The site correctly answered our question (“what’s one of the best food sources of fibre”) and it stands true on its own (I love spinach by the way). But without considering any context we cannot simply take that information and start gulping down tons of spinach like Popeye and recommend it to all our friends. We have to tap the ‘pause button’ for a second and ask ourselves, “How much will that information benefit or harm me?”
If you’re otherwise healthy but a bit low on fibre or iron, spinach will do you wonders. So off you go searching for delicious spinach recipes. But if you’re struggling with severe Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) then the huge punch of potassium in the spinach might do more harm than good. So you would skip that recommendation for another one with less potassium, like pears.
Does this mean spinach is bad? No, not at all. But depending on who’s going to eat it and their health situation, spinach could be bad.
So it’s easy to see from this little example, the same food can produce two completely different outcomes – all dependent upon the context. Thus context can make a very big difference in formulating the next steps you take (eg. to eat or not to eat a bunch of spinach).
You can now apply this same process to everything else in life. Someone may be acting up and upsetting you – but what is the context of their actions? It doesn’t make negative behaviour right, but would you be more or less likely to get upset if you knew they just lost their best friend in a tragic car accident? Would that knowledge bring out a bit more patience in your response?
This shows us that by simply considering context in our lives and in the lives of others, it can soften our hearts and evoke kindness, understanding, and peace. We just take the time to obtain it.
