Qigong Insights for Making Changes that Last!
If you're like most of us, you'll have had varying experiences with making positive change in your life.
Sometimes a desired change sticks right away, other times it doesn't happen no matter what you try! Even worse, it seems like the changes we DON'T want can stick most easily!
It's easy to decide on something we want to change. It's even easy to envision a path toward it, but the real trick is sustaining it.
As we enter the 2nd week of the "Live Your Qi" 21 Day challenge, I want to invite folks to take a look at how they go about integrating transformation. You've already got the "What", but it's the how that makes all the difference.
In Daoist spirituality this has a lot to do with the meridians that are said to be most active during this Spring season.- the Liver and Gall Bladder. These are the Yin and Yang aspects of the energy of vision and change. The Liver is the more Yin (nurturing, passive, restful) side, and the Gall Bladder meridian is the more Yang (directive, engaged, active) aspect.
In a culture like ours, we tend to have a Yin/Yang imbalance - we prioritize the Yang aspect at the expense of the Yin. We want to see visible change ASAP, but the challenge is that until a certain "critical mass" is reached, most of change is invisible, underground.
We have to learn to take up a model of "cultivation" rather than manufacturing. Cultivation is the metaphor for spiritual growth in Daoist and Yogic traditions and it's an important one:
You have to get out in the garden every day, weed, water, fertilize - but you won't speed up the process by pulling on the sprouts!
So, what's the advice for making change sustainable? Well, if you've started a project of personal transformation (like our 21 Day Qigong Challenge), then you'll know that having a rigid strategy is not the most adaptive way to go about things. Obstacles will arise, priorities will change, if you're able to flex and flow with them, you can sustain yourself toward the overall goal.
This is where the balance of those two Yin-Yang meridians comes in. The Gall Bladder is likened to a "Field Lieutenant" - they have their orders for carrying out on the field. they know the action steps and can give orders like a boss! But they don't necessarily see the whole field, just their section.
In alchemical tradition, it's the Yin side, the Liver meridian, who's likened to the General, sitting up above the field and able to create a vision that shifts to suit the needs of the moment.
In a counter-intuitive move (for many of us), in order to make change really last, we don't need to "apply ourselves" more (like some high school counselor might have told you), we actually need to go more toward the Yin. We need to let go of rigid adherence to how it's supposed to look, and really see things clearly in light of what works.
In doing so, we may need to use the lesson I share in the first month of my free Alchemical Immersion program - "move forward anyway". This is all about accepting however you did with your goal so far - even if you've fallen behind - and just getting back to it wherever you are now. I know for me, too often if it doesn't start out ideal, I'm more likely to quit altogether. This trick is an art of applied forgiveness - we forgive however it's been so far, so that we can keep going!
Or it may be that we shift into that Yin space of envisioning and realize that our plan for change was unrealistic. We can reassess and find a path forward that is realistic for our needs and abilities.
In either case, we can START FRESH, and in doing so, we'll be attuning ourselves to the flexible, growthful, and ever-new energy so present in the springtime! Happy Practicing!
