Integrated Pest Management

Okay, I’m borrowing a phrase from my gardening books.

“Integrated Pest Management” refers to those horticulture practices that are aimed at reducing the effects that particular pests have on your garden (insects, viruses, fungi) without trying to eradicate them.  Eradicating (i.e. completely wiping out) those pests can have other unintended side effects…for example, destroying an insect may remove an important food source for a bird who is also a crucial pollinator for your plants.

I think this is a great metaphor for what we need to do with our lives.

I often talk with people who are trying to ‘eradicate’ all the negative people in their lives–those who do not support them, or those who actively oppose them, or those who just plain make life miserable.

It makes sense to me that we should try to reduce the number of these folks.  Who needs an entire chorus of ‘pests’ who continually criticize and condescend to us?  Sometimes they pop up from the past (old Uncle Charlie who told us we’d never amount to anything) or the present (colleagues who fight us at every turn in real or imaginary power struggles).

Mostly, we want positive influences in our daily lives.  Those friends, family members, or colleagues who see our strengths and help reinforce them.  The person ‘in our corner’ who backs us no matter what.

On the other hand, the pests serve an important purpose, and like integrated pest management for gardening, I’m not so sure that we would want to eradicate them altogether.

Those pests keep us on our toes.  The pests from the past serve as a constant reminder of the kinds of relationships we don’t want in our present lives.  When a new pest wanders into our present life, the ‘red flags’ (feelings, observations) from the past often help us avoid repeating a damaging kind of relationship.

Pests in our current lives can also encourage us to perform at higher levels…there is often nothing as motivating as someone who says ‘you can’t do that’ to which you think to yourself ‘oh yes I can, you just watch me!’

So on the eve of this year’s gardening season (at least in Michigan), let’s take a page from the horticulture book.

Let’s keep just enough pests in our lives to motivate us but not so many that they defeat us.    It’s all about balance…in nature, and in our personal lives.

Keep growing!

March 10th, 2009 - Posted in Gardening and Life | | 0 Comments