An Inquisitive Mind

Awakening Connection

An Inquisitive Mind and the Human Soul

 

Avi remembered everything. He could see it in his mind’s eye, the rolling lawns of the garden, the weeping willow near the top where he would hide and wait to pounce on his friends or his brother and sister. ‘Cowboys and Indians’ was his favourite. He would often take the part of an Indian brave. A warrior. He would paint his face to strike fear into his enemy. Beyond the garden, there was a golf course which kept the house private.

Avi loved the way the mind worked. He found memory fascinating. Seeking to remember everything, he trained himself. He practised. Testing himself, and was never so jubilant as when he succeeded.

He was due to sit his exams this summer. The preparation had been hard, but he was ready. He had already picked out his preferred university choices. His untutored eyes saw them as bastions of freedom and learning.

Avi didn’t like school much. It was boring. His teachers were boring. He had questions aplenty that were interesting to him, but they never had the time, or put him off with some lame excuse, saying they needed to stick to the curriculum so that the entire class could move forward at the same pace. Excuses. Lies actually. Any dunderhead knew the impossibility of a group of 40 students learning or following a curriculum all at the same pace. Everyone is an individual and learns at their own pace. Some are faster than others. Others learned in different ways altogether. It was futile, and frankly irresponsibly stupid, to expect or entertain the possibility that all could move forward as one. Poppycock.

Avi spent much of his time alone. Often at the library or on the internet always looking for new things to learn. Taking the prescribed curriculum as far as it would go. Questions flooded his brain, demanding answers. Art was another bone of contention for him. Forced to choose a stream of study, either Science or Art. An impossible choice for such an inquiring mind. So, when the time came, he chose Art. Knowing it would annoy his teachers the most. They felt he was more promising as a science student. So disappointed was he that they had forced this choice upon him that his interest in study waned. Oh, not completely, but enough so that the school never again saw the best that he could produce. They had lost him. Brilliant though he was, Avi didn’t see that the one who would suffer the most from this conflict would, sadly, be himself.

As adolescence took hold, he fell into drinking and, like many a young man, exploration of the world. Everything was there for the taking. You only live once, as the saying goes. He didn’t come out of boarding school with much. So, they sent him to crammers. Hoping he would push himself and gain at least some qualifications. His heart was no longer committed to studying as his younger self had done. He saw the process as one of jumping through hoops to achieve the required pieces of paper to equip you for life in the world. It did not serve Avi well to discover this crushing reality when he would have to catch up and sacrifice time for a flawed process. Where they measure success by attaining certificates. 

Like most lads in their late teens, he had something far more pressing to research. Something that actually fired him with some enthusiasm - Girls, parties, drink and ah yes, drugs as in joints - Cool Man. It never took hold as he realized that ‘weed’ couldn’t be as harmless as everybody said. He always experienced a disconnect the following day. Like his mind worked at one speed and the rest of him at another. So despite it doing fun things for his sex life, he stopped drugs altogether.

Deciding he should do something positive in life, he became a Nurse. A career path that he enjoyed. Looking after others. Helping to save lives brought fulfilment. Also, many treasured memories. It rekindled his love of learning.

Avi took courses in counselling and psychotherapy, eventually studying for his Masters. He would teach himself. Anything that caught his interest. He found his freedom. He moved away from what they wanted to teach. Embracing a world of what he wanted to learn. Avi explored it all. He was hungry for knowledge. Anything he could use to help others. He worked in India, Great Britain, Australia, and Europe. In India, he met a guru who taught him how to meditate. 

Finally, he developed his own method of helping people. A fresh approach to working with adults, children and young people. People who find themselves in difficulties and in need of hospital care were only too plentiful. There were many reasons for this, abuse, bullying, drug experimentation which went wrong, physical handicaps, autism, trauma and many more more. The worst of it was that despite their worthy efforts the system continued to fail. People would show varying signs of improvement and be discharged only to find themselves back in the hospital days or weeks later. It came to be known as the Revolving Door of Therapy.

Avi’s approach would seem strange in a medical setting. Worse in a psychiatric hospital. It would need a major change from the ground up and the top down. But it would be worth it. It meant working with a person. Not a label. Taking a fresh look at what was hurting and why? A joint effort to create the best conditions for healing. It required an atmosphere of mutual respect, empathy, and understanding. There would be a need to listen deeply to people and for them to feel heard. They would be activities for fun, play, meditation, and sport.

The aim was clear.  To develop helpful strategies, so anyone could take responsibility and discover new ways of coping. To encourage that person in their use. Avi’s work was so successful others asked what he was doing. And could he show them how he worked?

Avi tried. He sat down with them and explained his approach. Their response was disappointing. On reflection, he realized he was not ready either. He hadn’t prepared. He hadn't anticipated their level of resistance and dyed-in-the-wool protectionism of outmoded and ineffective ideas. 

How could he help them understand? 

Avi refused to be discouraged, reminding himself that even the esteemed Emile Coué had his share of derision. Today, much of the psychotherapeutic elite have come to hail Emile Coué as the father of Positive Thinking. 

Avi had to find a way. He just had to open their eyes to how a simple blending of ageless wisdom, clinical experience, building upon the best that our clinical forefathers (Freud, Jung, Perls, Ellis, Rogers, Coué, Erikson and many more.) could hold such therapeutic potential and work so well? He determined to fashion this fresh approach, which he knew from his own clinical experience had such potential for Positive therapeutic outcomes and take it to the world.

A fresh approach to which he now must give shape and form. He knew that this fusion of eastern and western approaches  required committed application by the therapists practicing their core skills. His approach is a living breathing vibrant approach. It is as real and as potent as the air we breath. Its empowers the individual to take responsibility for his own practice of the techniques that he / or she is shown. Apart from the core breathing techniques and simple meditative processes any other techniques would be specific to each presenting person.  For this to feel real and for real trust to be established it is essential that the core practices become a real and enduring part of the daily life of each practitioner therapist. 

The benefits to any human being of these practices in terms of life enhancement are considerable. For people who are hurting it brings them to a point and equips them with the capability of taking charge of their own healing processes. It is in fact a transformative and entirely positive experience. 

Someone can quite soon after admission find themselves walking out of the door armed with all they need to deal with any situation that comes up in their lives. 

Should they, ever find themselves stuck then can always refer to their therapist. There should be no need to revisit the hospital again.

Once it is easier to follow, he can teach others. He decided to work harder. To fully develop his approach. And help all interested parties to understand. 

His method, which he called the Connect Approach, is almost ready to be launched. Soon it shall be and the days of the Revolving Door of the purely Medical model of Psychiatric intervention shall, at last, draw to a close. 

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