Design Determines Function

Categories: Blog Jan 04, 2015

Have you ever heard the phrase, "Structure determines function"? In athletics, this is a great way to explain why some people make great swimmers and some people make great basketball players. Our structure, how long our bones are, how wide we are, etc., determines what activities we are best suited for. We all have the same operating system inside of us, but we do not all have the same structure. We are tall, short, narrow, wide, rectangular, triangular, round, and oval. Our bodies are not all the same. Thus, for some of us, our structure dictates what activities we may be best at.

Another way to say this is, "Design determines use." For example, a hammer makes for a great nail driver. However, a hammer is a horrible screw driver. Clearly, hammers are made to hit nails. Just as we have different bodies, we also have different hammers. There are hammers for construction, destruction, drywall hammers, rubber hammers, ball-peen hammers, sledge hammers, etc... Each hammer has a specific function it was designed for.

We have all been designed for a reason, for a specific purpose. This design goes deeper than our physical design, but just know, you are here for a reason. Anyway, let's look at designs.

Your hands are made for many wonderful things. They can grab, hold, touch, feel, communicate, express, rub, clap, soothe and caress. These are just a few things your hands are designed for. Hands are capable of other things, too. Punching, hitting, clawing, slapping - these are things your hands can do, but they are not designed to do. How do I know? These things hurt. Our nerves and sensations can tell us when we use our hands in ways they were not designed for.

Your mouth also has a design and a purpose. With it you can take in nourishment and feed your body. You can also express words, and literally give nourishment to yourself and others through the words your mouth creates. Your mouth was made for nourishment. Your words have the power to create, soothe, comfort, bolster, encourage, nourish and calm others. That is what your mouth was made to do.

It was not made to create words of fear, negativity, hate, rage, lies, or spite. How can I say this? Because all of those things, which your mouth is certainly capable of doing, cause pain and hurt. They cause destruction - the opposite of nourishing.

Look at your body as a whole. It was obviously designed to move: to walk, to dance, to run, to laugh, to hold, to spin, to flip, to hug, to defend, to protect, to skip, to jump, to flow, etc... These are certainly things your body was designed to do. It was never designed to lounge or melt in one place throughout the day. How can I say this? Being static, not moving, causes your body to breakdown, it causes pain, it causes depressive, erratic thoughts, it causes apathy. Not living to our design is destructive. We were clearly designed to move. And our movements were clearly meant to be an expression of life.

We were designed with a purpose in mind. If we are really to "live" and become what we are capable of becoming, we need to embrace our design. We need to move in the ways that we were created to move.

DO NOT MAKE THIS MISTAKE: Manipulating the tools we create is not the same as moving the way we were designed to move. Operating a car, stroking the keys of a keyboard, texting on a phone, clicking through channels, shuffling to the mailbox, swinging a golf club - there is movement involved in all of this, but it is not the movement we were created to do throughout the majority of the day. We were made for contra-lateral whole body, whole mind, movement. We were not made for repetitive, isolated, mindless movements. We are simply capable of doing them. We were made for more.

Be more. That is why you are here.

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