MIRROR IMAGES<\/span><\/h4>\n<\/div>\n

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We often think of the inner and outer ecology as separate entities. In fact, they are mirror images of one another. If one becomes dysfunctional, so will the other.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Many of us are experiencing punishing effects of stress from the failures of the outer ecology. We suffer from toxic food and polluted water, and also from a lack of meaning and purpose, a feeling ofdisconnection, a sense that our lives have gotten beyond our control. This creates terrible outer stress in our society, but it also creates inner stress on the microbiome.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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By the same token, when our microbiome\u2014our inner ecology\u2014is out of balance, we are prone to anxiety, depression, and brain fog. It\u2019s easy to become angry, aggressive, frustrated, or resentful. It\u2019s also easy to become hopeless, discouraged, dispirited, demoralized. These feelings in turn endanger our outer ecology as we abuse or neglect our natural environment and our social world.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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A TREMENDOUS OPPORTUNITY<\/span><\/h4>\n<\/div>\n

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If either one of our ecologies is in distress, the other suffers. But we know so much now about how to support each ecology. We have a tremendous opportunity to turn our negative synergy into a positive synergy, with each ecology supporting, nourishing, and inspiring the other. As a physician, I see it every day: the power of health to emerge out of illness, transforming everything in its path.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Something I like to tell my patients is that we are all profoundly affected by two ecologies. There is our outer ecology: the earth, air, food, and water that we depend for life. And there is our inner ecology: the community of trillions of bacteria that live within each of us, known as our microbiome. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4952,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5126","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"yoast_head":"\n