The GREAT unknown

The unknown is often referred to as ‘great’ because it invites us to a greater sense of awareness, aliveness and adventure. All of which bring new discoveries, new knowledge and new ways.

The cost of only doing what we already know how to do, in the way we have always done it, is a ‘same old, same old’ experience. While there is a time to stick to the comfort of the familiar or the known-to-work way, there is also a time to try different things using new ways. This is what keeps us alive and healthy enough to keep growing beyond our existing knowledge.

When I returned from a couple of years of travelling through Asia and Australasia, I vowed I would never go on a package holiday again! After the adventures of volunteering in India, trekking in the Thai jungle (sleeping in hammocks with no facilities), staying in a Buddhist monastery sleeping on the floor and practising all kinds of meditation, teaching kids in schools and helping locals to clean up after the devastation of the tsunami, nothing sounded less appealing than a package holiday!

How quickly things can change!

A year into my counselling training, I was so exhausted I couldn’t wait to book a package holiday! And not any old one but specifically an Oak Hall holiday which offers the opportunity to sign up, pay up and show up. No brain required as all the thinking and organising is done for you. Absolutely ideal for those of us desperately seeking a brain break.

Furthermore, it bought the bonus of being part of a Christian family that spans the world over. This enhanced my understanding of faith beyond my own little Christian world. As one who never entered church before the age of thirty, I’ve never really understood denominations or wanted to become bias or blinded to an ‘our way or the highway’ approach.

We all need familiarity, comfort and ease, especially in times of trial, exhaustion, stress or illness. But to maintain the health and growth that keeps us alive, we also need times of stepping beyond what we know, to sample the different-ness of what we don’t. This is how we enrich and expand our body of knowledge through lived experience.

This doesn’t need to involve huge life changing choices. It can be as simple as doing something different from the way you usually do things, thus ensuring a different experience.

It could be trying all manner of new things such as:

• Taking a different route to work
• Sampling something different for breakfast
• Trying new recipes for meals
• Baking cakes you haven’t baked before
• Visiting a different destination, whether a day trip or longer holiday
• Choosing different colours or styles of clothing
• Watching a genre of film/reading a book you haven’t tried before
• Painting a room a different colour / moving things in to a different layout
• Engaging with those of a different gender/age/faith/culture/orientation to you

Or a ton of other options.

When we practice the same old, same old approach to life, it is easy to get stuck in a ‘going through the motions’ mode of mundanity. This may allow a switching off from staying present to the present, by switching on to auto-pilot mode. Again, there may be times when this is necessary. However, if this is adopted as the normal mode of operandi, we may prevent ourselves from noticing all that the present wishes to present to us.

This mode for existing may involve many mild forms of dissociation and disconnection between the mind and body – like when you arrive somewhere and don’t remember the drive. A ‘killing me softly’ approach to our own sense of aliveness.

I was reminded of the enlivening, body/mind connecting powers of doing something different earlier this week. As I wandered towards the chemist to drop in a prescription, I decided to take a different route across the fields. I didn’t know when I started out which way I would go so I let my feet wander wherever they wanted. I was instantly and richly rewarded by the sight of many beautiful flowers along the way.

As I didn’t know what I would encounter along the way or where I would end up, I had to keep my wits about me by paying attention to the path. Like many of the country pathways right now, the path I found myself on was incredibly overgrown. I had to dodge the nettles and thistles with every step. And one pathway took me to a dead-end where the pathway was entirely blocked by both. This rendered it impossible to pass through without the protection of pin covering pants.

Sometimes when we take a path we haven’t taken before, we end up having to turn back. That’s ok, as we have learned something new about which way not to go. Knowing what not to do, or which way not to go, is as important as knowing which way to go. And sometimes we only learn by walking the path. To stick to all that we know is to  block the pathway to knowing something new.

As I backtracked on to a different path, another track beckoned me. I could see it was overgrown with huge nettles, so I put my scarf to use as a barrier between them and me. As I progressed down the track, I was rewarded with the offerings of a big, juicy, black berry brandishing bush! I had thought it was too early for them particularly given the excess of rain with the shortage of sun. But these blackberry bushes testified to their resilience to ripen regardless!

If I had not tried the new path, I would not have discovered this source of crumble filling goodness. Of course, I had to pop one into my mouth for quality control purposes. It was the first such fruit of the season and it did not disappoint! And I made an immediate note to myself to start carrying food bags from here on in, on all walks!

When we try a different way to do something, we do not always know what we will encounter along the way or where we may end up. We will inevitably encounter that which we do not like or end up someplace we do not wish to be. However, the other side of this is that we will also make unexpected, but exciting discoveries. All of which teaches us new things and develops our confidence in managing the unknowns as they arise. No experience is ever wasted.

When we choose to do something different, we pay attention to our surroundings in a more connected and present way. This evokes an enlivened experience by reconnecting our mind to our body.

GREAT!