Boundaries: The Natural Agreements of Life

Like a beaver building its dam, the berms of sand along the beaches, the boulders of jetties stretching out to sea, or the bridges created by fallen trees that allow passage over canyons, these are all beautiful examples of how humans, animals, and nature integrate with one another. Like a seed sprouting and breaking through the earth to reach the sun, or the forest canopy creating shade for mushrooms and moss to flourish beneath it, where intricate networks connect the plants and trees, there is a natural harmony in how everything exists together.

It’s all intentional and harmonious. In every instance, there is a personal desire or necessity being expressed in coordination with its companions and co-creators. And somehow, nothing seems disturbed by these natural expressions. Instead, there is an allowance, a yielding, an understanding, and an agreement. These are the agreements of natural order.

I’ve discovered that boundaries are very much the same. Boundaries that support our own personal intentions, desires, objectives, comfort, and needs are just as vital as the beaver building its dam for its own necessities. The water yields without resistance, and the creatures surrounding it naturally organize themselves or find another way around. There is no conflict in this natural arrangement, only an understanding that each living being has its own needs and its own place within the greater whole.

I establish my boundaries because they are what allow me to feel at ease within my home, my personal space, and my internal and external environments. And to me, it’s really very simple. Just as every living organism in nature creates the conditions necessary for its own existence, comfort, and well-being, we too have that same natural freedom. It is our co-creative obligation to recognize, accept, honor, and yield to one another’s boundaries, just as the earth and all its living organisms naturally do.

This, to me, is the definition of boundaries: creating, establishing, and honoring a space of comfort and well-being within our mental, spiritual, and physical environments, while recognizing and respecting the same natural needs in others.

And we can do all of this with ease, kindness, compassion, and respect, while remaining firm, solid, strong, and secure within ourselves.