“Paradigm shift is a term coined in 1962 by Thomas Kuhn, in his influential book
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. He defined
it as a change in the
basic assumptions, or paradigms, within the ruling theory of science.
For example, at one point in time, the medical field
believed that “miasma”
caused disease.
However, once germs were discovered, this new information blew the “miasma” theoryout of the water forever. This new discovery created a PARADIGM SHIFT in
the medical field. Once a paradigm shift has occurred, there is no
returning to the original basic assumption. No one can ever
return to the concept that miasma causes disease.
Since the 1980s, the term paradigm shift has also been
used
in the humanities to describe a profound
change in a fundamental model or perception of events.
That said, let’s use an
anecdote to give an example of a paradigm shift in
the field of humanities.
Picture yourself in a subway train.
A man enters with 2 young children. The kids are wild, running
about
the car, knocking over items stowed on the floor, screaming, kicking
people, and are out of control. The father appears to be unconcerned
and is not even
aware how rudely his children are behaving. You
go up to the father and
say
“Sir, your children seem to be bothering other people on the subway car and
I’m concerned
for
their safety.
Is there some way I may assist you?”
The father seems to come back
from some other train of thought and replies “Oh, I’m so sorry.
We
just came from
the hospital where their mother just died. I guess they’re upset and
I’m in
shock and unaware of their behavior.”
Here’s the paradigm
shift: now that YOU know the background
story of what occurred in their life, has
your
perception of the events in
the subway car changed? Has your opinion of their situation shifted? Are you more forgiving of the children
and of the father? Since your knowledge about the events in
their lives has changed, you
have experienced a paradigm shift.
Taking this same concept into
your
own lives, what areas of your life would
be affected
by
changing your perception of a situation: creating paradigm shift in your thinking about yourself?
1. Do your life
Goals need an update?
2. Is there a situation in a relationship where an
Attitude causes friction?
3. What about your
Work ethic? Do you always work your hardest at your job, giving your employer the full value of your skills?
4. What about your Self-confidence and
your self-esteem? Would you like
to be more confident?
5. What about any Self-judgments you carry with you each day? Would you like
to be able to release those?
If you answered yes to
any of these questions, that is an area of your life that might be transformed by a
paradigm shift. By accepting
personal responsibility for your issues, by changing
how you think
about
any of these areas, or if you
let
go of some old information that no longer serves you, it may shift
your thoughts in a different direction. After all, thoughts,
are only thoughts and
can be changed. You could
create your own paradigm
shift, and live a more contented life.
The handout that you have today has a space for you to write down an area of your life where you are not satisfied with the current state of that area. Please take a moment now to jot down the first thought that comes to
your mind: what would YOU like to change about your life?
Next there are three lines where you
can brainstorm concepts of what you
could do to change your
paradigm in a way that might affect
how
your view your current situation. After all, a paradigm shift occurs when YOU change the information
you
have about a situation so
that your perception of that situation is forever altered.
If you don’t know what you can do to alter your perception of your situation, then send your request to the Universe and
ask Spirit to give you a way to
change your perception. Or, sit with the
person next to you
and share your need, have that person give you an
idea, and you do the same for them. Please ask
someone you
don’t know because sometimes a total stranger has a more objective answer for you.
Now that we have defined paradigm
shift and thought about how it relates to us as individuals,
I have some questions for you
to think about in a specific area of many of our lives.
Are any of you baby boomers whose aging parents can no longer care for themselves as they used to? Are you
in a situation where you
are now a Caregiver for a spouse or family member? Are you frustrated by the duties of being a Caregiver, or if you’re not a Caregiver YET, are you afraid
that Caregiving for
someone else will infringe
upon the freedom you have in YOUR life?
In
1991, my husband,
John, had a massive stroke which
left
him hemi-plegic and unable to
speak. I am his Caregiver.
He is my dearest friend: I would never abandon him in his hours, days, weeks, or years of
need. Prior to the stroke, we were both professional musicians.
As performers and
composers, we were
building fabulous careers in
Los
Angeles. Each day was full of the joy of creating and performing music. The stroke instantly took out two careers: his and mine.
We have now had
24
years of paradigm shifts that have brought us to
a totally new life of Joy. Our world
has been redefined over and
over again by external forces. It is very different from what we originally
planned. However, because of John’s courage and some tenacity on my part, we have not stopped
the music in our lives.
I
have
now written a book called
“Don’t Stop the Music: Finding the Joy in Caregiving”. It will be
published by Balboa Press, a division of Hay House in 2015.
The purpose of the book is to describe how
John
and I have come to live a life of great Joy because we accepted the paradigm shifts in our lives. We
did not stop the Music, we have just changed
the
music that we make.
In
the book I describe many situations that created extreme fear on
both of our parts.
Fear
often arises because events occur that are unexpected, traumatic, or physically
injurious. This fear is a natural emotion
that is programmed into our consciousness as a means of triggering our fight or flight response. Once
we’ve gotten past
that initial fight or flight response, we have the opportunity to review the situation at hand. We get to choose how we react to that situation. Yes, we CHOOSE.
We can choose to react well, or we can choose to react poorly.
We can choose to accept the change in our lives, or we can
resist it.
Resisting
often occurs because we
are operating on old information,
or
worse, on someone else’s concept of how we SHOULD act.
If we
continue to hold on
to those old
ideas, we are living in the past: we are resisting
change, and pushing away the opportunity for the joy that results by accepting
a paradigm shift.
In the book, I also describe the many paradigm shifts that have occurred. I discuss our learning,
how long it took to
learn those lessons, and how I felt along the
way.
As an example of one of my many shifts, when John was in
the first hospital a few days after the stroke, I was so naïve, I
had no idea what a stroke even
was.
I was in his room when a doctor finally arrived to
speak to me. I asked him
what a stroke was. He
told me, and
said John’s stroke was so
severe that he would
not be able to
work for at least two years, if at all, ever again. My reaction to losing him and all of his income was so
strong
that
when the doctor left the room, I literally crawled on
the floor and hid under his hospital bed while I
sobbed. By the next day, I
realized that I had become the sole financial
provider for our family.
There were no longer two people working, there was only me, plus I would
have to take care of John.
The instantaneousness and
finality of the event was as profound as
an accidental death for me. Only I was left with an invalid.
This was the largest paradigm
shift I had to make.
As I stated
earlier, the purpose of the book, “Don’t Stop
the Music: Finding the Joy in
Caregiving” is to tell the story of our transformation
spiritually, musically, and
joyfully into a
new life. It is our highest goal to share our success with others, so that we may give back what we have learned. We have a new Music to share with everyone.
