Some months ago I returned to live in Ireland after many years away. While many things have changed, most notably the troubles, more has stayed the same. This sameness provides the reassurance and comforts of home and respite from the challenges of a restless world. We all need a comfort zone to which we can withdraw for rest; but we can’t stay there. When our batteries are recharged we must re-engage.
My time away has changed my perspective of the world so that my earlier concept of comfort has changed radically. Life happens to us and we grow. In particular, my illness in 2008 set me on a path of inquiry into health issues and unleashed a passion to change away from my dangerous lifestyle. Since my return I can readily see that my former dietary habits are still maintained within my family. Now, as a passionate advocate of good nutrition, I immediately find myself regarded as subversive. Friends and siblings resent having their diets observed. Even less do they appreciate any suggestions that their choices are sub-optimal let alone downright dangerous. Sometimes attacking to defend, I’ve even been told that since I’m not a doctor I have no credibility when talking of health issues.
Lasting change must be chosen. My choices are mine alone and if they deserve the respect of others then others must feel that I respect their choices, even when I disagree with them. So my dilemma is one of balancing my desire to evangelise my new found truth with accepting that change must always result from attraction rather than promotion. This actually provides relief since I find it difficult enough to maintain my own dietary disciplines without taking on responsibility for others. My role here is to lead by example.
In ‘The Prophet’, Kahlil Gibrain addresses the temptation to evangelise:-
Say not ‘I have found the truth’. Say rather, ‘I have found a truth’. Say not ‘ I have found the path of the soul’. Say rather, ‘I have met the soul walking upon my path’. For the soul walks upon all paths
It is often said that people change when the pain of change is less than the pain of staying the same. Although a little defeatist, it was certainly true in my case, so why not generally? How can a healthy lifestyle be portrayed as sufficiently attractive that people choose to embrace it rather than reject it? How do we present health as something we run towards rather than away from?
Again Ghandi’s cry “Be the change you want to see in the world” rings loud. People have always been attracted to other happy, healthy people. Being happy and healthy will attract those who want to know your secret. Simply by spending time in your company they’ll come to know it’s no secret at all. So let the comforts and reassurances of your home be centred on love, happiness and health so that your batteries stay topped up and you can engage in the task of illumination rather than coercion.
© Paul Curran
