I felt extremely honoured last week when Matthew Bent, Managing Director of Bents – one of the UK’s Top 5 Garden Centres – acknowledged our very own Big Apple Experiment as the inspiration behind the launch of The Great Plant Experiment.
The Cheshire based garden & home centre has set up an experiment that aims to subject two sets of plants to very different emotions. Half the plants will be ‘loved’ with kind words and happy thoughts, whilst the remaining plants will be subjected to ‘hateful’ conditions and harsh words, whilst all other conditions such as watering and fertilization will be exactly the same.
Matthew Bent says that he had the idea for The Great Plant Experiment after attending a Chief Executives Group Masterclass that I was running on Charisma. During the Masterclass I was using the ‘One bad apple spoils the barrel‘ idiom in relation to employee engagement – citing research by AON Hewitt that showed that it takes 4 fully engaged employees to counteract the negative impact of one disengaged and disconnected colleague. I explained that The Big Apple Experiment was created to demonstrate how our negative emotions can accelerate the rate of decay in an apple, and Matthew was pretty astonished by the results!
For the last few years that we have been running The Big Apple Experiment I am regularly asked how it works. Whilst I obviously have my own theory, I generally do my best not to get drawn into any attempt at a scientific explanation – I am not a scientist. On the odd occasion when I have made the mistake of trying to explain how – for over 75% of the people that try the experiment – their thoughts and emotions create a visible difference in the rate of decay of an apple, I have to admit that it even sounded a bit like pseudo-science to me! The great news however, is that all of this may soon be changing!
I am currently reading a fascinating new book, written by a real scientist, which appears to offer an explanation as to how The Big Apple Experiment works. The Honeymoon Effect – The Science of creating heaven on earth – by cellular biologist Bruce Lipton PhD explains the influence of quantum physics, biochemistry and psychology in creating and sustaining loving relationships. Bruce Lipton is a cellular biologist who taught at the University of Wisconsin’s School of Medicine, and later performed pioneering studies at Stanford University. He is now an internationally recognised leader in bridging science and spirit, and a leading voice in new biology.
In his book, Bruce Lipton explains that what quantum physics teaches us is that everything we thought was physical is not physical. Instead everything in this Universe is made out of immaterial energy, and everything radiates energy. It is a given fact of science that every atom and every molecule both radiates and absorbs light( energy), and because all organisms are made out of atoms and molecules, you and I and every living thing ( including apples), are radiating and absorbing energy (vibrations /‘vibes’).
To explain the difference between ‘good vibes’, and ‘bad vibes’, he describes the action of dropping two rocks of the same size, from the same height, into a pond. At the point that the ripples made by each rock converge, the power of the ‘entangled’ energy waves is amplified, and the height of the now combined waves is greater that the heights of the individual ripples that gave rise to them. This phenomenon, explaining the science behind ‘good vibes’ is known as constructive interference. Lipton then goes on to explain that if the rocks are dropped out of sync, they will create ripples /energy waves that are not in harmony. This energy will not amplify the power of the out-of-phase-waves. It will in fact dissipate it. This phenomenon of cancelling energy is called destructive interference, and it describes the energetic effect of ‘bad vibes’.
I believe this little bit of science goes some way to explaining why it takes 4 fully engaged employees to counteract the destructive interference of one disengaged colleague. I believe that it may well explains why ‘one bad apple spoils the barrel’ and why, when focusing hate, anger, frustration, fear and the energy of destructive interference on one half of an apple, it will decay far more rapidly than the half that is subjected to the constructive interference called love.
When we ‘entangle’ with someone else’s energy, we want the interference to be constructive (good vibes) not destructive (bad vibes). We want the interaction to increase our energy, as well as theirs, not deplete it. I believe that this is why living, and working, in harmony is, scientifically proven’ to be so much better for us all. When we access our natural state of charisma we enable our energy to constructively interfere with others. That’s why charismatic people have such a positive impact on our energy levels.
