I listen to the wind
To the wind of my soul
Where I'll end up
Well, I think only God really knows
— Cat Stevens
A couple of years back, when I was feeling stagnant and stale with my work as a natural medicine therapist, I ran a little experiment on myself.
I say "experiment" ... it was more me following the advice that I was always giving out to my clients at the time who were feeling stagnant in their lives:
I spent a couple of days listening to my ‘wind’.
(No, not like that 💨😂)
The concept of ‘wind’ in ancient China was as a source of disruption. In his seminal book Medicine In China: A History Of Ideas, Paul Unschuld reveals that 'wind' was the first natural phenomenon that was identified as a malevolent force of nature that was thought to cause illness.
In later times, it became associated with the Wood-element, as en expression of a sudden, disruptive force of change. Like wind, change could either be gentle in its movement; or it could be swift and violent.
Usually what happens is we get a sense that something in our lives needs to change. If we pay attention to that sense, then change is gradual and controlled; steady like the gentle wind that blows the seeds around in spring.
Should we ignore these warnings, then things are left unchanged, and build up. Then when change comes, it's more like a turbulent storm.
All we do crumbles to the ground though we refuse to see
— Kansas
Aware of all that, I chose to explore the gentle variety. It would've been pretty silly to do otherwise. I guess you can forgive folk if they just don't see the signs; but I was very aware of what was happening around me.
How many times can a man turn his head
and pretend that he just doesn't see?
— Bob Dylan
I learned an interesting idea when I attended a training intensive with the International School of Temple Arts. Well, it wasn't something new, but the framing around it was novel, and I also learned ways to implement the idea easily in my normal daily routine.
The idea is stupidly simple: what happens when I do something different to usual?
Change doesn't need to be cataclysmic or cathartic. Remember the wind metaphor: the fertility of spring is dependent on constant, gentle blowing not destructive tempests. So even the smallest change can be 'radical' in this sense; and it can lead to some quite radical results.
As darkness falls
The waves roll by
The seasons change
The wind is wry
— Pink Floyd
Back then, I tinkered around with some minor changes with my work. I continued to experiment with different things until I found something that worked. I changed my work habits, changed the days I saw clients, and changed the number of clients I saw per week. Eventually, I stepped up the changes until I found what worked, which led me to leaving the profession completely and pursuing something very different.
This was the kind of approach I used to take with clients who participated in dietary therapy courses I ran. One approach that worked really well was cutting out one food which they ate all the time; this created the space for changes in physiology and patterns of behaviour.
We didn't take remove the food from their diet because it was ‘bad’ or ‘unhealthy’ – the purpose was to disrupt the normal routine and throw them out of their comfort zone.
Get the idea?
I'm looking forward to seeing your small acts of radical discontinuity.
😊🙏🏽☯️
Keep your cool
Do not give into emotion
— Radiohead
