My blog consists of a 97-page and growing Word document. At the bottom of the document are some ideas jotted down for future posts, one of which is entitled ‘Why do I do this work?’. For whatever reason, that topic has sat neglected for the five years that this blog has been up and running, lonely and unexplored at the bottom of the page. It caught my eye recently when I was writing another post, leading me to reflect not just on my Why for doing all of this, but also the Why of it still sitting there, unpacked as a topic.
Perhaps it’s because that Why seems to be a moving target, an ever-evolving reason, or perhaps the idea just needed more time to marinate before being teased out. With the shift in the world of the past several years, the topics that swirl so contentiously around us, and the seeming polarization of opinions and hot emotions over just about everything, I think that Why is finally coming into focus for me.
So why do I do this work anyway? Why do I share these arts? The most obvious answer that I’ve had all along is that I have a duty to pass them on to deserving students, just as my own Sifu, Grandmaster Wong Kiew-Kit, passed them down to me. Another obvious answer is to help bring health and healing to others. But perhaps the most important answer is that I do this work to help others uncover their pure potential as human beings through the power of Cosmos Qigong.
Nevermind my married Polish last name, I am as Scandinavian as they come. And like any good Scandinavian, I abhor conflict. I prefer self-cultivation over barking about which side of the political aisle is messing what up. But that wasn’t my starting point earlier in my Shaolin career. My starting point was proving how right I was and how wrong everyone else was. This used to make for seeds of a very unhappy life. There was a lot of conflict and strife.
Sound familiar?
But my Qigong practice has worn down those edges, and honed over time clearer thinking and a calmer disposition that can see conflicts in a broader perspective, recognize where there might be something I don’t know or don’t understand, and have a greater empathy even for those who might not be the nicest people, and maybe even recognize when I myself am being unreasonable. This has an obvious positive benefit on my own mental health, and a less obvious but still important benefit for those on the other side of the fence, as my first reaction is no longer harsh words or stabbing barbs.
A lot of people are looking around these days asking what it’s going to take to make the world a better place. Frankly, I think Qigong is it. Not just in the patterns, the Qi flow, and the health it brings, but in the insight and calm that it cultivates, that ability to think before reacting, to exercise empathy, and to see an issue from all sides. Only when we rise above our baser natures and access our higher consciousness can we act in a way that promotes kindness and understanding in others.
And that my friends, is really the heart of why I do this work- to make the world a better place and to help people access the true greatness that lies within them. When we tap into this place, our possibilities as a global culture are limitless.
Peace.
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