For real change to happen, treat the cause, not the symptom.
In ancient Asia, physicians were respected for their ability to keep patients healthy and vital. The best doctors ensured the optimal health of their patients. In those days, they were respected for their expertise in treating the cause and not the symptoms.
In these hurried times, we numb ourselves to the cause by suppressing the symptoms. We pop pills to handle the symptoms and some more to handle the side effects of that medication. We live life by making all kinds of detours to alleviate the symptoms while living in denial about the real cause. Would a new diet or gym membership help? A vacation? Or a new car? Nothing works because we do not attempt to discover and treat the cause. Instead, we try to suppress the symptoms again and again. This is like old wine in a new bottle. The appearance seems to change but nothing significant changes in the quality of our lives. The symptoms appear again, stronger than before.
“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” – Anonymous
A real change leads to a significant improvement in the quality of your life and is transformational. Many people make do with ‘getting by’ because they fear what they might discover if they open that inner door. What if we have idolized a golden calf all our lives which will never deliver the promised miracle, they wonder. Or they hope that maybe, just maybe, it will bring the promised fulfillment if they cling to it desperately. Besides, a life of ignorance blaming external factors is easier than a fulfilled one that emerges after navigating strange territory. It is easier to pass the buck rather than exploring ourselves and our way of living to find the root cause. This happens because we believe in the power of external symbols to provide fulfillment. Any satisfaction we may derive from them is temporary.
We usually idolize something because we have lacked it at some point in our lives and believe that an abundance of it will make our problems disappear. An excellent example is money, which most believe is some panacea for an eternally happy life. They idolize it, accumulate it, or spend it to show they have an abundance of it. Yet, they are dissatisfied. What’s missing? The realization that tweaking your external environment even in drastic ways is not going to bring inner satisfaction. That can only happen by acknowledging your symptoms and digging in to find the cause.
Most people pay scant attention to what their symptoms are trying to convey. The message is simple but profound – let go if you need to be cured and fly free. A real change usually happens after at least a few years of introspection. The more attached you are to your golden calf, the longer it takes. Change emerges as unstructured fragments and shapes itself into questions. What happened to the freshness of spirit, wonder and curiosity that you felt as a young adult? Should you ‘make do’ with what you have and life live to suit the ideals of some entity or person when it does not improve the quality of your life? Why do many choose to live this way even while feeling unhappy about it? Are there other options at all? There are plenty of options if we only dare push aside our fears and look within instead of searching outside.
“Treat the cause not the effect.” – Edward Bach
We all have that ‘something’ inside ourselves, whatever we choose to call it. A higher intelligence beyond thoughts and emotions that always tells us the right thing, and never what we want to hear. An intelligence, if followed, will open up vistas that we never knew existed. It will never lead you astray. Once you acknowledge and follow that intelligence, bigger questions emerge. What is your definition of a fulfilled life? And why are you afraid to make the change that will help you live it?
Constricting your life based on the opinions and expectations of others will make you even more uncomfortable inside because you are contained inside a tight space bound by views that are no your own. Your way of living should always serve you and not be confined because of a stranger’s opinion of it. The ones who stick with you will always be around or come into your life in unexpected ways. They will not force their opinions on you. The others will melt away as soon as you start defining life on your terms. Once that happens you take the most important step – you act. The inability to act, held back by irrational fears, is the biggest barrier preventing you from finding the cause of all your symptoms.
“In the end, people will judge you anyway. So don’t live your life impressing others. Live your life impressing yourself.” – Eunice Camacho Infante
Fear leads you through an endless game of Whac-A-Mole. You will attempt to hammer down a symptom, but it will simply appear in another form and cause you more discomfort. You’ll spend your life whacking down symptoms until the day you are forced to stop and look back. ‘What if….’ becomes an enduring regret. Prevent it by digging deep, extracting the cause, and getting rid of it. This is not without pain, but the fabulous cure is worth it. If you have already been questioning your way of living for some time, getting rid of that discomfort provides immediate and tremendous relief.
Once that is done, you will see that your fears are like paper tigers. Most of them flutter away when you begin to live life in a more conscious way. Every conscious choice you make will help you understand how to harness your energies better. Life becomes refreshing and flows naturally. Explore. Expand. Fly high.
“Maybe you are searching among the branches, for what only appears in the roots.” – Rumi
