brother is an evolutionary biologist and studies how DNA changes due to environmental factors. He uses insects within his work and says that DNA is DNA. If DNA changes in insects due to environmental factors then it changes in human DNA. I have learned from him that the same exact species will develop differently when it lives in different environments. The outside environment affects the inside.

This makes me think about our environment — our homes, places where we work and the company we keep. How all of this is affecting the way we are evolving and changing inside. It really makes you stop and reflect on your environment. Are there things that I need to change in my environment? How can I create an environment that promotes healing and love to all those that are in it or may enter it?