Mastering The Paradigm Shift

There is a legend about the famous and mysterious Shaolin Temple in China, where the craft of war and the practice of deep mediation were merged to create such martial arts as Kung Fu.   It is said that the monks who study there, even to this day, possess incredible skills developed through years of practice and intense concentration.

The legend is that students who approached the temple gates, requesting to be admitted as novices, were forced to wait outside, sometimes for days at a time, without food or shelter.  Sometimes they were told bluntly to “go away,” that there was no room for them, or that they were not ready.  Sometimes, certain monks on the other side of those gates shouted at them.  The idea was to challenge the new young recruits, to see if they were worthy of training at Shaolin.  This test of character was believed to be necessary because the hardships of life and training at Shaolin were simply too difficult for anyone who was not 100% committed to the process.  They had to really want it, with all of their being.  A monk at Shaolin had to possess extra-ordinary courage, desire and ardor, or he was not expected to last long as a student.

People in recovery also have to possess extra-ordinary courage, desire and ardor, but, unlike the novices at Shaolin, they did not ask to enter the training process.  People in recovery have been forced into their situation by Fate, and powers beyond their control.  In this sense, the person in recovery has it much harder then a new student at Shaolin, who chooses his circumstances.  But, if the person in recovery can only see beyond their pain and view their situation as also a chance to learn what it takes to be extra-ordinary, that person will have entered on to a path that is very similar to that of the martial arts master.  They will be on the path to a kind of spiritual awakening, and like the Shaolin Monk, on a quest to mastery of the self.   This is no easy task, even for those who choose to pursue it.  And the first step may in fact be the most difficult. 

This first step is called “Mastering the Paradigm shift.”

In the last essay we defined the concept of the paradigm shift, and pointed out that the shift begins by learning to effectively differentiate between what we are feeling, and what we make of those feelings, that is, the assumptions we make that are not based on fact.  In this essay, we will identify how the paradigm can be changed through a shift in personal focus.  Following that, I have put together another article just on tools and concepts you can use in mastering the paradigm shift.

In both the world of martial arts and the world of trauma recovery, there are many men and women whose life stories are truly inspiring. In the case of martial arts, I have seen interviews of Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan on television, both of them declaring that their biggest challenge in life was facing up to themselves.  They talked about going deep and discovering where they wanted to quit, and then breaking through the mental barriers towards a mastery of themselves.

People who have struggled with recovery will tell you that, like the martial arts master, the battle in recovery is largely a personal one, and that victory comes with mastery of the self.  In particular, an ability to let go those cherished world views that have been so much a part of our identity our whole lives, and creating and mastering new paradigms for ourselves that actually serve us in recovery rather then get in the way. 

A great story about paradigm mastery from the world of trauma recovery comes from  W. Mitchell, an author, motivational speaker and entrepreneur.    Mitchell went through not only one, but two near-death experiences, and went through recovery twice, first from a motorcycle accident and the second from an air-plane crash.  Talk about some hard times!  When asked to account for how he made it though, Mitchell is quoted as saying, "Before I was paralysed there were 10,000 things I could do. Now there are 9,000. I can either dwell on the 1,000 I've lost or focus on the 9,000 I have left."

Mitchell makes it sound easy, but, in fact, the tendency to focus on our losses is a natural human reaction.  Mitchell had to train himself to readjust his mind to focus on what he had, rather then what he had lost.

I would like to point out that, in Mitchell’s training and development process, there was no pretending that things will be the same for him as they were before the accident.  One of his accidents left him with permanent nerve damage, indicating that, barring some miraculous scientific breakthrough in neuro-surgery, he would never walk again.  He was NOT in denial of the facts.  However, he was also NOT willing to forget that there was still so much that he is capable of doing.  Instead of focussing on what is lost, he chose to focus on what remained.

While all of us in recovery go through a mourning process in which we grieve over how our life has changed, most of us will get stuck operating on the assumption that, because something is lost, life will never be a worth while experience again.  This, once again, is an assumption not based on fact.  W. Mitchell found a way of making his life worthwhile by focussing on what remained.  He chose a paradigm that empowered him, and gave him the strength to be happy in the face of adversity.  Mitchell’s focus is what gave him the where-with-all to choose a paradigm based on what opportunities were left in him after his accidents.  He saw potential in the 9,000 things he could still accomplish. 

All paradigms, both the empowering ones and the dis-empowering ones, are based on choices.  But, in the world of ordinary people, choices are often made out of habit, or without much thought.  While in training to become extra-ordinary, it becomes your practice to be constantly aware of the choices you make, and to reach down inside you to find the courage to change your choices when they do not serve your goals.  This is the process of finding the inner strength to choose powerfully.  This is what it means to master your own paradigm.

Your old paradigm might be, “I have suffered great loss and therefore I have the right to be angry all the time. 

The new paradigm you choose might be, “I have known loss, and I choose to be happy, because I know that life is precious and worth living.” 

Both of these paradigms acknowledge the facts, but only the second one is a powerful choice to live life in an extra-ordinary way. 

But our old paradigms are well entrenched.  They have been developing and re-enforcing themselves inside of our unconscious since we were children.  They are part of the natural default mechanism in our brains.  To take them on is to reverse every impulse in your head, every well-engraved, deeply established response mechanism in your mind.  It will not happen over night.  But it can happen, if you want it to happen.  Some days will be better then others, and there will be successes and set-backs along the road.  This is to be expected.  But every set-back can be countered with effort and commitment, and eventually you will find that it is becoming easier to choose the more powerful out-look in every moment of your life

In the next article, we will discuss a few strategies that will help you in your training to master your paradigm.  But before you begin to examine the tools, you have to ask yourself, are you ready for the training?  Like the students at Shaolin, like such martial arts masters as Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan, you have to be ready, willing and able to give your training the effort it requires.  You are now outside the temple gates, and, already, there are factors in your life that are testing you, making you wonder if you really want to shift your paradigm, or whether you are simply going to sit the rest of your life out in a sullen mediocrity.  As a life coach, I have had people come to me at all stages in their development.  I have turned some clients away because I honestly didn’t think they were ready for the training.  I have had clients who waited years before coming to me, because, before then, they knew that they were not ready.  In my own recovery, I had to endure a lot of pain, loneliness, bitterness and alienation before I was willing to undertake the training. 

I sincerely believe that you have what it takes to live your life to the fullest, and to turn your recovery into a great victory over pain and suffering.  The question still remains, are you at the temple gates?  Are you ready to do what it takes to get inside?  If so, lets carry on to the next step…