Two notes on harmony

I always like noticing bits of synchronicity, like bumping into the same word or concept in two settings over a few hours or days. In this case the word harmony drew my attention.

First on NPR’s TED Radio Hour. On the episode Future You: How to be kinder to your future self, Manoush Zomorodi interviews author Hal Hershfield about his book Your Future Self in which he explains that “in our minds, our future selves often look like strangers. Many of us view the future as incredibly distant, making us more likely to opt for immediate gratification that disregards the health and wellbeing of ourselves in the years to come.”

Manoush Zomorodi: You need to find balance between smelling the roses, living in the moment, and making decisions that are kinder to your future self.

Hal Hershfield: I think that harmony might be a better word. Balance implies we’re constantly trading off, constantly on the seesaw, you’re up and you’re down. Harmony in music implies that two voices can be signing at the same time and work together. I think the same could be said of our futures selves. There are decisions we can make right now that aren’t just for the future but that can be for now and for later as well. I can spend more time with family, away from work, and that could benefit me later. There are also cases where working more now is beneficial now and for later.

It’s only a short quote but I love that concept, harmonising parts of your life instead of putting two or more sides of it in opposition going up or down.

The second instance is in The biodiversity foundation hacking the fashion and art world, where Eilidh Duffy writes about DEEP, which supports biologically important areas across the world. “To do this, they partner with local organisations working on the ground throughout the globe to assist in gathering vital data, support existing ecologies in each location and facilitate rewilding and educational programs to help those organisations grow.”

Speaking with Hugo CM Costa, Co-Founder of Instituto Juruá.

What does biodiversity mean to you?

In my role as an ecologist, I’m inclined to address this question using technical terms such as ‘species richness’, ‘species composition’, ‘abundance’ and ‘rarity’. However, I’d also like to express a more poetic perspective by likening biodiversity to music. In this analogy, species act as individual instruments, each contributing its unique intensity and melody, but when played together, they harmonise to create the beautiful symphony of life on Earth.

Nothing majorly new in either one, maybe just a super weak signal of people seeking harmony and using it to frame their life and work?

Note: Sorry for the pun in the title, I noticed only after the fact! Kept it.