There is no neutral zone in life.
You are either growing or dying. Renewing or deteriorating. Evolving or decaying.
There is no standing still.
The Beehive Teaches
I keep two beehives in my backyard. I’ve learned more about life from watching bees than from most books.
A beehive never stops working. The bees don’t take weekends. They don’t retire. They don’t slow down at 60.
Every single day, the hive renews itself. Workers are born. Old ones pass. Cells are built and rebuilt. Honey is made. The colony evolves constantly.
If the bees stopped if they decided to rest and maintain what they have, the hive would collapse within days.
Not from outside attack. From internal decay. Neglect. Stagnation.
This is the law of life itself.
Growth and renewal aren’t luxury add-ons. They are the requirement for existence.
Three Types of Renewal
Most people think growth is one thing. It’s not.
Physical Renewal:
Your body is not the same body you had seven years ago. Every cell in your system renews itself. Your skeleton replaces itself. Your skin sheds. Your blood regenerates.
This happens whether you’re aware of it or not.
But how well it happens depends entirely on energy.
When you feed your body living energy vital food, unprocessed, exactly as nature made it those cells renew with vitality. You feel strong. You move easily. Your body repairs itself quickly.
When you feed your body dead energy processed, cooked, transformed by human hands those cells renew slowly. Weakly. You feel stiff. You age rapidly. Your body accumulates dysfunction.
At 66, I move better than I did at 50. Not because I’m exceptional. Because I’ve been giving my body the energy it needs to renew properly.
Mental Renewal:
Your mind doesn’t just accumulate information like a hard drive. It transforms information into knowledge. Knowledge into understanding. Understanding into wisdom.
But this transformation requires energy. Tremendous energy.
A tired mind cannot think clearly. A foggy mind cannot process deeply. A depleted mind cannot evolve.
When you feed your brain living energy, something miraculous happens: clarity emerges. You can hold complex ideas. You can see connections. You can think for yourself instead of just accepting what you’re told.
Your mind renews itself daily when it has enough energy.
Spiritual Renewal:
Beyond body and mind, there’s something deeper. Call it spirit. Call it consciousness. Call it the sense of being truly alive.
This renews too but only when you feed it with vital energy.
When you’re surviving just getting through the day on processed food, foggy thinking, and autopilot living your spirit withers. You feel empty. Meaningless. Like you’re going through motions instead of living.
When you’re thriving nourished by living food, clarity of mind, intentional choices your spirit awakens. You feel connected. Purposeful. Alive in the deepest sense.
The Journey From Information to Wisdom
Life is a journey. From childhood to old age. From innocence to experience.
But most people never complete the journey. They accumulate information their whole lives but never transform it into wisdom.
Why?
Because they don’t have enough energy.
Information → Knowledge → Wisdom is a progression. Each step requires work. Mental work. Spiritual work. Transformation work.
A child absorbs information naturally. Everything is new. Everything is possible.
But as you age, as life becomes complex, as you accumulate experiences you need energy to process all of it into something meaningful.
Without enough energy:
- Information just stays information. Random facts floating in your head.
- Knowledge remains disconnected. You understand things separately but can’t see the pattern.
- Wisdom never emerges. You never reach the deepest understanding of life.
You stay stuck in confusion. In reactivity. In suffering.
With enough energy:
- Information becomes connected dots.
- Knowledge becomes integrated understanding.
- Understanding transforms into wisdom the ability to see what actually matters and live accordingly.
At 66, I’m still growing. I’m still learning. Still accumulating information that’s becoming knowledge, which is slowly becoming wisdom.
But only because I have the energy to do this work.
Surviving vs. Thriving Energy
Let me be clear about something.
There’s a difference between surviving and thriving.
Surviving energy:
- Keeps your heart beating
- Keeps you breathing
- Basic functions continue
- But that’s it
You wake up. Go to work. Come home. Collapse. Sleep. Repeat. You’re not dead but you’re not really living.
Thriving energy:
- All basic functions, but with vitality
- You have energy left over for activities
- You play. You create. You dance. You write. You read. You think deeply.
- You enjoy time with family and friends
- You go on adventures. You travel. You explore.
- You grow. You learn. You become.
Most people don’t realize they’re choosing survival instead of thriving because they’ve never experienced true thriving energy.
They think fatigue is normal. Brain fog is inevitable. Low mood is “just how it is.”
No. That’s survival dressed up as normal.
Thriving is what life actually feels like when you fuel it properly.
The Cost of Stopping
What happens when renewal and growth stop?
Deterioration.
Your cells stop regenerating properly. Your body ages rapidly. Disease accumulates.
Your mind stops processing. Clarity fades. Depression creeps in.
Your spirit withers. Meaning disappears. You’re just counting days until death.
And then death comes. Not because of age. Because you stopped growing.
That’s the trap: Most people stop growing long before they stop breathing. They mistake comfort for safety. They mistake stability for peace. They mistake routine for security.
And the moment they stop growing the moment they decide they’re “done learning” or “too old to change” they begin dying.
It’s not dramatic. It’s slow. Quiet. Invisible.
But it’s real.
The Fuel for Growth
Now here’s what I’ve discovered:
You can’t grow without fuel. And not all fuel is equal.
Cooked food is dead food. It’s fuel for survival, not thriving.
It contains the 5 Slow Poisons: refined sugar, refined salt, processed oils, dairy, grains. These don’t nourish growth. They impede it.
They clog your cellular systems. They fog your mind. They dampen your spirit.
But living food raw, plant-based, exactly as Mother Nature created it, is fuel for growth.
When you avoid the 5 Slow Poisons, something shifts. Your body can produce energy efficiently. With less input, you get more output. Better energy production means:
- Cellular regeneration – Your body rebuilds itself stronger
- Mental clarity – Your mind processes deeply
- Spiritual vitality – Your spirit awakens
This isn’t a theory. This is biology.
For 16 years, I’ve lived this. Seven marathons at 50+. Zero medications. Clear mind. Vital body. Growing continuously.
Not because I’m special. Because I’m fueling growth properly.
Give Meaning to Life
Here’s the deepest truth:
Life has no inherent meaning. You have to create it.
And you can only create meaning when you’re actually alive, not just surviving, but thriving. Not just existing, but growing.
Growth gives life meaning.
When you’re growing physically renewing, mentally expanding, spiritually evolving you’re participating in the mystery of existence. You’re becoming something more than you were.
That is the meaning. That is the purpose. That is what makes life worth living.
But you can only do this if you have enough energy.
Energy is not just calories. Energy is the capacity to think, to feel, to create, to become.
The Choice You Make Daily
Every morning, you wake up with a choice:
Will I grow today? Or will I decay?
Will I feed my body living energy? Or dead energy?
Will I use my mind to think and expand? Or let it atrophy?
Will I tend my spirit like the bees tend their hive? Or let it wither?
Most people don’t see this choice. They think they’re just eating breakfast. Just going to work. Just living their life.
But every choice is either growth or decay. There’s no neutral.
The beehive works every day because it understands: Stop working, and you die. Simple as that.
We should understand the same thing about our own lives.
Grow daily or die daily.
Not metaphorically. Literally.
Every day, you’re either renewing or deteriorating. Growing or fading. Becoming more alive or less alive.
There is no standing still.
Starting Now
If you’re reading this and you feel like you’ve been surviving instead of thriving, I have good news:
You can change. Today.
Not eventually. TODAY.
Start paying attention to the energy you’re consuming. Is it living energy or dead energy?
Start listening to your body. What fuel actually makes you feel vital?
Start using your mind. What information is called to be transformed into wisdom?
Start tending your spirit. What growth is waiting for you?
Begin the renewal. Begin the growth.
In March 2026, I’m publishing IN NATURE WE TRUST: Life is Energy & Energy is Life the complete system for how to sustain thriving energy throughout your life. (coming March 2026)
But you don’t have to wait until then.
You can start now.
You can start growing today.
The Beehives Are Waiting
My beehives teach me something every season: Life is continuous work. Continuous renewal. Continuous growth.
The hive doesn’t ask permission to rebuild. It doesn’t wait for the perfect moment. It works every day because that’s what living things do.
We’re not so different.
We’re meant to grow. To renew. To evolve. To become wiser, clearer, more alive with each passing year.
But only if we fuel it right.
Only if we choose growth over decay. Energy over lethargy. Becoming over stagnation.
Every single day.
Grow daily or die daily.
That’s not a threat. That’s an invitation.
In Nature We Trust.
Life is Energy. Energy is Life.
–Axay Shah
IN NATURE WE TRUST
P.S.: Look at the bees. They don’t rest. They don’t question. They don’t doubt. They work because that’s what living things do. Work to grow. Grow to live. Live to become. Maybe we should do the same.
